Days 5 & 6
Distance travelled: about 850km
I woke up after the EPIC night at Joe’s feeling like I’d
been run over a bus. Packing up a roof-top tent when you’re fragile is possibly
worse than labour (I would imagine). It was so bad that I had to abscond from
driving duty for the day. After packing up camp (with MANY rest-breaks) we
headed off towards Swakopmund.
My goodness what a BEAUTIFUL city (unfortunately my babalus prevented me from taking any good photos). We were lucky that we
were there on the off-season – I believe at Christmas the terrorists flock
there and it becomes not so pleasant, but I found it enchanting. Definitely on
our list of places-to-go-back-to.
We also stayed at one of the best camp sites that night –
Tiger Reef Camp site was about 200m from the beach, and only 100m from the
amazing Tiger Reef Bar.
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| it's impossible not to relax here |
We splurged on a fancy meal that night, and enjoyed the
warm sea breeze. Apparently Swakopmund didn’t get the memo that it was winter –
we were rocking shorts and tshirts (and horribly pale legs). It was MAGIC to
wake up to the sound of waves.
From Swakopmund we were bound for Toshari Lodge in Etosha, and our first Check Point Party! Wanting to savour being by the sea as much as
possible we decided to drive along the coast to Henties Bay before heading inland
to Etosha.
Remember that wind I told you about in Sossus Vlei? This was
that wind’s older, over-protective brother on steroids. I fought a battle
against the wind coming at us from the side with the steering wheel to keep the
car on the road for kilometre after kilometre! I daresay these puny Granville
arms developed some muscle! And of course someone hadn’t tied down their
rooftop tent properly, and I was thoroughly sandblasted while fixing it, while
the other two reclined in the windless car. But it got worse as we turned
inland into the wind. The Erwinator did not enjoy the experience AT all, and
guzzled a hefty 60 litres of diesel over just 300km.
We arrived at Toshari Lodge on the outskirts of Etosha
National Park in the early afternoon and made the VERY difficult decision of
upgrading to a room pretty quickly.
Toshari is a gem of a place! It was soon
bursting at the seams with Crews letting loose in their animal kingdom
costumes.
Missing in Africa set the bar HIGH with their incredible get-ups
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| Missing In Africa photo (c) Che Overmeyer |
QAR
& Torque of the Town rocked their onesies
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| photo (c) Che Overmeyer |
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| Torque of the Town photo (c) Che Overmeyer |
Generally everyone got into the spirit of the animal
kingdom!
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| photo (c) Che Overmeyer |
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| Polar Bear Express photo (c) Che Overmeyer |
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| photo (c) Che Overmeyer |
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| Robert & relevant-George photo (c) Che Overmeyer |
We were fed an incredible meal
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| photo (c) Che Overmeyer |
Then Bruce the fine-master made
his first appearance. I can’t remember who got fined for what (did Bookmark
Africa get a fine for getting stuck?) but I do remember Simba in the boat race!
What a sight J
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| QAR being fined and punishing a boat race photo (c) Che Overmeyer |
Me & Mr Brown took the stage, and it was all systems go til the early
morning.
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| Me & Mr Brown photo (c) Che Overmeyer |
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| this photo is EPIC! photo (c) Che Overmeyer |
HUGE THANK YOU to Saadia and Impex Fasteners & Tools for the amazing sponsorship of this leg of the trip. Your generosity is appreciated beyond words.
Yours in adventure
Rox
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