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Wednesday, September 27th, Goba Goba Lodge, Gobabis, Namibia This must be called "winding down" after our tour of Etosha park and lodges. At 3:00AM, last Sunday, the day we finally leave Okaukuejo Lodge, Etosha, Ilge & I head out to the water hole to see if there is anything about at this hour. A giraffe or two is about the limit for our nocturnals, and we also get a few departing bites from the mosquitoes here. This is the first time we have been bitten, or even heard a bug. Really different from the usually Canadian summer winged aggravations. I'm sure that Toronto & environs is still trying to deal with the horseflies even now. We left Etosha that Sunday morning, even though I try to avoid moving on the day of universal rest (still remembering a flat tyre on a Sunday morning in the Namibian Desert), we reluctantly head South again. Etosha has been really great for wildlife, and we have also got a bit more of a tan, and some schoolwork accomplished....... well, it seemed as if we did anyway. On the way to Otjiwarongo, I feel that something is different, strange even, then I realise, there are clouds above us! This is only the third time we have seen them in as many months. We are so used to another sparkling (and these days HOT) days dawning, this is most unusual. On the way, we pause for a quick e-mail break ant Outjo, 125Km south for some urgent (yes I still have corporate business details to effect), organising with Tom, my head honcho for KCS - our sponsor, in TO, but being Sunday, we are kicked out early as the guy has to go to his "second" Sunday job. Things seem to be cool, and we return a few personals, and actually chat on line until we have to go. Luckily, I have got away without having to deal with any major "must be done" problems at any of my clients installs. Tom & Cedric appear (from the e-mails I get copies of), to be holding the fort more than adequately. (Well done guys!!). Also very luckily as contrary to any ideas I had in Canada, it is pretty well nigh on impossible to sign in from here. After being turfed out of the internet café, it's lunch time, so we head off to the Etosha Garden Hotel in Outjo. We arrive late, but no problem. The menu is one of the wildest, in all senses, that I've ever seen. Here is a sample: Starters: Apple-Celery salad with Smoked filler from Kudu - N$24.00 Greek Salad with Namibian Feta Cheese & Olives - N$26.00 Carpaccio of Oryx-Fillet on Nuts & Herbs - N$26.00 Entrees: Game Gulyash (sic) with Dumblings (sic) - N$38.00 Roulades Of Zebra with Noodles & Dill Cucumber Salad - N$45.00 Oryx Steak with Kalahari-Truffle Sauce - N$52.00 Zebra Steak with Bacon-Mushroom Sauce, Fried Potatoes - N$48.00 Roasted Kudu With Spicy Sauce & Noodles N$42.00 (FYI, $C1.00 = N$4.6) We have 2 Greek salads and a bottle of water.....
We are all running out of reading material and getting desperate for good books - the pool demands something to pass the time at, but the level of material we have brought from Toronto, Jo'burg, and more recently Cape Town and Swakopmund, is beginning to leave a lot to be desired. The afternoon passes, and we teach the kids how to play crib. They are immediately hooked, and we play for hours. We decide to dine in - this is becoming a habit, and I just have to order "Oryx & chips", "How would you like it sir?....", "Medium rare please" Delicious! Sept 25th, Monday, - we'd like to stay another night, but it's fully booked, so we head South to Windhoek. We pass through Okahanja, a place where, in a past life - 20 odd years ago, I have visited many times before. It is not familiar. (No shit!). Pausing only for a few pies (pies are available everywhere in Southern Africa, and are very cheap, normally tasty, and filling), the road to Windhoek beckons. The prices in town (according to our Lonely Planet bible), are pretty expensive, so we find a place 25Km out of town. There is a great view over a large area of bush veld, and we have our own barbeque and kitchen. I really am looking forward to cooking our own food for a change. The local vegetation has slowly grown (actually, quite literally), to be greener, taller and generally less desert like. It appears that the total lack of anything above 0.5cm tall, is over, at least for a while. We have a few hours before dark, so with some trepidation, (we have heard Windhoek is "as bad as Jo'burg"), we arrive in town.
Traffic lights (robots), double lane roads, supermarkets, tourist bureaus, e-mail, even book shops.... all the luxuries of living.....? The supermarket has a pretty good selection of stuff, not as good as Swakopmund for some reason, but at least adequate. Fresh produce is very hard to find in any decent condition. Prices are about 150% of what we were paying in S.A., but it's a treat to actually have any choice beyond bread and longlife sterilised milk. All the tills use scanners for pricing, and do not have the "theft guard" plastic cover that stops thieving from open tills - totally prevalent in South Africa. Maybe this is a kindler, gentler society..... We need to organise ourselves for tomorrow, e-mail, vehicle servicing, book exchanges, food stocks etc. On the way around town checking our options, I'm overcome by - wait for it, exhaust fumes! There can only be about 1500 vehicles in the centre of town, and after a month in the country, I'm gagging. What will North American smog do to me? We survive the city's worst, and, finding the vehicle still in one piece where we left it, retire to G&T sundowners and pepper steaks (again?) back at the Sundowner Lodge. Tuesday, 26th. And it's into town again, this time with no feelings of security issues. There are a few minor issues for the cruiser (wheel balance and rotate, reinstall the primary fuel filter), and restock our films, batteries, drawers and video stock, plus change some of our stock of books at Uncle Spikes. We get a birthday card for the missus (no surprise party in Windhoek!), and celebrate our vacation's midway point, oh yes, and the little item of a birthday. We also spend an incredible amount of time at the e-mail centre - about 3 to 4 hours, and collect a few birthday e-mails there - thanks to those who remembered to mail. There is also a note from Ilge's boss - it seems that one of her co-workers has been murdered in his apartment in Toronto, considering all the bad press southern Africa has relating to murder etc., this is especially poignant. As a special "civilisation" treat, we head off to watch "A Perfect Storm" with George whatsisface- Total Crap! Back to base for a late braii. Sept 27th: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Well, we remembered it anyway. No goodies, just a card, but we were all aware of this possibility, and I had predicted that we'd be "celebrating" this birthday on the Namibian/ Botswana border. We offer Ilge the option of staying in a metro area for a celebration or just relaxing, or simply moving on through her birthday, she decides to travel rather than have a quiet day in town, so we head out, so it looks like I was right. A final loop around Windhoek, the cruiser complaining and spluttering on the hills, and we are off East, only 200Km. On the way out of Windhoek, there are a pile of taxidermists advertising their talents, this is one of the more graphic displays.
We arrive around 2:00PM at Goba Goba Lodge in Gobabis, a last outpost near the border. My impressions of the manager here are not so hot - we get a price which we accept, only to be told once we move in, that due to the kids, we will need to pay that price twice, etc. As it was The Birthday, I grit my teeth and simply negotiate. Great pool, and fantastic food, We also had dessert apple pie. We tell her to put a candle on moms but of course she forgets and doesn't.:(. but she has also neglected to tell me that there is a 5% charge for credit card. This is the very first time I've felt cheated, or at least abused in the whole of Southern Africa! Tomorrow we are off to Botswana - 100Km away, last time I was there, I had to run away from drunken policemen, who were spending their earnings on payday. This is also payday: I hope this time will be different. Distance travelled this entry: 850 Km. Distance moved on trip this entry: 750 Km |
It is only 35Km to Otjiwarongo, we arrive, gas up, check out the town, and by 3:00PM we are set up at the "Otjibamba" lodge, 5Km
South of town, which has it's own game park, 
Windhoek is a pretty little town centre, surrounded by urban, then industrial sprawl, and then hill sprawl. In the centre of town, there
is a permanent display of 
This is cattle country, big time - lots of game/ cattle farms all the way here. The dirt & dust road that was here last time I travelled
through here has long gone, the road is now very good with as little traffic now as then. We see little traffic once we pass the airport
which is a good 30km out of town. It's getting hotter again.
