Namibia

Another week has gone and we've driven Namibia back and forwards, northbound and southbound with a few stops in between. We started our trip with a visit to Fish River Canyon and quite a nice sunset followed by a trip to Soussousvlei and Dune 45. We had our earliest departure yet and raced up the sand dunes to get the sunset, only to stop half way, totally exhausted by the real size of the dune and taking it more slowly to the top. It were some amazing colours as we watched the sun rise over the desert, and we had an amazing walk with an interesting guide afterwards.

After a quick dip in Sesriem Canyon it was time to head to Swakopmund, the adventure capital of Namibia. It is a bit like Queenstown in New Zealand, and there were no way we would leave the place without some real action. Due to some of the people's affection for the bottle, we had to postpone our sandbording til after a night without partying, but we had an absolutely amazing morning with a sandboard and loads of sand, and we were covered in it from top to toe afterwards. I made up for my bad driving skills from the quadbiking by actually rocking the sand and the dunes, and it was all in all good fun.

We then went to Etosha National Park and I quickly had my first giraffe encounter. Talk about fantastic animals! Nearly kicked platypuses down from the top spot as my favourite animal. We spent two days in Etosha and met springboks (both the real and liquid version), zebras (crossing the road), oryx, rhinos, impalas and lions on our way and every minute on the bus was basically worth it.

Had a good night in Windhoek at Joe's Beer Garden where we had oryx for dinner. Yes, it was fantastic, and I only felt slightly sorry for it, although Heather proclaimed that her zebra wasn't good enough to kill it for, so last time she had that. Ostrich and crocodile was also on the menu.

Now we've crossed into Botwana and I spent the afternoon in the town where my parents worked in 1982 or thereabouts. Have tried to take photos of buildings that might be closer to 30 years old, in the hope that they might recognize something, but tomorrow we're heading out to the Okavango Delta for a mokoro (dugout canoe) trip and I'll try my best to stay clear of the hippos.