Days 221 to 230 Diary Index
Days 241 to 250 
After a relaxed start to the day the company who I was going sandboarding with (Alter Action) turned up. Me and an English couple jumped in the mini bus and we were driven out into the dunes. There we met the rest of the group, was introduced to our instructor and got kitted up. Then we started the hard slog up to the top of a 180m dune. Luckily for us it was a overcast day, but by the time we reached the top we were all still puffing and sweating. The three of us who were try the stand up sandboarding, where then explained the principles and a few basic trips on stance etc., and where let loose on our first run. One of the guys had snowboarded before and cruised down making it look easy. I then had a go and wobbled off down the face of the dune at a sedate pace. As I have never snowed boarded before let alone sandboarded and so needed to get to grips with the whole idea. With a lot of concentration and a bit of beginners luck I made it to the bottom, with a big smile on my face. After watching the other lad come down I then set off on the walk back up the slope. Throughout the morning I had a couple more goes at the standup boarding, with improving success, and two runs at the lay down boarding, which was good fun as you really just hung on the for the ride and felt as if you where going really fast. All in all it was a fun morning and after having lunch (which they supplied) we were dropped back at Desert Sky. The rest of the afternoon I spent chilling out reading and chatting to other travelers. Dinner was made by the owner and was excellent. Smoked snook (a member of the barracuda family) chips and salad. Which is a really tasty if you have never tried it. Stuffed from dinner, I wandered down the road to Fagin's Pub were the sandboarding group had arrange to meet to watch the video and have a few drinks. This was made all the better by having vouchers from Desert Sky which got us free drinks. There I saw out the evening chatting and drinking the time away.
After breakfast I packed up and left Desert Sky backpackers and drove down to Walvis Bay. Once there I parked up at the edge of the bay and took a walk along the water front to the Sailing club and back. It was a nice peaceful walk and along the way there were plenty of Flamingos to look at in the bay, some just 10m from the shore. It was not the first time I had seen Flamingos but it is always nicer to see any animal in the wild. I then decided I would drive down to Sandwich harbor and it was not long before I was driving through dunes and along the beach. About a hour into the drive the sand started getting really soft, so I turned away from the shore line in search of harder of terrain. Mistake! I had not driven 50m when the Landy sank to the axles in a combination of soft sand with water logged sand underneath. After a two hour struggle trying to get the Landy out, I jacked it up out of the sand and with the aid of sand plates under the rear wheels managed to reverse out. All this time I was expecting a called from my parents, but I was well outside mobile range and so decided to return to Walvis Bay so I could receive their call. Sure enough as soon as I was in range I got about 10 messages reporting missed calls. I phoned home and we chatting for a while. I then went into town and had a little look around, fuelled up and air up the tyres. I then drove out of town and back toward Swakopmund. Just short of Long Beach I spotted some surfers and went down to investigate. Embarrassingly I got stuck again in soft sand. But I quickly winched my way out. As the light faded the surfers came out the water a left one by one. I decided I would stay there the night, and so started to make dinner. I was warned that you were not supposed to camp there and so after dinner rearranged my gear so to sleep in the Landy, to keep a low profile. Which was not a bad idea anyway as it was cold and a strong wind was blowing in. Once curled up in the Landy I read for a while before dropping off to sleep.
Whilst sipping my tea in the early light of the morning I was spoilt by the sight of a pod of Dolphins passing by. During which they stopped and where surfing the waves five a breast for a few minutes or so before moving on. After making my way back to the road and re-inflating my tyres I was on my way. I drove back to Swakopmund and not far outside the town found the start of the piste running to Windhoek. It was a great drive and about every 50Km or so the scenery changed. Going from dune sea to semi desert through the mountains and ever thicker gatherings of trees. I also saw a lot of wild life along the way including Zebra running down the road, Deer and Baboons. It was around 14:00 by the time I arrived in Windhoek and I set about finding my way to the Chameleon Backpackers. Once there I arrange to stay, set camp and enjoyed a drink in the garden. During which it decided to chuck it down with rain. But it was short lived and I was soon able to get on with work on the Landy. By the time I had finished it was dinner time and so I made some food in the shared kitchen. After dinner I called Verena to wish her a happy birthday and we chatted for a while. But it's always the way that you could chat far longer than you can afford. I then spent the rest of the evening working on website stuff before finally going to bed.
After a relaxed breakfast I packed up my gear a drove down the round to the Safari 4x4 center in search of a spare wheel carrier. But they had no in stock and the price they where quoting was way to expensive. So I just had a wander round the shop and chatted to the bloke for a while. After a brief stop back at Chameleon I went in search of a place I might be able to get one made. I found the place a explained to guy what I wanted. But again the price was a bit high. So I tried one last place, another 4x4 shop but they again didn't have any in stock and where asking silly money. I then drop back to a car wash place I had spotted on my travels and got the Landy high pressure washed. As the engine and underneath were caked in mud. I then drove back to Chameleon and as a last resort phone a couple of people that the staff new of, but again no luck. I then spent the evening chatting to a Danish guy called Bo who I shared dinner and a beer with before going off to bed.
After a big breakfast Bo and me walked into town and wandered around. I bought a new battery for my mobile and we went to a travel agents to check on the prices of flights back to Denmark. We then spent the rest of the morning relaxing in the park and chatting. After which Bo showed me to a nice place for lunch, which was set in it own tree shaded court yard. We then wandered round the shops and slowly made our way back toward the backpackers. After chilling for a while we made dinner and spent the evening watching 7 Years In Tibet on video. Which I thought was a real good movie, with a good performance from Brad Pit.
After a relaxed breakfast chatting to other guests I spent the morning working on website stuff. I stopped to half some lunch and after walked into town to pick up a network cable for the laptop. I then returned to Chameleon via a wander of the shops and continued on with my website stuff. During which I was asked if I wanted to join in with a BBQ for dinner. Was dinner was ready we all went out a sat by the pool to eat. After dinner while sipping of a couple of beers we stayed there a chatted. Me and this Irish girl got into a heated debate about the whole Northern Ireland thing and where countries should start and stop apologizing for past wrong doings. By the time we had finished it was late and I crawled into my roof tent and was soon asleep.
I spent the morning finishing the update I was working on for the website and around late morning Bo and I walked into town and to the internet cafe. I soon found out that it was possible to upload from there and so just stayed half and hour to check my e-mail. We then walked back via the super market. Then tried to upload from Chameleon, and after a lot of hassle managed to get it to work. I then just chilled out for the rest of the day, until it was time to go to Joe's Beer House with Norbert (Cyclist From Kunene River Lodge) and another German lad. I was a 30min walk but we managed to find the place with out to much trouble. Once there we were really surprised by how big it was and the amount of people there. Especially for a Thursday night, as the place was packed. After a long wait we finally manage to order some beer and food. During which I got chatting to some South African pilots who where on holiday. The food was great and the evening soon flew past. It was late by the time we left and after the walk back I went straight to bed.
After a quick trip into town to get money I paid my bill, said my goodbyes and left Chameleon Backpackers and drove south along the main road. After passing through Rehoboth I turn off and followed a network of pistes through to the main piste running north/south paste Sesriem. A lot of the junctions along these smaller pistes are not marked very clearly, and if marked at all, often only have the pistes number. Not were it is going to or the name of the next village, soif you don't have the local map you could easily go off track. It was late afternoon by the time I arrived at Sesriem and after a brief stop in the office to comfirme the prices I walked over to the campsite and arranged to share a pitch with a couple of German Ladies. As it is the same price for upto 4 people as you pay for the pitch and not for each person. They will not mention that you can do this at the office of course, and they use this same tactic at a lot of the other big tourist attractions to screw more money out of you. I then went back to the office to pay for my permit to enter the Sossusvlei park. As I intended to enter very early the following day, to watch the sunrise from dune 45. I then moved the Landy round to the pitch and setcamp, had a shower and made some dinner. I then spent a little while after dinner reading and went to bed early and I intend to get up early the following day.
As planned I woke at 04:30, packed the gear away and was at the park gate for 05:00. I was one of the first vehicle through but there was plenty more behind. I drove along the broken tarmac road in the dark and arrived at dune 45 just as it was starting to get light. Two overland trucks where already there and I followed the group of about 30 people to the top of the dune. At least they made it easier going for me as they had leveled the sand into steps. Once at the top everyone sat on the side of the dunes watching the sunrise. Even though there was cloud on the horizon, once the sun had broken through it was an impressive sight. As the sun rose so the colours of the surrounding dunes changed from dark reds through to light oranges. I climbed back down and drove onto the end of the valley and to the last car park nearest the Dead Vlei. I then walked the short distance over the small dunes and into the Dead Vlei. I was the only one there and the sun preserved scene was some what eerie, as you new it hadn't changed in thousands of years. As the tree there had been carbon dated to 900BC. I then spotted some small specks climbing the highest dune I could see and I decided I would do the same from this side. It was a long hard climb, with pachtes of very soft sand making it the one step forward, half a sep back scenario. I after a long climb I cam to the top of the dune and was rewarded with the impressive view. I sat there for a while just taking it all it, until I was joined by a French couple on there honey moon. Who I chatted to for a while, before leaving them to indulge the child inside me, and moon walk the 300m down to the valley floor. For those of you unfamiliar with this childish pass time. You essentially descend the dune taking very large bounding steps (moon walking), so fast that you are nearly off balance. This resulted in me reached the bottom in about 30 seconds. I then wandered slowly back to the Landy and rove back along the road running through the valley admiring the massive dunes lining the route. Once back at the Sesriem camp I only stopped to pop into the shop and drove out to the main road and turned south. I drove all the rest of the day, fuelling up on route, and headed for Fish River Canyon until early evening. I stopped just as the light was fading and I found a place to camp not far from the road and a few km from the turning to the north camp at Fish River. I didn't want to stay there as I was informed that the price for camping was again done on a per pitch basis and expensive. So I set camp had some dinner, and settled in for the night.
I woke with the light, had some breakfast and drove the remaining piste to the Hobas, the northern camp. There I stopped to pay for the permit to enter and drove onto the view point. I was the first person there, and so sat admiring the view of the 500m canyon in the early morning light. I then took a little walk to one of the other nearby view points, stayed for a while and return to the Landy. I then drove along the piste to many other view points, which all gave you excellent views of the canyon and the surrounding area. I then drove back to the to the main view point, had some lunch and then drove out of the park and to the nearest town called Grunau to fuel up. I then drove onto Karasburg to do some shopping and to use up my Namibian money. I then took a piste toward the southern border with South Africa and eventually rejoined the tarmac. I then followed the main road to the last town of Noordoewer. Just outside of town and only a few hundred meters from the border post I spotted a sign for a campsite. As it was late in the day I decided to stay there for the night a cross the border the following morning. I checked in and drove down to the campsite, which was located right next to the river Orange. It was a really nice spot and so after setting camp I had a shower and relaxed until the light started to fade, watching the colours change in the rock faces opposite the camp. I then made dinner and spent the rest of the evening reading, before wearily climbing into bed.
Days 221 to 230 Diary Index
Days 241 to 250