POST22 SOLO7 - PUMPER REBORN (NAMIBIA2): Days 161-175 of 273, 21APR-5MAY16, 3,762km to total 28,517km, Cape Town SOUTH AFRICA (Country 17) to Tsintsabis NAMIBIA (Country 16)

18 PLACES VISITED:   SOUTH AFRICA: 1) Trawal.   NAMIBIA: 1) Aussenkehr, 2) Fish River Canyon (Hobas View Point), 3) Naute Dam, 4) Helmeringhausen, 5) Sesriem, 6) Sossusvlei (Dune 45), 7) Deadvlei (Dune 37), 8) Solitaire, 9) Omaruru, 10) Spitzkoppe Conservancy, 11) Uis (Brandberg Nature Reserve), 12) White Lady Rock Engravings (Brandberg Nature Reserve), 13) Kamanjab, 14) Sendelang Cheetah Farm, 15) Halali Etosha National Park, 16) Namutoni Etosha National Park, 17) “Giant Baobab Tree” 42km east of Tsintsabis.

15 OVERNIGHTS:   SOUTH AFRICA: 1) Facility Camp & Rooms “Highlanders”, Trawal (Elev 44m).    NAMIBIA: 1) Facilities Camp “Felix Units” 10km west of Noordoewer (Elev 215m), 2) Bush Camp at Naute Dam (Elev 743m), 3) Facility Camp at "Sesriem Campsite" (Elev 821m), 4) Facility Camp “Solitaire Country Lodge” (Elev 1084m), 5) Hostel “Desert Sky Backpackers Lodge”, Swakopmund, 6-7) Rooms "Eldorado Game Farm”, Etosha (Elev 1153m), 8-9) Hotel “Swakopmund Rest Camp (Municipal Bungalows)” Swakopmund, 10) Bush Camp at “Spitzkoppe” Conservancy (Elev 1069m), 11) Bush Camp at Brandberg Nature Reserve 7km west Uis (Elev 488m), 12) Facility Camp “Sendelang Cheetah Farm”, 31km east of Kamajab (Elev 1311m), 13) Facilities Camp “Halali Resort”, Halali Etosha National Park (Elev 1133m), 14) Bush Camp “Giant Baobab Tree” 42km east of Tsintsabis (Elev 1186m).

11 RUNS:   SOUTH AFRICA: Trawal.   NAMIBIA: Noordoewer, Naute Dam, Deadvlei (Sussovlei), Swakopmund (2), Outjo, Eldorado Game Farm, Spitzkoppe, Sendelang Cheetah Farm, Okaukeujo Etosha National Park

25 UNIQUE WILDLIFE:   NAMIBIA New: 1) Eoka (Puff adder), 2) Impala, 3) Rock Dassie, 4) Bat Eared Fox.

Seen again: 1) Springbok (Thompson Gazelle), 2) Blue Wildebeest, 3) Burchell’s Zebra, 4) Black Rhinoceros, 5) Warthog, 6) Blackbacked Jackal, 9) Reticulated Giraffe, 10) African Elephant, 11) Kudu, 12) Common Ostrich, 13) Gemsbok (Oryx), 14) Kori Bastard, 15) Springbok, 16) Red Hartebeest (Topi), 17) African Lion (3), 18) Cheetah (3), 19) Lilac-breasted Roller, 20) Cape Crow, 21) Secretarybird.

BLOG POST TRAILER: 

Welcome to the very start of the Cape Town to Cairo, segment of my epic journey and a Greek Easter Special post. This segment is the third of four total segments: UK to Accra, Accra to Cape Town, Cape Town to Nairobi and Nairobi to Cairo. I had already travelled 24,755km and was on track to exceed the 40,000km mark by the time I got to Cairo. I figured I would reach 45,000km but not the 48,000km I had originally calculated. Nevertheless the numbers are enormous and I could not picture the day we would arrive into Cairo - it was too far away and would not do justice to the immediate sights and sounds that awaited us.

This post takes us back up through NAMIBIA from SOUTH AFRICA on the way to Cairo and the only two places that we repeat are Swakopmund and Etosha National Park. For this reason I travelled Solo 7 while the truck was at Swakopmund. Solo 7 fulfils a lifelong dream to hunt in Africa. More on this soon. This is also the post in which a cheetah bites me and scratches me to draw blood - finally I get my mad wish...

Our first night was back at Sparky’s in the Oliphant River Wine Region close to the NAMIBIAN border. Only one night this time but I was able to chat to Sparky about my experiences in Stellenbosch. We crossed the border into NAMIBIA at the same place and in under an hour.

Our first bush camp was at Naute Dam, a huge inland man-made lake used for irrigation (mainly table grapes). I had a morning swim there after my run and it was surprisingly tepid. There is no doubt that the geographical highlight of NAMIBIA are the huge red dunes of Sossusvlei and the dead lake known as Deadvlei with its iconic dead trees stuck on dry white clay with the biggest ochre “Dune 37” dominating in the background. The colours and shapes form an iconic symbol of NAMIBIA present in many documentaries and books. I am sure you will recognise them. We climbed the smaller Dune 45 to watch the sun rise and it was magic. I was lucky to run around the 3.5km perimeter of Deadvlei and back to the truck along a 5.5km sandy road that killed my feet. It was worth it. The scenery is unbeatable! NAMIBIA has many “one-horse towns” for campers. It is a town dominated by one camping lodge often with a petrol station, general store and a few services and farm houses. Tourists will stay here and farmers use it for services. Two such places were Sesriem and Solitaire. Both were unique experiences both because of their isolation and middle-of-nowhere convenience. The days are very hot and the nights cool and dry.

Roberto, Jacob and I jumped off the truck for our Solo 7 adventure on 26 April in Swakopmund as the truck passed through on its way to the seals at Cape Coast to the north. It would overnight there then a return to Swakopmund for 4 sleeps. I used this opportunity to hunt given I had seen Swakopmund on my way south to Cape Town. We hired a manual 1.3L VW Polo to take us to the Eldorado Game Farm that Roberto, Doug and I had discovered on our way back from our Solo 5 trip to Etosha National Park. We stayed at a family run hostel in Swakop that night and headed out at 9am the next day after picking up our car. It was a long drive since half the trip comprised dirt roads to give us new views of NAMIBIA having traversed it multiple times. 7hrs of driving and 1.5hrs of breaks.

I actually ran in Outjo since Roberto had lunch there. Lucky I did because it was sunset when we pulled into Eldorado. We were greeted by lady of the house “Hanel” and husband “Adri” and settled in. I took a room and Roberto and Jacob decided to camp. The sunset was awesome. First time I saw a crimson glow after the sun disappeared. Pity I was not close to my camera when this happened. Eldorado has camping facilities and several rooms set out amongst a manicured lawn and many flowering shrubs.

The facilities are first class. The centrepiece is a stonewalled main dining/living room for guests complete with huge fireplace, a complete stuffed male lion, a female lion rug with head and the stuffed heads of all the game on the farm: Kudu, Elan, Springbok and Impala. All the animals in the is room were shot on the farm. The lions came in from Etosha and Adri has recently installed an electric fence to stop more from coming in. He also warmed us not to go walking by ourselves in the property since there could be one lion left before the fence went up! There is a fully stocked bar and pool just outside the living area. There is also soft grass camping grounds with facilities. Dinner was at 7pm and was absolutely spectacular and the best “off-truck” dinner to date. Halen (the owner wife) and her local staff cooked up a home cooked meal that rivalled Greek Easter coming up this Sunday.

Tender BBQ Kudu fillets, spinach frittata, corn bake (like potato bake except with corn!), beetroot compote, butternut salad, creamed cabbage. Adri (the owner husband) told us that this was traditional Afikaans cuisine and it was spectacularly delicious. I dropped the Kudu because of Greek Holy Week but the vegetarian accompaniment was the best I have ever had. Roberto and Jacob, who are both meat connoisseurs assure me that the BBQ meat and Biltong was the best they have tasted to date. Full marks. (My Impala below)

The best off-truck dinner to date!!! And the main reason is HOME COOKING!!! Eldorado has been in Adri’s family for 78yrs - 4 generations! It is 6,000 hectares or 60 sq km (15km long by 4km wide) in size and has a whole host of animals on it. Cheetah’s, Leopards, Hyenas and Caracals are in huge field enclosures and the Kudu, Oryx, Elan, Springbok and Impala roam the entire property. Adri then introduced to us his 18yr old son Derek and we spoke about the “The Hunt” plan for tomorrow.

Brekkie at 6:30am and on the ute at 7am. We would pursue Springbok from the back of the ute with some bush walking since they are always moving. If we could not get any by noon then we would head to the water hour and let them come to us for a pretty much guaranteed kill. I was so excited! “Pumper” was about to be reborn… READ ALL ABOUT THE DAY OF THE HUNT BELOW AT DAY 168. DETAILS ON ELDORADO ARE AT THE VERY BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG POST.

The day after the hunt we loaded our VW with an esky containing 25kg of cut and packaged Impala ready for BBQing on Greek Easter Sunday - instead of Lamb, Impala - after all we were in Africa! The drive back to the truck in Swakop took much less time given that we used more bitumen roads. We left at 10am and arrived 4pm, in time for sunset drinks at Beryl’s with Riza and a great catchup on the latest gossip. Our last day in Swakop was a rest day and I took that time to wash clothes, sleeping bag and prepare this blog post for the internet. We left Swakop on the morning of Greek Easter Sunday 1 May. Over the next 3 days we drove towards Etosha National Park, my third visit but saw some great natural features along the way: Spitskoppe, Brandberg and a Cheetah farm! I had never been away from my family and Australia during a Greek Easter and this experience was strange for me.

What made up for it was the Greek Easter dinner that Riza, Roberto and I out on as part of our cook group featuring the Impala I had bought back! But plans do not always pan out. Our Greek Easter dinner was at a bush camp under the iconic Mt Spitzkoppe, which is actually a series of ochre coloured sandstone peaks forming a “conservatory” or reserve where limited dwellings are allowed. Riza, Sharon, Theresa and I went on a two horse riding expedition to discover and photograph the area. It was meant to take place from 4-6pm but it was 4:20pm when we left and 7:30pm when we got back to camp since one of the horses could only trot along very slowly and there was no car organised to take us the 15min back to our camp from the reception area. This meant that Roberto had to start the cooking and made the Greek Salad.

I was a little pissed off since I was so looking forward but this is Africa and I did enjoy the horse ride and the sunset from the top of “The Arch”. The area is very scenic and colourful, especially at sunset. Dinner was terrific. The Impala was tender and plentiful. Most of us must have consumed at least 500g. The Greek salad disappeared. After dinner Riza and I made Greek Easter eggs (hard boiled eggs dyed red) for lunch tomorrow with help from Andi on the colouring part. Mt Brandberg (Elev 2573m), the highest in peak in NAMIBIA followed the next day. It is part of a huge valley of pink and white granite with a river that used to flow 2yrs ago. After we cracked our eggs at lunch, four of us went on a 2hr trek through “Cheetah Valley”. Talbot was the winner of the Greek Easter egg cracking and I awarded him a one litre cask of red wine.

Our trek led us to one wall of engravings, well preserved in colour and featuring “The White Lady” a famous human figure that is actually a male medicine man chasing a herd of Onyx. The French archaeologist that discovered it in 1917 mistook the penis for a spear! On our way back we saw tons of rodent-like “Rock Dassies” which are actually related to the elephant family. To this day I still do not why! They look like rats!

The greatest "wildlife encounter of the third kind” occurred the next day at a private Cheetah Farm only a few kilometres south of Etosha. I “frolicked” with three cheetahs before going into the wild to film them catch their prey in mid-air!!! One of the cheetahs bit into my arm and I felt all of its teeth - what an experience! This cheetah also scratched my leg with its claw and actually made me bleed - my dream was met - for a big cat to “draw blood”! A thoroughly enjoyable experience and only justified by the photos in this blog post. I returned to Etosha for a third time in just one month, clocking up 8 total days in the park - I am now a veteran of Etosha!. The second truck visit was very good compared to the first. We saw two male lions on the first day and three cheetahs on the second, all in the open and nearby. We saw most of the animals that we had seen going south - this time we were down on birds. Another unique experience was watching hundreds of springbok and zebras marching just 20m past the truck from left to right - looked like one of those wildlife migrations from a helicopter in a documentary. Etosha looked even drier than before. My Solo 5 trip to Etosha was easily the best and unforgettable. Our adventure in NAMIBIA ended in a fitting way - we camped near a giant Baobab Tree, the symbol of this great country. NAMIBIA had made a big impression on me with its striking landscapes, friendly locals and modern conveniences. A very good place for families to visit and easily done on your own. Tomorrow we would enter wild BOTSWANA and start heading into East Africa.

BLOG POST DETAIL:

DAY 161 of 273, Thu 21APR16, 253km, "Hotel on St Georges”, Cape Town to Facility Camp & Rooms “Highlanders”, Trawal (Elev 44m, Morning Rain, Run7) SOUTH AFRICA. Woke to rain and darkness. Would run at the vineyard this arvo instead. Riza and Robert were also checking out today. They picked up a car at 7am and would rent it for the next 7 days to drive to Hermanus and Cape Agulhas that Riza missed out. She would re-join the truck on the 28th April in Swakop. We all drove to the truck at Ashanti Hostel since RIza wanted to drop some gear off into the truck. Arrived there at 8:15am and most people staying and leaving were outside. I settled very quickly using my new system and met the new people before leaving at 9am. There were now 17 passengers but only 14 would be leaving Cape Town, since Riza, Tim and Denise were off the truck doing their own thing.

Plenty of space on board. I will talk about the new people a little later. The truck was met with rain about an hour out of Cape Town. It was reasonably heavy but short lived. By the time we got closer to the vineyard there was no trace of rain. Just a little cloud and it was much warmer. This area and NAMIBIA have been in drought for a while so I knew we would get dry weather again. Arrived at the vineyard around 2pm and the weather was perfect for a run. Set off immediately. Sparky’s dog Ben came with me. He chased a few cars, 3 other dogs and two squirrels - it was very entertaining! Got back and moved into my upgraded room called “Chardonnay” where I showered and bunkered down to blog, cull photos and demolish what was left over from my Stellenbosch wines. I joined the new group for some pre-dinner drinks at Sparkies bar overlooking a grand sunset. Dinner was fun hamburgers and then it was back to my photos - I was behind on this post and should have had it up tonight but way too many photos to cull. Tomorrow would see us back into NAMIBIA after a stellar stay in SOUTH AFRICA. Cape Town was definitely my favourite city to date because of its physical location and backdrop, the variety of things to do and its good food and low costs. I would come back to Africa to see the rest of SOUTH AFRICA, especially the east. I wondered when that day might be...

DAY 162 of 273, Fri 22APR16, 417km, Facility Camp & Rooms “Highlanders”, Trawal (Elev 44m) SOUTH AFRICA to Facilities Camp “Felix Units” 10km west of Noordoewer (Elev 215m, Run1) NAMIBIA. A great room but a bad night. Another overland truck was camped at Sparkies and some guy from that truck was snoring away World War 3 next door. I did not want to Blutac my ears because I would not be able to hear my wristwatch alarm the next morning. So I compromised. Put them in to get to sleep and would take them out with a night time pee or when I start to store early morning. It worked. Apparently the other truck celebrated someones birthday and they all got wasted. It is a known fact amongst drunks that if you usually do not snore, then you will if you go to bed pissed and if you do snore, you will snore ten times louder on the piss. Enough of snoring. It was one of those mornings that just made you glad to be alive.

Sun shining. Blue sky. Soft glow on the vines. Crisp cool dry weather. Our drive to the border today was identical to the sector we drove on Day 150 coming down. I will not expand on it here. We arrived at Felix Units at 4pm and I took advantage of the change in time (one hour back) to get a run in. It was the very first run in my life where I just had to stop at the 7km mark for a poo. I used one of my arm bands as toilet paper - have spares back in the truck. What a relief. I am usually able to get back in time. I have a special rhythm when this happens but I must have eaten something last night that made this worse. Also my whole routine and diet is out. This rarely happens at home. I poo first thing in the morning and then run - day after day. Have been able to maintain this routine for most of the trip but there have been moments like this one where it is all over the place. Tonight I worked on this post and slept in the office just as I did when we stayed here going south. We received brand new tents at this camp site. Same design but a better and lighter material and powder coated poles. I still preferred the quiet of the office. Fell asleep instantly. (Pictures below are Fish River Canyon in Day 163).

DAY 163 of 273, Sat 23APR16, 270km, Facilities Camp “Felix Units” 10km west of Noordoewer (Elev 215m) to Bush Camp at Naute Dam (Elev 743m) NAMIBIA. Could not believe it. My watch did it again. It changed itself back to South African time. Thank goodness that I realised this because of the sun. The watch woke me at 6:30am but it was pitch black outside. I knew something was wrong because sunrise was 6:15am so my watch had to be on South African time since the time in Namibia was 5:30am which explained the darkness outside.I checked my Mac (because I knew it was on South African time) and behold it said 6:30am, same as the watch. Unreal. I set my watch back to 5:30am and slept for another hour. When I woke a second time at 6:30am it was light outside, I packed and got to the truck at 6:45am - cook group was preparing the 7am brekkie - I got it right! Last time I had only 10min to toilet and get on the truck! The drive north to Fish River Canyon started out with the same landscape we had seen coming south. Brown desert. No green. Distant bare brown dirt and rock ridges. We passed the vast tracks of eating grapes which produced a misplaced splash of green against the brown earth beyond. Then a surprise. The town of Aussenkehr is almost entirely made of cube shaped grass huts and is home to 16,000 who mainly work on the table grapes. It has the most awesome “Super Spar” supermarket complete with ice cream and wines.

Out here? Who would have thought it? Sticked up and arrived at the Fish River National Park gate at around noon. Had a quick lunch at the Hobas Camp ground and arrived at the viewing platform only 10km to the north at 1pm. What a sight. The Fish River Canyon is like a “mini Grand Canyon”. It started forming 350 million years ago and the Fish River itself runs on bedrock that is estimated to be up to 2,000 million years old - half the age of the Earth! The canyon itself measures 90km long, 27km at the widest and 549m at the deepest. The main view point of Hobas is at Elev 860m. No day or lone hiking is allowed since the daughter of the French Ambassador fell and died here a few years ago. Only 5-day guided hikes are allowed from one end of the canyon to the other. We stayed until 3:30pm and drove to two vantage points to observe and take photos. One thing that struck me about this particular canyon is how quiet it was. No sounds at all.

The day was postcard perfect. Blue sky, warm sun and unlimited visibility. Bliss. Not only was the weather perfect but our bush camp was against a huge man-made dam - more like a large inland lake. Perfect. I could clean up after my run tomorrow morning. The sunset was simply divine. The moonrise was the best I had ever seen in my life. The moon rose with a brightness I had never seen before - it was like the reverse of a sunset! It emerged like an animal with fiery eyes peering over a fence. What made it extra special was the reflection of the moon in the water of the dam. Everyone ran tot he truck and started taking photos. I could not reach my Canon S110 in time so I used the SX60 - lesson for me is to keep the S110 with my backup truck hard rive and use it as sunset and sunrise camera. Dan let me use his flip up tent since the night sky was amazing tonight and the weather was warm. There is nothing like staring up at the night sky, lit up by a now Greek Easter full moon - sleep was easy.

DAY 164 of 273, Sun 24APR16, 451km, Bush Camp at Naute Dam (Elev 743m, Run2) to Facility Camp at "Sesriem Campsite" (Elev 821m) NAMIBIA. Up at 5:15am for what was a terrific run. The moon’s glow complimented the soft lilac-blue hews of the coming sun. The air was fresh with a slight breeze sweeping through the semi-arid desert landscape. I did not need a head torch. Off I went marvelling at the vast landscape around me and clear skies above. The Naute Dam was huge but man-made for the purposes of cultivating the surrounding frame - mainly table grapes. Lots of them. The dam swim and bath was even better. The water was fresh but not cold. Easy to wash in it. Felt so clean and so comfortable afterwards that I felt like snuggling up and sleeping on the truck but the views were just too good. Not many towns on our morning drive. Spent the morning on book work and spoke to some of the new people.

Our bid-morning stop was in Helmeringhausen, a one-street, one-hotel town that reminded me of the half-way point town in Texas for Route 66. I enjoyed a coffee in the  Helmeringhausen Hotel built by a German farmer in 1919. Built of grey shale and wood, this hotel and the town are typical of the ranch homes of that era and still raise cattle, sheep and goats today. The rest of day saw me complete my 31MAR16 quarter three book work. Unreal. Free for another three months! It is amazing what the internet can achieve today - think of it - book work in Africa on an overland truck with dust blowing everywhere - thank goodness for “cling wrap” - the MacBook Air 11inch that made this was wrapped in it like a mummy! An Egyptian mummy  just where we were headed now!

Our camp site near the Sossusvlei dunes was magic. Like a desert oasis with a WIFI as powerful as the “almighty Isis incantation” to raise dead Egyptian mummies. Got post no 21 up in next to no time and sent many emails. All over a dry bottle of Rose made here in NAMIBIA. Satisfying. Simple dinner of chicken noodle soup with potato. Tonight Hannes from Iceland explained to me what happened during the financial crisis and the conditions now. One of the main reasons Iceland got into trouble was the weakness of it own currency and its inability to cover or hedge large loans from England. Many Icelandic banks went broke, the Prime Minster resigned and two English banks had to be nationalised to survive. He said conditions are stable now and unemployment is high but nowhere near Spain or Greece. Everyone went to bed early tonight given our 5am departure tomorrow to see the sun rise from the top of NAMIBIA’S famous dune number 45 in a place called Sossusvlei.

DAY 165 of 273, Mon 25APR16, 213km, Facility Camp at "Sesriem Campsite" (Elev 821m) to Facility Camp “Solitaire Country Lodge” (Elev 1084m) via Sossusvlei (Run3) NAMIBIA. Despite rising at 4:30am to a moonlit sky of checkered clouds the night was one of the most comfortable and quiet to date. I was now sleeping in a “mozzie tent” which is a light-weight, auto-pop-up tent with a fine mesh that keeps the insects out but allows you to see almost everything through it. Sometimes you do not even realise you are in a tent but the open air. Only downside is that it cannot keep the rain or cold out so it is only good for warmer, drier nights.

We have had plenty of these and it will probably continue so I bought Chris’s tent from Dan for $AUD30. You simply throw it in the air and it opens up automatically and lands as a tent. Unreal. Packing it up takes practice with some complex folding but once you know how to do it - it is done in seconds. This will come in handy with my morning runs. Time saved = more sleep!!! Dune 45 was only 45km from camp. The drive to it is as spectacular as the dune itself. It is like “dune alley”. The road is straight and black on a wide flat valley of light tan or beige sand and on both sides huge ochre coloured dunes of various shapes and sizes. Dune 45 is quite dramatic rising from 560m above sea level at its base to 668m at the top - an ascent of 108m over 630m that took me 8min to climb. The views are dramatic and unique - I have never seen dunes like these: orange, ochre and some even reddish. The sun rise was nothing short of spectacular since there was little cloud and it was extremely clear.  You could see mountain chains in the distance going for ever…

I spent 30min on the dune before coming down to join the others for brekkie. It was easily the best brekkie location to date. From here just another 25km to get to Deadvlei (which means “dead pan”) and it is exactly that! A dead white bottom lake full of the hardened dark grey truck of dead trees. It is a look like no other. Never seen anything like this and this place is the signature image of NAMIBIA in documentaries, books and magazines worldwide. Roberto, Dan, Jacob and I walked the 5.3km from the car park to Deadvlei itself.

Most people catch the ranger shuttle because there is no road, just a sandy track full of wheel impressions! We also walked around Deadvlei and I then decided to climb the first half of Dune 37 to get pictures of the dead pan from above. Sadly I had no time for Dune 37 which is the highest and longest to climb in Sossusflei but I did have time to run back to the track. I included the complete outside perimeter of Deadflei in the first part of my run - totalled 3.5km. Total run was 8.8km but it was over soft sand and stretched me.

Fortunately for me a passing ranger passed my a bottle of water while I ran - great bloke! I was glad to do the run without stopping and it was the most scenic run to date and my favourite, knocking the “Sahara Dunes run" off its perch! I was so glad that a cool shower was only 35min away. Wasted no time when we got there. Then made a bee-line for the bar so I could ring and book my hunt at El Dorado including the hire car to and from Swakopmund. Roberto and Jacob were in! They would walk with me during the shoot. We also had a second opportunity to photograph and film the two leopards, three cheetahs, two hyenas and three caracals. I was very excited. The drive further north towards Swakopmund was very bumpy and dusty - mostly an ungraded dirt road. We stopped at another one horse town called Solitaire to have its famous apple pie - Roberto had been here twice before on his previous trips to Africa. Then the good news came - we would be staying at the lodge here instead of bush camping! Unreal. The lodge was well set out with bar, a well-stocked grocery/liquor store, ATM and free internet. I had everything I needed and went to work. Booked our hire car in Swakopmund and after dinner made Skype calls to mum and Nick. I was up to date and slept like a baby!

DAY 166 of 273, Tue 26APR16, 250km, TROPIC OF CAPRICORN, Facility Camp “Solitaire Country Lodge” (Elev 1084m) to Hostel “Desert Sky Backpackers Lodge”, Swakopmund (Solo7, Run4) NAMIBIA. Today was the start of "Solo7 - The Hunting”. I was very excited. Got up a little earlier to pack - this was now less then a 5min task given the new-look packing system that I perfected in Cape Town. My orange 40L back pack is now empty. All its contents are in my big pack and they are mainly backups. Most of what I wear is in two mini packs. Packing involves moving 6 key mini-bags from my plastic camping bag to the orange back pack - easy. No packing of individual clothing items - they are all consolidated. This system is similar to the cargo containers used commercial jets - you just move a container with all the individual bags inside. Before leaving Solitaire I visited the famous bakery for a slice of apple pie and a latte.

It was great but not as good as the one from the Helmingshausen Hotel. An early departure today ay 7:30am gave us a fighting chance to be in Swakopmund around lunch time. This would be great for Solo 7. The drive this morning took us through more semi-desert with distant ridges and ungraded gravel roads. Without warning we came to a halt at the Tropic of Capricorn with two signs on the road. Did not expect this since we were on another gravel road when we were travelling south and did not get a sign. Now we have the complete set of pictures and film: the Tropic of Cancer, The Equator and The Tropic of Capricorn all in one continent!

Soon after this we drove through the Gaube Pass and into a valley of shale. Rock everywhere. No vegetation at all. Reminded me and Hannes and Sigrun immediately of the solidified fields of lava just outside Reykjavik. A strange sight indeed. From here all scenery simply disappeared! A vast completely flat desert of dirty white sand dotted with tiny green salt bushes for as far as the eye could see. Reminding me of Western Sahara and parts of Mauritania. Did not expect to see here. You would not want to break down here. No towns and no passing cars! The place was very hot and dusty. After about an hour the air suddenly cooled and I knew that the Atlantic coast was approaching. Boy did it approach.

Everyone put on jackets as we ht the coast at Wallis Bay just before noon. Swakop was only 35km away. It was weird seeing a hot desert suddenly hit the cold Atlantic. We arrived at Swakop at 1pm. Roberto, Jacob and I farewelled our group, again, and headed off by foot to the “Swakopmund Youth Hostel”. It was shaped like a castle, painted yellow and with turrets. No one was at reception. A cleaner told us that the receptionist was at lunch and would be back by 2pm. Jacob and I decided to get some quotes from the place we stayed last time with the group and from another hostel. Got back to the ugly looking, old youth hostel at 2pm and no one was there. We decided to bail and go for the other hostel - at $AUD19 for a bed in a room of 3 was pretty good and it was in a house owned and run by a family. It was excellent. Spotless rooms, toilets, showers and a fully equipped communal kitchen. Nice garden, outdoor furniture, BBQ and recreation room with TV/DVD. Easily the best hostel I had seen to date. After settling Roberto and I went for a run on the main highway towards the south. It was fantastic. The cream coloured dunes on one side and the Atlantic on the other. The road was right next to the ocean. People were even fishing from the road! A nice hot shower was waiting for us and we relaxed in our room with coffee and photo culling. It is amazing how quickly time passes when you are relaxed and occupied and it was not long till we were on our way to Beryl’s for pre-dinner drinks. The conversation was better than the wine. (Deadvlei above and Shale Valley below).

Could have gone on for hours until our stomachs gave us a wake-up call and we headed a few doors down to the Napoli Italian Restaurant where we had enjoyed our “group feast” just a few weeks ago. We had our signature Greco pizza to start with and our Graca dry white. Roberto had a huge knuckle of pork and Jacob a rare kudu steak. I was fasting for Greek Holy Week (this week) and had a plain marinara spaghetti. The conversation continued and we talked about Africa, how our journey had changed us and what we were going to do after the trip. We also talked about our drive the next day and the up and coming hunt. A good start to Solo 7.

DAY 167 of 273, Wed 27APR16, 537km, Hostel “Desert Sky Backpackers Lodge”, Swakopmund to Hotel “El Dorado Game Farm”, Etosha (Elev 1153m) via Outjo (Solo7, Run5) NAMIBIA. Up at a respectable 7am to pack and collect the car at 8am. Swakop was cool and only slightly hazy this morning - not much cloud overhead. I exchanged greetings with my white VW Polo Vivo 1.3L Petrol manual and proceeded back tot he hostel to pickup Roberto and Jacob. Our journey to the El Dorado hunting ranch would take 8.5hrs including 1.5hrs of rest.

We headed north along the Skeleton Coast with the usual cold Atlantic morning breezes invalidating air-conditioning. This happened for 84km until turned inland and travelled along a while gravel road for 230km without meeting a single car or town or soul until we got to a bitumen road at Henries Bay leading us to Outjo. That 230km was nothing but flat white sandy desert. No green. No mountains. We were in a normal car in an abnormal place. God help us if we broke down. But we got there. To that lovely bitumen leading us to one of our favourite Namibian places called Outjo. An outpost town with grace - meant for tired tourists on their way into Etosha from the distant capital of Windhoek. We headed straight for the Guest Hotel to have our cake and coffee.

I figured that it would be too dark and I would be too tired from driving to run in El Dorado so I went for a run out of Outjo while Roberto had his 7 course lunch and supermarket visit. It was a good move. Hot at 3:30pm but a sudden cloud cover cooled everything down and I found myself running in cool conditions until I got back tot he car. Had a quick “portable” shower at the restaurant toilet and it was on the road again for a final 100k stretch into my African hunting paradise! We pulled into El Dorado right on sunset at 5:36pm - I remember the time because that is what my GPS watch told me. Our hosts Adri and Halen greeted us and I settled into my fantastic stone walled room whilst Roberto and Jacob pitched tent outside. The facilities are first class. The centrepiece is a stonewalled main dining/living room for guests complete with huge fireplace, a complete stuffed male lion, a female lion rug with head and the stuffed heads of all the game on the farm: Kudu, Elan, Springbok and Impala. All the animals in the is room were shot on the farm. The lions came in from Etosha and Adri has recently installed an electric fence to stop more from coming in. He also warmed us not to go walking by ourselves in the property since there could be one lion left before the fence went up! There is a fully stocked bar and pool just outside the living area. There is also soft grass camping grounds with facilities. Tents were $AUD12 per night and rooms $AUD45 per night complete with cooking facilities, coffee/tea, aircon and fridge. For an extra $22AUD per day you can enjoy unlimited buffet brekkie and dinner.

The toilet and shower were actually inside the room with a neck high stone wall surrounding them. Very chic. We all showered and met in the bar (next to the pool) to enjoy some cold “Windhoek Malt” beers with Therese and Peter from Elizabeth Bay in SOUTH AFRICA. They were holidaying in NAMIBIA for two weeks and visiting their early twenties son and daughter in Cape Town before flying back home. An enchanting couple that we spoke with at length about the politics and social circumstances of SOUTH AFRICA including the events of 1994 and the “great exodus” of white South Africans to Perth and Sydney. Dinner was at 7pm and was absolutely spectacular and the best “off-truck” dinner to date. Halen (the owner wife) and her local staff cooked up a home cooked meal that rivalled Greek Easter coming up this Sunday. Tender BBQ Kudu fillets, spinach frittata, corn bake (like potato bake except with corn!), beetroot compote, butternut salad, creamed cabbage. Adri (the owner husband) told us that this was traditional Afikaans cuisine and it was spectacularly delicious. I dropped the Kudu because of Greek Holy Week but the vegetarian accompaniment was the best I have ever had. Roberto and Jacob, who are both meat connoisseurs assure me that the BBQ meat and Biltong was the best they have tasted to date. Full marks. The best off-truck dinner to date!!! And the main reason is HOME COOKED!!! Adri then introduced to us his 18yr old son Derek and we spoke about the “The Hunt” plan for tomorrow. Brekkie at 6:30am and on the ute at 7am. We would pursue Springbok form the back of the ute with some bush walking since they are always moving. If we could not get any by noon then we would head to the water hour and let them come to us for a pretty much guaranteed kill. I was so excited! “Pumper” was about to be reborn...

DAY 168 of 273, Thu 28APR16, 0km, THE HUNT. Rooms “Eldorado Game Farm”, Etosha (Elev 1153m, Solo7) NAMIBIA. Today was the day that Pumper would be re-born! It all started at 6am when I literally “sprung” out of bed like the Springbok I was going to hunt today! This was despite the late night enjoying my midnight chat with my brother and best friend. Today I would make them both proud and hunt my first animal on the African continent. Something I always dreamt of doing during my “pumper” days of a pump action Winchester 12-gauge shot gun at the Harris property in Mudgee. Today, Mudgee AUSTRALIA would be re-born as Etosha NAMIBIA and “Green Hills” would be re-born as “Eldorado”!!! I could hardly contain myself. Brekkie was incredible. Rye bread with raisins toast and shredded cheddar, berry yogurt with fresh cut farm grown melon, farm omelette as yellow as the sun and a variety of home made bacon and cured meats to give a brand new definition to the African word “Bilton”. Before boarding our ute, Derek introduced my to “my little friend” for today, a 308 calibre, bolt-action, 5-in-chamber rifle made by a company called Musgrave in South Africa. It was his father’s gun and was 23 years old with a hardened rubber butt. I forgot the make of the scope (Started with a “K”) but it is from Austria. The weight was good and it was equipped with a silencer that greatly reduced the sound and kick-back. A local guy called Matheus (who lived on the farm) was our tracker and driver although Derek seemed to know just as much. Roberto, Jacob, Derek and I climbed into the ute’s tray and Matheus drove.

Our first stop was the practice range, an open area with metal poles holding a dangling metal plate for target practice. I had 5 shots from the tray using different positions approx 150m away from the target. I hit the plate only once with the last shot - I was too excited and moved the cross-hair around too much. Roberto also had 2 shots but missed both. Derek also missed with my rifle but not with his. He adjusted my scope slightly as a result. Then it was on. We drove 5min to a specific corner of the 6 square kilometre property that was known for Springbok. We saw them but they were too far away. '

Derek, Matheus and I got off the ute and walked. Roberto and Jacob stayed on the ute to keep the noise down. we walked for about 30min before we saw them again. I crawled under a low tree/shrub and supported my rifle muzzle between the v-shaped base branches. Derek was behind me. I could see 4-5 in the scope at a distance of about 200m. They came closer but moved sideways towards a storage shed. I asked for a shot. Derek said “no” because there were staff at the shed and the Springboks were too close. Bummer. We walked back to the ute and started to drive again.

Derek called for support. Some time later, Adri drove by and chatted with his son and Matheus in Afrikaans. He had given us another Springbok location. We drove another few minutes and there they were amongst the bushes and low trees. Adri sure knows his farm. Then the fun started. We pursued 5-6 Springbok with the ute and they travelled in an oval loop in front and behind us. By this time it was about 11am and we had made 4 circuits. I dreamt of this moment many years ago when i would hunt in Mudgee on the Harris farm - wild Africa - running around in the sun chasing exotic animals and enjoying the surrounding landscape. I was here. I was doing it. 

Then it came. The opportunity. The Springboks had stopped behind a very thick series of bushes but had not noticed the ute some 200m away. Derek would have liked to come closer but they were stationery. The larger buck was barley visible through the bushes. Derek gave me the all clear since the “looping” could go on all day. They were running us around! I looked through the scope but could not make out the animal. Just a series of brown lines behind the green of the thicket. Derek assured me that the brown stripes was the back of the buck. I remembered Derek telling me at the rifle range to shoot in the area at the top of the front legs - the heart sits between the two front legs at the upper leg joint of “shoulder”. Boy, I could not see this so I aimed at the highest dark band of brown hoping I could hit the animal up high. Derek was also aiming at the same animal so he could bring it down with a second instantaneous shot if my shot was not a clean kill. I squeezed the trigger. I missed.

I saw a small column of dust come up right above the brown stripe of the animal. Derek, who was watching though his scope, ready to shoot, told me that the bullet had passed just over the top of the animal above the front legs - according to him, if I had aimed at the lower band of lighter brown then I would have scored a clean hit. No matter. It was an adrenaline overdose for me. I had not done this for many years. The bad news was that we could not shoot in this area any more since the animals associate the shot with danger but return the next day because they actually forget! Adri confirmed this - there brain of a Springbok and Impala is quite small and not wired for memory. Bizarre. The good news was that we could continue shooting at the water hole but would have to wait for the animals to arrive and it was much more likely that Impalas would appear long before the Springboks. Adri had told me this when I first met him and advised that the Impala is often larger with better meat so I was happy to go for one if it appeared. We drove to the edge of the property, furthest from the house. Surrounding the small water hole were two 10m towers camouflaged with green mesh and set back about 100m. I called them “the execution towers” - a very clean view and sure bet. The main challenge would be the clean shot. We climbed up one of the towers using a ladder at the back. At the very narrow covered top there were four old chairs with a plank of wood in front to rest tour arms.

A small rectangular slot in the mesh supported the rifle and enabled an elevated view of the water hole. We set ourselves up and waited. Derek sat at the extreme right, then me, then Jacob, then Roberto. We had arrived at around 11:45am and it was about 12:15pm when I spotted the first animal coming out of the bushes to my left. I woke up everyone else. They had all fallen asleep!!! We all slowly and silently positioned our rifles and cameras, both ready to shoot!!! I was quite calm from the waiting and my breathing very shallow. For this reason the cross-hair was hardly moving around at all. My position across the opening with elbow on the plank was also very comfortable and steady.

Six Impalas assembled at the water’s edge and started to drink, constantly looking up around them. Derek whispered “second from left - go”. It was the biggest of the 3 males. The animal was almost side-on. I steadied the cross-hair on the upper knuckle of the front leg as Derek had instructed me. I exhaled, held my breath and squeezed the trigger.

Shot. The animal went down like a sack of potatoes. No movement, no sounds, no twitching. It was 12:26pm. The others ran around like they were confused and then ran off to the right. I reloaded during the commotion but Derek said “that won’t be necessary, the buck is dead - clean shot”. I recall the relief sweeping over me.

I have always only hunted what I am prepared to eat and never want any animal to suffer. Just like an abattoir but out in nature. I never enjoy a kill. I enjoy the silence of the hunt and the closeness to nature. Hunting is not about killing or death. It is about exactly the opposite - life! I also hunt (hardly at all now) to appreciate the value and magic of “life”. In a spilt second this creature turned from a living breathing masterpiece of biological engineering to a lifeless mass of biological material ready to return to the earth. The only difference between the two is “life”. What is “life”? How can we capture it? Preserve it? Reproduce it? And why is it that a human being has the capability to remove life but not to bring it back? These are the questions that confront me as a hunter and as a person. I did not rush down to the animal after the kill. I did not yell and scream.

I patted the superbly shaped and coloured creature on the ground and thanked him for the food he would provide not only for myself but my travelling companions. I remember my dad always saying to me when you hunt and make a kill, thank the animal for providing. In this sense, “kill” is not the right word - “harvest” is the right word. The Impala is a lean mean eating and running machine. It can hold 55km/h for 2min in order to outrun its prey - that is its key defence. In order to do this it has a slender body, incredibly lean muscular hind legs and a bone and joint structure like a kevlar racing road bike!!! The fur has brown, coffee and white bands and is super soft. Derek lifted the animal upright and pointed out the entry and exit wound - the bullet had passed through the exact spot he asked me to target and as a consequence had passed through the heart. “Nice shot”, Derek repeated over and over.

Personally I would have like to have achieved the same in the bush earlier in the day rather than this much easier open shot but I was very happy that the kill was clean and that I could offer my truck companions a “Greek Easter treat”! Instead of lamb, Impala. We were in Africa after all. I was happy to commemorate Easter with my travelling companions in the true tradition of thanksgiving, giving and celebration that defines the Orthodox Easter. Derek phoned for the ute and we arrived back at the homestead around 2pm.

A local staffer called Gideon would guide Jacob to gut and skin our catch at 2:30pm. Gideon had shown Roberto and I the wild animals of Eldorado when we visited during Solo 5 to Etosha. I returned to my room to start cleaning and downloading the many photos and film that Roberto and my GoPro had taken. We all met back in the “skinning room” which I called “the house of slaughter”.

As the shooterI was given the traditional role of making the first incisions  to open up the animal. Jacob then took over with the gutting and skinning. He had never done this before and wanted to experience it himself. This was one of the main reasons he wanted to travel with us. I was glad that he could experience something new. During the next 30min he looked like a man with a mission. A surgeon. Given his heavy framed glasses and intense stares and concentration. Gideon did a great job guiding him through the whole process and make no mistake, Jacon transformed what was once an intact animal into a hanging carcass of fine lean meat. Gideon estimated 21kg of meat from a 55kg intact animal. (Photo below: my lovely Impala catch, fresh and tender!)

Jacob regularly lifts weights for exercise and when he lifted the animal he reckons it could be up to 25kg of meat. Dark meat - almost dark purple. Gideon would now freeze the whole carcass overnight and use the straight saw to cut into steaks and cutlets for BBQ only. Gideon then guided Jacob to run salt on the inside of the skin and set it out in the sun for drying. It would take 4 days so we organise to pick it up on Sunday when the truck would pass right outside Eldorado on its way to Etosha. Jacob was very happy.

It was now time for showers. We were sunburnt, scratched by the many bushes that hit the ute, thirsty, hungry and bloodied from carrying,the animal. We then met in the bar at around 4pm to enjoy some beers and talk about our experience. I also interviewed Adri about the farm in the glow of the setting sun. He is not a talker but seemed to enjoy it. For me this hunt was the realisation of a long held dream and was a great experience on Eldorado - Derek and Matheus had done a fine job.

Although this hunt is my second best experience behind “Nigerian Elvis” it bumped up NAMIBIA to number one overall best country, given the sheer number of fantastic experiences and landscapes that I had expressed in this country. Dinner was another superlative event. The guys had kudu schnitzel but the selection of vegetarian dishes was terrific. Creamed corn and spinach and chips formed the centrepiece. I then called up mum and both Nicks to tell them about my hunt. An experience that will stay with me for a long time… Pumper was re-born!

DAY 169 of 273, Fri 29APR16, 498km, GREAT AND HOLY FRIDAY - GREEK EASTER. Rooms “Eldorado Game Farm”, Etosha (Elev 1153m, Solo7, Run6) to Hotel “Swakopmund Rest Camp (Municipal Bungalows)” Swakopmund NAMIBIA. What a great run today. I guess the satisfaction of the hunt had a lot to do with it. By the time I sat down to brekkie at 9am, Gideon had long ago finished cutting and packing our Impala into the truck’s smaller esky. He had finished at 7:30am and it was jammed packed! Jacob carried it to the car as a form of exercise and still reckons it was more like 25kg, maybe more! We all paid our bills and congratulated Halen and Adri on a first class experience. I had paid a total of $AUD285 for my hunt including the cost of the animal meat and its processing. Another $AUD67 per night covered my accommodation and all food. Not bad. This was a place I would be very glad to come back to and highly recommend it to others. It would actually be superb for an overland truck. It is only 10km from the Etosha Andersson gate and has animals and activities of its own. Our drive back began around 10am and we arrived at 4pm, much earlier than we expected. We travelled back along a different route so we could enjoy more of NAMIBIA’S fabulous and varied landscapes. our only stop was at Omaruru for a coffee. We were keen to get back to catch up with our fellow travellers and enjoy another Swakop sunset together. Andi and Grant loved the meat and packed it away - it was still very frozen. We would have this meat tomorrow, Greek Easter Sunday and Monday. I would cook on Sunday for Greek Easter and would make a big Greek Salad and buy heaps of tsaziki to go with the meat. Riza was glad to see us and it was great to see “the culture club" reunited. I returned the hire car whilst Roberto and Riza went for a run. Later we made the mandatory expedition to Beryl’s to catch up on gossip! We were all ready for the next instalment of out trip. (Photos below are an early start on Spitzkoppe Daye 171).

DAY 170 of 273, Sat 30APR16, 0km, GREAT AND HOLY SATURDAY - GREEK EASTER. Hotel “Swakopmund Rest Camp (Municipal Bungalows)” Swakopmund (Run7) NAMIBIA. Today was a rest day, wash day and blog day. I got up at 9am and washed some clothes and dropped off my sleeping back at the laundrette to be cleaned. Walked up to Beryl’s for a coffee and toast but for some unknown only my Mac could not access the internet so I tried the German Brewhouse nearby. Still no internet access. Then I remembered the that the ATM guy at Solitaire had fiddled with my TCP/IP settings so I checked it out - it had been set to “Using DCPH with manual setting” - I set it back to “Using DHCP” (automatic) and presto - it worked! I even went back to Beryl’s to check and it worked there too! Called mum, Nick and Bundy and sent a bunch of emails for Greek Easter tomorrow since I would not get any more internet fir 3-4 days since we were bush camping.

I was glad to do this because it connected me to my favourite part of the year - I had never been away from home over Easter in my life! Went for a run when I got back around 1pm and I stacked it! Tripped over a rock since I had to run on the gravel shoulder of the road. Minimum injury to my palms. After a nice hot shower (it was cold outside for the run) I resumed blogging this post and prepared all my photos to add to it in 3 days when we leave NAMIBIA for BOTSWANA. I met Roberto and Riza for drinks and gossip at Beryl’s at 5pm and we all got back at 6:30pm in time to cook the first of our Impala with Jacob. Tonight was a “do your own thing for dinner” night but I had invited everyone to eat Impala. Sadly I could not participate since the fast was still on but a total of 10 people including Roberto, Riza and Jacob partook of the lean dark red (almost purple) meat. We struggled a little with the fire since we had no kindling but I managed to get it going and hot enough for rice as well as the meat. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the Impala. I saved the best cuts for tomorrow when we would all celebrate Greek Easter. Only 3 of the 17 people refused to eat the Impala “because of the way it was killed” - no commentary here - I though it fair to mention it and only what was said.

DAY 171 of 273, Sun 1MAY16, 170km, GREEK EASTER SUNDAY. Hotel “Swakopmund Rest Camp (Municipal Bungalows)” Swakopmund to Bush Camp at “Spitzkoppe” Conservancy (Elev 1069m) NAMIBIA. Today was not only the first day of May but my favourite day of the year - Greek Easter Sunday. A day of celebration, a day of fine food and drink with the whole family. Instead of Greek Lamb on the Spit with family, tonight it would be African Impala on the Fire with my travelling companions. I am glad I could offer something up for Greek Easter. Greek Easter 2016 came to me in Swakopmund NAMIBIA - how strange! I would never have believed it a few years ago! At least we did not spend all day today driving. After our cook shop in Swakop, we left at 10am and arrived at Mt Spitzkoppe (Elev 1759m) at 2pm.

The mountain is very stark, with many exposed weathered extensions and orange in colour. It is accompanied by two other smaller mountains, Pontok and Sugarloaf, one on either side. Together these mountains create a unique landscape of coloured rock of every shade of yellow, orange and red contrasting against a deep blue cloudless sky. Our camp site (number 13) was against some giant sandstone monoliths at the base of Pontok. A small toilet is set up at each site but no showers or power. A private company runs these “camping spots” plus a proper camping facility with reception, restaurant, bar, toilet/shower facilities at the entrance to the “conservatory”. They are in the process of building very fancy, architect designed chalets which will take another 3yrs. It was way too hot for activity so some of the group camped at our spot so that we would not loose it while we rode with the truck back the restaurant. This whole area is called a “conservatory” as opposed to a “national park” or “reserve”. The main difference being that construction can still take place in designated areas. We relaxed over a coffee but it was crap and I had to make it because there was only one lady working and she was overwhelmed by a bunch of tourists ordering lunch.

She was dressed like she was going to church or had just been - complete with a hat! She operated at 1km/h. TIA. Riza, Sharon, Theresa and I had signed up for a 2hr sunset horse ride around the conservatory. At 3:30pm we started to walk back to our camp site since we would be picked up here in 15min but we were incorrectly advised about the distance and the horse riding ute picked us up on the road. Lucky I always have my camera with me! We set out at 4:20pm on five horses. Mine was a eight year old chestnut male called “Tosso”. Not exactly the name I expected or wanted, especially if he got it for a reason! I was proven wrong. He was a gentle natured animal and very responsive. After a few minutes of riding I was reminded of my 3 days of riding in Uruguay where I learned to saddle my own horse and got up to galloping stage. I decided to let Tosso rip a bit and it certainly took me back to that ranch in 2011!

The sun was setting at 5:35pm and by now its soft glow grew on the monolithic mountains of Spitzkoppe creating a serial, relaxing and inspiring environment. We arrived at the famous “arch rock” only 10min before sunset and climbed tot he top for an outstanding view in front of us out to the dead plan flat plains of the Namib Desrt and Spitzkoppe behind us - glowing orange!!! Fabulous. A geographical paradise. From here it was back to the reception area some 4km away. Having left the arch at 5:50pm and riding very slowly because Theresa’s horse was very old, we got caught in the darkness but it was worth it. Overhead the entire milky way opened up with Saturn and Jupiter featuring. The temperature was terrific, like a summers night, with cool dry breeze. We got back to reception at 6:40pm but there was no ute organised to take us to our camp as agreed. By the time one was organised with one of the locals from the Spiztkoppe township, it was 7:30pm when we arrived at camp.

Riza and I were on cook group that night with Roberto so I could make my giant Greek salad and Greek red eggs to celebrate todays Greek Easter. I had the shits. Roberto was a champ. He had already cooked his rice and made my salad. I put my finishing touches to it and then everyone cooked their own mountain of soft, dark red, fatless Impala. It was delicious. I had waited so many days to taste it. Very tender. We ate mainly the leg chops because they were nice and big in size. We still had fillet, ribs and rump to go. We would be eating my little Impala for the next 2 days! What a strange way to celebrate Greek Easter. In NAMIBIA surrounded by the rocks of Spitzkoppe! I even had Greek Easter Eggs to prove it. I made them after dinner. Riza boiled them up and then Andi helped me paint them using a red food dye that Riza found in the cake section of the Pick and Pay supermarket in Swakop. We would have the eggs at lunch tomorrow. Tonight I decided to sleep early given cook group rise and my run at 7:30am. 

DAY 172 of 273, Mon 2MAY16, 142km, Bush Camp at “Spitzkoppe” Conservancy (Elev 1069m, Run8) to Bush Camp at Brandberg Nature Reserve 7km west Uis (Elev 488m) NAMIBIA. Riza beat me to it! I was all set to the light the brekkie fire at 6am and it was already going! Riza could not sleep again. She woke at 5:30am and lit it. By 6:30am brekkie was ready - half an hour early! At 7:30am a group of people went on a guided walk of the conservancy and I went on my run! We pulled out at 8:45am bound for Mt Brandberg (Elev 2573m), the highest in NAMIBIA. A quick food & coffee stop in Uis and it was not long until we arrived into the Brandberg Reserve around 1pm.

We had more Impala for lunch and then rested until 3pm when three of us set out for a 2hr walk along Cheetah Valley which leads to the “White Lady” Rock Engravings where the summit of Mt Brandberg is also visible. We walked along the river bed since it has not rained here in 2yrs so access was easy. Most of the surrounding rock is pink granite with white granite and glassy black shale in lesser proportions. There are many fallen trees, knocked over by elephants looking for water as evidenced by their huge trails of pool!

There are some trees with green leaves that add colour to the reds and browns of the rocks. There are many “dry waterfalls”, large smooth curvy rocks lined up like steps. The rock engravings are all on one granite wall exposed to the air (not in a cave). They are between 1000 and 5000 yrs old. The “White Lady” is the most famous but sadly she is a he!

When it was discovered by a French Archaeologist in 1917, he mistakingly figured it for a female figure and named it after a “white European” woman he knew because of the colours of the face and clothes. Turns out that it is a medicine man running towards a heard of Oryx, also visible in the engravings. The only impressive feature of the engravings are the red and white colours still very vibrant and visible after all those years. On our way back we saw tons of small “rock dassies” running around. There use to be a lot of cheetah’s in this valley eating these critters, hence the valley name, but they have abandoned this valley due to the lack of water. Rock Dassies are like large hamsters and actually belong tot he elephant family! Do not know why? They look like large hamsters to me and they certainly have a snout and nose instead of a truck! Boy, some of these scientists are cooky! We camped only a couple of kilometres down the road amongst some trees with Brandberg and its valley clearly visible and providing and awesome backdrop. Tonight we cooked the last of the Impala, enough also for lunch tomorrow. In total this fine Impala provided 5 meals over 3 days for 14 people. Not bad. Tonight was hot so many stayed up later than usual.

DAY 173 of 273, Tue 3MAY16, 214km, Bush Camp at Brandberg Nature Reserve 7km west Uis (Elev 488m) to Facility Camp “Sendelang Cheetah Farm”, 31km east of Kamajab (Elev 1311m, Run9) NAMIBIA. Mt Brandberg looks terrific under the glow of a rising sun. We were on our way at 7:30am and travelled north towards Kamajab along a white dusty road that we had experienced on our solo trips. This was my second time in Kamajab which is famous for its game meats. The Kudu and Oryx from here is so tender it can be eaten raw like sushi! Our first taste of this meat was from this town! Many many older locals had gathered here today. It was pension payment day.

From Kamanjab it was only another 45min to the “Sendelang Cheetah Farm”. Given we arrived at 1pm and our Cheetah visit would be at 3:30pm I decided to run now. Hot but bearable. Ran back through the length of the 7,000 hectare (7 sq km) farm, careful not to run into the Cheetah enclosures by accident! The shower after two days of running without water was fabulous but the Cheetah encounter was even better! Marcos, the middle of the three farm brothers came by with his ute and trailer and scooped us up at 3:30pm, as planned, to take us on the ultimate “Cheetah Encounter”! And what an encounter it was!

First stop was Marco’s  farmhouse where three tame cheetahs meandered through his family and our crowd including woman and children! Just big cats but you still had to take care. Touch only on the head and back. Nothing low. Do not step on the tail. I set to work. I wanted teeth on my arm and I got it to everyones absolute horror!!! The second largest, a female, started to play with me, biting both arms and scrapping her paws along both legs. I felt her teeth on both arms. She left two deep impressions but no good  I was happy. Then she actually scraped my leg and made it bleed - that its! I bled by a big cat - a Cheetah!!!

I was in Heaven - mission accomplished!!! A cat ate me!!! So there. After this things got better. We got back on the trailers and went into the depths of the farm to see the wild Cheetahs catch dead donkey meat in full-flight! It was better than a 3-D movie! A total of 8 Cheetahs sailing through the air to get their piece of existence for the day!  But without being too cynical, this family and this farm has saved several hundred Cheetahs that farmers would have otherwise shot!  Good work! There are a total of 23 cheetahs on this farm and this family has saved hundreds. Cheetahs live 10-12yrs in the wild and up to 20yrs in captivity. They are graceful animals with slender bodies and a magnificent coat. The photos in this blog bare all the witness! Back at camp there was nothing more logical to do than to go to the bar and have a cold beer! Then it was pure photos and blogging to produce this post for upload tomorrow. The only thing more exhilarating than this was the raw Kudo that I had for dinner marinated with fresh garlic. Wow. Raw meat. Not even minced. Go eat your collective hearts out fans of Steak Ta Ta. I worked into the wee hours to  perfect this post which is actually one of my favourites considering the “intimate wildlife photos I got with the cheetahs today”. I slept like a baby with satisfaction...

 

DAY 174 of 273, Wed 4MAY16, 244km, Facility Camp “Sendelang Cheetah Farm”, 31km east of Kamajab (Elev 1311m) to Facilities Camp “Halali Resort”, Halali Etosha National Park (Elev 1133m) via Okaukeujo Resort (Run10) NAMIBIA. What a fabulously last night. I put on my Etihad eye shades because I knew sunrise was at 6:16am and I was rising at 6:30am. Temperature was perfect. We were Etosha bound at 7:30am. This was my third visit in a month and will cook up a total of 8 days. I am now a veteran of Etosha. It is a good park. A large variety of animals and easy to self-navigate - perfect for a family who cannot afford multiple organised safaris. Our route took us through white gravel roads and landscapes that looked like Eldorado - flat, low-line scrub with distance ridges. Semi-desert. No towns or stops except for Eldorado to pick up the skin of the Impala that I had shot.

We got there around 11:30am and Adri was there to greet us - we had SMSed him earlier in the day to say that we were coming. Much to my surprise the truck pulled in and drove the 1km from the road to the farmhouse. Only Thierry and Hannes came to see the skin along with myself and Jacob. It was quite progressed. The fur was mainly soft and the underside quite dry. The whole thing was as stiff as a board. Then the surprise. Adri told us that we needed a permit to take the skin out of NAMIBIA. This permit took 7 days to get in Windhoek. Game over. Jacob and I wondered exceedingly why Adri had not told us this when we were last there. A bit disappointing given that we dragged our whole group here but at least I got to say “hi” to Gideon and Derek. It was good too that Andi/Grant had a chance to look over the place for future options. We arrived at the Okaukeujo Resort at 11:45am.

We were lunching here and leaving at 1:30pm so I went into action to post this blog - no luck! The internet provider was down since yesterday night. No internet! TIA! At that moment I decided to go for a run since I would no opportunity this arvo or tomorrow. It was hard. It was very hot and the run was boring because I had to run on the inside of the compound - 4 times. Nevertheless I was off the hook to run and hopefully Halali would have internet for tonight. Our safari from Okaukeuja to Halali was terrific. First thing we saw were 2 male lions under agree about 150m from the truck at our usual favourite water hole of Nebrowni. This is where we have seen almost all of our lions on previous encounters. I did not take many photos since I have so many already - just looked for the odd photo that was unusual - two animals fighting or kissing and of course the ultimate - a kill!!!

The place looked drier than before and the heat and dust came with rage. The new people really enjoyed themselves and it was amusing watching them shrill at the their first sighting of each animal and the scampering to take photos - that was us about a month ago. They were even luckier since there were only 13 in the back and 7 of us were not that active since we had photographed everything before. So only 6 people were active compared to 19 when we went through. Big difference. Saw most of the animals that I listed at the start of this post. The highlight was hundreds of zebras and springbok marching past us from left to right - it was exactly like one of these great migrations that you see on TV! I am glad we got to see that live and literally next to us! It was 5:30pm when we arrived in Halali and I was beat. Still,I picked myself up and my wine, cheese and olives and headed to the water hole to catch the sunset crowd! There was a mum, dad and baby Black Rhinos and it was not long until an elephant joined them. Otherwise very quiet. Jacob came down at 6:30pm to let me know that dinner was ready - a world record time! Tonight we enjoyed the last of our Kudu that we bought in Kamanjab. It was fillet and I ate half blue and half raw. Easily the finest, softest, leanest meat that I have ever had - period! This would be a lasting memory and we would not eat Kudu or Oryx again! I watched a film tonight since I was not running tomorrow and needed to charge my hard cell battery. It was a crap movie but a great night alone - I needed that!

 

DAY 175 of 273, Thu 5MAY16, 247km, Facility Camp “Halali Resort”, Halali Etosha National Park (Elev 1133m) to Bush Camp “Giant Baobab Tree” 42km east of Tsintsabis (Elev 1186m) NAMIBIA. Another good sleep but too short. Up at 5:30am to start a sunrise safari through Etosha from Halali to Namutoni in the east. The animals were a little more spread out and at-a-distance today. Our early morning safari focused on Goas Water Hole since the guys book reported some Leopards in this area. Sadly we did not see this shy and hard-to-spot creature - they spend a lot of time in trees! Sunrise was great, happening behind a vast long and thick amalgamation of cloud throwing down rays if “heavenly” light. The grassland also came up golden yellow with hews of green against the blue-grey cloud and golden sun rays streaming down. Quite a site apart from the wildlife. There were also more birds today. We stopped for breakfast just after visiting “Etosha Lookout” where many of the new people took the classic special effects photos - the most clever was 6 of our females running out of an empty Pringles chip container.

On our previous visit, I had gotten Yuki to hold a tiny Doug in the palm of his hand. The possibilities are endless! Then our second stroke of luck came. There were a number of cars parked ahead. This could only mean one thing. Cats. Affirmative. There were three Cheetahs. One under one tree and two under another. They were lying down resting with little movement. Also a bit far at over 200m. Not the best photos but good to see them in the wild.At one stage the single Cheetah stood up vertically using the tree to support his front paws - he watched some Zebra and Ostriches in the distance. It was a good result. Lions on day 1 and Cheetahs on day 2. Pity about the Leopard. Our lunch stop was at Namutoni. Spent only an hour there. Still no WIFI. This is very disappointing. Etosha is a world famous park but sadly not world class.

Not only is there no internet installed in 2 of 3 lodges but the restaurants often run out of food and the small grocery stores are poorly stocked and close before sunset, when people are still out on safari - not good! They need to clean up their act. As we travelled to the east gate I wondered when I would put up this post. We had two days of bush camps ahead and only one smaller town before our next facility camp. I got anxious. My backup was to ask Dan to hotspot his phone - he agreed. We drove due east from the Linquist Gate of Etosha headed for the border at Dobe below “The Caprivi Strip” which is a narrow rectangular strip of NAMIBIA much like a pan handle, sandwiched between ANGOLA in the north and BOTSWANA in the south. An odd shape that was part of a settlement deal with ANGOLA during the South African exodus. The landscape now started to change as we headed east. Less desert and more grassland with trees, even palms.

At around 3:30pm we stopped to pee and collect more wood. Our camp tonight was a bit of a novelty - 700m from a giant Baobab Tree.This tree is the symbol of NAMIBIA and probably Africa. There a huge Baobabs all over Africa. They have enormous solid trunks theat can reach 30m in diameter and 20m tall. They are very resilient trees and can live up to 3000yrs. The one we visited was 20m in diameter and over 500yrs old. Amazing. True time machines. Legend has it that if you drink the juice of its verbs trunk you will gain enormous strength. The evening was very pleasant, cool and dry and we got a great opportunity to chat to Andi about her family and life in NZ. Since Cape Town the weather has been very comfortable and I have been enjoying the pop-up tent immensely. Its ventilation and view of the sky is terrific. This will be great when we get to the tropics again. It is also quite cozy. The biggest benefit is no set up - just chuck in the air and a very quick pack-up - 10sec to fold. This gives me back tons of time. Fingers crossed on this good weather continuing as it did for us in the west. Tomorrow we would leave my favourite country to date of NAMIBIA and head into wild BOTSWANA...

PS: INTERESTING FACT ON AFRICA: 

The most popular non-Western, non-mainstream foods in Africa are: Agouli (large rat-ilke rodent), Giant Land Snails, Mopane Worms (giant caterpillars).

PPS: DETAILS ON ELDORADO GAME FARM: Address: Farm Eldorado, Outfo District, 10km south of the Andersson Gate of Etosha National Park near Okaukuejo and 90km north of Outjo heading towards Okaukuejo, GPS: S19d41m29s E15d93m49s, Owners: Adri and Hanel Pienaar, Cell: 081 302 2290, Tel: 067 33 3421, Email: Chanel@iway.na