Who Do You Support?

We’ve noticed a few familiar fashions here in the form of sports jerseys. Deciding to keep track and selecting which team to support (K- Man U, H- the Gunners) we have some early results.

Manchester United – 9
Arsenal – 4
Liverpool – 2
New York Yankees – 1

Tsodilo Hills

Botswana
March 4th, 2009

The Tsodilo Hills are mentioned in every guide book as a must see in Botswana and thus we decided that we must see it too. Finding the road on the GPS and following a few randomly located signs we made our way. Arriving at the World Heritage site we read about the spiritual and archaeological significance of the area. This area is believed by some to be the site of creation. People have inhabited the area since 800 A.D. and the rock paintings are as old as 3,000. There are over 4,000 paintings across more than 400 different sites. The overall atmosphere of the place is the most memorable thing about it. It’s amazingly calm and peaceful and is a place of reflection. Our guide Ollie took us around the female hill (there is also a male and a child hill) pointing out paintings and areas where the original people lived including bits of pottery they have found. It was amazing.

On our way out, after preparing some peanut butter bread, a group of people sitting underneath a tree waved us over. They wanted a ride to the main road. We politely said we didn’t really have room as the back was filled with jerry cans, oil and various other items. As it turns out ‘room’ is defined culturally. When you’ve been waiting for a lift underneath a tree for half a day, an inch is sufficient. We moved everything around and squeezed a woman, man and child in. Sharing our resources we enjoyed peanut butter sarnies and water. The baby loved hers, ended up a right mess and once she finished she dozed off. Adorable. Making our way on the road, another man with a donkey flagged us down. Now we seriously didn’t have any space. Luckily he just wanted some water. Karel passed over his water bottle and the man guzzled it. He then proceeded to have a discussion with the other man in the back of the car for about five minutes. Perhaps we’ll start our own taxi service.

Operation Nessie

March 4th, 2009

Filling the car with much needed diesel from our trusty jerry cans after leaving the park we felt proud of our foresight. Karel was just finishing and took out the jerry cans, however nozzle had become too comfortable and decided a life just inside the petrol tank pipe was much nicer than his life inside a plastic bag in a spares box. Attempting to remove it with all sorts of kitchen utensils, knifes, forks, you name it and an assortment of tools, we were at a loss. The next town we were due to be in had a garage so we decided to enquire as to what to do. Advice given by a toothless mechanic (yes, seriously) was to just leave it, it wouldn’t do any harm. We were fine with that, but when we went to fill up at a fuel station the attendant was unable to get the nozzle properly down the tank. He could fill up but not without a massively annoying beeping of the tank warning that something wasn’t quite kosher. This wasn’t on. We had to remove it somehow. Karel came up with a plan. Fashioning a tool from a braai/carving fork and some tape, he began to work. Five minutes later and Operation Nessie was a success!

Etosha

March 1st, 2009

Our next stop was Etosha, one of Namibia’s National Parks. We woke up early and were the first to arrive at the gates. The park definitely lived up to its reputation of beauty. We saw huge herds of springbok, giraffe and zebra. The zebra were especially amazing as they moved around nodding their heads up and down and occasionally baring their teeth. They also snuggled each other by placing their heads on the dip of the other’s back, almost like hugging one another.

In the afternoon we saw a large group of lions. There were supposedly fourteen in the group, but we only saw twelve- all lionesses and cubs. They didn’t stay around for long and basically just crossed the road and heading out for a hunt. We were lucky enough to see them the next morning as well. This time they were closer to the road, resting after a busy night and we were able to watch them for 30 minutes.

The most memorable moment of the park was meeting an elephant. Taking Rhino Drive, one of the few side roads open (again due to massive rainfalls), we drove. Tracking the elephant due to its massive fresh poo we drove along. At last we spotted him. He didn’t look super excited to see us and just looked at us for a few moments before continuing his feeding. He peed a few times (which strongly smells of the circus interestingly enough) and moved forward. As did we. He stopped, looked at us, I told Karel we needed to go, Karel responded by snapping more pics, then the elephant stepped towards us a few times and we reversed the car in a hurry. It was a total adrenaline moment with us having heart rates higher than ever before.

Petrified Forest

Near Twyfelfontein, Namibia
February 28th, 2009

After a peaceful night’s rest camping in the bush, we decided to check out the Petrified Forest noted on our map and on Tracks for Africa, our handy GPS. We noted signs with arrows indicating the forest and were both a bit sceptical about them. As it was still early there wasn’t anyone around so we had our own self-guided tour. The wooden rocks were interesting but didn’t quite match what we had read about it.

After our tour we met some other Over Landers. After some good coffee and discussion we went on our way. About five to ten kms later we noticed much more official looking postings for the Petrified Forest. We then became aware that several entrepreneurs had created their own versions of the official forest.

The official P.F. was very beautiful with massive petrified wood trunks up to ten metres long and one metre wide on display. You were even able to see the tree rings on some of the rocks. We also got to see welwichzia plants which grow up to two thousand years and are either male or female.

Namibia Rocks

Twyfelfontein, Namibia
February 27th, 2009

In search of the desert adapted elephant and rhino we headed for the Brandberg Mountains. Arriving in the area we noted how un-desert like the area seemed and questioned the desertness of the elephants. It was quite lush and green. Still optimistic for a sighting we drove around for ages specifically near the riverbeds and ended up asking a few locals whether or not they knew of the whereabouts of the mammals. According to the residents the recent rains have made the area too wet for the elephants and they think the elephants are more around the Twyfelfontein area. We were also warned that the animals are very difficult to spot.

Somewhat disappointed we drove in the direction of Twyfelfontein. The gravel roads weren’t in great condition due to the heavy rains received so we dodged massive craters and managed to stay on the parts of the road which weren’t washed away due to water erosion. Following a few road diversions due to dry river crossing roads which weren’t what I’d call dry, we arrived at the Twyfelfontein lodge. No elephant sightings. Climbing out of the car and towards the lodge we noted the amazing rock engravings of animals near the entrance. After thoroughly enjoying a cold one at the bar, we decided to go to the nearby ‘gallery’ of rock art. This certainly didn’t disappoint.

The World Heritage site was spectacular to say the least. A picture says a thousand words, but an experience like this makes one speechless. I will however try my best to capture the moment for you. The surrounding area is still and calm, with rich red and brown rocky hills and green rocky lowlands. Tall dark and pale green grass grow beside tidy dirt paths edged with fist sized rocks which lead to different areas of carvings. Some of the carvings are circular, symmetrical patterns and others depict animals including lion and giraffe. These works of art are approximately 2,000 to 3,000 years old. Absolutely awe inspiring.

p.s. Also had our third snake encounter here, Karel saw a snake on the rocky part of the path and said ‘move back snake’ which I took as ‘look closer a snake’ hence the photo

Google It

You may wonder whether or not conversation comes to a standstill when you spend 24/7 with one person. The answer is surprisingly not, well at least not yet. The topics of discussion do become increasingly, well I’m not quite sure what the word is perhaps unique, interesting or bizarre, take your pick. Anyways such we have created a ‘Google’ list in the car where the unanswerable queries are documented and then researched at various internet cafes (only after a quick peek at Perez Hilton of course). Our top three questions (and I do hope you enjoy them) are what nationality is Enya, is there a difference between bucket and pail, and my personal favourite just how tall is Tom Sellick.