It's 6am, pitch black outside and rainy. We've just crossed the border into South Africa, 640km from Cape Town after 11days in Namibia. We could definitely have spent longer there, even if it is mainly a landscape of sand and dust! Until last night my hair and clothes were caked in a fine layer of the stuff and even our bags stashed away in the lockers had a layer of sand on them.
We've left Often, our tents and the truck at our lovely final campsite- Felix Unite with its beautiful green grass and gorgeous pool overlooking the Orange River, shame it was too cold to swim. I don't like goodbyes and as such am feeling a little teary. Often let me ride up the front of the truck with him yesterday. We danced in our seats to African music as the world passed by and became increasingly greener as we headed towards Orange River.
Fish River Canyon is the second largest in the world after The Grand Canyon and was quite an impressive sight. Unfortunately the Namibian government now prohibits day hikes into the canyon and you can only get permits to complete 5 day hikes. Shame as that would have been good. We spent an hour walking along the viewing track peering down and making do with simply taking photos.
The day before we had taken in sunrise at Sesriem Canyon near to the Sossusvlei dunes. In comparison it was tiny and Tony and I both agreed, a little underwhelming. It was still nice to walk down into the bottom of it though and watch the sunrise change the colours of the stone and cast shadows.
During our time in Namibia we cruised the Skeleton Coast, so called due to the number of shipwrecks which have occurred here due to the rough Atlantic waters and heavy sea mists. On the journey there it was freezing, in part due to us keeping the beach open so we could look out at the spectacular scenery. The result of keeping it open was that a beach actually accumulated in the truck with Dave writing 'Help' in the sand at one point. The others who were not on the beach with us were non too impressed as they perished in the cold and looked rather windswept. We were cold too but wrapped ourselves in sleeping bags.
We stopped at several look out points on the coast bracing the cold winds and even daring to paddle my feet in the icy water. The last time we had seen the sea was about five weeks earlier when we left the Indian Ocean on the east coast of Africa, and now we were on the west coast with weather and beaches more akin to Northumberland. No bad thing in my view!
We visited the Cape Cross Seal Reserve where there must have been thousands of seals on the sand and in the surrounding water. The smell and sound of them was quite something. Even with Vicks vapour rub under our noses to block out the stench, it was all I could smell for hours to come.
We stayed at a campsite in Henties Bay that resembled a pontins in the 1980s, and which was shrouded in sea mist the entire time. Upon arrival we ate the nicest fish and chips with calamari rings and coleslaw I've ever eaten. That night Alun, Often & Adam cooked us oryx fillets for dinner which allowed us to head off to the only place where we spotted any sign of life in the town, the bar, so that we could watch the rugby.
During half time we took a walk down to the beach which had a water slide but had no running water, further adding to the feel this was an out of season tourist town.
We left Henties Bay and drove towards Spitzkoppe, further inland where once again the temperatures soared as we hit the desert. Spitzkoppe is a huge red rock formation, springing out of the desert floor. It's known as the Matterhorn of Africa due to its alleged resemblance to the Matterhorn of Europe. After a hot walk we returned to the truck for peanut butter pancakes and a hike up a cliff face to get better views of the area, before setting off once again towards a relaxing three days in Swakopmund. Relaxing that is other then for the skydive, which was anything but! Tony also took his flight over the Namib desert and the coast, heading south from Swakopmund getting to see the skeleton coast from the air, including Sandwich Bay where the rough atlantic waters crash against a very tall vertical wall of sand. Beyond that the dunes of the desert start. I'm not quite sure how wall of sand doesn't erode so much that the whole land falls away.
Upon arrival in Swakopmond we left the truck and stayed by ourselves in a sweet little b&b and spent the days looking in gift shops and drinking nice coffee. We ate at three lovely restaurants, getting dressed up for dinner rather than living in our usual travelling gear. I even splashed out £2.50 on some earings as I hadn't packed any jewellery.
We discovered when heading out to buy some lovely gifts we'd seen that on Saturday afternoon everything closes for the weekend and the town becomes absolutely deserted, other than in the supermarket where it is heaving. It was unfortunate we chose this time to buy our lunch and do our gift shopping! The temperature was much cooler, preparing us in a way for Cape Town where the weather forecast is showing it being 16degrees and raining. :-(
From Swak we drove south towards Sussesvlei, home to the tallest sand dunes in the world. You look at them and think they will take no time at all to climb. Mistake! We climbed Dune 45, the tallest of them all. It was tiring work and over an hour into the unrelenting steep climb, trainers filled with sand, we still hasn't reached the very top, despite passing three false summits. We sat on the cool sand, cracked open a Windhoek beer which Adam had packed and prepared to watch the beautiful sunset. I started singing 'don't let the sun go down in me' by Elton John. It just so happened Adam had this on his iPhone and so we sat there listening to it as the sun descended in front of us and behind us, the full moon rose.
We could have explored the desert area further for another couple of days but we didn't have time and so we left for eight hours in the truck en route to Fish River Canyon, unfortunately not camping there but stopping an hour and a half way at Naute dam where there was nothing to do. Dave and I were cooking. I'm sure we are jinxed as when it's our turn to cook, the winds pick up and keep blowing the gas out making dinner take twice as long.
Never mind, we have left the truck and cook duty behind and in two days time we set out on further adventures by ourselves, leaving our truck buddies and travelling South Africa alone before heading to Nepal.
Now though, we're speeding along in a minivan towards Stellenbosch. Only 400km or so to go. Tonight I think we are going to go to Ernie Els restaurant, the Big Easy. When I told Tony about it I said it was owned by Bernie Ellis. Another example of how good I am with names!

It's now 2pm and we're only a few miles outside of the Cape wine lands. It's like driving through England with rolling green fields. We've also spotted the first McDonald's of the trip. It made me sad. Whilst multinational corporations are present in Africa with Coca Cola sponsoring everything they can so that every bar front in looks the same in a mass of red and white,for me it is McDonald's which really signifies westernisation and the loss of individuality.
South Africa is so vastly different from any of the other African countries we have travelled through and I'm already starting to miss what I perceive to be 'real Africa' with the hustle and bustle, road side stalls selling chicken and chips, fruit and everything else you could possibly need, and groups of people at the side of the road waving to us as we pass.
In two weeks time we will be leaving this beautiful continent and I know I'll miss it. I don't think it will be the last time we travel here, Ethiopia and Mozambique are already calling our names!