Fish River Canyon The drive from Aus to the Fish River Canyon took us through a wide flat plain, then up onto a wide, flat plateau. Even bigger wide, flat mesas surrounded us. Only a few black-faced sheep or the occasional sighting of the strangely shaped Quiver Tree broke the monotony of the landscape. The Quiver Tree has an odd bulbous, pale, pock-marked trunk (as if it is practising to be a Baobab when it grows up), strappy yellow-green leaves reaching sky...

<!-- @page { size: 21.59cm 27.94cm; margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> Lüderitz, Kolmanskop and Diaz Point Lüderitz is another German town caught in a time warp. It sits at the northern end of the huge restricted diamond fields which run from the South African border all along the coast to here and inland a few hundred kilometres. Once, diamonds could be picked up off the ground and, even today, there are diamonds being mined just ...

From Swakopmund to the Dunes Swakopmund is a German town stuck in Africa. Here German is spoken more than either English or Africaans, or probably even the local language! It's a tourist town but a pleasant enough town to stop for a couple of days and have a break from camping and being on the road. We stayed in a guesthouse B and B – real beds, ensuite bathroom, electricity! Swakopmund is right on the sea and small enough to wander everywhere on foot. Pe...

To the Skeleton Coast We had been told by other travellers on the road and by locals in small towns where we refuelled that, because of the recent thunderstorms, many of the usually dry creeks were swollen and therefore many of the roads were blocked. There are not many bridges over watercourses in Namibia, and the wide gravel roads simply dip into the creek beds. So, we headed south and west, with the dark clouds and lightning of thunderstorms all around us, ...

The Cheetah Park Cheetahs in Namibia are plentiful and are not protected. They kill considerable numbers of livestock and farmers are allowed to shoot them. Some farmers however are keeping cheetahs in large fenced tracts of land, preferring to try and conserve them for a future when they may not be so numerous in the wild. We went to one such park where the farmer and his family now protect the cheetahs. Our first view was of the orphaned, baby gir...