We left Fish River Canyon for the long day's drive to Sesriem - the scenery along the way was beautiful, we began to see the red sand of the Namib desert. We saw lots of sociable weaver birds' nests in the trees and on telephone poles. We went on a walk through the desert at Sossusvlei with Franz, whose grandfather had been a bushman and taught him how to survive in the desert on wild plants and animals - he shared this knowledge with us and told us some funny s...

Leaving the tarmac behind, the road got a lot bumpier on the way to Fish River Canyon. I was beginning to see what people mean when they say "nobody lives in Namibia" - it is possible to drive for hours without passing another vehicle or a building - it seems to be very sparsely populated. We walked along the top of the canyon and watched the sunset there - it's an unusual landscape and the views were beautiful. Among our group, responsibilities for cooking, was...

Just over the border into Namibia, we stopped at a campsite on the bank of the Orange River - the scenery was fabulous. After watching the sunset with a beer, we had dinner and then Linda got into story-telling mode, scaring us with more tales about the weird medical conditions she and her passengers have contracted in Africa! The following morning we went canoeing along the Orange River for a few hours - it was a picturesque route and the sun was beaming down i...

We spent a night at a campsite set among the fields of orange trees - it was like being back in the south of Spain! This was our first night's camping and Ruth and I made a good job of putting the tent up However, half the group upgraded to dorm beds instead! The campsite was being run by crazy South African guy who spent most of his time behind the bar and seemed to consume as much booze as he served! He named a shot after Ruth - amarula and jaegermeister. We...

Having arrived at Heathrow four hours early for my flight to Cape Town, I managed to secure a window seat for the twelve-hour trip so was very pleased. However, when I boarded, I was asked to switch so that another group could sit together and I ended up with a seat in the middle of the middle block with no TV, surrounded by screaming babies - I was not happy. The air stewards were uncharacteristically helpful and friendly which brightened up the journey. On the...