After 24,000km we have made it from London to Cape Town

Southern Namibia and Namaqualand

After our hot air balloon ride we headed south to camp one night near the Quivertree Forest and a Mesosaurus fossil site. The night camping was perfect as it was so clear you could see tons and tons of stars. After Rob cooked his famous pasta out of the back of the truck we pulled out some chairs and just marvelled at the sky. The next morning we took a quick walk thru the Quivertrees, which actually aren't trees at all but overgrown aloe plants. We learned about their adaptive structures used to deal with such a dry climate. They store so much water in their branches that they can live through a drought up to 4 years long.Then we went to see the Mesosaurus fossils which I was overly excited about. I always wanted to see dinosaur footprints and I had every expectation that they would look exactly like the ones you see in cartoons. The Mesosaurus lived approx 280 milliion years ago and looked a bit like a small crocodile. The longest one grew up to 3 feet long. The fossils are still in the rocks on a local man's farm and they continue to find new ones all the time. Definitely amazing to see! We crossed over into South Africa and timed things perfectly to capture the spring wild flowers which cover the hills of Namaqualand in spring. Unfortunately this year was not one of the best but it is still a beautiful display.

Hot air balloon over Namib-Naukluft Park

Up at 5am for my birthday present! I must say I wasn't exactly thrilled when the alarm clock went off, but as soon as we got going I couldn't wait to get up on top of the dunes and check out the views at sunrise. As you can see, it was incredible. Later on in the day, I felt like the whole experience was so surreal (and so early in the morning...) that I almost wasn't sure if I had dreamed it or not. I am quite the lucky gal to be getting married to such a romantic. Best birthday gift ever!!!

Sossusvlei

After Etosha we drove down through Swakopmund on the coast and then to Sossusvlei where you can find the highest and most beautiful red sand dunes in the world. Chances are if you have seen any photos of large red dunes, they were taken here. And man are they incredible! I have been looking forward to Sossusvlei so much because fo my (Wendy's) birthday Rob promised me a sunrise hot air balloon over the dunes followed by a champagne breakfast. Trust me, after trekking thru Angola and DC, this was a much anticipated stay. We hiked the tallest sand dune in the world named Big Daddy which is 1,000 feet tall, yet doing it in the sand and the heat made it feel like about twice that. But the views from the top were extraordinary and we got to run straigh down the side at top speed which was SOOOO much fun! Definitely my favorite part of the day. At the bottom of the dunes is Deadvlei where the once flowing riverbed lays cracked and completely dry and the few trees that remain stand eerily still in what will soon become thier graveyard.

Skeleton Coast

The skeleton coast is known for its desolate nature, fogs, shipwrecks and not much else. It is where the desert hits the Atlantic. A few plants struggle through by extracting water from the fog.

The area is home to Welwitschia mirabilis, a very strange plant with a short trunk, two leaves and no living relatives that lives in the middle of nowhere. Not a bad life. More detail on why it is interesting by clicking here.

Etosha National Park

We have made it down to Namibia which is a truly stunning country. For starters, they speak English. Secondly, rather than badly potholed roads with burnt out trucks littering the side, the roads here are either tarred or very well maintained gravel. Finally it is just a beautiful place with a mix of desert, plains and rugged mountains.

We made it over the border from Angola with a sense of relief. While nothing went seriously wrong during our time in Central Africa, it was always the hardest and most dangerous part of our trip so we are both happy to have it behind us.

Our first stop in Namibia was Etosha, a park that is so rich in wildlife that at one waterhole we saw more game than in all the other parks we have visited put together. It was beautiful.

Angola baby, yeah!

Okay so I have so much to say about Angola. In the begning, we were a bit nervous about driving through this county that has been ravaged by war for approx a ridiculous amount of years and just recently (since 2002) has achieved some sort of peace. We heard stories of abandoned tanks, shelled towns, and undescribable beauty. The county was not at all easy to get into, but once we were there, we were amazed by the incredibly gracious nature of the people and the beautiful architecture that once graced the country's towns.

Goodbye Congo, Hello creepy DRC

After much delay, we finally got into congo and thru the other side to DRC. Upon arrival of the Congo border from Gabon, we were told that we couldn't drive that day due to local elections. So we decided to camp there for the day. We took some seriouosly amusing photos of the kids that had way too much interest in our every movement. They didn't leave our side until we told them to leave if we promised them that they could watch a movie on our laptop at 5pm that evening. Sure enough they all showed up and proceeded to watch the Simpsons in a language they couldn't understand but were clutching their bellies in laughter all the while. It was magiacal to watch. One of the boys decided that I was his wife and (as you will see in the photo) proceeded to place his hand on me and proclaim me his rightful property.
Then we arrived in Brazzaville, where we stayed for quite a long time at the Hippocame Hotel, which is amazing for overlanders as their abundance of information is as plentiful as their abundance of hospitality (as well as their abundance of embassy personel who want to throw Jack Daniels down your throat....eckhhhhhhh).
So we pulled ourselves away from Brazzaville and got on the ferry to Kinshasa, DRC. THIS FERRY HAS BEEN KNOWN TO CREATE HAVOC IN THE MIND. ButI must say, if you tuck yourself into the wormhole in your brain titled "it's not your problem", you can hobble off without looking back. Otherwise, you're screwed.
DRC is creepy. That's all I have to say. Rob has been sick from the one night we spent there in a hotel that offered him up a plate of meat that looked as if it sat on the side of the road for six months and then someone bought it and then ran over it eighteen times in an eighteen wheeler. Yup, he hasn't left the bathroom since. Au revoir DRC...