XWORLD AFRICA tour diary Stage 4

Day 1:

Vitoldas and I met with the guests at La Splendida Hotel in Cape Town. We introduced ourselves and walked to a Restaurant for our welcome meal and a proper briefing of our trip.

Day 2:

This was a rainy morning and the guests did a 2 hour city orientation tour in a hired bus before arriving at Barons N1 city to collect the vehicles. All vehicles were very clean and fitted with the radios which was fantastic. After checking that everyone understood all features of the vehicles we left for Cape Point. The weather cleared up and turned hot and sunny. We stopped at the Penguins at Boulders beach as well as lunch before going down to Cape Point for many group photos with the vehicles. The waves were enormous and we took many spectacular pictures as they crashed on to the rocks. Another photo stop on the way back on Chapamans Peak overlooking Hout Bay. Again we walked to another Restaurant near the Hotel for dinner.

Day 3:

A really spectacular days drive – approx. 8 hours with lots of stops for photos. The routing took us over the spine of the Cederberg on dirt roads all the way through to Clanwilliam Lodge. Once again there were many photo stops and great views of the mountains and valleys. A short stop in Wuppertal where we visited the Historic Missionary station set up in the early 1800’s. This Wuppertal is over 100 years older than the Wuppertal in Germany!!

Day 4:

We drove directly to the coast and visited the Gannet colony at Lamberts Bay. This was most enjoyable and it was again a sunny day. From Lamberts bay we headed North on gravel roads trying to find a simple restaurant for Lunch. Eventually we stopped at a supermarket and bought a picnic lunch before continuing on to Springbok for our overnight stop.

Day 5:

After re-fueling we left Springbok and drove the last 150kms to the border. The first border crossing was very easy and we were through very quickly. Getting in to the Namibian side took a lot longer and lots of patience was needed by both the guests and the border authorities. It was discovered that 2 guests ( Fritz and Reinhard ) had forgotten to get their passports stamped on the SA side so they had to drive back and get this done. Eventually we left and drove on dirt roads up to the Fish River Canyon Lodge through the farm of Ausenkehr. We checked in to the lodge, had lunch and then left again at 17h00 for the sunset over the fish River Canyon.

Day 6:

A long days drive to Sossusvlei with a lunch stop and re-fueling at Helmeringshausen. The guests were again amazed at the good quality of the dirt roads and how little people and traffic they encountered on the way. The Russian guests had been asking all the time to see animals and on this section we saw Giraffe, Baboons and Gemsbok. The lodge at Sossusvlei is a highlight and sitting outside on the terrace for dinner was fantastic.

Day 7:

An early breakfast and drive in to Sossusvlei. We let air out of the tyres for the sandy section up to Sossusvlei Pan and everyone enjoyed driving on this section. A walk up one of the dunes and then running down to Dead Vlei for our final group photos. We left Sossusvlei and had a combined lunch at Solitaire before the group split and the russsians drove on to Windhoek whilst we continued to Swakopmund.

Day 8:

The remaining German guests really enjoyed walking through Swakopmund with its strong German influence. We then drove North to the seal colony at Cape Cross before heading inland towards Twyfelfontein. The second part of this day is the most scenic on the entire trip as we drove through a mountain landscape mixed with mopane trees. At Twyfelfontein we did a guided walk to the Bushmen petroglyphs.

Day 9:

The guests requested to stop at a cultural museum which we did and visited a traditional Damara Homestaed. This was well enjoyed and from here we continued on to the Organ Pipes. I decided to try a new routing and we drove over a very narrow mountain pass always in first or second gear as it was very steep and narrow. This made a good change to the wide open sand roads we were always on. Another stop at the Petrified forest and on to our lodge just outside Etosha.

Day 10:

We spent a full day in Etosha and the guests were allowed to choose their own routings to find the animals. The meeting point was the lunch stop in Halai and again they could decide which way to drive back. The game viewing was not really great because we had had lots of rain the day before so the animals had mostly disappeared in to the bush. However there was still enough to see.

Day 11:

This was another long days drive because we again zig-zagged across dirt roads down to Otjiwarongo for lunch and finally on to Eileen Guest garm. This was also a spectacular area with many rock formations and mountains. We stayed on a traditional German owned farm and had long chats with the owners about the life and politics of Namibia

Day 12:

After a good German breakfast we headed for Windhoek and did a city tour. This was very interesting but a bit disappointing for the guests who had imagined the city to be much bigger and more to see. We therefore headed out to Goche Ganas for our last night. This was a highlight and the lodge is perched on top of a hill. Dinner was delicious.

Day 13:

A final breakfast , check out and transfer to a lodge near the airport where we did a hand over to Melina for the next trip.