Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Namibia

We have now been In Namibia for three days and it is a beautiful country full of contrasts. They also do good beer named Windhoek.

We started off in the Capital – which is Windhoek, and stayed at the Villa Verdi there. We had a nice big room and a small garden. The first night we stayed in for dinner and I had Eland steak – Linda had the veggie option. It was very nice. The next day we got up early and went into Town. As it was Saturday all the shops shut at 1pm. We found some good coffee shops – as Windhoek is quite high up and the air is thinner so you must drink more liquid.
About 2pm we were picked up by our guide Frank for the tour to the desert. We were staying at a place just on the edge. It was called Namib Naukluft Lodge. It took four hours to get there – and there was no Starbucks on route – or any coffee shops at all! We had one other passenger with us. We saw the Spreetshoogte Pass – at the top of the mountains.
The lodges are excellent, each having a patio with magnificent views out on to the plains. It was Kudu for dinner – and it was well done!

We had to be up for 5.15 in the morning for the trip to the Sossusviei Sand Dunes. It is an hour to the park entrance and then another hour to the dunes. The roads here are all dirt tracks and very bumpy!

We had a look at several dunes and the desert, it was very interesting, especially when there was a lot of wind and the sand kept moving! We climbed up a dune and had a look around. Then it was a picnic at the bottom – before coming back. In the afternoon we rested – and then went for a drive about 6.30pm to see the Marble mountains and watch the sun go down. So we have seen the sun come up and go down today!


Whilst sitting at the dunes – I had some good ideas for a few sermons

It was Onyx for dinner – in a stew – a bit fatty not as good as Kudu.

On Monday we came back to WIndhoek and are staying at a local hotel - relaxing and enjoying the HOT weather!!