Mon 14th June
Today was basically one big game drive. We started from camp at about 8am and arrived at the edge of the Moremi Game Reserve at about 10am, then drove through the Okavango delta lands for 7 hours with incredible amounts of water next to really dry desert brush and grasslands. It is difficult to explain what a fantastic day it has been and the number of encounters we have made, you will just have to see the photos and know that all of the animals were within 25m but most were within 10m, it has just been incredible. All I will do here is list what we have seen.
Loads of Impala (a deer like creature with a stripey bottom and oversized ears); some Kudu, (a larger stripey deer); a Topi, (the fastest antelope, but too far away to photograph); baboons, two huge troops and one single male sifting through the elephant dung for the undigested seeds; elephants, several solitary male and a huge breeding herd (maybe 25 females with young) who were munching at the thick brush; giraffes, several soiltary females and a Jenny (this is the official term for a group of giraffe - stick that in your next pub quiz!); an incredibly colourful Saddle Beaked Stork; A Kori Bustard (the largest flying bird); an Opu (a tiny little bird with a colourful crest); loads of Guinea Fowl (in mating conflicts); a Hammerkop (a hammer headed duck); Wart Hogs, (who eventually ran away with their tails in the air) ; Hippos (4 in a pool of water about 2m deep); zebra, we lunched with a large herd wandering close to the truck ; Jacana (a chocolate brown moorhen type bird also known as the Jesus Christ bird because it seems to walk on water; and, if you can believe it, a small herd of lions who hunted a herd of zebra and one wildebeast as we watched. The lions were unsuccesful but the dust and the noise of the stamping of hooves was awesome. We can't believe how lucky we have been. Then at 5pm we arrive in camp, just a spot under a large Sausage Fruit Tree, and the support guys have set everything up and water was on for a shower, which is a bucket strung up in a tree and a special attachment at the bottom with a shower head; you just stand in a tent underneath.
The loo is in another tent where they have dug a hole and a chair with a loo seat attachment sits above the hole - I haven't braved it yet!
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Monday, 28 June 2010
Into the Delta
Sun 13th June
After breakfast, again with our hosts, we set off to go further into the Okavango delta. However, the path we were supposed to take was flooded, in fact Lenti says that he has never seen water in that area in all his lifetime, again we seem to have brought the weather with us! In fact the rain does not fall here but North in Angola and then flows down the Okavango river to this region where it just soaks into the sand. Apparently the movement of the tectonic plates causes the rocks about 300m below the sands to shift and so the movement of the water is very unpredictable, but this year has been a bumper year for rain; it has slowly increased over the last 4 years but before that it was pretty dry.
Any way, we had to change plans and headed to a different campsite instead. On the way we saw rollers, Bee eaters, loads and loads of red and yellow beaked Hornbills. We passed through what they call a 'vet fence' which is a crescent shaped fence that prevents the domesticated cows getting into the park area and the Buffalo and other wildlife going into the populated area; the main reason being to stop the spread of Foot and Mouth disease. Once inside the park we drove on a sandy and bumpy road with a top speed of around 50kph.
We arrived at a private campground / lodge and went down to the reception; we met a rep from the company who was trying to sort out what we were going to do now that the normal route was blocked and he had booked us in to a campsite. As he talked with Lenti in the carpark we could see 2 small, black, dwarf mongeese (mongooses!) running around in the bushes; and later, as we drank tea outside the reception they came up onto the decked area to look for beatles - amazing. Lenti told us that in this area we must not go off into the bush as there could be lions and other wildlife just there behind the bushes.
The support vehicle (we are in one vehicle with Lenti and then our cook (Pi..so )and aid (Gerry) are in another; they always travel in two vehicles here - just in case) had already arrived at the campsite by the time we arrived, our tents were up, the table was laid and we sat down to eat lunch.
There was so much to see as we waited the half hour after lunch before we set off to do a bush drive and walk. First 2 Crested Francolin (a bit like partridges) came, scratching at the ground like chickens and then walking right across our campsite; as they left a yellow mongoose arrived, he seemed very shy at first but then he became very bold and also walked right through the camp. At one stage he lay down in the sand and dug his front paws into the sand as though he was sunbathing.
Our game drive was pretty uneventful apart from a brief sighting of a Speenbok (a small antelope) on the road and a huge, great giraffe munching on the top of the thorny bushes, but we arrived at another lodge after 45 minuteswhere we took a walk. Celso, Tris and I with 3 guides, one with a rifle, for about an hour through the bush. Our first sighting was a pair of male elephants who were eating the pods from the camelthorn tree, they were only about 20m away and apparently could have charged to us in about 1.5 to 2 seconds if they were angry. The larger male put his trunk up around the trunk of the tree and shook and shook so that all the pods fell down, it was incredible. Then we crept around them and on down to the Kwai River (part of the delta system), where we saw a huge Fish Eagle (with a white head and brown body), some Water Buck and a large group of Impala. There was large amounts of elephant dung everywhere, they hardly seem to digest what they eat and there were whole camelthorn seeds in perfect compost; aparently many plants here have seeds that don't germinate until they have been through an elephant!
Our drive back to camp was much more eventful, after meeting up with the 2 elephants again who had moved on to another camelthorn tree near the tack, we had a close up encounter with Waterbuck (they have a great white circle on their rumps like a huge target), then we saw a small herd of Zebra complete with a baby, a herd of Water Buffalo and a Tawny Eagle. We arrived back at camp really happy with the day, could it get any better? Water was being heated on the fire in a metal bucket and then this was tipped into a bag and hung up so that we could take a shower underneath, then we sat round the table and ate rice and fish and discussed what else we could possibly see. One thing I want to see is a Hyena but Lenti says that they don't see them very often as they are nocturnal even though they sometimes hear them in the nights; there was a rustling in the bushes and we got out the torch and shone it in the direction of the noise and believe it or not a spotted hyena was sneaking around the camp - how fantastic.
It has been an unbelievable day.
After breakfast, again with our hosts, we set off to go further into the Okavango delta. However, the path we were supposed to take was flooded, in fact Lenti says that he has never seen water in that area in all his lifetime, again we seem to have brought the weather with us! In fact the rain does not fall here but North in Angola and then flows down the Okavango river to this region where it just soaks into the sand. Apparently the movement of the tectonic plates causes the rocks about 300m below the sands to shift and so the movement of the water is very unpredictable, but this year has been a bumper year for rain; it has slowly increased over the last 4 years but before that it was pretty dry.
Any way, we had to change plans and headed to a different campsite instead. On the way we saw rollers, Bee eaters, loads and loads of red and yellow beaked Hornbills. We passed through what they call a 'vet fence' which is a crescent shaped fence that prevents the domesticated cows getting into the park area and the Buffalo and other wildlife going into the populated area; the main reason being to stop the spread of Foot and Mouth disease. Once inside the park we drove on a sandy and bumpy road with a top speed of around 50kph.
We arrived at a private campground / lodge and went down to the reception; we met a rep from the company who was trying to sort out what we were going to do now that the normal route was blocked and he had booked us in to a campsite. As he talked with Lenti in the carpark we could see 2 small, black, dwarf mongeese (mongooses!) running around in the bushes; and later, as we drank tea outside the reception they came up onto the decked area to look for beatles - amazing. Lenti told us that in this area we must not go off into the bush as there could be lions and other wildlife just there behind the bushes.
The support vehicle (we are in one vehicle with Lenti and then our cook (Pi..so )and aid (Gerry) are in another; they always travel in two vehicles here - just in case) had already arrived at the campsite by the time we arrived, our tents were up, the table was laid and we sat down to eat lunch.
There was so much to see as we waited the half hour after lunch before we set off to do a bush drive and walk. First 2 Crested Francolin (a bit like partridges) came, scratching at the ground like chickens and then walking right across our campsite; as they left a yellow mongoose arrived, he seemed very shy at first but then he became very bold and also walked right through the camp. At one stage he lay down in the sand and dug his front paws into the sand as though he was sunbathing.
Our game drive was pretty uneventful apart from a brief sighting of a Speenbok (a small antelope) on the road and a huge, great giraffe munching on the top of the thorny bushes, but we arrived at another lodge after 45 minuteswhere we took a walk. Celso, Tris and I with 3 guides, one with a rifle, for about an hour through the bush. Our first sighting was a pair of male elephants who were eating the pods from the camelthorn tree, they were only about 20m away and apparently could have charged to us in about 1.5 to 2 seconds if they were angry. The larger male put his trunk up around the trunk of the tree and shook and shook so that all the pods fell down, it was incredible. Then we crept around them and on down to the Kwai River (part of the delta system), where we saw a huge Fish Eagle (with a white head and brown body), some Water Buck and a large group of Impala. There was large amounts of elephant dung everywhere, they hardly seem to digest what they eat and there were whole camelthorn seeds in perfect compost; aparently many plants here have seeds that don't germinate until they have been through an elephant!
Our drive back to camp was much more eventful, after meeting up with the 2 elephants again who had moved on to another camelthorn tree near the tack, we had a close up encounter with Waterbuck (they have a great white circle on their rumps like a huge target), then we saw a small herd of Zebra complete with a baby, a herd of Water Buffalo and a Tawny Eagle. We arrived back at camp really happy with the day, could it get any better? Water was being heated on the fire in a metal bucket and then this was tipped into a bag and hung up so that we could take a shower underneath, then we sat round the table and ate rice and fish and discussed what else we could possibly see. One thing I want to see is a Hyena but Lenti says that they don't see them very often as they are nocturnal even though they sometimes hear them in the nights; there was a rustling in the bushes and we got out the torch and shone it in the direction of the noise and believe it or not a spotted hyena was sneaking around the camp - how fantastic.
It has been an unbelievable day.
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Into Botswana
Friday 11th June
A bit more of a leisurely start today, we left camp at 8 and headed 100km to the Botswana border. The border formalities were quick and painless and we drove on another 200km to a small camp outside Ghanzi on the edge of the Kalahari desert. The drive was peculiarly void of animal life but Delphin says that sometimes it is just like that; there were plenty of cattle, goats, horses and donkeys but very little wildlife that we could see apart from a few small Bustards, some Pippet like birds and several Violet Chested Rollers - beautiful birds (but very shy).
We reached the camp at about 1pm Namibian time, 2pm Botswana time and chose a hut to sleep in; the camp is run by a cooperative of the Kalahari Bushmen (like those from the Gods must be Crazy), and we are sleeping in some of their huts; though we have the luxury of flushing toilets near by!
We were taken on a walk into the bush by 7 Bushmen, 3 men and 4 women, 1 with a baby. They really are very small people and are quite fair skinned for africans, they have the most wonderful complexions! They would spot a plant and then sit down and dig with their digging sticks and then tell us about the plant in their click clack language which was then translated by a guy called Comfort. They dug up the most enormous tuber, the sign was a tiny dead looking stick poking out of the ground, then opened it up and it was bright red inside- they use it to tan leather. There was a long, long root that they burn the end of then inhaloe the smoke if they have a headache, when they sneeze then the headache will go. Another was a root that they boil up and then rub on joints that are sore or put into nicks made in the skin for backache. There was another root for bad dreams, a seed that pops when you put it under your tongue - it is their joke, they loved it when we were shocked by the popping. There was a herb used to stuff into stinky meat as it is cooked - e.g. jackal, and another herb that is used to seal the hole in ostrich eggs which they use to carry water. Eventually they all sat down and made a fire by rubbing sticks, drank water from an ostrich egg and ate a wild melon that they had found accompanied by huge burps. They seemed very content and very pleased to be able to share their knowledge with us. All too soon it was over and we made our way back to camp, but we saw them again later that evening when they came to do some singing and dancing around a fire for another group that arrived much later. For this the men wrapped some sort of seed that had been strung together around their calves so that they rattled as they danced, they stamped their feet so had that we could feel the vibrations about 10 metres away, the women sat and clapped and sang, only 4 women again but amazing harmonies and really loud resounding claps.
The huts were lovely and warm to sleep in even thought the night was another cold one; the group that had arrived late were a noisy lot, I'm so glad we are not in a large group like that.
Sat 12th
We drove for about 3.5hours to Maun. We saw Baobab trees towering above the other scrubby trees and large numbers of rollers (birds), Hornbills and Chanting Goshawks but no big mammals. At Maun we had to say goodbye to Delphin and Jason and we met our new Botswana guide who is called Lenti in an open four wheel drive. We had some lunch and then went out to our chalet / hotel run by a dutch couple on the edge of the Delta. The river round here dried up in 1994 and then started flowing in abundance in 2007, now the area is quite flooded. Celso and I took the opportunity to go out and take photos of the numerous birds in the area. There were also some very frisky squirrels which we managed to photograph but we didn't mange to capture the little yellow mongoose. In the evening we ate dinner with our hosts at the hotel, a young Dutch couple who have owned the place for 3 years. We watched England squander their chance to win the opening match against the USA and then went to bed to sleep very well.
A bit more of a leisurely start today, we left camp at 8 and headed 100km to the Botswana border. The border formalities were quick and painless and we drove on another 200km to a small camp outside Ghanzi on the edge of the Kalahari desert. The drive was peculiarly void of animal life but Delphin says that sometimes it is just like that; there were plenty of cattle, goats, horses and donkeys but very little wildlife that we could see apart from a few small Bustards, some Pippet like birds and several Violet Chested Rollers - beautiful birds (but very shy).
We reached the camp at about 1pm Namibian time, 2pm Botswana time and chose a hut to sleep in; the camp is run by a cooperative of the Kalahari Bushmen (like those from the Gods must be Crazy), and we are sleeping in some of their huts; though we have the luxury of flushing toilets near by!
We were taken on a walk into the bush by 7 Bushmen, 3 men and 4 women, 1 with a baby. They really are very small people and are quite fair skinned for africans, they have the most wonderful complexions! They would spot a plant and then sit down and dig with their digging sticks and then tell us about the plant in their click clack language which was then translated by a guy called Comfort. They dug up the most enormous tuber, the sign was a tiny dead looking stick poking out of the ground, then opened it up and it was bright red inside- they use it to tan leather. There was a long, long root that they burn the end of then inhaloe the smoke if they have a headache, when they sneeze then the headache will go. Another was a root that they boil up and then rub on joints that are sore or put into nicks made in the skin for backache. There was another root for bad dreams, a seed that pops when you put it under your tongue - it is their joke, they loved it when we were shocked by the popping. There was a herb used to stuff into stinky meat as it is cooked - e.g. jackal, and another herb that is used to seal the hole in ostrich eggs which they use to carry water. Eventually they all sat down and made a fire by rubbing sticks, drank water from an ostrich egg and ate a wild melon that they had found accompanied by huge burps. They seemed very content and very pleased to be able to share their knowledge with us. All too soon it was over and we made our way back to camp, but we saw them again later that evening when they came to do some singing and dancing around a fire for another group that arrived much later. For this the men wrapped some sort of seed that had been strung together around their calves so that they rattled as they danced, they stamped their feet so had that we could feel the vibrations about 10 metres away, the women sat and clapped and sang, only 4 women again but amazing harmonies and really loud resounding claps.
The huts were lovely and warm to sleep in even thought the night was another cold one; the group that had arrived late were a noisy lot, I'm so glad we are not in a large group like that.
Sat 12th
We drove for about 3.5hours to Maun. We saw Baobab trees towering above the other scrubby trees and large numbers of rollers (birds), Hornbills and Chanting Goshawks but no big mammals. At Maun we had to say goodbye to Delphin and Jason and we met our new Botswana guide who is called Lenti in an open four wheel drive. We had some lunch and then went out to our chalet / hotel run by a dutch couple on the edge of the Delta. The river round here dried up in 1994 and then started flowing in abundance in 2007, now the area is quite flooded. Celso and I took the opportunity to go out and take photos of the numerous birds in the area. There were also some very frisky squirrels which we managed to photograph but we didn't mange to capture the little yellow mongoose. In the evening we ate dinner with our hosts at the hotel, a young Dutch couple who have owned the place for 3 years. We watched England squander their chance to win the opening match against the USA and then went to bed to sleep very well.
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Sossusvlei and back to Windhoek
Wed 9th
Up at 5am, quick hot drink and on the road to Sossusvlei. At Sesriem we had to wait about 10 mins until sunset for the gates to open to the Namib desert national park and then we were through. As the sun came up the dunes glowed red and we stopped at dune number one to take a quick look at the base and see what tracks we could find. We found beetle, lizard and a porcupine track! On to dune 45 we stopped and whilst Jason got breakfast ready Tris, Celso and I tried to climb up the dune. It is so tiring, thighs burning we felt we were reaching the top when more would loom above us. Eventually we gave up, Tris and I decided to slide down the face whilst Celso ran back down the ridge. After a slow start Tristan beat me to the bottom, both of us filled with sand. We found some really strange rocks that Delphin tells us are called Elephant skin because they are wrinkled on the surface like elephant skin. In this region a lot of these rocks have been found, the outside looks like elephant skin but the inside can be any type of rock and scientists are not that sure how they formed - ours looks like a piece of plastic, I am bringing it home as a souvenir.
After a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon we drove on; the road follows the path of the Tsauchap river between the enormous dunes, the river used to flow to the sea but about 900 years ago it was blocked by the dunes and now ends in several lakes amongst the dunes. The river runs for about 6 weeks in February when water comes down from the inland mountains and fills the lakes, but now the lakes are dry and white with dead trees sitting in them. We walked through the desert from 5km to the largest of the lakes Sossus (the vlei means lake in the local language). We found several lizards amongst the small shrubs, loads of beautiful and very fast beetles and an evil looking spiny plant that produces desert melons that are a useful source of water for animals. The area is dotted with huge Camelthorn trees that have 10cm curved bean pods that are a useful food source for cattle and that make a wonderful crunching sound underfoot; the local tribes also use them as ankle bracelets when they dance as the seeds shake around in the pod sounding like maracas. It was hard going across the sand and when we finally reached the dried up river bed it was a real relief to walk on the dry clay even though it often broke underfoot. Over a final dune and there was the sparkling white expanse of the lake with a sprinkling of ghost trees and the Big Dada dune to the left and the Big Mama to the right (the two highest dunes in the area). We sat and drank and contemplated the scene for a while and then headed back to a small track where we could get a lift back to our truck, loads of small birds came to see us and we sprinkled a few crumbs from a breakfast bar for them to eat just as we left. We climbed into a passing small truck and turned back to look where we had been sitting under the shade of a tree and there was a jackal chasing away the birds and eating the crumbs. He must have been hidden right close to where we had been sitting but we didn't have a clue; everything is so well adapted and camouflaged around here.
When we returned Jason had prepared lunch for us and we sat with our table clothed table and our crockery and cutlery and ate like kings, our hand washing bowl became a very popular birdbath with many of the small birds in the area so we were entertained by their antics as we ate.
We returned along the same road to the gate house where we had entered the park, this time the dunes were yellow (they only glow red when the sun is low in the sky), and dune 45 looked tiny compared to some of the bigger monsters we had seen and yet we had failed to fully climb even that! At the gate house we took a small detour to visit the Sesriem Canyon, the course of the Tsauchap river. It is an amazing place cut through conglomerate, littered with elephant skin stones and cool and shady down below. The canyon was formed about a million years ago, the river now doesn't get more than a metre deep. As we walked in the canyon there were some small pools of green stinky water left over from the flow in February / March, you could see by the mud rings around them how they were shrinking fast. You couldn't see into the water but Celso decided to investigate with a stick and we found some fairly large (about a foot long) fish in the water; not that we ever saw a whole one, just the splashes and sometimes a fin; we assume they must be the type that lay eggs that can remain dormant in the mud until the next time the river flows and that these fellows will soon meet their demise.
We returned to our camp, stopping to see the various birds and animals along the way, in time for a nice cup of tea followed by a well needed luke warm shower to remove some of the sand, but the water was too cold to even contemplate washing our hair so we are all a bit gritty! Jason had whipped up yet another triumphant dish of fish, rice and vegetables and then we all went to bed - pooped!
Thursday 10th
Today involved a lot of driving interspersed with stops to try to photograph some of the many animals we saw. They are so shy when you slow down the vehicle but if you drive past they just sit and stare at you, very frustrating! We saw several troops of baboons, especially as we got close to Windhoek again; they sit on the rocks with the hands on their knees propping up their chins - a bit like The Thinker, they look so humanlike! We also saw Eland, Oryx, Klipspringers (a type of mountain antelope that seem to spring from one rock to another using all four feet at the same time), Springboks, Roller birds, Chanting Goshawks, a Kite and many other small birds. We arrived in Windhoek and had a 2 hour break to eat and change money, then we were off again Eastwards towards the Botswana border. The truck decided to break down just as we were on the outskirts of Windhoek - more luck for us as it only took about half an hour for the company mechanic to reach us; imagine if we had been back at Sossusvlei, we'd have been waiting for hours. Anyway the gear box had lost a bolt as so it was a quick fix to replace it and only an hour late we were on our way again. After about 3 hours, having seen masses of Warthogs on the edge of the road, we arrived at a campsite and set up our tents just before the light went. Jason, of course, whipped up another amazing meal and we gorged ourselves as the night got colder and colder. In fact this was the coldest night yet.
Up at 5am, quick hot drink and on the road to Sossusvlei. At Sesriem we had to wait about 10 mins until sunset for the gates to open to the Namib desert national park and then we were through. As the sun came up the dunes glowed red and we stopped at dune number one to take a quick look at the base and see what tracks we could find. We found beetle, lizard and a porcupine track! On to dune 45 we stopped and whilst Jason got breakfast ready Tris, Celso and I tried to climb up the dune. It is so tiring, thighs burning we felt we were reaching the top when more would loom above us. Eventually we gave up, Tris and I decided to slide down the face whilst Celso ran back down the ridge. After a slow start Tristan beat me to the bottom, both of us filled with sand. We found some really strange rocks that Delphin tells us are called Elephant skin because they are wrinkled on the surface like elephant skin. In this region a lot of these rocks have been found, the outside looks like elephant skin but the inside can be any type of rock and scientists are not that sure how they formed - ours looks like a piece of plastic, I am bringing it home as a souvenir.
After a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon we drove on; the road follows the path of the Tsauchap river between the enormous dunes, the river used to flow to the sea but about 900 years ago it was blocked by the dunes and now ends in several lakes amongst the dunes. The river runs for about 6 weeks in February when water comes down from the inland mountains and fills the lakes, but now the lakes are dry and white with dead trees sitting in them. We walked through the desert from 5km to the largest of the lakes Sossus (the vlei means lake in the local language). We found several lizards amongst the small shrubs, loads of beautiful and very fast beetles and an evil looking spiny plant that produces desert melons that are a useful source of water for animals. The area is dotted with huge Camelthorn trees that have 10cm curved bean pods that are a useful food source for cattle and that make a wonderful crunching sound underfoot; the local tribes also use them as ankle bracelets when they dance as the seeds shake around in the pod sounding like maracas. It was hard going across the sand and when we finally reached the dried up river bed it was a real relief to walk on the dry clay even though it often broke underfoot. Over a final dune and there was the sparkling white expanse of the lake with a sprinkling of ghost trees and the Big Dada dune to the left and the Big Mama to the right (the two highest dunes in the area). We sat and drank and contemplated the scene for a while and then headed back to a small track where we could get a lift back to our truck, loads of small birds came to see us and we sprinkled a few crumbs from a breakfast bar for them to eat just as we left. We climbed into a passing small truck and turned back to look where we had been sitting under the shade of a tree and there was a jackal chasing away the birds and eating the crumbs. He must have been hidden right close to where we had been sitting but we didn't have a clue; everything is so well adapted and camouflaged around here.
When we returned Jason had prepared lunch for us and we sat with our table clothed table and our crockery and cutlery and ate like kings, our hand washing bowl became a very popular birdbath with many of the small birds in the area so we were entertained by their antics as we ate.
We returned along the same road to the gate house where we had entered the park, this time the dunes were yellow (they only glow red when the sun is low in the sky), and dune 45 looked tiny compared to some of the bigger monsters we had seen and yet we had failed to fully climb even that! At the gate house we took a small detour to visit the Sesriem Canyon, the course of the Tsauchap river. It is an amazing place cut through conglomerate, littered with elephant skin stones and cool and shady down below. The canyon was formed about a million years ago, the river now doesn't get more than a metre deep. As we walked in the canyon there were some small pools of green stinky water left over from the flow in February / March, you could see by the mud rings around them how they were shrinking fast. You couldn't see into the water but Celso decided to investigate with a stick and we found some fairly large (about a foot long) fish in the water; not that we ever saw a whole one, just the splashes and sometimes a fin; we assume they must be the type that lay eggs that can remain dormant in the mud until the next time the river flows and that these fellows will soon meet their demise.
We returned to our camp, stopping to see the various birds and animals along the way, in time for a nice cup of tea followed by a well needed luke warm shower to remove some of the sand, but the water was too cold to even contemplate washing our hair so we are all a bit gritty! Jason had whipped up yet another triumphant dish of fish, rice and vegetables and then we all went to bed - pooped!
Thursday 10th
Today involved a lot of driving interspersed with stops to try to photograph some of the many animals we saw. They are so shy when you slow down the vehicle but if you drive past they just sit and stare at you, very frustrating! We saw several troops of baboons, especially as we got close to Windhoek again; they sit on the rocks with the hands on their knees propping up their chins - a bit like The Thinker, they look so humanlike! We also saw Eland, Oryx, Klipspringers (a type of mountain antelope that seem to spring from one rock to another using all four feet at the same time), Springboks, Roller birds, Chanting Goshawks, a Kite and many other small birds. We arrived in Windhoek and had a 2 hour break to eat and change money, then we were off again Eastwards towards the Botswana border. The truck decided to break down just as we were on the outskirts of Windhoek - more luck for us as it only took about half an hour for the company mechanic to reach us; imagine if we had been back at Sossusvlei, we'd have been waiting for hours. Anyway the gear box had lost a bolt as so it was a quick fix to replace it and only an hour late we were on our way again. After about 3 hours, having seen masses of Warthogs on the edge of the road, we arrived at a campsite and set up our tents just before the light went. Jason, of course, whipped up another amazing meal and we gorged ourselves as the night got colder and colder. In fact this was the coldest night yet.
Friday, 25 June 2010
To the Namibian Coast and into the desert
Monday.
The birds woke us at sunrise with their strange twitterings; they are quite large birds, like starling, but they make sounds like I imagine budgies would make. By the time we were up and dressed and had started to pack away our tents Jason announced that breakfast was ready, and then, by the time we had eaten, he had finished pulling down our tents! It was all very efficient. Celso and Tris went for another short walk and took some fantastic pictures of a Hornbill that was warming up in the morning sun and some other small birds.
We got under way again to head West for a couple of hours to the coastal town of Swakopmund. This is one of the main summer time retreats for Namibians because it stays fairly cool in their summer. There is a cold current in the sea that brings cold water up from the south pole; this causes a nearly constant sea fog to hang over the coastal region and keep the temperatures right down. In the summer it is a pleasant mid 20's sort of temperature. However the fog is salty and so doesn't help to water the vegetation. In fact the whole coastal region here is desert with less than 5cm of rain per year and the salty fog reduces the variety of plants that can survive too. On the way into town we were lucky enough to pass 3 large male ostriches on the edge of the road; they are really funny birds, they look like ungainly ballet dancers in oversized tutus. They fled as we approached and got too close to each other so that one plumped up his feathers and got quite angry with the other. Strange, strange creatures.
Although we are staying in Swakopmund for the night, we drove another 30km south to Walvis Bay where there is a lagoon full of Greater Flamingos, grey juveniles and slightly pinkish adults. They were all doing some very serious dancing, stirring up the mud to release the crustaceans. It was very funny to watch - see the video! There was also some serious fights going on between various adults - I assume it was over the females but we don't know how to spot the difference between male and female. It was all very ungainly.
Back in Swakopmund, we booked into our hotel and then went out to get some lunch and then go down to the craft market. It is never a peaceful affair at the market here, the vendors are constantly on your back, offering you goods, showing you things, telling you prices and then asking you to bargain..... it is all very exhausting. Since we were about the only buyers in the area we were very popular and caused several arguments to start between the various stall holders where a vendor started to talk to us when we were not at their stall but at anothers. Anyway... we bought some great stuff and spent several hours trying to find out if we could get the most amazing Rhino home. He was 25kg, that was the problem, the post office would only send up to 20kg and we know that our airline only takes bags up to 20kg too - something to do with the Union rules about baggage handlers and the maximum weights they will handle in one package. So we couldn't even get it home paying excess baggage. A most incredible carving but sadly not to be. However we do have the most gorgeous giraffe, a pair of fantastic masks, a small elephant and a stone Hornbill.
Laundry and showers done, we went out for supper and ate Ostrich Stroganoff (the meat seems to have a taste sort of in between pork and beef), it was yummy.
Tuesday 8th June
Another 7am start so that we were ready to go by 8am. We headed into the desert in a 4x4 truck. Once in amongst the dunes we stopped to deflate the tyres to only 0.8bar so that the car would get more grip and then we were told a bit about the desert here. The Namib desert is one of the oldest deserts on earth and stretches all the way up the coast of Namibia from South Africa in the South to Angola in the North. (I don't know how you tell it's age, maybe from dating the first solid layers underneath the sand layers?). They are finding new things everyday, like a mushroom that grows on the dune or new species of geckos.
The part of the desert we were in is one of the driest places on earth and is now being protected because diamonds have been found.... where they found diamonds in the south Namib desert is started a frenzy of people driving through the desert and damaging the ecosystem, they don't want that happening here so access is all under lock and key.
We drove a short way with our newly deflated tyres when Francois, our portly, chain smoking, very Africans guide leapt from the van and threw his hat into some low succulent plants on the side of a dune, then down on hands and knees he started to sift the sand through his fingers, and after a few seconds returned with a small Shovelnosed sand-diving lizard, you could definitely see his shovelnose and also his long digging toes. When released he ran sooooo fast, it was incredible; apparently they have been clocked at 45kph; and then he disappeared into the sand in one smooth dive. We then continued our drive going really fast up the side of a dune and stopping right on the brink, we all gave a sigh of release we thought he was going to plunge us over the other side.... but after a short stop and a wander that is exactly what we did, down the other side so that all you could see out of the windscreen was the ground below and we were all slipping forward of our seats, it was terrifying and exhilerating, we did a few more of these later but more in the style of a rollercoaster with just a brief halt at the top so that we could contemplate our doom and then losing our stomachs as we descended down the other side. Our other encounters were with a legless skink that had a sort of white plate over its nose to help it force its way through the sand; another, larger, Shovelnosed sand-diving lizard that was very angry and bit onto the first thing it could grab including Francois' finger and he then passed it on to another of our fellow passenger's ears; a tiny, burrowing gecko that is practically see through and could not be taken out in the sun, 2 male chameleons sitting in dollar bushes and very glad to be fed a few meal worms and beetles, (there must have been a female around somewhere but we couldn't find her), when one chameleon was moved from his bush out onto the sand he turned from green to a pale yellow in a matter of seconds, incredible creatures; several black and a couple of white beetles with extremely long legs that could run really fast; a little bird, a Chat, that followed us for about 10 mins and then took meal worms from the hand; and finally a sidewinder adder that having been extracted from the sand then buried himself again in a matter of seconds until only his head was sticking out... you could so easily tread on one without seeing him.
We were back at our hotel before 1:30pm; Delphin had told us that we needed to get going so that we would make it to our next campsite before dark in the Naukluft National park; but then they, Delphin and Jason, farted around for over an hour and a half doing shopping, getting petrol and other stuff before we actually got going. So of course we ended up driving over an hour in the pitch dark at the end of the journey and putting up the tents in the dark too. But the journey was interesting, we had about 50km of paved road and then after that it was gravel, quite a good road but with a few hairy dips and bumps. As we headed back inland from the coast the sandy desert slowly gained more and more vegetation, scrubby bushes and tufts of dry grasses, we saw loads of Bustards but failed to get any photos, Oryx, Eagles, large black and white crows (that I thought were vultures at first they are so large!), bat eared foxes, jackals, another type of fox, Springboks and several ostriches.
The birds woke us at sunrise with their strange twitterings; they are quite large birds, like starling, but they make sounds like I imagine budgies would make. By the time we were up and dressed and had started to pack away our tents Jason announced that breakfast was ready, and then, by the time we had eaten, he had finished pulling down our tents! It was all very efficient. Celso and Tris went for another short walk and took some fantastic pictures of a Hornbill that was warming up in the morning sun and some other small birds.
We got under way again to head West for a couple of hours to the coastal town of Swakopmund. This is one of the main summer time retreats for Namibians because it stays fairly cool in their summer. There is a cold current in the sea that brings cold water up from the south pole; this causes a nearly constant sea fog to hang over the coastal region and keep the temperatures right down. In the summer it is a pleasant mid 20's sort of temperature. However the fog is salty and so doesn't help to water the vegetation. In fact the whole coastal region here is desert with less than 5cm of rain per year and the salty fog reduces the variety of plants that can survive too. On the way into town we were lucky enough to pass 3 large male ostriches on the edge of the road; they are really funny birds, they look like ungainly ballet dancers in oversized tutus. They fled as we approached and got too close to each other so that one plumped up his feathers and got quite angry with the other. Strange, strange creatures.
Although we are staying in Swakopmund for the night, we drove another 30km south to Walvis Bay where there is a lagoon full of Greater Flamingos, grey juveniles and slightly pinkish adults. They were all doing some very serious dancing, stirring up the mud to release the crustaceans. It was very funny to watch - see the video! There was also some serious fights going on between various adults - I assume it was over the females but we don't know how to spot the difference between male and female. It was all very ungainly.
Back in Swakopmund, we booked into our hotel and then went out to get some lunch and then go down to the craft market. It is never a peaceful affair at the market here, the vendors are constantly on your back, offering you goods, showing you things, telling you prices and then asking you to bargain..... it is all very exhausting. Since we were about the only buyers in the area we were very popular and caused several arguments to start between the various stall holders where a vendor started to talk to us when we were not at their stall but at anothers. Anyway... we bought some great stuff and spent several hours trying to find out if we could get the most amazing Rhino home. He was 25kg, that was the problem, the post office would only send up to 20kg and we know that our airline only takes bags up to 20kg too - something to do with the Union rules about baggage handlers and the maximum weights they will handle in one package. So we couldn't even get it home paying excess baggage. A most incredible carving but sadly not to be. However we do have the most gorgeous giraffe, a pair of fantastic masks, a small elephant and a stone Hornbill.
Laundry and showers done, we went out for supper and ate Ostrich Stroganoff (the meat seems to have a taste sort of in between pork and beef), it was yummy.
Tuesday 8th June
Another 7am start so that we were ready to go by 8am. We headed into the desert in a 4x4 truck. Once in amongst the dunes we stopped to deflate the tyres to only 0.8bar so that the car would get more grip and then we were told a bit about the desert here. The Namib desert is one of the oldest deserts on earth and stretches all the way up the coast of Namibia from South Africa in the South to Angola in the North. (I don't know how you tell it's age, maybe from dating the first solid layers underneath the sand layers?). They are finding new things everyday, like a mushroom that grows on the dune or new species of geckos.
The part of the desert we were in is one of the driest places on earth and is now being protected because diamonds have been found.... where they found diamonds in the south Namib desert is started a frenzy of people driving through the desert and damaging the ecosystem, they don't want that happening here so access is all under lock and key.
We drove a short way with our newly deflated tyres when Francois, our portly, chain smoking, very Africans guide leapt from the van and threw his hat into some low succulent plants on the side of a dune, then down on hands and knees he started to sift the sand through his fingers, and after a few seconds returned with a small Shovelnosed sand-diving lizard, you could definitely see his shovelnose and also his long digging toes. When released he ran sooooo fast, it was incredible; apparently they have been clocked at 45kph; and then he disappeared into the sand in one smooth dive. We then continued our drive going really fast up the side of a dune and stopping right on the brink, we all gave a sigh of release we thought he was going to plunge us over the other side.... but after a short stop and a wander that is exactly what we did, down the other side so that all you could see out of the windscreen was the ground below and we were all slipping forward of our seats, it was terrifying and exhilerating, we did a few more of these later but more in the style of a rollercoaster with just a brief halt at the top so that we could contemplate our doom and then losing our stomachs as we descended down the other side. Our other encounters were with a legless skink that had a sort of white plate over its nose to help it force its way through the sand; another, larger, Shovelnosed sand-diving lizard that was very angry and bit onto the first thing it could grab including Francois' finger and he then passed it on to another of our fellow passenger's ears; a tiny, burrowing gecko that is practically see through and could not be taken out in the sun, 2 male chameleons sitting in dollar bushes and very glad to be fed a few meal worms and beetles, (there must have been a female around somewhere but we couldn't find her), when one chameleon was moved from his bush out onto the sand he turned from green to a pale yellow in a matter of seconds, incredible creatures; several black and a couple of white beetles with extremely long legs that could run really fast; a little bird, a Chat, that followed us for about 10 mins and then took meal worms from the hand; and finally a sidewinder adder that having been extracted from the sand then buried himself again in a matter of seconds until only his head was sticking out... you could so easily tread on one without seeing him.
We were back at our hotel before 1:30pm; Delphin had told us that we needed to get going so that we would make it to our next campsite before dark in the Naukluft National park; but then they, Delphin and Jason, farted around for over an hour and a half doing shopping, getting petrol and other stuff before we actually got going. So of course we ended up driving over an hour in the pitch dark at the end of the journey and putting up the tents in the dark too. But the journey was interesting, we had about 50km of paved road and then after that it was gravel, quite a good road but with a few hairy dips and bumps. As we headed back inland from the coast the sandy desert slowly gained more and more vegetation, scrubby bushes and tufts of dry grasses, we saw loads of Bustards but failed to get any photos, Oryx, Eagles, large black and white crows (that I thought were vultures at first they are so large!), bat eared foxes, jackals, another type of fox, Springboks and several ostriches.
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Into Africa
The flight from Singapore was long (10 hours) and uncomfortable. We started at 2am and arrived in Johannesburg at around 6:45am after a 5 hour time change; then, after flying on to Namibia, we find that we are now on the same time as London! In Johannesburg we had to go out and collect our bags as they had not been checked through to our next flight. That was all a bit long and tedious but at least it meant that we got a South African stamp in our passports. Out through passport control; collect bags; on through customs; then check bags back in; back through passport control and security. The airport is in full hype for the world cup and there were loads of TV and other media guys arriving from all sorts of places, and fans arriving in their various team colours and some in full voice. We had several hours to wait until our next flight to Windhoek in Namibia but we were kept very busy with the huge number of shops in the airport selling all sorts of fantastic goodies from carvings to paintings.
The flight to Windhoek was only two hours and we were met and whisked the 60 km to the capital by taxi; the airport is that far away because it is the closest piece of flat land! The road seemed to be in very good nick and we saw no sign of poverty, perhaps this is not a third world country(?) Our hotel seems pretty posh, it comes as part of the package with our safari, we have a large room with 4 beds and a sofa in front of the TV. We were pretty exhausted after our journey but we decided to go into town to get some cash and try to find some food. There was a shuttle service from the hotel so it was all very easy, but we didn't find anywhere to eat but found a fantastic little market and loads of great shops, but they were all just closing at a round 5pm. We returned to the hotel and went to the restaurant to eat (a fantastic buffet for about £12 for an adult and half for a child). Needless to say we were in bed by 8pm after a long shower and we slept very soundly.
On Saturday we had a great breakfast in the hotel before we set off back into town to visit the market at a bit more of a leisurely pace. We ended up buying a very large and rather fat hippo! We lazed around for most of the rest of the day (still a bit shell shocked after the journey) until 6pm when we met up with our guide, Delphin. It turns out that we shall have another private tour as we are the only people booked on this trip. Delphin reckons that it is because of the world cup. He had 31 in his group 2 weeks ago and has large bookings for July too - how lucky are we!
Sunday.
Up at 7am, breakfasted and packed by 8am. Delphin and Jason (the cook) collected us at 8.30am in a rather large lorry, they sit in the cab and we sit behind up high with windows looking out over the cab in the front. It gives us a great height to look out at the world from. We set off out of Windhoek, westwards, towards the coast. Only about a half hour into our journey and there, sitting in the road, was a troop of baboons; a great big male; several mums with babies and some juveniles. They didn't worry about the passing cars at all, but as soon as we slowed down they were very nervous and took off into the bushes. A great start to our trip. On the rest of the journey it was very difficult to stop due to the narrowness of the road and the endless roadworks that seemed to be going on on the Trans-Kalahari Highway ( the Kalahari being out of Windhoek in the other direction, Eastwards, we will be going there later). However we did spot loads of creatures, Hornbills, Secretary birds (a pair), a Bustard, a small deer and a large deer, several Harriers, Bee Eaters and Roller Birds. The landscape is dry and very flat but with great lines of hills in the distance. Delphin managed to explain a few things to us at some of the stops we made.
Namibia was a German colony until after the first world war when it was transferred to South African control.
They were under the Apartheid regime until 1990 when they became independent.
There are only 2.1 million inhabitants, 1/8th of whom live in the capital Windhoek.
The average population is under 2 people per square km.
18% of the country is classified as desert and another 55% as semi-desert.
The country seems really quite organised, not like the South American super bureaucracy. It is clean and neat and in the towns, at least, the people look well nourished and contented, really rather affluent I would say. We did pass a couple of shanty towns, some houses made out of old bits of corrugated iron and one made out of old aluminium cans, but I haven't seen people in rags or people begging. There have been people waiting on the edges of the roads but mostly they have a pile of goods and seem just to be waiting for some sort of transport rather than being homeless or destitute.
We reached our destination of Spitzkoppie at lunchtime and set up tents before sitting down to salad and sandwiches. Spitzkoppie is a small, pointed, granite mountain that sticks up out of the flat landscape with a few other bulging mountains alongside. Celso, Tris and I went for a small exploration of the area; it was very, very hot so we didn't go far; but we saw loads of lizards, rock Hyraxes and loads of birds just in a small 15 minute walk. Flies followed us everywhere as soon as we were in sunlight but they left you alone if you were in the shade; apparently they follow the body heat to find their next victim! There was also a small pool of water in the shade of one rock where an enormous number of strange insect larvae were swimming (they looked a bit like very large sea-monkeys) along with one huge tadpole / froglet; body 1 inch long, tail another inch; back legs nearly fully formed; large bulging eyes and a huge mouth; in fact it looked a bit like a whale shark in miniature!
At 3:30pm we went for a walk as the sun started to sink behind the mountains and a beautifully cool wind started to blow. We went to see some 2000 to 4000 year old bushman rock art, pictures in red and white ochre, of lions, rhino, people hunting and dancing and pictures of the ancestors (witch doctor visions). On our walk we found a dead sandwinder snake, a hare, a small Steenbok deer, loads more Rock Hyrax, a fishing eagle, several mice and loads of extraordinary plants. As the sun went down behind the mountains they glowed red... it was fantastic.
When we returned from our walk, Jason had set up a campfire, a lamp and started to cook a BBQ supper, pork chops, beef sausages, maize polenta and sweet potatoes. The darkness set in really quickly and it turned really quite cold. I had to write this before I forgot all the goings on. I'm sure Tris will remind me of some more before long though!
The flight to Windhoek was only two hours and we were met and whisked the 60 km to the capital by taxi; the airport is that far away because it is the closest piece of flat land! The road seemed to be in very good nick and we saw no sign of poverty, perhaps this is not a third world country(?) Our hotel seems pretty posh, it comes as part of the package with our safari, we have a large room with 4 beds and a sofa in front of the TV. We were pretty exhausted after our journey but we decided to go into town to get some cash and try to find some food. There was a shuttle service from the hotel so it was all very easy, but we didn't find anywhere to eat but found a fantastic little market and loads of great shops, but they were all just closing at a round 5pm. We returned to the hotel and went to the restaurant to eat (a fantastic buffet for about £12 for an adult and half for a child). Needless to say we were in bed by 8pm after a long shower and we slept very soundly.
On Saturday we had a great breakfast in the hotel before we set off back into town to visit the market at a bit more of a leisurely pace. We ended up buying a very large and rather fat hippo! We lazed around for most of the rest of the day (still a bit shell shocked after the journey) until 6pm when we met up with our guide, Delphin. It turns out that we shall have another private tour as we are the only people booked on this trip. Delphin reckons that it is because of the world cup. He had 31 in his group 2 weeks ago and has large bookings for July too - how lucky are we!
Sunday.
Up at 7am, breakfasted and packed by 8am. Delphin and Jason (the cook) collected us at 8.30am in a rather large lorry, they sit in the cab and we sit behind up high with windows looking out over the cab in the front. It gives us a great height to look out at the world from. We set off out of Windhoek, westwards, towards the coast. Only about a half hour into our journey and there, sitting in the road, was a troop of baboons; a great big male; several mums with babies and some juveniles. They didn't worry about the passing cars at all, but as soon as we slowed down they were very nervous and took off into the bushes. A great start to our trip. On the rest of the journey it was very difficult to stop due to the narrowness of the road and the endless roadworks that seemed to be going on on the Trans-Kalahari Highway ( the Kalahari being out of Windhoek in the other direction, Eastwards, we will be going there later). However we did spot loads of creatures, Hornbills, Secretary birds (a pair), a Bustard, a small deer and a large deer, several Harriers, Bee Eaters and Roller Birds. The landscape is dry and very flat but with great lines of hills in the distance. Delphin managed to explain a few things to us at some of the stops we made.
Namibia was a German colony until after the first world war when it was transferred to South African control.
They were under the Apartheid regime until 1990 when they became independent.
There are only 2.1 million inhabitants, 1/8th of whom live in the capital Windhoek.
The average population is under 2 people per square km.
18% of the country is classified as desert and another 55% as semi-desert.
The country seems really quite organised, not like the South American super bureaucracy. It is clean and neat and in the towns, at least, the people look well nourished and contented, really rather affluent I would say. We did pass a couple of shanty towns, some houses made out of old bits of corrugated iron and one made out of old aluminium cans, but I haven't seen people in rags or people begging. There have been people waiting on the edges of the roads but mostly they have a pile of goods and seem just to be waiting for some sort of transport rather than being homeless or destitute.
We reached our destination of Spitzkoppie at lunchtime and set up tents before sitting down to salad and sandwiches. Spitzkoppie is a small, pointed, granite mountain that sticks up out of the flat landscape with a few other bulging mountains alongside. Celso, Tris and I went for a small exploration of the area; it was very, very hot so we didn't go far; but we saw loads of lizards, rock Hyraxes and loads of birds just in a small 15 minute walk. Flies followed us everywhere as soon as we were in sunlight but they left you alone if you were in the shade; apparently they follow the body heat to find their next victim! There was also a small pool of water in the shade of one rock where an enormous number of strange insect larvae were swimming (they looked a bit like very large sea-monkeys) along with one huge tadpole / froglet; body 1 inch long, tail another inch; back legs nearly fully formed; large bulging eyes and a huge mouth; in fact it looked a bit like a whale shark in miniature!
At 3:30pm we went for a walk as the sun started to sink behind the mountains and a beautifully cool wind started to blow. We went to see some 2000 to 4000 year old bushman rock art, pictures in red and white ochre, of lions, rhino, people hunting and dancing and pictures of the ancestors (witch doctor visions). On our walk we found a dead sandwinder snake, a hare, a small Steenbok deer, loads more Rock Hyrax, a fishing eagle, several mice and loads of extraordinary plants. As the sun went down behind the mountains they glowed red... it was fantastic.
When we returned from our walk, Jason had set up a campfire, a lamp and started to cook a BBQ supper, pork chops, beef sausages, maize polenta and sweet potatoes. The darkness set in really quickly and it turned really quite cold. I had to write this before I forgot all the goings on. I'm sure Tris will remind me of some more before long though!
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Singapore and Indonesia
Got a bit confused with my days in the last week.
We flew out of Australia at 1am on the 31st and arrived in Singapore 5 and a half hours later (in the same time zone) having had very little sleep.
So it was 1/4 to 7 when we arrived and just getting light outside but it was already 26 degrees and it was very humid. The airport was all very efficient and we took a taxi to our hotel, chosen because it would allow us to have our room from 8am without paying for the previous night, most hotels make you wait to check in until after midday. We went to sleep for a few hours and then went out to have a bit of an explore.
It was sooooo hot, above 30 and really high humidity. The streets were really busy, very clean and the people all very purposeful, no teenagers just lounging/hanging around.
We found our way to the train station and onto the beautifully air conditioned trains. The tickets were like plastic credit cards that you paid $1 for on top of your fare, and then when you returned the ticket at the end you were refunded your $1, so there is no littering of tickets and wasting of paper - Clever!
We got off the train in Chinatown and wandered through the streets, loads of little shops selling everything from miniature plastic flipflops to Bhuddist monks! No, not really, but if you look at the photos you'll see what I'm talking about; but there were an amazing variety of shops from antiques to modern electrical goods. At the end of Pagoda Street is the Sri Mariamman Temple - an amazingly gaudy affair with incredible paintings and statues everywhere. The bare chested priests wander around administering to the statues which sometimes involved pouring coconut milk over the top of them (the statues). There were several worshippers who sat cross legged and watched all this whilst rocking back and forth to the sounds of two musicians - a drummer and a man playing some type of oboe like instrument.
We left Chinatown and wandered through some of the modern part of central Singapore with huge high rises towering above us... but we were now hot and tired again, so after some food we returned to the hotel to have another snooze! On the way we visited a fruit and veg market we had seen on our way to the station and bought a huge bag of fruit - mangostenes, guavas and lichees for a pitance. As we returned to the hotel the heavens opened and the rain poured down for the rest of the afternoon. So we ended up not seeing as much of the city as we could have / should have and instead sat in the hotel and gorged ourselves on fresh fruit!
The next day we took a taxi to the ferry terminal and took the one hour ferry (sleek, modern, comfy catamaran style) to Bintan Island which is in Indonesia, we were met there by a representative from the hotel that I had booked on the internet and taken 45 min along tiny roads at hair raising speed and with life threatening overtaking manouevers on corners. However it was interesting to see the country, so very much like Ecuador, lots of very similar plants and the houses in the same sort of style too. One big difference though was that here there are endless numbers of mopeds being driven at snails pace with huge numbers of passengers or enormous side baskets laden with goods - unfortunately at the break neck speed we were travelling I did not manage to get any photos of these.
Our room at the hotel was roomy and cool. We ate at a restaurant set out on the end of a long peir where Celso was allowed to select his own fish from the nets at the back. We took a walk along the beach and explored all that was to offer before settling in for the night.
The next day I went for a pampering massage whilst Celso went to explore a bit more and take photos (his new passion), we all went for a long swim in the hotel pool and spent a large amount of time trying to get a picture of us jumping in - I don't know why we just decided that that was the thing to do!! It was a very relaxing day.
Our last day was Thursday the 3rd of June, we packed up and left our bags at the reception to go on a 3 hour Mangrove tour in a small motor boat with a driver who knew very little English and none of the names of the animals except for 'Monkey', 'Snake' or 'Bird'. However it was a great trip, first passing through a small village with all the houses on stilts, loads of boats and lots of net mending going on, then into the river. We saw a few 'black with yellow spots' snakes, monkeys, eagles, kingfishers (some white with rainbow colours and some blue), bright red or shiny black dragonflies and a 2 foot monitor lizard lazing out in the sun as well as several other small birds, some big birds (!) and of course all the weird and wonderful plants. It was a great few hours.
At the end we were met by a minivan that had our bags in and we were taken to the airport, a much calmer and more leisurely journey this time. However the ferry was anything but modern, sleek and comfy. The conditions were cramped and we were in an area with 60 seats with only one way (single file) in and out up a staircase and then one ladder up through a porthole at the back. If there had been an emergency I doubt that everyone would escape very easily. Anyway there wasn't (an emergency) and we arrived in Singapore on time well shaken and quite deafened from the noise of the engines and the vibrations that shook throughout the boat.
We took a taxi to the airport and are now awaiting our flight to Southern Africa, another one of those early in the morning flights. We arrive in Johannesburg tomorrow morning and then take a connecting flight to Windhoek Namibia around lunchtime for the start of the last leg of our journey - the African safari.
We flew out of Australia at 1am on the 31st and arrived in Singapore 5 and a half hours later (in the same time zone) having had very little sleep.
So it was 1/4 to 7 when we arrived and just getting light outside but it was already 26 degrees and it was very humid. The airport was all very efficient and we took a taxi to our hotel, chosen because it would allow us to have our room from 8am without paying for the previous night, most hotels make you wait to check in until after midday. We went to sleep for a few hours and then went out to have a bit of an explore.
It was sooooo hot, above 30 and really high humidity. The streets were really busy, very clean and the people all very purposeful, no teenagers just lounging/hanging around.
We found our way to the train station and onto the beautifully air conditioned trains. The tickets were like plastic credit cards that you paid $1 for on top of your fare, and then when you returned the ticket at the end you were refunded your $1, so there is no littering of tickets and wasting of paper - Clever!
We got off the train in Chinatown and wandered through the streets, loads of little shops selling everything from miniature plastic flipflops to Bhuddist monks! No, not really, but if you look at the photos you'll see what I'm talking about; but there were an amazing variety of shops from antiques to modern electrical goods. At the end of Pagoda Street is the Sri Mariamman Temple - an amazingly gaudy affair with incredible paintings and statues everywhere. The bare chested priests wander around administering to the statues which sometimes involved pouring coconut milk over the top of them (the statues). There were several worshippers who sat cross legged and watched all this whilst rocking back and forth to the sounds of two musicians - a drummer and a man playing some type of oboe like instrument.
We left Chinatown and wandered through some of the modern part of central Singapore with huge high rises towering above us... but we were now hot and tired again, so after some food we returned to the hotel to have another snooze! On the way we visited a fruit and veg market we had seen on our way to the station and bought a huge bag of fruit - mangostenes, guavas and lichees for a pitance. As we returned to the hotel the heavens opened and the rain poured down for the rest of the afternoon. So we ended up not seeing as much of the city as we could have / should have and instead sat in the hotel and gorged ourselves on fresh fruit!
The next day we took a taxi to the ferry terminal and took the one hour ferry (sleek, modern, comfy catamaran style) to Bintan Island which is in Indonesia, we were met there by a representative from the hotel that I had booked on the internet and taken 45 min along tiny roads at hair raising speed and with life threatening overtaking manouevers on corners. However it was interesting to see the country, so very much like Ecuador, lots of very similar plants and the houses in the same sort of style too. One big difference though was that here there are endless numbers of mopeds being driven at snails pace with huge numbers of passengers or enormous side baskets laden with goods - unfortunately at the break neck speed we were travelling I did not manage to get any photos of these.
Our room at the hotel was roomy and cool. We ate at a restaurant set out on the end of a long peir where Celso was allowed to select his own fish from the nets at the back. We took a walk along the beach and explored all that was to offer before settling in for the night.
The next day I went for a pampering massage whilst Celso went to explore a bit more and take photos (his new passion), we all went for a long swim in the hotel pool and spent a large amount of time trying to get a picture of us jumping in - I don't know why we just decided that that was the thing to do!! It was a very relaxing day.
Our last day was Thursday the 3rd of June, we packed up and left our bags at the reception to go on a 3 hour Mangrove tour in a small motor boat with a driver who knew very little English and none of the names of the animals except for 'Monkey', 'Snake' or 'Bird'. However it was a great trip, first passing through a small village with all the houses on stilts, loads of boats and lots of net mending going on, then into the river. We saw a few 'black with yellow spots' snakes, monkeys, eagles, kingfishers (some white with rainbow colours and some blue), bright red or shiny black dragonflies and a 2 foot monitor lizard lazing out in the sun as well as several other small birds, some big birds (!) and of course all the weird and wonderful plants. It was a great few hours.
At the end we were met by a minivan that had our bags in and we were taken to the airport, a much calmer and more leisurely journey this time. However the ferry was anything but modern, sleek and comfy. The conditions were cramped and we were in an area with 60 seats with only one way (single file) in and out up a staircase and then one ladder up through a porthole at the back. If there had been an emergency I doubt that everyone would escape very easily. Anyway there wasn't (an emergency) and we arrived in Singapore on time well shaken and quite deafened from the noise of the engines and the vibrations that shook throughout the boat.
We took a taxi to the airport and are now awaiting our flight to Southern Africa, another one of those early in the morning flights. We arrive in Johannesburg tomorrow morning and then take a connecting flight to Windhoek Namibia around lunchtime for the start of the last leg of our journey - the African safari.
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