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Updated Information
Witt & Jen
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
229km |
Meals
Restaurant Meal |
Weather |
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Outjo, Namibia |
19 May, 2004 |
Ombinda Lodge |
20°07.189’S
16°09.502’E |
Odometer: 21831km |
Sunny, 85(F) degrees |
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Sadly, after six weeks together our group is
breaking up today. Slade and Krissy are returning to Ondangwa to help Urs
repair the pinzgauer. Graham and Connie are driving to Windhoek to try to
obtain some parts for Toki. It is in need of new shock towers, a steering
box, and a hood latch. Witt, Jen, and Vicky (who is joining them in Rafiki
for awhile) are accompanying David and Nadine on a tour of Damaraland. The
plan is to meet again in Swakopmund in about a week to tour the skeleton
coast together. Witt and Jen are flying from Johannesburg to Tanzania on
June 4 to meet some friends to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Graham and Connie
will be with Connie’s parents in Krueger National Park during this time.
Before setting off this morning we divided up our communal food stock
which was quite a chore. We did some horse trading (Chili beans? What do I
do with Chili beans? I’ll trade you for a can of sliced peaches) and gave
away the non-dividables (a bottle of gin and a packet of marshmallows) by
lottery. Witt, Jen and Vicky won the bottle of gin while Connie came up a
distant second with the marshmallows. We spent the morning together
looking for game, but as it was nine oclock when we started we didn’t see
much. After lunch Rafiki and Totoy (David and Nadine’s landcruiser) headed
out of the park to Outjo while the others spent one more night in
Okaukuejo. We arrived in Outjo at about 430 and after buying some
groceries checked into the campground at the Ombinda Lodge. We decided to
eat at the lodge restaurant. Witt ordered a kudu steak which proved to be
excellent and David had an enormous T-bone. |
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Some birds at the Okaukuejo
campsite |
They build huge nests that
threaten to overwhelm the trees |
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Updated Information
Graham & Connie |
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
193km |
Meals
Rusks, salad, hamburgers on the braai |
Weather |
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Etosha National Park
Namibia |
19 May, 2004 |
Okaukuejo Camp Site |
19°10.901’S
15°55.100’E |
Odometer: km |
Cool in the Am, Hot by
mid-day, 85(F) degrees |
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Today the group became two groups. Witt, Jen,
Vicky, David and Nadine plan to leave the park and head South towards
Brandburg to do some hiking. Krissy, Slade, Connie and Graham are staying
in the park for another day.
We got up and had rusks and cereal for
breakfast. Witt and Jen visited the waterhole, but nothing exciting was
there. We then all spent two hours dividing up the communal food into the
various trucks and haggling over food we wanted or didn’t want. At about
10am, the whole group trundled off on a game drive, heading for unexplored
territory in the West of the park. Not much game was in evidence except,
of course, for springbok, wildebeast and zebra. We stopped for lunch at a
picnic spot and Nadine produced another Slade defying salad. It was very
good despite Slade’s complaining. After lunch, we split up, first trading
contact information and going over plans to meet again.
The stationary group (Slade, Krissy, Connie
and Graham) continued on the game drive completing the loop back to
Okaukuejo camp where we bumped into the other group at the camp shop. It
is really hard to get rid of some people!!
On our afternoon game drive we passed the
stop where the mating lions had been seen, but they had moved on. At the
Oliphantsbad waterhole, a VW Synchro pulled up next to Graham and Connie
and the driver asked, “Are you really from Colorado?” He was from Boulder
and had been following us for a while. It’s a small world.
Back at camp, we were preparing to have
sundowners at the waterhole when a man walked up and asked about Pangaea
Expeditions. Turns out he runs Off-Road Academy in Canada and has talked
to Nathan many times. He saw the logo and recognized it immediately. It is
a small world!
At the waterhole a small herd of elephants
were snorting water and slinging mud. We watched them for a while and then
Graham cooked hamburgers on the braai while Slade made salt and vinegar
chips. Good stuff! |
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Updated Information
Witt & Jen
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Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
279km |
Meals
Salad, chocolate bananas with rum for
desert |
Weather |
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Near Palmwag, Namibia |
20 May, 2004 |
Bush Camp |
19°52.383’S
13°54.810’E |
Odometer: 22110km |
Sunny, 87(F) degrees |
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After a surprisingly chilly evening that had
us reaching for our extra blankets, we spent the morning at an internet
café in outjo sending web updates and catching up with email. We saw
Graham and Connie as they drove through town on their way to Windhoek. We
visited the tourist information office (Yes, they have those here!!) and
got some advice on how to spend the next few days. We headed out of town,
planning to spend the night a Palmwag. Stopping for fuel in Kamanjab we
saw loads of tourists in 4WD vehicles with rooftop tents. We realized that
today is a holiday, giving people here a four day weekend. We arrived at
the Palmwag Lodge campground but they were full. We joked about how we
didn’t have this problem in the Congos or in Angola. We found a bushcamp
where we enjoyed a nice evening stargazing. |
Along the road to Palmwag We saw this enormous sand spider, which according to a local is harmless. Along the road to Palmwag
Along the road to Palmwag
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Updated Information
Graham & Connie |
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
451km |
Meals
Rusks, pastries, dinner buffet (lots of
good stuff!!) |
Weather |
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Windhoek, Namibia |
20 May, 2004 |
Roof of Africa |
22°33.266’S
17°05.719’E |
Odometer: km |
Cool in the AM, Hot by
mid-day, 85(F) degrees |
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Today the group became three. Slade and Krissy
headed back to Namutoni on their way back to Ondwanga to help Urs. Connie
and Graham went South to Winhoek hoping to get their suspension fixed.
The road to Windhoek is very straight for
many, many miles, punctuated only sometimes by small towns. In one town,
Outjo, we saw a familiar Land Cruiser parked by the side of the road, and
then a familiar Land Rover. We had caught up with the hiking group. We
stopped and chatted and bought pastries at the coffee shop. Then we said
goodbye again and headed South. We arrived in Windhoek at about 4pm and
had a brief look for a Land Rover parts place. One was not immediately
obvious, so we stopped at the Roof of Africa for the night. It is a
fantastic place if a bit pricey. We got a room and had their dinner buffet
which had excellent oxtail soup and salad as well as teriyaki chicken.
This was our first night not camping in a very long time. |
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Namibia, May 21 --->>> |
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