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Cycle Tour 2025 - Western Europe and East/Southern Africa

Home Page > Bicycle Touring > Cycle Tour 2025: Western Europe and East/Southern Africa > Part 7




Part 7 - Africa: Zambia, Botswana and Northeast/Northern Namibia

We had 4 rest days in Kigali, if you count the day we left. We flew Air Kenya at 20:00 from Kigali Airport. We had a really good stay at the hotel in Kigali, the aircon worked flawlessly and there was only one afternoon of power outages and they had a generator. The breakfasts were delicious and we had a couple of evening meals in the hotel restaurant. Unusually for us, we watched movies too, using the last few days of an Amazon Prime membership we had from Europe. Stephen, the taxi driver who dropped us to the hotel, picked us up as arranged for a premium. When Mike contacted him to confirm the pick up, he said we needed to pay extra for the drop off as he should have charged us more. So all in all it cost 100 AUD for the two trips. As Mike said we would have agreed to anything just to get out of Rwanda. He was a very nice man and was on time and the car was great. When we got to the airport we had to take all our luggage out the car to be checked over by sniffer dogs, this was just to be able to drive into the airport area. All drivers have to open their bonnnets to have the engine area looked at. Stephen dropped us just after but we couldn't actually get into the terminal yet. Security asks which flight you are taking and then they say, no it's too early, wait outside. We got a coffee at the cafe and sat there for a while, very nice place and comfy too. They do a roaring trade as travellers are stuck in limbo. Once inside the terminal, we weighed our bike boxes and large tote bags. We could take two 23 kg pieces each. The bikes were over, one was 25 kg and the other 26 kg. Those motorcycle boxes weighed a ton! But the bags were under by a lot. So we took what we could out of the heavier bike box (saddle, pedals, water bottle) and put it in one of the bags. Of course we were still under by total weight, but the bloke who checked us in took issue with the bikes being heavy. However, as the large bags had already gone through he couldn't do much about getting us to shift anything else. Also, we were worried about the Zambian entry requirement for air arrivals that you have a return ticket. We are spending 4 days in Zambia before crossing into Botswana, but the check in bloke said nothing about it. We were half-expecting them to insist we book something as they had in Brussels, but they didn't. We had a few hours to wait for our 70 minute flight and then once in Nairobi, over eight hours for the next one to Livingston. We got some sleep in a cool corner where they had loungers. The next flight was three hours. We enjoyed flying with Air Kenya. As our plane came in to land we got great views of the huge Zambezi River and even the smoke of Vic Falls! The landscape looked just our cup of tea, pretty arid with many trees dotted about. It looked like home, except for the massive river!

Being processed in Livingstone was a pleasure. It is a tiny airport and everyone was very friendly and welcoming. We put the bikes together outside in a cooling breeze, the humidity is low. Within two hours from our plane touching down, we were on our way, only 6 km to our campsite in the town. we had two friendly guys chatting to us when we did the bikes. They were interested in our trip. We stopped on the way at Shoprite supermarket which was very busy. I went in to buy some things and Mike fought off some onlookers, one drunk guy in particular was very trying. I could use credit card to pay and store had a variety of goods. Interestingly no fresh milk, the milk in the fridges was all fermented. I had to get longlife milk like we did in Rwanda. We were held up on the main street as the deputy president' motorcade came through to the airport. Tabonina Bis, where we are staying is lovely. We were pretty exhausted when we got there! We just felt so tired all at once. We are camping in the shady garden and there are only two other girls staying here. We are here for three nights so will visit Vic Falls tomorrow.


We had a great sleep in our tent. We have missed it! From now on we will be using it much more as camping will be easier with fewer people around. We had a lovely, leisurely breakfast served by the pool and set off for the Falls around 09:30. It was only a 12 km ride there and enjoyable. Ordinary road through beautiful bushland, sparse and no farming. It has the feel of openness that we have been missing. We paid our 20 USD each to enter the World Heritage Site and the park ranger showed us a good place to leave our bikes. There are a few little walks in the area and we hadn't any plans about what we were going to do. We ended up walking to the Boiling Pot which is down a fairly steep track to the Zambesi River around the corner from the base of the falls, with a good view of the rail and road bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The flow of water was impressive as the force spins it around and back in the direction of the falls. We walked passed a troop of baboons going down and up the gully and they were not concerned about us and just went about their business. One mother had a tiny baby. There were not many people on the walk.

After this we walked to the Falls viewing areas across the Knife Edge Bridge. We wore our rain jackets for some protection. The experience was immense. Sometimes the view of the Falls is clear and then suddenly it is obscured by a burst of heavy rain coming from below. Except the sky is always blue and there are no clouds, the wind blows it up. The views are dynamic, the air clears and you see waterfall, the headland in front of you, sky and then all of a sudden you are in cloud. We got soaked of course but we loved that too. We spend a few hours in the area. It is unique for such a massive attraction in that you feel you are in it and nothing is far away. For us, growing up in South Africa and learning all about Livingston exploring Africa, it felt a bit surreal to have seen the Falls. After we left there were some curio stores but we weren't really interesed in looking. We walked through with the bikes. I ended up buying a copper bracelet on impulse. I just really liked it and it is a nice momento of our visit.

As we were riding back, a couple of guys on bicycles coming towards us shouted "Elephants". Surely not? I had seen what looked like elephant turds by the roadside earlier, and a sign on the road warned of it being an elephant corridor. I had looked up what to do if you see an elephant, but wasn't really prepared for one so soon! Sure enough, we could see cars stopping by the roadside ahead and on our side two blokes on bicycles stopped in the shoulder. We drew up to them and they said there were elephants, two on each side of the road but it seemed that the two still on the left would cross over to the right. We had to sit tight and wait. The thing was, one bloke explained, they can stay in one place eating for ages. They were not keen to ride passed until all the elephants were on one side. A few minutes later we watched in amazement as two elephants crossed the road about 200 m in front of us. There were also a few bikes on the other side of the road and when all the elephants had moved off together, the cyclists moved ahead, riding in the centre of the road using the slow moving vehicles as cover. Us four cyclists also headed off then, checking out the elephants as we rode passed. Amazing, our first day in Zambia and already we have seen more than we did in Uganda and Rwanda combined.

Cycling back we passed a much nice Shoprite centre than the one we had used yesterday. First we went to Hungry Lion for fried chicken and softserve. Too delicious! Then we shopped at Shoprite. Food is cheap here and it was nice to see some familiar brands from South Africa. We relaxed at the guesthouse in the afternoon and met a friendly Dutch family who are travelling by vehicle from Namibia to Kenya. The first fellow tourists we have met in Africa and it was really nice!




We had our last breakfast at Tabonina and were on the road by 08:30. It was a beautiful day, setting off through Livingston. Having grown up in Cape Town, we can't believe that we never came here, to see Livingston and the Falls. But we also remember that as 20-something year olds, air travel was something we never considered, it was out of reach. Driving here would have seemed too far. Now we live in Australia where air travel is a given and, well, almost everywhere seems too far. We stopped at Shoprite and Mike bought a small braai grid, fire lighters, tongs and briquettes! We are going to eat well in Southern Africa! He used to carry briquettes and a grid on trips to Scandinavia and we would braai every night. We turned onto the road which would take us out of Zambia and into Botswana. There was a sign soon after warning that we were entering a national park. We had a terrific ride along this road. It was a good surface, the shoulder not as good as it didn't get resurfaced as often as the road so there was a slight lip in between. There were quite a lot of long trucks with big loads. Staying in the shoulder they came really close, but it was safe. We passed a couple of immigration road blocks and a South African man in a 4x4 shouted encouragement. We rested a couple of times on the road, but the riding was easy and the distance went quickly.

We saw a herd of some kind of large reddish brown buck and a couple of monkeys, but nothing else. There were a few people cycling on the road and walking too. There were some villages, mostly off the road and those on the road had thatched roof rondavel buildings and were very neat. It is really nice not to have hordes of people walking in the road and shouting at us. It is relaxing. To our left lay the Zambezi River and Botswana. We turned that way after 66 km and the Botswana/Zambia border was very much a 1st world affair, complete with the fabulous bridge that was finished in 2020, replacing the pontoon which was used before to cross the river. The pontoon is actually still there and appears in use. The river is huge. Getting stamped out of Zambia and into Botswana was easy, then we had to of course unpack the bikes and put all our bags through the scanner. Mike's stash of briquettes (4 kg) got pinged, as he knew it would. "Bet it's the first time they see coal in someone's bags." A couple of km's later we hit the shopping area and bought some supplies, including meat for our braai at Choppies, which is a large supermarket chain here. Inside Choppies was the currency exchange and I swapped euro for pula. We had not been able to by pula anywhere in Livingstone. Then we pedalled the remaining 16 km towards Ben's Farm, where we planned on camping tonight. The road into Botswana was great, same quality as what we had been on in Zambia and the trucks here were actually much more cautious with us. We saw three huge birds, black with bright red hooked beaks and white wing tips. One walked in the road and seemed at least a metre tall. And two cheeky warthogs that ran off, tails straight up in the air. Looking at the bush we were sorry we weren't bushcamping now. We had decided on Ben's Farm, there were many campsites and lodges in the area, They all have waterholes and attract elephant and other animals in the evening for a drink. This road that we are riding down to Nata is called "The Elephant Highway" and elephants are walking all over all the time. For this reason we had decided to go to a campsite. Now that we are here though, we figured, well, we will bushcamp (wildcamp) maybe tomorrow so why not today?

We rode into Lesoma along Hunters Road, where all the accomodation is, and asked the girls at the busstop if there was tap water anywhere. They sent us over the road to a house where the lady was sitting in the garden and her children were doing homework. She had a tap and was happy for us to fill up. We rode back along Hunters Road and just before rejoining the main road walked into the bush and found a sandy spot to camp. Surprisingly Hunters Road was really busy with cars. We couldn't believe where they were going, into that tiny village. Maybe with all the accomodation places many people are employed there? There was also a large working quarry. We had a delicious braai, three pieces of steak and two toasted sarmies. Mike hollowed out the sand and made the fire and popped the grid on top. It was a beautiful sunset and lovely to camp here. Well, I say that but finger's crossed no large visitors on their way home from the "pub"!


Apart from the busy Hunters Road which had a lot of car traffic until late, it was a peaceful night. No large visitors. We had a great early start this morning, feeling happy and looking forward to the day. Until I suffered multiple punctures in both tyres due to thorns I picked up getting from our bushcamp to the road, about 50 m. Mike is riding Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres front and back and I usually do the same, but a couple months back I had a blow out and we replaced it with a Btwin tyre on the front (easiest thing we could get). In Brussels I got a Schwalbe Mondial and am carrying the other Marathon Plus as a spare. Schwalbe promotes the Mondial as the touring tyre and it was easier to get hold of in Europe, so we went with it. Mike is carrying a Mondial as a spare. I felt a bit regretful as Mike did not get a single puncture, which is what you'd expect from a Marathon Plus and wonder if we have made a mistake with my tyres. Poor Mike fixed about 5 punctures by the roadside. Then I packed my bike again and pffft, another puncture in the rear. Some choice words were said. Eventually we got going, our 07:30 early star ending up being 09:00. Grrrr.

Super flat riding today, bit of a headwind. Road busy with trucks but apart from one very (hold in your breath) close call with a petrol tanker overtaking us with a truck oncoming, they were all very courteous. Mike spotted our first animal sighting, a cow and calf elephant on our side of the road, behind some bushes. As he told me about it, she must have heard as she and bub took off running in the same direction as us. We sped up and left them behind. A couple of days ago two tourists on a walking safari in a national park in Zambia were unfortunately killed by a protective mama elephant. They can be unpredictable and aggressive. We both took a while to get going, the first 20 km crawling passed. I was too nervous to pull off the road just anywhere to rest in case of more thorns. We found a track and used it to get to a shady rest spot. The track was covered by elephant footprints. The next 16 km went much quicker and we passed a diesel refueling depot for trucks. We pulled in to fill up our water bottles. It was a perfect place to rest. There were toilets, showers, an undercover seating area and you could buy meals and drinks. It's all for the truckies, but they were generous letting us use it. We could even use the wifi. They had big plastic tubs and we could fill one with water and find many more punctures in three tubes. Including another one in my back tyre which went completely flat within seconds of parking my bike. At least we had a nice, shady area with somewhere to sit. We bought a 2L bottle of coke which we drank, and a serving of pap, curried beef and cabbage which we shared. It was very good. The truckies were all friendly and many said they would watch out for us on the road. One bloke said that he saw we had camped by the Lesoma turn off last night and he was pleased when he saw us again this morning as don't we know there are lions in the bush there? Another said that between Pandamatenga and Nata is lion territory. We feel safe with bush camping, but local knowledge and all that...

We felt better after all the coke and the meal and set off, the distance going quickly. We entered a forest reserve and immediately saw a large herd of elephant walking through the bush. We also saw two huge eland cross the road. Apart from that we saw one meerkat. We planned to camp just short of Pandamatenga and it was interesting to pass through a large crop farm on the flat just before that. We also passed through wild life warning areas which were massive grasslands, the exact colour of a lion so we had no chance of spotting one. We arrived at a Touch of Africa, which is mainly a lodge however they have a few campspots. We were happy to camp there, we had a lovely shady spot and it was almost 17:00 anyway. Sunset is around 18:00. The hosts were friendly and the showers were hot. We ate and then it was bedtime.


We set off at 07:30, the road kept its wide shoulder that we ended with yesterday. Another beautiful morning. The nights and mornings are pretty cool, this morning was under 10 degrees. We stopped after 6 km at the Choppies supermarket to stock up on food for two days and fill up with water. We are carrying 18 L between us. The riding was very flat though so the extra weight was not a problem. We had 200 km from Pandamatenga to Nata and planned to ride 79 km today, 74 km tomorrow and then 50 into Nata and on. There is no formal campsite until tomorrow night but tonight we will strike a fenced aerial which has onsite security. He will expect some payment, but it is a good option as the high lion population poses a risk to wild camping in the area until Nata.

The riding was pretty much a breeze. Mike had a loose spoke which he fixed on the road. There were a couple of picnic sites on the road. The truck traffic was much less than yesterday, we weren't sure if they leave Botswana via the Pandamatenga border post through Zimbabwe, or maybe it was quieter being Sunday. There were plenty of wild life warning signs on the road, but we saw no elephants today. We saw a herd of impala, another herd of buck and two very large antelope, dark coats and very long, pale horns. They stared at us for a long time before heading off. There were grasslands most of the day, with the grass growing, well, as high as an elephant's eye, and right up to the road edge. So here's hoping nothing crafty was having a snooze there.

We saw the aerial tower for many kilometres before we got to it. A lovely man pulled over in a ute and got out, saying, "Water Break!", handing us each a litre of water! We were really grateful! We pulled into the road to the tower and couldn't see anyone around, so eventually we decided to open the gate and go in. Then a bloke came out from a little hut. His name was Thabo and he was the security guard. We asked if we could camp and he said, "Yes, but you have to pay for security." He asked for 60 Pula, we gave him 50. He seemed okay with that. It's a nice little side hustle and many cycle tourists camp here due to the security and position. He got us to sign the book.

It was around 14:00 when we arrived so we could spend a couple of hours relaxing in the shade under the solar panel roof. Thabo left to take a taxi into town in the late afternoon and we had another delicious braai, Mike made the fire in a hollow in the sand just outside the fence. We braaied three chops. This good quality protein makes a massive diffence. We could then also shower easily, standing on a low concrete wall. In the tent by 18:30, it is dark by then.


We set our alarms for 05:30 to be on the road by 07:00. This was great as we left just as the sun was coming up and it was nice and chilly, only 5 degrees! We are trying to do as much riding by noon as possible. We find the max daily temp to be around 27.5 degrees, which is not too bad with no humidity. We often reflect on those days in Uganda and Rwanda spent with sweat just dripping off us. It was so unpleasant. This is better, we are always happier in arid places. Today was really flat, only one dip and a little climb and that was that. We spent all day staring into the bush as we went along, hoping for animal sightings, just please no lion. It's pretty exciting! We felt reassured being able to sleep behind fences last night though, especially when I heard some kind of deep, gutteral bark or growl in the middle of the night. I didn't think it was a lion, but what else would be active at night?

After a long time riding, maybe 50 km, we had a stretch of about 5 km where we saw 5 elephant, 4 giraffe and a herd of zebra! The elephant were two pairs of male and female and one large male right next to the road. So beautifully framed against the bushes as he stared right at us, his huge head and tusks were impressive! You can't even think of taking a photo or even stopping. We have seen elephant through a car window when we visited Addo years ago, and we see elephant on a screen, on tv or a photo but when there is nothing between you and the elephant is seems very different, so clear. He even lifted his trunk to catch a whiff. The giraffe were a family of 4, two smaller which were offspring. They stood in a group and stared at us, a few metres from the road. We stopped on the road and they turned and ran, picking up speed as they went. The zebra were running through the bush, near to the road. They stopped when we stopped as well and then moved off.

We stopped for lunch at a roadside picnic spot. There are these birds, we think they are hoopoos with huge orange hook-shaped beaks and they are quite eager to get food off you. We wouldn't argue with those beaks! We passed through the biological checkpoint at Ngwasha Gate after 67 km. We had to ride through the decontamination solution. It was quite deep and we were not that happy about it, but they insisted, saying our tyres needed to be cleaned. Watching a large truck submerge it's tyres did not inspire confidence, but it was okay riding through. There were small roadside stalls where we bought cold cokes, biscuits and hardboiled eggs. There was a small settlement there, huts mostly canvas and all with solar power and rainwater tanks. We asked if we could take some water and were directed to a lady who was cooking in a huge cauldron over coals. There was a large rainwater tank near her house. She kindly said we could. It was interesting as there were big spikes in the ground all around the tank, many rows deep. We asked her and she said it's for the elephants which come for the water. After this we saw another huge male making for a fenceline to get away from us on our side of the road, so that was really close and then a bit later a pair of elephant making a commotion in the bush. It was just an amazing experience, this ride today. We never guessed we would see so many animals.

We passed by the Elephant Sands Resort and Campground as it wasn't what we were after, camping was in the sand near the waterhole and there was no water provided to campers. We weren't sure how it was going to work. Also the access track was 1.5 km of what looked like deep sand. There was another aerial tower coming up and iOverlander reviews were that cycle tourists were able to camp there. When we got there there was a lot of activity going on, there was a work team up in the tower doing a new extension. There were also two security guards. They said they would need to contact their boss to check if we could camp. The work team knew exactly the tower we had camped at last night. They were all very friendly and one guy asked for a photo with us. In the end the boss came driving along and he was a very nice bloke and said it was fine to camp for the night. The perimeter of the area has a section of very spiky rocks all around the outside of the fence set into concrete and when the gate is shut there are heavy metal grates with heavy spikes to put off the elephants!


Another 05:30 wake up and 07:00 start. We are going to sleep at 20:00 as it is dark by 18:30. We felt very relaxed after yesterday afternoon when we had a nice chilled time at the aerial. The people here are so great, all friendly and you just feel at home with them. Years ago, 2020, Mike had planned a Southern Africa trip; Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. We knew that we would feel drawn by those countries. We only decided to ride from Uganda as we could fly there from Europe and travel south and as we are no longer working we have the time. But we feel so at home here. We feel a connection to the people and the landscape. If we had simply continued with our plan, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia we feel we would have had to put ourselves in a position we did not want to be in for no gain. Right now it feels like a holiday. We don't mind carrying food and water for multiple days as long as we have the experiences we are having.

About 5 minutes after riding off into the pink and orange sunrise we saw two large male elephant just off the road, having breakfast, their backs to us. They are really huge. I don't know why I keep saying that, everyone knows that elephants are big. The security guard lifted the elephant spikes for us to leave this morning, just goes to show they are possibly required! After this we saw no animals, however we soon hit a long stretch of road construction which took us all the way to Nata. This area is also a cattle farming area. So we could relax on the animal front. The truckies were still friendly, often hooting to say hello as they have probably seen us multiple times. We drew into Nata, pretty excited as our map had a Wimpy restaurant there, which we remembered from South Africa. Right away we met our first cycle tourist in Africa, a bloke from Czechia who had ridden from Cape Town via Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique. He was continuing through Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, the Congo and Ethiopia. He had already cycled the west coast of Africa a few years ago. He was involved in a NGO in the Congo and was enthusiastic that we should visit. We will definitely not be going to the Congo. He was worried about the road to Kasane, people had told him to get in a car due to the animals. Telling him about all the elephants we had seen right at the roadside did not make him any happier. When he told us that the Wimpy was not there that did not make us any happier. Sad face. We carried on over the Nata River to the Choppies supermarket which was big and full of the brands we love when we are in South Africa. Was very happy to get Jungle Oats (Instant), and many other things. They sold chicken burgers and fried chicken which we bought for lunch. We ate there and then picked up water at the Engen garage before turning off west to take the road to Maun.

Immediately we loved the road, stretching off into the distance across the savannah. We had a ferocious tailwind which had us speeding along at 25 km an hour! Amazing. That is, until the road went to total crap. It had these stages where there would be quite a lot of deep potholes (warning signs about them), then they would sort of join together, then the potholes would outweigh the bitumen, then the road would disappear into gravel and sand. Then suddenly the road would come back in perfect condition. This happened three times over a distance of 15km. It was really weird, there seemed no reason for it. The road was pretty quiet, the occasional truck and vehicle, all of which just drove next to the road in the gravel and sand. We coped fine, but hoped it will not continue. On that, it was pretty cool as we saw both sets of workers from the Tower at different times today, one crowd standing next to their car before Nata and the other passed us on the road to Maun, both times they recognised us and waved.

We stopped at Zoroga for another Coke and some more water. We drank the Coke a short time later sitting under a shady tree. We had 10 km more to ride to the salt pan where iOverlander advised there was easy camping. When we got there we could simply unpack the bikes by the roadside and carry our bikes down the culvert and then our bags. We carry our bikes now if there is any chance of thorns. It was 15:30 when we arrived and we could sit by the culvert on the cement platform in the shade which was great. The heat had not worried us so much today. It must have been cooler, or maybe the wind kept us cool. The pan was absolutely beautiful, very dry except for some salty mush next to the culvert. There were no animals around and judging from the large groups of horses and donkeys we saw today across the grassland or walking by the roadside, as well as herds of cattles and goats, we imagine there aren't many lions in the area. It also doesn't seem elephant country as the trees are mostly thorn trees. We are not however experts. We had a lovely braai of t-bone steaks and toasted sandwiches. Mike made the fire in the culvert so it was very hot with the breeze coming through. The we pitched the tent and showered. It is so peaceful here. We had a stunning sunset and just love it. Very lucky to be able to travel and camp this way.


We aren't stats focussed, however, we feel it's worth a mention that our average speed was 21.4 km per hour today which shows how flat this route is! It is very rare on tour to have an average over 20 km/hour. We really enjoyed camping on the salt pan and woke to the setting moon all orange on the horizon, then minutes late the rising sun, also orange. Flat riding as mentioned, zero animal sightings except for many groups of donkeys, horses and cows. We see impressive baobab trees now and then. The savannah scenery is very beautiful, flat all around with some woodland. We saw a lot of evidence of elephant with huge turds and trees pushed over, but no animal. Mike felt his bike go wobbly just after our morning tea break and found that he had lost a bolt on his rack. He carries spares so we stopped on the road to put in a new one. We reached Gweta after 48 km and rode into the village to pick up water, which we did at the library and community centre. It was a sweet little village. We needed to get some meat to braai and maybe bread etc but the supermarket in the village was no longer open so I went to the village store and then the butcher. The locals directed me from place to place and they were all friendly and welcoming. Mike charmed the ladies watering the garden at the community centre to fill our bottles and a couple of water bags. They even told him the he had a beautiful wife! The library has free wifi which worked better than ours and so we could upload webby and send messages.

We spent a while in Gweta, when we arrived we had seen the new Puma fuel stop after the turn off and we stopped there as well, only to find a small but complete Choppies supermarket there, more aimed at the tourist market with tins of Appletiser and 2L containers of icecream along with a lot of other things. We were still happy to have gone into Gweta, but I bought two pepper steak pies and some bags of sweets anyway.

Our tailwind ramped up again and we flew along, passing the turn off to Makgadikgadi Pans National Park and entering Nxai Pan National Park. We stopped at another aerial which was unmanned, however the same electrical team we met at the previous one was working on this one! We had a nice afternoon relaxing and braaing our steak and sandwiches. The three guys went off to the shop just before sunset and they will come back to overnight here later. There is a pretty ordinary diamond mesh fence with barbed wire edging and a fairly wonky-looking gate at this tower, no elephant spikes at all and as we were getting into the tent we definitely heard a trumpet from an elephant! The Gweta new water treatment plant was surrounded by many rows of huge spiky rocks. The elephants go crazy for water.


Mike woke up around 02:30. It was the crashing through the bush that woke him. Definitely a large animal close by walking through the bush, brushing everything in it's path away. I woke too and we listened for a while. We could not see the elephant but we could hear it breathing from our tent. It was nearly full moon so very bright out. We woke at 05:30 again and the moon only set around 06:00. It was a very cold morning, only 3 degrees by 07:00. We said goodbye and thank you to our tower camping buddies and hit the road. What a perfect morning. The first 30 km flew by. I think we saw a male ostrich but that was all. No sign of our early morning visitor. After an hour or so our trusty tailwind appeared. We stopped to make morning tea and coffee at the gate to the Nxai Pan National Park. The park rangers were very friendly. It looks to be a popular park for 4x4 adventurers. They had lovely benches and tables to sit at, toilets and water so we could fill up for the rest of the day and tomorrow. One of the rangers gave us the internet password so we could go online which was generous. We have our own wifi but cannot always access the network available. While sitting there we saw a cycle tourist ride by, opposite direction to us! What a pity we did not see him on the road! We spent ages there as we are trying to sort out where to stay in Maun. We have heaps of time available and could do almost anything we want. Maun is the gateway to the Okavango Delta so it would be good to spend some time there. The accomodation options are tricky. We want to camp but the campsites are all out of town and one issue here is that the access roads are very sandy and not rideable, so you have to work around that. What would be ideal is a lodge set up that also allows camping, but we were still looking.

We rode on. The road to Maun is excellent quality and very quiet. Hardly any truck traffic. Many 4x4's, usually in convoys of three to four vehicles. We pulled in to the village of Phuduhudu (Just say it out loud, you will love the way it sounds) and bought a couple 2 L cokes and some biscuits. We stopped at 54 km at a gravel track to eat lunch and drink a coke. A local bloke driving a taxi van hung out his window and pointed up ahead, saying, "Look there!". We stood up to look and there was an elephant by the roadside a few hundred metres down the road. He looked to be drinking. He was shortly joined by a friend who also started drinking. We were surprised as there weren't any waterholes about. We kept standing up to check where they were and then sitting down again. We didn't really want to start riding and go right passed them. It took ages but eventually they started walking off, both over to our side of the road. When we rode passed where they had been we saw four adult males all on our right, one was making his way to have a drink too and did not like us riding passed, quickly backing away in the direction he had come. One of the other elephants took off running. We are realising that elephants don't like us on bicycles. They are not sure what we are. They don't mind the cars and trucks at all. We noticed that the spot they were drinking at was a valve chamber along a water pipeline. The entire lid had been shifted, and some of the walls damaged, to expose some water beneath. Over the next 20 km we saw this repeated. Everytime there was a valve chamber the elephants had destroyed it completely to for water. Sometimes this area was huge, with a deep pit being dug by the animals to expose the water. We stopped counting after we had cycled passed 19 elephants. Many times they were really close to the road edge, drinking. They often looked right at us but we would ride on the right hand side of the road and very fast too and they didn't react beyond unfurling their huge ears. They were all males. It was pretty exhilarating but we realised we were there on sufference. We also saw two giraffe, seemingly mystified by us, and two tiny buck and a herd of zebra. Mostly we cannot believe that we were able to enter this country visa free, camp wherever we like, have perfect roads laid on, are able to buy coke everyday and eat red meat everyday and see all these animals hanging out by the side of the road. It is a HUGE privilege and really, if this week in Botswana was all the travelling we did in Africa we would probably leave happy.

We stopped at a roadside picnic site to rest, it was on top of a little hill. We did some more investigations into where to stay in Maun and found a homestay near to the town centre with Choppies in walking distance. It got really good reviews on iOverlander and Google.

The aerial tower we are staying at is unmanned and not locked but we have closed the gates and secured them with some cable ties. Not elephant proof but in the last few km's the valve chambers were intact so we guess no elephant. We are still happy to be behind a fence in the event of other animals. The fence did not prevent a crazy locust from terrorising us as we tried to relax. There is a good concrete slab that we have pitched the tent on. Wow. 18:15 and the sun has set. It is cooling down rapidly!!


The minimum temperature was just above freezing this morning when we got out the tent around 06:00. We set off for Maun pretty eager to get there. Road was flat and pretty uneventful. We saw a few donkeys but nothing else. We stopped at the animal control area, although only the traffic going towards Nata had to decontaminate and declare meat. A very nice priest from Mohembo offered us a shower and rest at a church property there. Mohembo is just on the Botswana/ Namibian border. We later had to change our route once we found out that exiting via Mohembo (north into Caprivi) is problematic for cyclists as you are not permitted to cycle through Bwabwata National Park. The road from Botswana enters Namibia directly into this park and the border security will not let you ride, so people end up having to try to get a lift through the park. Instead we will exit Botswana to our west, along the Trans-Kalahari Highway. There were a few settlements along the road but Maun did not really have "outskirts". We were either in it or in the bush! It reminded us of Tok, Alaska. We stopped on the way in at Midas for a large groundsheet/shadesheet to replace the one we lost in Uganda. We will need to create our own shade when we enter the desert and need a sheet large enough to do it. The one we found was heavy and probably too big but it will be very useful. We stopped at Choppies supermarket on the way to Golentle Homestay, which is on the south side of the river and in the suburbs. All roads here are sand once you are off the main drag.

We were very impressed with Golentle's. They were expecting us as we had messaged the owner, Kay, who was out when we arrived. We could have pitched our tent on the grassy lawn, which we might have done for one night and then spent a few nights in a room. There are about 6 or 8 rooms, two to a building on the property. It feels spacious. We chose a room with kitchenette and it was brilliant. The bed was hotel standard and very comfortable. We decided to spent 4 nights.

There were good supermarkets and places to eat within walking distance and so everyday we would take a walk to town. We had lots of good stuff to eat and a very relaxing time. Kay and her team at Golentle were a pleasure and we got our laundry done too.


We stopped on our way this morning at Checkers to buy some meat to braai for tonight. We have enough briquettes left from our 4kg bag for one more. So we got 5 braai's out of the bag which is pretty good. We won't be braaing every night, but it has been nice having cooked meat like that. The road today was excellent, as all the roads in Botswana have been. Traffic soon quietened down as we left Maun. We rode for 34 km without even a break. We did feel tired this afternoon. We picked up some water at Toteng. We spotted a sandy track under powerlines that was easy to get to. We are now unpacking on the road and carrying our bikes and bags in, thorn prevention! We are across from a large lake, now that it is dry season there won't be water, but we haven't seen any animals today except for cows and donkeys. Very few people too, and they are friendly. We relaxed for an hour or so in the shade on our new groundsheet which we love as it is huge! We had a delicious steak braai and toasted sarmies. We both felt very full! We pitched the tent on top of the groundsheet for extra puncture protection. There don't seem to be thorns here though.


Another great ride in Botswana! We were back on the road at 07:00 and headed for shop of the day, at the Shell Garage at the junction of the A3 and A35. The people at the garage were so friendly, giving us the wifi password so we could use it. There was a water tap too and we filled up for the day. We took it easy today, taking breaks whenever. The road was pretty quiet and grew quieter until even the cows disappeared. We saw very few overlanders. We had a few little hills too and could see a range of small hills in the distance. It was nice not having just flat road and easier on the body. As the road climbed there were shallow cuttings and we watched for a good one to camp on top of. Again we unpacked on the road and carried the bikes up a small rocky path to where it was flat. No thorns, but the thorn trees are very spiky. We had a few hours to lie in the shade and just snacked, no braai tonight but we did have biltong. We have been thinking for a while of camping out which we did a lot in the US in arid states. We think tonight is the night!


It was a perfect night to be sleeping out. The moon rose very late so we had a few hours of watching the Milky Way above our heads and saw shooting stars. We had been worried about getting cold but it was a very warm night, the temperatuure in the morning when we checked was over 12 degrees! We heard hyenas/jackals/wild dogs three times during the night. Sounded like a pack moving about, calling loudly. The last time they seemed quite closeby but hard to tell as the night is so still. We had a 12 km ride to another foot and mouth disinfecting point and the lady and man who worked there were very friendly and let us pick up water. After this we got to a small village where there was a shop and a water point. We asked around and were shown where a lady sold vetkoek from her house. We had tried the small fried balls of dough yesterday and liked them. We bought 10 today, dip them in sugar and they turn into doughnuts! At the shop we got eggs to boil, bread, Coke etc. We are about 40 km north of the Kgaligadi Transfrontier Park and even saw a kudu at the disinfecting check point. We stopped at a picnic site for tea and vetkoek. There were small clouds in the sky and it did not feel that the day would get so hot. The temperatures seem to be around 27 degrees each day.

The road is heading south and we still had a slight tailwind. We saw cows and donkeys and not much else. We sat at a busstop and had cans of coke which was very refreshing, also more vetkoek which seems full of energy! There was a bit of mining traffic as there is a copper mine on the road. We were happy doing only 75 km today as it places us well for Dekar tomorrow about 15 km away and we want to go to an Indigenous art gallery there. We found a good place to camp under a tree and spent the afternoon lying on our ground sheet. There seem to be some sort of big tick-like creatures here, they kept crawling onto our groundsheet which is light grey so we could see them. We have never seen ticks which look like this so we are not sure if they are ticks, but I killed them anyway. The area we are camping in is frequented by cows. There is this crazy dried grassy weed which just sticks to everything it touches.


You'll never believe us, except you probably will...at midnight we both woke hearing a car slow down and stop on the road right where we were camping. Then it turned around, coming even closer to us then stopped again. Car doors opened, two blokes chatting. We heard the process of getting the jack out trying to get the wheel off. A puncture, at midnight, on this road on which there is nothing for ages and ages and it happens right at our tent! It took them about an hour to get the wheel changed and they headed off. They were pretty quiet about it, or as quiet as you can be smacking a wheel with a wrench or something. We were still happy to get going at 07:00 this morning. The sun is rising later now and we use our lights when we start riding. We are very grateful to be heading west as the cars heading towards can see absolutely nothing as the sun rises. This means if we were cycling east they would not see us either. We had a cruisy 15 km to Dekar and turned in there to visit the Kuru Art Gallery. The road we took in there was sealed which was nice. It was a lovely community. They had a public gathering place with a curved concrete wall painted in the colours of the Botswana flag. It is in the same area as the police station and as Alfred, a San police volunteer explained to us when he met us later, they use the area for information sessions and conflict resolution. Everyone we met in the village was very friendly and interested. One bloke told us he had been to the Sydney Olympics in 2000. We had about a 40 minute wait for the Kuru Gallery to open. We made tea and had it with biscuits we bought at the general store. A few people came to chat to us while we had tea. We enjoyed viewing the artwork which is all produced by local artists. Great similarities between this work and the Australian Indigenous art, but the San art seems more mystical. I bought some jewelry items and then we headed off for Ghantsi.

We passed a few ranches now, cattle farming being big in this part of the country. Alfred told us that all the fencing meant that the San could no longer do their hunting and gathering. We assume though that that is not a new development, however could see his point. Certainly the land is now all fenced, quite different from the areas where the wildlife could roam unimpeded. Ghantsi had supermarkets and meals etc. We stopped at the Engen garage and Shoprite centre. This centre was brand new and the whole area had been tiled in white which seemed a strange choice for a shopping centre in such a dusty area. An employee actually followed us around with her mop as we wheeled our bikes to lean then against a wall. We picked up water and shopped at Shoprite. They had good warm meals also, mac cheese and curried mince, pepper steak pies. We won't have food shops tomorrow and probably not much until the Namibian border so we bought a fair bit. Many people came to have a chat, there were still tilers finishing off work and they were from Gobabis, Namibia and super friendly. Most people will ask where we came from and where we are going.

We sat for a while on a pavement in the shade and then set off. We had about 30 km to go to where we would camp. This is a long weekend with the President Day public holiday on Monday and Tuesday. There is the annual Agricultural Show on in town this weekend. We have seen many, many trailers carrying cattle in the last few days. It is obvious that there is a thriving cattle industry here. There was an area of bush where the fence was down and there was nice shady camping there. We unpacked and carried the bikes in and were in the process of carrying our panniers and bags etc when a large herd of cows came over the road from the bush on the other side, wanting to dash through the collapsed fence. When they saw us, they panicked and then headed towards Ghantsi. The little cowboy ran fast after them and shouted and they turn on ther heels and just stampeded back, all squeezing through an open gate further down. I asked him if it was okay for us to camp in the bush and he said it was fine. He said another herd would come through later. We were sitting in the shade when they arrived, many more than the first herd and some very big bulls amongst them. Many would stop as they walked along and stare at us, so curious as only cows can be. They were not completely sure of us but safety in numbers, and anyway, they are large animals so could easily intimidate us if necessary!


It was cold again this morning, 3 degrees, which somehow felt more expected than the two warm mornings we have had in a row. Not much in the way of shops or towns today. We took the turnoff west towards Namibia and the road was good and also pretty quiet apart from some truck traffic. We stopped at all the picnic spots and took plenty of rest. A man pulled off the road to record a video with us. He was a policeman from Chobokwane and had a chat to us about our trip, he was so friendy and enthusiastic. Later on we were resting under a tree by the side of the road when he pulled up to us again, going in the other direction. He came over with two bottles of cold water for us, which we really appreciated. He had gone to Kalkfontein to collect his young daughter who was very sweet. We pulled in at Tshootsha, a few people waving at us from nearby buildings. We wanted to pick up Cokes at the general store which it turned out was down a sandy road. When we got there, the petrol/diesel station was open but not the general store, however they sold drinks out of a small building at the fuel stop. We bought some tins and also a 2 L bottle for later. We sat in the shade of the general store wall and had our cans of Coke. Opposite was a lake of water. It looked like a salt pan, the way it had evaporated. Earlier we had passed a salt pan on the other side of the road. Trees had become quite sparse amidst the salty water, but after we rejoined the road there were more trees again. This road had been unfenced since we turned on to it which makes for easy camping. Just before the 100 km mark for the day we spotted a track off the road which opened up onto a gravel road and decided to camp there for the night. It is very thorny now so we have to be extra careful with where we camp. Doing some extra distance today has placed us in reach of Namibia tomorrow and we will enter the country via Buitenpos border post.


We had a herd of cows come through just at our campsite last night. There weren't as many as the night before and they had a larger area so weren't too worried about us. We had a huge tailwind again today and made great time. We were at Charles Hill (town at the Botswana/Namibia border) before we knew it and stopped at the fuel station for a drink. The border crossing to Namibia was painless. The veterinary control guards sprayed our bike tyres with disinfectant and we walked through the solution. We had to complete a departure declaration form for Botswana immigration. The border crossing was the same as the one from Zambia into Botswana, both countries have officers in the same building. This is the Trans-Kalahari Border Post. The building seemed very new. Once we were stamped out of Botswana we went to the Namibian desk where we had to fill out a in--person visa application form. Neither Botswana nor Namibia seemed to possess any pens and we only carry one. The visa process is new this year in Namibia. Previously Australians, along with many other countries, could travel visa--free, now we pay 1 600 NAD per person for an up to 3 month visa. This is 138 AUD/90 USD. So not cheap. We asked for 8 weeks and they gave us 3 months so we are happy with that. We crossed the border and 1 km further on is the Eastgate Restcamp where we planned to spend two nights. The reception was really good, very welcoming. The camp is fabulous and very quiet. There are many chalets and some campsites. We asked the manager for a shady spot and hit the jackpot as our site has shade and an ensuite ablution (by default as no one else needed it). Men and women have seperate facilities and each has a shower, toilet and hand basin. So basically Mike and I each have our own bathroom, and about 5 m from our tent! The first night a couple from Hartebeestpoort pulled in in their caravan and were very friendly. The reception has a restaurant and fast food counter. We had soft serve and chips for dinner. The chips were delivered to our tent site! Each site has a braai and table.

On our first rest day we went in search of the laundry. The manager had told us there was one just as we came over the border. There were two ATM's at the camp but one was out of order and the other must have been low on cash as it would only dispense up to a certain amount. We still had Pula and the restcamp would exchange but at one-to-one which is unfavourable as a Pula is worth 1.25 NAB, so we would lose a quarter. Gobabis is 100 km away and our best bet for currency exchange. We went to the laundry and they charged per item eg. shirt 20 NAD. This was for wash, dry and iron. This did not suit us or our festering cycle gear which had not been washed for a week (normal) and was all covered in white salt from sweat. The lady then said we could just give them everything and name our price. They would take Pula and they would deliver the things back to us at the rest camp. So we said 160 Pula (this is 17 AUD which is not cheap but they do it all so you have to pay for that) and they were happy with the price. Over the road from the rest camp was a supermarket where we went to shop and got some really nice things, including a new stainless steel mug for Mike as his was severally dented when I took my big fall in Uganda. At the rest camp we bought the best meat pies of the trip. They are called Eastgate Pies and are beef with cheese. Later we tried to find the leak in my air mattress. It is not catastrophic but loses much of it's air overnight. We are pretty experienced at this, but even using the swimming pool to submerge it didn't help and we couldn't find it. Mike serviced my pedals, which are still going well, he services them every 1 000 - 1 500 km depending if they start to make a noise. Mike made a couple of trips to the ATM's at the camp entrance to check if they were working and dispensing cash. Eventually they were. You always have to try until you get to the point when it gives out the service fee to decide whether to proceed or not. It can vary widely from zero to 10 AUD or more. He decided on the Standard Bank one and it started to dispense the cash, he heard the whirring sound, but then it stopped. Bending down to look in the slot, he could actually see the notes sitting there, but they wouldn't come out! Luckily he had requested a slip which confirmed that nothing was dispensed and the screen told him the transaction would be cancelled. It then went offline immediately. So he went back to the other machine.

Last night there were no other campers, three of the chalets were in use. We decided on having another day here today as it is so nice and quiet. We tried to find my air mattress leak again today, this time I got into my swimmers and into the pool with it. The pool is lovely but very cold! It has been very windy here and today is overcast. It seems much cooler than in Botswana, so I was pretty cold when I got out of the pool and had a hot shower. We still came up empty handed re: leak. Mike did a minor tent repair as there is a small tear in one of the doors. It rained a little later in the afternoon!


We slept an hour more than usual and were on the road at 08:00. We had a 150 m climb away from Buitenpos and the border so that increased our elevation a fair bit. The road (B6) is good quality with a narrow shoulder and very little traffic. The land is fenced now, farm after farm. The farmers' surnames at the farm gates are names we remember from South Africa; Afrikaans names like Pretorius, Erasmus and Labuschagne. It is beef cattle country. It was a beautiful day, the sky had some puffy clouds against a pale blue background. We encountered our first Namibian picnic site after 37 km and had tea there. Wow! We had heard that the picnic sites were good and they really were! In Botswana there were regular picnic sites but they really stood out as an anomoly against all things Botswanan. They were always unkept, the concrete seats and picnic tables were always broken and you could only just manage to perch on something. The garbage was always strewn all over and the garbage bins usually empty. At first we thought maybe it was the elephants or other animals that rifled through the garbage and chucked stuff around. We had met enough Botswanans to know that they would not litter. But even in areas without animal presence, they were still a mess. So the Namibian one's are a breath of fresh air! They have neat benches and tables and everything is painted pale blue and white which today at least matched the sky. The benches and tables are mounted on a concrete slab and surrounded by metal posts which we could lean our bikes against. The minute we arrived a team came on the back of a truck to clean up! They apologised for the interruption! "Don't apologise!" we said. The place was perfect already! Even the sand was neatly raked! There were 5 blokes and they emptied the bin, raked again and swept as well. They were all smiles as they left! Clearly this is why these picnic sites look so good! So we stopped at a few more during the day.

We came to Omaheke, a farmstall on the road which sells game and beef biltong and dried sausage and cool drinks etc. We bought some biltong and were amazed at how cheap it was . We sat at a table and chairs and drank cokes. It was very windy, tailwind for us. It was nice to have some shelter from it though. The day was not warm and we enjoyed the clouds. A few km's further on we turned onto a D road which was gravel and went along til we found a good place to camp. It does not seem thorny here. We were able to relax in the shade of our groundsheet until pitching the tent.


We had a small, furry visitor last night in the form of a very cute mouse that came in search of food. We were both asleep and woken by the scurrying sounds through the grass at our heads, then it was into my vestibule trying to get into a bag that contained bread. So we brought the bread inside the tent and it came back to get into the very crinkly garbage bag which we then hung up on the wire fence nearby, from where we could still hear crinkly noises as it tried to find the source of various odours. We were on the road 15 min later as the sun rises later now. We had a quick 18 km to Gobabis, town of the... week. It was a great little town, reminded us of an outback town at home. All the stores were there as well as a big church, Dutch Reformed. Mike got set up with a Namibian sim card which was very quick and the speed of the internet here is amazing compared with Botswana. We attracted a lot of attention from the locals, some of them expecting us to assist them with cash flow problems. We went to Shoprite to stock up and sat outside at a table and bench. Shoprite even sold barista made coffees which were great. We have now shopped at ShopRite in Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa and the prices here in Namibia are really low compared with the other countries. We chatted to some ladies outside the shop. Very friendly people here. As we made our way through the town sometimes little kids would try a little begging, but were soon put right by a nearby adult, "Leave them alone," the adults would say. Morocco could learn a bit from this! We picked up some more dried sausage at a butchery (recommendation from a local) and then tried to exchange our remaining Pula for dollars. We went to two banks but one could only do the exchange on a Monday and the other asked me to come back in a hour. We tried to hunt down bureau de change shown in google but to no avail. We left the town at just before 11:00, knowing that a brutal headwind lay in store for us.

We turned onto the C22, a sealed road which would take us north almost to Grootfontein. Our plan is to go all the way to Rundu, at the start of the Caprivi, then head west along the Namibian/Angola border. The headwind greeted us and we worked a plan to take breaks every 10 km. We had planned to ride about 60 km as we knew that we would spend time in Gobabis. The C22 is fabulous. It was a quiet road, only really farm vehicles and a couple of trucks. There were many vehicles towing trailers carrying cattle. The road passes farm after farm and they look profitable, judging by their gates, good fences and even electric fences. The roads here have CCTV and the farmers warn of surveillance, so it seems maybe cattle theft is a thing? Not sure. The headwind sort of went on and on but we were able to keep up a reasonable speed and apart from one hill, it was pretty flat.

We stopped at Drimiopsis and bought a Coke from the little store. The lady also let us fill up our water bags. We will pass a few settlements on this road and some bigger villages, but it's always good to get water. We had initially planned to camp along the C44 which turned off just after the town, but there were quite a lot of people hanging around, many teenagers selling bags of nuts and making their way down the C44, so we decided to keep going. About 10 km further along the road we found a good place to camp, unpacked and carried the bikes in and then our bags. Apart from the thorns on the ground, which we watch out for, the camel thorn trees also drop twigs which have thorns on them.The sky ended up being full of white clouds today and were very beautiful. We could see rain falling in the distance and had a few drops on us too.


There was a bit of thunder and lightening and some rain last night. Also we had another small, furry visitor, this time to Mike's side of the tent.The mouse scarpered after a while. The morning was beautiful, an orange glow behind the thorn trees that rose in a huge amber ball. It was a peaceful ride for the first 30 km, the wind only coming up after this. We rested at a couple of picnic sites and bought Cokes at a small store in Du Plessis, which seemed a lovely farming community. We passed many cattle farms again today and also workers mowing the long dry grass along the roadside and rolling it into hay bales. Nothing goes to waste. It is interesting to see the farms, the farm houses are now close to the road also. Farms have Afrikaans names like "Wagnou" (Wait now) and "Mooitdraai" (turn of courage?). We saw many flocks of guinea fowl. It was a pretty peaceful day, but the wind was quite tiring. We planned to camp along the D1628 which was a great choice as the road margins had been mowed here too and there was a herd of cows and oxen over the fence to watch. There is a thunderstorm predicted and rain later this evening.


No furry visitors last night, but we did see a family of about 20 meerkats come out of the bush and sit up on their hindlegs before disappearing back into the bush. There was a lot of thunder and lightening overnight and rain too. The morning was very dark and rainy with more thunder and we couldn't face getting out of bed so lay in for a while. We had breakfast in the tent and were able to pack up and get going by 08:30. We wore rain jackets as it was wet for the first 30 km or so. Amazingly the wind direction had changed following the rain and we had a tailwind! We thought we might be able to bypass Otjinene by buying bread, Coke etc at the fuel station on the road before the town, but it was either closing down or reopening and nothing was happening there so we cycled into town. It was Saturday morning and busy. There was a ShopRite and we bought a few things, including cooked curry mince from the deli which we ate with chips we bought at the Hungry Lion just next door. We picked up water at the fuel station in town and tried again at Standard Bank to exchange our Pula for Dollars, but they did not do currency exchange. There were quite a few dodgy characters in the town who made a beeline for us.

We rejoined the road, B14 out of town and the sun was out. We had a great ride, it was pretty flat and we had the wonderful tailwind so make excellent time even with the late start. The picnic sites along this road are space about 17 km apart and now also have little shelters! This seems to be as the camel thorn trees are now getting fewer and fewer, mainly thorn bushes line the road. The farms are also changing, no longer announcing themselves with Afrikaans names and they seem further off the road. We saw many guinea fowl groups. Mike had a front wheel puncture, luckily he saw it when we were sitting enjoying a coffee at a picnic site and that was the ideal place to fix it. It was not caused by a thorn, but rather a tiny metal strand from a truck tyre.

We stopped at a small store and bought a 2L Coke. The riding was super easy with the tailwind! We weren't too sure how far to go, but as 16:00 arrived we found a pretty good spot near a farm gate. Sunset is 18:20 and it is nice to relax for an hour or so before pitching the tent and so on. As I write a little mouse has announced itself for the evening by paying us a visit.


Good night's sleep, the early mornings feel a little like a struggle but the 05:30 wakeup is so beneficial. There is nothing better than getting on the road when the sun is rising. It makes you feel that at least you have made a big effort no matter what the day brings. The small settlement of Okamatapati was only 10 km away and we pulled in there to pick up water for two days. The settlement was really beautiful. All the houses were so neat. We have noticed this in Namibia, and Botswana. The remote villages are really well-presented. Here we saw that people even had small gardens. The areas around the homes are flat bare earth but then there are various desert plants set out, inside old car tyres or surrounded by rows of glass bottles. There is no litter anywhere. The homes are often freshly painted in bright colours. We stopped at the police station to ask about water and they let us fill up at their tap. One bloke was optimistic that we would reach Grootfontein today. We thought that was a long shot, being 170 km away at that point!

We made a few other stops through the day. We came across two stores where we could buy Coke and some food. Each time these places were so nicely set up, with toilets and a water tap. The first store in particular was lovely with a tiled walkway and entrance and a picnic area. It is great just to come across something like this unexpectedly where you can get biscuits and even tinned food and water. This area has many farms, which you drive into the bush on dirt tracks to access and these are the people who frequent the stores. We also stopped at the picnic sites when they presented themselves. At one a herd of goats was busy eating along the roadside and one got left behind and nibbled Mike's front mudflap and tried to get at some cabling.

We had a really strong headwind, sometimes crosswind all day. It made for very tiring riding. As it was flat our speed was not particularly slow, but it was pretty trying. The road was quiet, being a Sunday. We were aiming for a spot where a dirt road crosses the main road and hoped to get a good camp spot there. Coincidentally there was an actual campsite along this track, advertising swimming pool, gardens and braai! Great, but also it was 7 km away along this sandy road. No can do. We followed the track on the other side from where we could access a powerline track and there was good camping there. We could even sit in the shade for a couple of hours before putting up the tent. A small deer walked almost right up to us in our tent before noticing us and going off into the bush.


The windiest day so far. We had a headwind or crosswind from the start and the riding was pretty unpleasant. We took breaks when picnic sites presented themselves. We bought some delicious cooked meat from a lady cooking by the side of the road. We saw the usual cows by the roadside. The road was quiet. At 52 km we passed a good gravel road which we turned down to find a camp spot which was quite easy to do. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the shade and enjoyed it. It was not a good day to be on a bike! We still have 47 km from here to Grootfontein. It feels like we have been travelling to Grootfontein forever!


We had a restful afternoon in the shade and a very,very quiet night. Every night the wind completely drops at sunset and it is still all night. We set our alarms for 05:15 and were on the road in the pitch dark at 06:00, trying to get in front of the wind. It was the right decision. We have front and rear lights of course, plus large reflectors on the back of our bikes and we also wear reflective vests. This morning we rode with our headtorches on. There was almost no traffic at all. We had maybe 4 trucks and vehicles coming towards us before sunrise and one from the rear. We struck a picnic site only a few km's from our campsite but didn't stop, we knew there was one at 27 km and that is where we would have breakfast. We were there before 07:30 and the sun was a giant coral coloured ball as it rose above the scrubby trees. We left around 08:00, the wind already coming up and by the time we reached Grootfontein it was a strong headwind. We were finally able to exchange our Pula at a bank in Grootfontein and then went to OK Foods to shop. The town was okay, many shops and some friendly people, but we didn't have the feeling that we wanted to spend time there, which was disappointing particularly due to the effort involved in getting there. There was a large military base before the town and so perhaps the population of the town is itinerant to a degree? The supermarket was good, nice deli with meat pies and baked goods.

We had planned to visit the nearby Hobas meterorite site and camp at the campsite just short of it. This would mean a 20 km cycle further on, however Mike did some research while I shopped and saw that it cost 250 NAD per person to go to the meteorsite. Much cheaper for Namibian citizens. We hate this kind of thing, different rates for tourists and locals. Namibia and South Africa specialise in this and we will be paying the price later on on this trip, cycling through the Skeleton Coast National Park. We decided against it and instead went to the Peace Garden campsite which was much closer and turned out to be just our cup of tea. The reception was very friendly. There are chalets and they are busy rethatching some of them. The camping area was great with each campsite having a thatched boma of it's own! There were no other campers so we picked the best one, it had wooden fencing enclosing two sides which helped with the wind. The bomas had concrete bases so we didn't even pitch our tent, we just slept inside on the floor! We had a key to our own ablutions with a very large shower area. We were impressed and the per person rate was low compared to the meteor campsite. After settling in I took a walk to the reception to ask about doing laundry when I noticed giraffes just over the fence! This was brilliant, a family of three, one a baby and quite a few buck of various kinds, coming to feed at a big platform of grass. We went to watch the giraffe and buck a few times. The giraffe were pretty wild and would not hang around long when they sensed our presence.

We took a rest day as it was still pretty windy and we felt like a rest! Our laundry was done for us and Mike did some bike maintenance, trueing his rear wheel and tightening our brakes. I did some housekeeping, repairing my socks. It was a peaceful day. Tomorrow we head 60 km along the road towards Etosha, we have booked into a hotel for two nights in Tsumeb and are looking forward to it. We still want to head north at some point however the winds continue unfavourably for that so we will see.


We had scenery today which was a change! The ride from Gobabis, or actually from the Namibia/Botswana border even to Grootfontein was a test of resilience, due to the wind and the lack of scenery. We don't mind same-same but when the scenery arrives you realise the different it makes! Much easier to motivate yourself as you wonder what is around the corner! The road had some gentle hills as it wound between a small range of hills. The trees and other plants were different as we are moving into a less arid area now. We really enjoyed the ride. Arriving in Tsumeb you are greeted by a row of palm trees. We sat near the OK supermarket and Wimpy restaurant and had something to eat and some coffees from the Wimpy. It was pretty early, but we made our way to the Tsumeb Theatre around 12:30 and were able to check in. The town of Tsumeb feels very like any outback town in Australia and also like many of the towns we remember from South Africa. The buildings are old and well-cared for, mostly still in use. Many churches! The guesthouse is part of the cinema/theatre building and on the edge of town next to a lovely green park. You walk through the cinema and across the stage to get to the rooms. We were surprised to see that the theatre space looks like it still functions. The manager took us behind the screen and then said that as we had requested twin beds and they were fully booked so did not have a room available with twin beds, they had given us each a room. It was so unexpected that we could only sort of giggle about it. We often request twin beds on booking.com, but only because sometimes that means you get a bigger room and seperate duvets. Also mostly the beds are pushed together anyway. So we each had a proper room with single bed at each end of the passage which ran behind the screen.

We hung out in my room anyway and then Mike toddled back to his room to sleep. It was quite strange! At breakfast next morning we decided to stay three nights instead of two and asked if it would be possible to get a double room for the rest of the time, which it was, however the double rooms were on the outside of the theatre building and did not appear as nice or large at least from the outside. It would probably have been possible to have a double bed in our rooms as they were quite spacious. We presume they would have been dressing rooms or something. So we decided to keep our sleeping arrangements as is!

We walked to the town and stopped at the optometrist as Mike needed a small repair to his sunglasses and then the craft shop which had beautiful local crafts for sale and we bought a couple, then Shoprite for food and Mr Price for some new overshorts for me. My Patagonia over shorts have failed all over so need to be chucked. We came back and had lunch and relaxed. The manager knocked on my door to say that there would be a movie starting at 15:00 and it might be a bit loud. So ok, it actually IS a functioning cinema! The movie was Paddington in Peru. It turned out that we could actually have gone, the cinema shows movies on the weekend for no charge, it's a community service. It was quite loud with our rooms being behind the screen, but we used our noise cancelling headphones so it was ok! Today the movie is Havoc, which is an action movie so it might be louder! Who knows, we might even go! So all in all it has been an interesting experience staying here at the Theatre Guesthouse! It's been very quiet apart from the matinee. There are two deluxe rooms above us so not many people are actually in the building.


We had a last farmer's breakfast and hit the road around 08:30. Tsumeb was dead quiet on a Sunday morning and we were out of town before we knew it. The riding was easy today, nothing to see except the copper mine as we left Tsumeb and the railway line that starts there which runs along the road. We are riding the B1, which is a national road which runs from Windhoek to the Angola border and we will ride it passed Etosha and leave it at Oshikati. We did see a sign for Dr Moses Aweepo (sorry might have got the surname wrong) Railway Station but did not really believe that the railway line was active. The copper mine is ceasing production at the end of the month. The wind did come up but did not have too much impact on the back of two rest days. The road was very busy; trucks, convoys of 4x4's heading for or returning from Etosha as well as other local traffic, perhaps going to an neighbouring town for the day. We did not like the high proportion of cars that would overtake coming towards us, there is zero room for error with the speed these cars go.

We stopped at a few picnic sites which came along at short intervals. It was a warm day. There were tracks that led usually to farms and crossed the railway line and we were heading for one of these to camp. We turned off and crossed the railway line. There was a gravel patch between the railway line and a farm gate, but no shade. On the farm property was a shady tree where we could sit during the afternoon. We do not go onto private property, however there was no signage here and we were only going to just the other side of the fence. We would come back to the gravel patchh to camp later. We set ourselves up in the shade and unpacked the bikes. A short while later two vehicles came along from the farm. A woman and younger man got out and asked what we were up to. We explained about the shade and that we would camp on the other side of the fence. They were very friendly and said we could just camp where we were. The woman was on her way to work about 200 km away, she and her husband work there and come to the farm on weekends. Her son manages the place. His name was CJ and he was very kind, driving back to us twice to ask if we needed water and then to offer us accommodation or have a shower. We were happy with our situation and campsite, it was already generous of him to allow us to camp on his property and we were looking forward to it so we thanked him but did not take him up on his offer. Mike had carried an extra 3 L for showering! We chatted to him for a while about the farm (cattle) and the weather etc. He had just taken his cattle to the auction yard at Grootfontein! While we were relaxing a train engine came along on the tracks so clearly it is a working line. CJ says it runs from Tsumeb to Oshikati, transporting rocks from the mine.


Overnight temperatures are low, it was around 2 degrees this morning when we got up, but the days are warm, particularly the afternoon. The road was much quieter today, we passed an access road to Etosha after a few km's and although there was the odd 4x4 on the road today, no convoys. Picnic sites are regular along this stretch at 20 km intervals. We stopped at Oshivelo to pick up water and get drinks and some snacks. It was a nice town. No biltong though. After Oshivelo we noticed changes such as many more small settlements and cows walking by the roadside. The settlements and farms are all very neat and certainly not the large affairs we saw on the Grootfontein road. We passed an animal disease control checkpoint at Oshivelo. There were a couple of signs warning of elephant on the road, but we didn't see any. The pan must be pretty dry now. At Omupando we picked up some more water and bought more Coke. A few km's further we turned off down a gravel track and managed to find some camping under the thorn trees. It was a hot afternoon and we rigged up some shade with our groundsheet. We did see a metre long lizard skulking about a little way from where we lay relaxing. It was huge! Light cream in colour with black bands on it's tail. When it heard us or noticed us it froze and then slipped away. In the evening a large herd of cows walked by, a couple came through the area we were sitting in.


From Oshivelo on to the north and even west all the names start with "O", guinea fowl have been replaced by palm trees and the termite mounds are very high indeed. We have sat under many acacia trees and today we saw how they make hard seed pods which rattle when you shake them. The little track we camped along was pretty busy during the night, Mike heard many people walking along, chatting and before we went to bed a few people walked down the track too. The track was a bit of a short cut to Etosha, but very sandy. There must have be a settlement down there too. Also on the track was what looked like an army camp, the men wore army gear and there were big military trucks around, but some of them looked to be camping in their own small tents which did not seem right if it was the army. At the moment people are being encouraged to make sure they are registered to vote. There are instructions about this posted all over by the Namibian Electoral Commission. The area we travelled through today has many SWAPO flags up (South West Africa People's Organisation). When we were teenagers in South Africa SWAPO was always in the news because of the military engagement South Africa was involved in in South West Africa/Namibia/Angola.

Every sunrise is beautiful here, the colours are so striking. We wish we could cycle in that dawn light all day, but it is fleeting. We passed the turn off to Etosha and we hit Omuthiya after 20 km where there were a few supermarkets which was good. After the town the road seemed narrower and it was pretty busy and very straight. It passed through one village after another, all were very neat and well-organised. Brick production is big business here and there were many very large and well-built homes. We saw a few properties with thatched rondawel huts grouped inside high walls. Every village had a shebeen, places to eat meals, barbershop, some had a school and fish shop! There is a lot of accomodation too, lodges and guesthouses. We saw kindergartens/daycare centres today for the first time and also private schools. We stopped a few times to buy Coke and to rest at a picnic spot. The people were friendly and the women often wore very beautiful hats. There are more people around than before Tsumeb, but no one crowds us or asks us for anything.

We still had the headwind which can get stronger and then die down. It's okay. The sun is pretty hot, seems to be getting warmer as we head north. We pulled off the road a little earlier than planned as there was an open area with palm trees which Mike went to investigate, coming back to tell me there was a concrete area near an empty water trough. It worked well to sit there as we were out of the sun behind a small wall and should be able to camp on the concrete, avoiding thorns. We are close to the road but no one can see us here.


We had a couple of visitors last night after I did the write up. One was an older lady with two kiddies, one wearing no shoes (and the ground was covered with sharp thorns) who spoke to us in Oshiwambo and then got us to give her half our loaf of bread. The other was Elizabeth, who lived at a house nearby and who came over with her two little girls who were curious about us. She was so sweet as she first called to us from the fence to ask if they could come and speak to us. It was lovely chatting to her, she spoke English and the girls are learning English at school. She said that living in Namibia was not good as it was always sunny and windy. She wondered if we were afraid of camping due to wild animals and thieves. We told her about the large lizard.

Today's weather was so much better, it was very cold with much lower winds and they were southerly so no headwind and it was great being really cold. We had 28 km to go to Ongdangwa. We got an early start, 07:00 to make sure we were there in good time. Mike had noticed a mark on his neck which had changed in shape and colour pretty quickly, over a few days since Tsumeb. There was a dermatologist in Ondangwa and he got an appointment for 09:00 today. We were there early enough to make tea. Fortunately the mark was nothing to worry about. We are both still on Doxycycline as a malaria prophylaxis and one of the side effects is sun sensitivity and skin pigmentation so that could make small blemishes appear more defined. He burnt it off as well as two on Mike's leg. So that was a good outcome, relief all round. This area of northern Namibia is a malaria area and Doxycycline has to be continued for 28 days after leaving the malaria area, so we will be on it for 3-4 months in total. It is amazing that there are quite a few large ponds of water about here even though it is generally very dry and we do not often see mosquitoes. We are generally happy on the medication, it does not interfere with us in other ways. After this we went to Shoprite for some food and left town. The road continued busy and a bit of a nightmare through towns as it narrowed with steep dropoff's and the drivers generally don't have a clue about cyclists. We decided to turn off at Ongwediva and use back roads to get to the road going north to Ruacana.

Taking the turnoff at Ongwediva we saw a sign for a Spur steakhouse! We made our way there and was able to park our bikes in sight and have toasted cheeses and chips and a pecan nut sundae and waffle! Great! We had about 20 km to ride after this and it was 14:00, but the cooler weather made such a difference. The landscape has really opened up now, flat plains and few trees. The trees that you see are not thorn trees but much leafier. Riding through small settlements we saw some drunk men here and there which was new for us here. We stopped when we saw a large area with trees, farm fences set well back. Coincidentally when Mike went to investigate, the farmer was walking home so he could ask him if we could camp there, on the vacant land. He was fine with that. A little later an older lady came walking along. She could speak a little English and a little Afrikaans and seemed concerned about us camping there. Eventually after firing questions at us in Oshiwambo she told us she was going to fetch her child who could speak English. She never came back.


The old lady did come back, balancing a huge bucket on her head filled with foodstuffs. She was going off somewhere to do some cooking to sell. She was a slighty built woman, and as she spoke to us she sort of wiggled her back and head to keep her balance with the heavy load. She had clearly spoken with the farmer (her son) as she was far more relaxed with us. She worried that we did not have enough to eat and would be cold camping, but we showed her our tent and food and she wandered off towards the village. Around sunset two young boys came through with a herd of cattle. The cattle we see up here are the long-horned variety, ankole cattle. They had been waiting for ages behind a nearby gate so they know when it is time to go home.

Wherever we have camped, or almost wherever, we hear music at night from the nearest shebeen. But otherwise a peaceful night. We got going around 07:15, eager to get the first 30 km over with as that was still northwards and then we would turn left and enjoy a raging easterly wind. We stopped after 10 km to pick up water at a tap near a school. Many children passing by, waving hello. The children here are lovely, they are either friendly, shyly waving and saying hello or pretty nervous of us. Both reactions are fine by us! At the water tap a girl asked us were we were going (Ruacana) and if we are going there to sell things (no, this is just our stuff). She also asked if we knew how to ride a bicycle (we hope so). We soon had the 30 km done and dusted and then our reward, after so many days from Gobabis,through Grootfontein, Tsumeb etc, a TAILWIND. Super. We really enjoyed the riding. We passed through one village after another, flat, open country in between. Each village had at least three shebeens. One was called "The War Veterans Bar". We are now deep in SWAPO country, judging by the number of flags we see. SWAPO has won the majority in every election in Namibia since independence in 1990. Mostly there was a good feeling about the place, however although we automatically wave and greet everyone we see on the road or in the villages, here we do not always get greeted in return. It is amazig to have such a wide view of the countryside and the trees up here are also different, no more acacias, the larger trees look like cottonwoods. It seems pretty fertile around here and there are often large pools of water. We decided to make straight for Outapi and just before drawing into it was passed three large Baobab trees. In Outapi there is a campsite set around an old Baobab that you can walk inside, it has been used as a prison in the past and a post office and is now set up like a little chapel with thee tiny benches and a small pulpit. It is on the other side of the vibrant town centre, so we made our way there and rang the number on the gate. Marcus came to open up for us. It is a great spot, only three campspots, some handcrafts for sale and the baobab tree. We decided to stay for two nights as it was just perfect.

On our rest day we slept in, walked back to town (just around the corner) to do some food shopping and then came back to camp. We did some housekeeping; clothes washing by hand and Mike did some maintenance on his bike. We relaxed for the afternoon.


Bit of a change for me today; the replacement shorts I bought in Tsumeb had not really worked, by which I mean that they are already worn out in the bum area. So yesterday I bought a traditional Oshiwambo skirt. It was fine riding in it but I need to make some adjustments so it does not work as a sail and make my bum look HUGE. Most of the day was spent on the usual fare, flat road, farming area, cattle about. The one difference was the canal which started after Outapi and ran parallel to the road until Omindamba where it crossed the road, heading off to Angola. The canal was full to the brim and there were water pumps along it. There were often women washing clothes and people collecting water from the canal. It's a hard life but not as hard as those young men we saw in Uganda cycling to collect water with many water containers to fill. We stopped a couple of times for Cokes and at one bar the group of young men had a small hedgehog rolled up in a ball that they tried to get us to hold. As we drew near to Ruacana, suddenly the road just dropped away and we were whizzing down a steep hill to the falls and Cunene River below. Surrrounded by rocky hills, with a view of the hydro-electric scheme dam beneath us, we had views and scenery for the first time in Africa since Morocco. Sitting by the roadside with a baby on her lap we saw our first Himba woman.

We took the turn off to the Angola/Namibia border to view the Ruacana Falls. Mike asked the border guard if we could basically leave Namibia for 30 minutes to go to the viewing area. Well, it's not really leaving Namibia, it's just that no-man's land between the two countries. The falls have a 120 m drop and are potentially 700 m wide, but this is dictated by the water being released upstream by the dam and also the time of year. So for us the falls were not very "wet" but still impressive. Coming back we viewed them from another spot above the power station. Turning onto the road to Hippo Falls Campsite a lady popped out of the bush and we had a chat. She was so enthusiastic and incredulous about our trip. She thought that cycling to Epupa would be very difficult. she was excited about my skirt, saying it is a "vambo lady's skirt," and so my husband must be very happy. She also told us we could camp anywhere and no one would be cross, which is good to know. We had decided anyway to camp at Hippo Falls which is a community run campsite and wonderful. It is right on the banks of the Cunene River. It has showers and toilets and the campsites are spread out each with a small concrete and brick area for fires where you can sit on the wall. Plenty of shade. Only 50 NAD per person! The young woman who met us at the gate confirmed the presence of crocodile in the river and although it looks so inviting there are no swimming signs up everywhere. Tomorrow we are on our first gravel road of the trip, 140 km to Epupa Falls.


After all those km's cycling from Gobabis north, and then west, finally we have scenery! It is outstanding. Very beautiful! We mostly pushed our bikes up a 150m climb first thing from Hippo Pools, just as the sun was rising and had great views of the road we had cycled down yesterday. All day we were delighted by the constantly changing light, vegetation and rocky landscape. But boy, was it challenging! In the first 25 km or so just constant very steep up's and down's. Mostly we had to push up the up's as too steep. The road was often very rocky and slow going, and towards the end of the day very sandy. So the riding was tough. We can't really be on the road any earlier than we are, as it is we get going before sunrise, and we decided that we would stop riding at 14:00 no matter what due to the heat. A few km's before the end of the day we passed a campsite which no longer appeared to operate but some girls on the road pointed us to the water tap so we were able to pick up water which we filtered anyway as it was obviously untreated. Shortly after some Dutch tourists in a 4x4 pulled over for a chat. We saw Himba people at intervals on the road. Mostly they keep to themselves. One elderly man came over to shake our hands. At around 13:30 Mike pointed to the river a short distance away, it was the closest it would be for ages and there was a track leading down to it. We decided to call it a day and went down there. There was a young boy and his father fishing, otherwise it was quiet. We set up our shade by hanging our ground sheet in a tree and lay in the shade. It grew very warm and we walked to the edge of the river. Emboldened by the man in the river checking his fishing nets, we got in and lay down. Wow! That really helped as we were cool for a while afterwards. As the afternoon became evening many more people came down to the river, collecting firewood, fishing and collecting water. Some of the little kids were curious and came to look at us. One older kid tried the, " Give me money" angle. But mainly they keep a distance from us and just stand around. We had another dip in the evening. Gorgeous sunset. We need to try for 50 km tomorrow!


Two family groups ended up like us, camping at the river. Both had caught fish in nets and made fires for cooking. We had a super early start, on the road at 07:00. The first 10km went pretty well, we felt that we had some momentum, even with the sandy patches, but just before Swartbooisdrif the road turned into a farmtrack, very rocky and a taste of things to come. The village of Swartbooisdrif is small but there was a minimarket there which we found, still shut at 08:30. A lady told Mike that it was closed for good. Nearby was a lady making vetkoek and we bought about 20 as food is going to become an issue. Leaving Outapi, we had both filled our bear containers so we were carrying as much as we could, but we finished our bread last night and vetkoek is probably better than bread so we were lucky there.

We made tea at the village and said hello, or "nawo " which we are learning, to passing people. There were piglets around. We have seen many pigs as the water availability increases, this was even before Outapi. There is a clinic there and we saw some nursing staff head off to the school with what looked like vaccination kits. After this we headed off on the road. Wow - tough riding today and stunning scenery. At one point coming downhill towards a river crossing there was a herd of goats and a little herder in the road, his back to us. He turned to see me and just took off at high speed, never to be seen again. Just before doing so, the panic showed in his eyes. We have never been anywhere where people get a fright seeing us! We stopped for a rest at 30 km and then I had a rear wheel puncture, I knew the minute we got back on the bikes. Luckily it was an easy find, a piece of metal which would have been picked up days ago on one of the national toads and took this long to work through the tyre. Mike had a goat herder as audience when he fixed it. So after that it was nearly 14:00 when we got going. The first thing we saw was a climb that just went straight up skywards! Super steep, walking of course. Then this pattern repeated itself, although the next one was not as long. So steep! We met a German 4x4 tourist who stopped for a chat.

We were not sure how to handle the heat and the distance. We did not want to cycle into late afternoon as the temperatures are high 30's in the sun, but we have to make distance due to our food situation and also just because you can't ride 30 km per day. Actually, once we decided that we would just have to ride through the heat, things felt better, maybe just taking that pressure off helped. Also we wet our shirts in the river which we had not done since Morocco and that makes a massive difference to your skin temperature. A few times on the road we struck parts, usually super steep downhills that were unrideable due to erosion or large rocks. We had just negotiated one of these before a Himba settlement where small boys were selling craft items, carved wooden crocodiles etc. Unfortunately we don't have room for one of those and then the chase was on. These tiny kids in their loin cloths, no shoes, took off after me just for fun. They ran for ages until another group of kiddies popped out and joined them. A man who had passed us earlier on a moto brought them to a halt and then as we were starting anothing steep climb pushing our bikes, he offered to help me. Mike and I sometimes push each bike together if the gradient is too steep which was the case today. The man wanted to push my bike on his own. I tried to tell him it was a two person job, but he wanted to have a go and then of course he could barely budge it. We laughed and I took the handlebars, he pushed from the rear. The kiddies came along for fun. It was so nice of him and such a long way, at the top I gave him 20 NAD. He was pleased. After this it just felt like we were really in the wild. It's hard to explain, but only 4 cars passed us today, so it's just us on the road. All the other people are Himba and they live like they have always lived. The guy with the moto was an exception with the moto, otherwise they dress traditionally, they herd goats and cows, their settlements are all made out of what they find. There is no plastic sheeting or bags or anything that you would buy. The women adorn themselves and the men wear jewelry too and interesting hair ornaments. It is like being back in time. The hills are now close by and you see baobab trees a lot. The river is a constant and it is a beautiful relief to know it's there. Later on climbing out of a river bed another young man helped me push my bike.

We were really flagging and it was after 16:00 when we found somewhere to camp. It was a lovely spot, full shade from river palms, right above the river bank. There was a family group sitting over the road and Mike went to ask them if it was okay to camp. They agreed happily. We went and put down our groundsheet on the river sand. Mike collected water in our folding bucket for filtering. Two teenage boys came to chat and were desperate for a photo to be taken. I took two of them and they were just so thrilled to see it. They were really intrigued to look at their likeness. They confirmed the presence of crocodiles in the river so no swim tonight, but we had a lovely shower.


The sun is rising later and we were on the road at 07:00 with our headtorches as well as our lights on, just to be able to see the road. The road continued as before, some very sandy, some very steep and some rideable. It did improve condition wise as we went on. We were aiming for Camp Cornie which is a campground about 30 km short of Epupa. We got there around 10:00 and they had plenty of cold tins of Coke which was great, but no food or snacks, not so great. We were hoping to have a relaxing day taking it easy in the campsite but with no food on offer it was not worth it. I asked the manager if they did not have a loaf of bread or anything as we had cycled from Ruacana and were now running short of food. She kindly sold us a frozen loaf of bread so we were sorted. The campground was pretty busy, seems popular with the 4x4 crowd. Two 4x4 vehicles towing caravans came towards us just before we got there. We left and rode, or pushed a few more km's and then decided to camp at the river.

.The day grew warm and we chased the shade around. We had a few visitors, one was a teenage boy with a child's colouring in book and he seemed to want crayons. Sorry mate, you are out of luck. However I had picked up an booklet on Namibia at the campground and he seemed happy with that. A couple of goat herders who asked for sweets and a young woman with her baby. We had two QUICK river dips and she came along at our second one and plonked her baby in the few cm's of water on the beach to cool him down. Much later a entire troop of monkeys came along through the trees.

Low point of the day was discovering my rear rim is worn out. I went over to get something from my bike and noticed it. Then we noticed it is worn all over. Mike moved the rear brakes slightly so that they hit the rim below the places which are wearing and we hope for the best. There is a bike shop in Opuwo which is about 180 km away but we don't know what rims they would have in stock and even if it is worth buying a new one now if it is not that good. Low point number two was I cut my shin on my pedal while we were moving the bikes about. Not as bad an injury as the cut to my knee, thank goodness. Epupa tomorrow!


We were both awake a lot in the night, Mike did not sleep well after midnight and I was awake from 02:00. We felt apprehensive and a little sick about my rim and how to deal with it. I felt a little sick over my injured shin, remembering how long my knee took to heal (6 weeks) and that shins heal very slowly. We only had 30 km to ride to Epupa but felt tired and worn out by the road and the elements. The truth is that all our rims are wearing badly. It all started with the wet weather we had in Spain in February, the brake pads wore out quicker than anything we have seen and that meant the rims took a beating too. We are still riding Andra 30 rims which we replaced our old Andra's with CSS coating with, they don't come with the coating anymore. Our previous rims did so many km's, maybe 50 000? Without complaint until they packed in. We had assumed that these new rims would at least last the trip, but they have only done 10 000 km now. Anyway, we set off and the road condition was pretty good most of the time. I have to go very easy on my rear brake due to the rim issue and that went fine as the descents were not so steep as before. We rested on top of a high rise in the road and at that point about six 4x4 vehicles passed us going in either direction, one of which was the manager from Camp Cornie who waved. We took a short cut to Epupa by turning off the road onto a track to cut out part of a climb and ended up having to haul the bikes up a very steep track and then could drop down into the village of Epupa.

We had decided to camp in Epupa as the next instalment of this trip takes us to Opuwo up a long ascent and I was too tired to even think about that. We went to the small village store and bought Cokes and chatted to the locals. One bloke Ticko turned out to be our fixer as he organised a bread order for us, got our fuel bottle filled and showed us where to buy vetkoek. He was a lovely chatty guy and worked as a guide on the river. We were too tired to really invite a long conversation. Apparently the bread would be delivered to us later. We went along to the campsite, it was the third after two much more expensive and touristy ones. The manageress was immediately open to negotiation on the 150 NAD per person per night charge and we agreed on 120 each. She told us that the water tank would be filled but we should wait 5 minutes. She came back a while later to say the campsite owner was unhappy with the negotiated reduction and we had to pay the full amount. Fair enough, we agreed as what else could we do? The site is under palm trees and right on the edge of the Epupa Falls. Like you think it is just a river and then you realise all the water is going down a giant gurgler into the chasm below. It was beautiful. So the bloke came along and got the two generator pumps working. When he switched them off and left, Mike went to shower, but there was no water. He went to ask the mangeress, who said that she had told me there would be a delay. But she said 5 minutes and that was over an hour ago. So the way it works is that the water is pumped from here up the hill to another, more expensive resort's tank and clearly they take precendence. So she then organised to get another guy to come along with petrol to get the pumps going for our tank. And we could shower. However, after this the generators just ran for hours and the blokes kept coming with more fuel. In the end there were 4 blokes working these pumps and we just blew our tops. What the hell was going on here? Well, one of the guys sounded perfectly reasonable as he told us that they only fill the tanks every two weeks and it takes about 6 hours. "Well, we're here today, so we don't care about the other 2 weeks," we said. They honestly thought we would understand that they wait two weeks to do this, actually had all morning today but decided to start when we pitched up. This is why wild camping is so much simpler, you don't have to deal with any of this. The manageress came back and tried to tell us that they would be another 30 min, we just refused as the bloke had just said they would be 4 more hours! When we took a walk to have a look at the falls and saw the number of rooftop tents and 4x4's in the other campsites we figured the inconvenience was worth it to be on our own and not packed in with so many other people. Anyway, the generators were turned off and will be switched on tomorrow after we leave

I went over the road to the Epupa Clinic to see if I could get more gauze for my wounded shin and received amazing treatment. The nurse wanted to take a look at the injury and then treated it for me and gave me a whole lot of supplies to take with me. She would not take payment but said they accept donations to assist people who are in need. I happily gave one. Wonderful service!

Tomorrow we finally head south. This ride from Ruacana to Epupa will go down as a highlight of this trip. It was tough but so rewarding. We are very pleased that we chose to ride it. The stretch of countryside and the people that inhabit it are completely unique. It was a once in a lifetime experience.