Our Captains log is a capture of some of the random thoughts, frustrations and experiences we go through as we travel along. This months version certainly has plenty of ups and downs as we ticked off big mileage to escape the rains. These log entries cover our very quick jaunt through Zambia and then some of our time in Namibia.
1 February
A day of staring 5m to 200m ahead, dodging potholes & passing trucks with 1/2 m spare between us while balancing Mr J tyres on the edge of the squiggly road edge. B@£* tired! Uuurgh Zambia!
2 February
For f@!ks sake. While having a soak in the natural hot springs this morning before hitting the road, we heard a tree crashing down nearby. When we got back to Mr Jones it had fallen next to and partially on him.
5 February
The joy of simple things! Finding a Shoprite that has wine (still box though) and all other items at close to South Africa prices (first time in 6months) and tonight having a shower with decent lighting, enough space to change and plenty hot water (a rarity the last couple of weeks).
9 February
While not ideal as there is not much to do here and it has rained almost constantly, a couple of forced down days while we wait out the weekend to visit a mechanic has been really good for us. Feeling nice and relaxed.
10 February
Rain all night and then packing up in the mud has us both feeling grumpy this morning. Also for some strange reason we don’t have too much confidence in the mechanic even though he is highly recommended which leaves us anxious about that too. In the end he was in fact great.
11 February
In Namibia and we have sunshine, could this be the end of our “load shedding”? So glad we dashed westwards yesterday after a brief hospital trip for Mr J.
For context to to the above entries, see the Zambia Travel Diary
12 February
Aaah the joys of proper campsites! 2 weeks ago we were paying the same to camp on a pile of rubble in the backyard of a hotel, today we have our own ablutions, wash-up area, grass and a private viewing deck over the Popa falls on the Kavango river.
15 February
Continually confused over what time it is the last few days?? As we are on the border with Angola the phones are constantly changing time zones, often making us think it is an hour earlier than it actually is. We assume the phones GPS keeps confusing which country we are in…
17 February
The long days and often not great roads of the last month are taking it’s toll, both been snappy at each other, which we never are so a sure sign down time is needed! Crazy to think 1 month ago we were tracking gorillas and now we are well into Namibia. Today’s camp on edge of Etosha feels good and while a little pricey looks like it will keep us for a few days and give us that needed rest.
18 February
A lovely relaxed day, spent lounging by the pool reading and catching up on blog etc. Glad we stopped here.
19 February
So annoyed and frustrated! We left our frozen red meat in the care of the lodge due to the foot & mouth disease controls Etosha has in place and THEY PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE. So when we got back after the day in the park, 2 weeks of meals had defrosted. GRRRR!
20 February
Marathon cooking session of mince to save the defrosted meat, followed by some great chilli con carne. All done while riding out a massive thunderstorm sitting inside Mr J, thank goodness once again for the Icarus roof conversion.
23 February
Very relieved! Been nursing a wonky propshaft with a daily greasing schedule for the last 2000km, hopefully can get it fixed/a new one now that we have made it to Windhoek.
24 February
Productive day, propshaft sorted, first haircuts in many months and some shopping done.
26 February
Pleasantly surprised by Swakopmund, had a lovely lunch on promenade followed by walk and sundowners on the Tiger reef deck
28 February
Dodged a bullet this morning! While disconnecting the grey water bucket, noticed a space in the bushes for the rear lower suspension link. The nut had come seriously loose and was almost off – must be due to all the corrugations last few days and with all the driving I (Stuart) been a bit lazy last few days in checking Mr J over.
