Namibia

My first time to travel outside of South Africa was to Namibia(Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek.Namibia is known for its dry landscape it is the world's thirty-fourth largest country after Venezuela. Weather and climate -Namibia has more than 300 days of sunshine per year. It is situated at the southern edge of the tropics; the Tropic of Capricorn cuts the country about in half. The winter June - August is generally dry, both rainy seasons occur in summer, the small rainy season between September and November, the big one between February and April. Humidity is low, and average rainfall varies from almost zero in the coastal desert to more than 600 mm in the Caprivi Strip. Rainfall is however highly variable and droughts are common.)I was 18 years old and had just finished my last year of school. A friend of mine’s mom lived in Namibia and he had invited me and a bunch of friends to join him in going home for the December holiday.

I was very excited as I had never been outside of South Africa. Last minute change of plans and it ended up being just me going to meet him in Namibia.
As I do not come from a wealthy family I had to take the bus up to Namibia. I booked my ticket on the Intercape(The Intercape Mainliner offers luxury air conditioned coach service throughout Southern Africa at affordable prices. The Intercape Bus routes can take you from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Throughout Namibia including Windhoek, Swakopmund and other points of interest and all major Tourist destinations in South Africa and the region, including Malawi. As the main bus service provider between Windhoek and other destinations is Namibia the Intercape is often the starting point of any holiday in Namibia) bus line. It was quite a long trip about 18 hours of driving with just a few stops in between. We drove without problems all the way to the border(Oranjemund is a town situated in the extreme southwest of Namibia, on the northern bank of the Orange River mouth. It exists to service the diamond industry and has a population of 3,659 (2009). Access to, and settlement in Oranjemund is restricted to employees and their relatives. There is a border post to South Africa, only persons with pre-application of 1 month are allowed to cross the border)between South Africa and Namibia.

Once we reached the border they had to search our bags what a nightmare. For some odd reason the woman on my bus refused to have men searchers search their bags, this was very late at night and I was tired and really not in the mood for people to be silly so I just walked up to one of the male searchers and told him to please search my bags and get it over with so I can just get back on the bus and sleep. So “quick and easy” he searched through my bag and back on the bus I got. I ended up still waiting about four hours before everything was sorted and we got going toKeetmanshoop(Keetmanshoop is a city in Karas Region, southern Namibia, lying on the Trans-Namib Railway from Windhoek to Upington in South Africa.The town is situated in a semi-arid area, normally receiving an annual average rainfall of only 152 millimetres (6.0 in), although in the 2010/2011 rainy season 254 millimetres (10.0 in) were measured)the town where my friend would meet me.

So on we drove and eventually we reached Keetmanshoop where my friend waited for me very early in the morning. From there it was another few hours before we reached his home which was in Luderitz(Lüderitz is a harbourtown in south-west Namibia, lying on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island. The town is known for its colonial architecture, including some Art Nouveau work, and for wildlife including seals, penguins, flamingos and ostriches. It formerly lay at the end of a railway line to Keetmanshoop). When I arrived I slept most of my first day.

We spent a lot of time walking around Luderitz and enjoying the dunes and salt water pans. We went quad biking and went out to sea in a rubber duck it was a very relaxing and adventures time for me.

We ended up going for a road trip with his aunt and uncle down the whole southern part of Namibia. We stopped at the Fishriver Canyon(The Fish River Canyon is located in the south of Namibia. It is the second largest canyon in the world and the largest in Africa, as well as the second most visited tourist attraction in Namibia. It features a gigantic ravine, in total about 100 miles (160 km) long, up to 27 km wide and in places almost 550 metres deep.TheFish River is the longest interior river in Namibia. It cuts deep into the plateau which is today dry, stony and sparsely covered with hardy drought-resistant plants. The river flows intermittently, usually flooding in late summer; the rest of the year it becomes a chain of long narrow pools. At the lower end of the Fish River Canyon, the hot springs resort of Ai-Ais is situated), the orange river(The Orange River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. The river forms part of the international borders between South Africa and Namibia and between South Africa and Lesotho, as well as several provincial borders within South Africa)which is back at the border, stayed over for a night on a mining town (which name I cannot remember at this time) and spent the day at the Ghost Town(Kolmanskop is Namibia's most famous ghost town, and is situated in the Sperrgebiet, (forbidden territory) a few kilometers inland from the port of Luderitz.).

At one point we were so hot and just wanted to swim so when we got to Ai-Ais(Ai-Ais Hot Springs meaning 'burning water' in the local Nama language, refers to the sulphurous thermal hot water springs found in the area. Pronounced "eye-ice", the natural hot-spring oasis is situated at the base of the mountain peaks at the southern end of Fish River Canyon, in the Karas Region of southern Namibia and forms part of the Ai-Ais/RichtersveldTransfrontier Park)and saw they had pools we just jumped in to realize that all the pools are natural hot springs. That was quite a disappointment.

We drove back up to Luderitz where I spent a very warm Christmas with his family.

I stayed in Namibia for about 10 days and really enjoyed the dessert very much.

I did not think that I would ever travel again but exactly a year later I found myself with my sister and the same friend in Mozambique…

Till later ;-)

What its all about!

Okay so finally I have gotten around to starting my blog! For those who do not know what it is about this will explain.

My husband and I love to travel, we are a newly married couple who does not have jobs that pay a lot and still busy setting up house and all that so we do not have a lot of money to travel but we have found that you can travel with out being a milionaire! :-)

So the whole point of this blog is to share our experiences with people and to encourage other people like us to do the same!

I will be uploading photos of where we have been and explaining cost, accomommodation, flights and just what ever els you would like to know.

People like us are scared to travel or just think we can not afford it but I am here to change your few point and to prove to you that YOU can also do it!

I hope you will all have as much fun reading this as I am having writing it!

Till later! ;-)