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Our final day on the coast we decided to go back to Walvis Bay see
more flamingoes and check out the salt pans. On the left is
Swakopmund downtown, no kidding it's a German town!
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Here's a truck transporting the salt to the Port. You can see the
bright white salt works in the background. On the right the road
through the salt pans. |
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Salt Pans. Namibia was the first country to make salt from sea water
evaporation. |
Nope they are not kissing, they are disputing territory. |
Flamingoes in the desert, interesting concept. |
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Instead of taking the coastal road back to Swakop we took the inside
desert road. 20 miles of one dead straight road, coulda lashed the
wheel down and taken a nap!
WHAT'S BIG IN SWAKOPMUND... |
Paragliding - due to the
prevailing desert
wind, easy climb and very
soft landing,
the dunes are great for
beginners. |
Fishing - very long fishing rods are needed as most fishing is done
off the beach on a long cast. Strangely they have pole holders in
the front of their vehicles and not the back. |
THE ROAD TO WINDHOEK Next morning we left at 10 am
to undertake the road trip of 265km (225 Miles) to Windhoek. The
road is quite interesting as it turns from Desert to African bush
gradually (The bush is called Savannah - grassland with trees
interspersed, plenty of trees but not close enough to create a
canopy).
Our day started by nearly being killed by a cop
car and ran off the road by a big rig. WE ARE AWAKE NOW!!!
So they were moving this abnormally large load on
a HUGE truck that took up both lanes, raveling in the opposite
direction to us.
Our only heads up was a cop car with lights
flashing driving down the middle of the road one wheel in each lane
straight towards us. I quickly moved out of it's way and then 5
seconds later round a corner only to see this monster truck taking
up BOTH COMPLETE lanes and heading straight for us at over 50mph. I
was doing 70mph, slightly below the speed limit. I BARELY had enough
time to slam on the brakes and pull into the dirt on the side of the
road. PHEW! I almost needed to change my pants!
I guess the cop by driving in the middle of the
road was supposed to warn me of what was to come.
I THINK THEY COULD HAVE THOUGHT OF SOMETHING
ELSE!
To top it all, not an hour later some other idiot
heading toward us misjudged how long it would take him to overtake a
row of trucks and I once again had to pull into the dirt to avoid a
head on collision! Only in Africa. |
So for the first hour is was pretty much desert. |
Then you start to see tufts of grass and small bushes. |
Then more grass and bigger bushes. |
Then trees started appearing |
No African road trip would be complete without a bunch of goats on
the side of the road. We also saw cows and and a few wayward
donkeys. |
And finally the true African bush. |
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We finally arrived in Windhoek and checked into our Pension
style hotel.
We are here for 2 days, then we fly to Victoria Falls.
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And finally... |
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WARNING, beware of...
... well, I am not sure, but beware of it anyway! |
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