To Windhoek and New Friends

We had spent 5 wonderful days in Etosha.

We had walked with giants

Taken care of small creatures hoping to share dinner

Or beer!

And found that going to the toilet is not always as safe as you might like…

So it was with heavy hearts that we eventually said goodbye and headed south towards the capital city. It was the beginning of December and we had flights booked back to the UK for Christmas in 10 days time.

We stopped off on the way at the famous Outjo Bakery for pie and cakes. Everything about it looked wonderful and the food was just asking to be devoured

We eventually waddled out, carrying some of the deserts with us in a doggy bag, and headed for a nearby campsite half way to the capital.

It was clean, quiet but absolutely full of bugs of all shapes and sizes!

We had never seen so many creepy crawlies in one place, even in the wilds of West Africa. We departed quickly the next morning, brushing ourselves off!

Next stop – Windhoek.

Windhoek is small by the standards of many captial cities. Sleepy, peaceful, relatively safe. Affluent, full of the ´beautiful people´ and with numerous bars and restaurants to choose from. We had not spent much time there on past trips so it would be interesting to see how we took to it.

We had booked into Urban Camp, it had good reviews but more importantly was right in the centre of the city and we had lots of very important tasks to get done whilst we were there. Almost all of them involved Henry.

The campsite was much lovelier than we had expected to find in a city, although they seemed to encourage a wide variety of guests!

It was noisy, both with traffic outside and other guests partying until late. But we were pleased with the space and the amount of greenery around us. There was even a very nice bar and restaurant for those days when we ran out of time to cook or shop.

First things first, Henry needed attention and now we were in the bustling capital city we had plenty of places to go for help. James´ top priority was to find someone who could help us understand where this pesky diesel leak was coming from.

We took him to a Landrover specialist who was a member of our new group, the Landrover Owners of Namibia. His name was also Henry which we took as a good sign, although some conversations got a little confusing.

The bushes were checked and two were completely shot. We would need to pick up a couple of new ones from the UK. The props were greased and ideas were formed over the diesel leak. Good progress.

We then took (our) Henry to be washed and found a tyre place next door. They pulled out a nail from his tyre and found it hadn´t gone deep enough to cause a puncture. They were also kind enough to allow us to use their ramp so James could change the track rod ends. We were properly rocking and rolling!

To celebrate we went to the Stellenbosch Bistro that evening and found a very cosmopolitan place, brimming with atmosphere, excellent service and quite astonishingly good food.

We were very happy travellers, especially when we found a nice Indian restarant just round the corner the next evening – we were definitely slipping into holiday mode for a few days!

Whilst on camp we got some of the smaller but really important jobs done…

Names on the tea boxes makes sure I don´t get black tea and James doesn´t get Redbush ever again!

And a lovely lady from the campsite team stitched an extra bit of material onto one of our blinds so it actually fits the window now! Small things make nomadic life much, much easier.

We then decided to become tourists again for a bit. We visited four different camping shops in one morning, did a whistle-stop tour of the three castles in the city (two are private residences and one a hotel so not much to see) and spent the rest of the day visiting Christkirche

The overbearing heat from the last few days had subsided and it was getting much cooler – we even brought the duvet back into service overnight. That evening we ate pizza and thai curry at the campsite restaurant and chatted to a Namibian couple who were coming home to buy a farm after 20 years of living in South Africa. They were keen to explore possibilities for going into partnership in pig farming, helicopter flying or running a fuel station – options for our future were becoming boundless here!

We had spent four days in the city so far and got a lot done, including eating our own body weight in meals out. But we were no closer to a solution to the diesel leak and it was getting James down. So on our final day we did a grand tour of garages, mechanics and diesel electric specialists. Each one was recommended by the last, each one scratched their heads and looked bemused. We were running out of ideas and of hope.

Our last stop was an old Landrover specialist slightly out of town. When we finally found him we discovered he was a Brit from Huddersfield who had been living in Namibia for 40 years or more. He had no more idea than anyone else about the diesel leak but lived 40km from the airport and offered vehicle storage.

So we made a snap decision – rather than leaving Henry at our friend´s farm 200km away we would return here on the day of our flights, leave Henry with them and ask them to do some investigation work on him whilst we were in the UK.

With that decision made we upped sticks and headed out of the city towards Lake Oanab and a bit of peace and quiet.

We were rewarded with one of the campsite´s premium pitches and endless views over the beautiful dam

Windhoek is not a busy city, nor is it particularly noisy or vibrant. But it is a city nevertheless and we were relieved to be somewhere a little quieter again. We spent two days with our feet up, eating fresh fruit and enjoying the deck stretching out into the water.

After two days of relaxation it was time to drive 200km south to visit another of our contacts from the Landrover Owners of Namibia Club. Kobus and his wife Marissa had invited us to stay on their farm for a few days and we were keen to meet them and make new friends. We weren´t sure what to expect and after getting very lost for some time trying to find their place with our sat nav trying to send us through locked gates and no internet coverage to help we were feeling a bit edgy.

But from the moment we finally arrived, Kobus and Marissa made us feel warm, welcome and at home. Their 12,000 hectare farm is beautiful

In the middle of nowhere with nothing but the sounds of animals all round you for company.

We set Henry up alongside their farm house and made ourselves at home

Apart from the goats, cattle, sheep and chickens they farm, there was also four dogs including a Great Dane called Zorro, two cats, two peacocks, two pot bellied pigs, a variety of doves, guinea fowl and fish who were all domesticated and lived around the farm house.

The peacocks and the cockerals had competitions each morning to see who could make the loudest noise to wake the lazy humans

But the star of the show had to be the baby goat who had been hand reared by Marissa.

I knew nothing about goats before I met her and was swept away by the fact she wagged her tail and wanted cuddles and scratches behind her ears

Wherever we went, so did she

And she even had a go at checking the state of Henry´s tyres for us!

Apparently Marissa has a rule that any animal with a name is neither sold nor butchered. I asked Kobus whether the baby goat had a name and was distraught to find she didn´t. So that evening, with her curled up round our legs we decided to name her. After some consideration we decided on Goaty Mac Goat Face – Bobbi for short….now she was safe!

After sunset we were invited to join Kobus and Marissa on top of the dune for a sundowner

And the next day James got his drone out to take some beautiful photos of the farm which delighted Kobus

There was plenty to do around the place and we joined Kobus in his landrover herding the sheep back to the water each evening

As well as hunting for snakes that had got a bit too close to the house

And one evening there was an electrical storm so we sped off with Kobus in his Landrover checking for forest fires

They cooked us a lovely braai one evening and we returned the favour the next. It was like being at home, we felt so relaxed and contented.

But we had a date with our own, real families! Between COVID and the timing of our West Africa leg it had been 3 years since we all got together for Christmas and I was very excited at the thought of being with the people I love most for a couple of weeks of festivities.

It was now mid December and we had spent nearly 3 months in Namibia. As we packed Henry up and organised our luggage for the long flight to the UK I found a pang of real sadness across my heart at leaving this wonderful country. But I had to smile to myself when I remembered we were only going to be away for four weeks before coming back to carry on our lives here. How different things are when you´re a full time nomad and get to be wherever you want to be…

We drove back to Windhoek and settled Henry in at his holiday home before being driven to the airport. It started raining, bolts of lightening were crashing down all round us and the rain became biblical. The Landrover Owners of Namibia forum started to get filled up with videos of Windhoek flooded, shopping malls and roads we had literally been at two or three hours ago. We were a little worried for Henry but even more worried that we wouldn´t be able to fly out. We waited and waited….

The Christmas present I had bought for my little nephew sitting forlornly on my lap

It all seemed a long way from our beautiful lives in Africa but also thousands of miles from everyone we wanted to be with.

We had been waiting for hours when there was a sudden huge crashing sound all round us which I´m sure some travellers thought was a bomb. People jumped and ducked looking around panicked. It had been a bolt of lightening striking the airport and taking out all the lights. Now what?

We were relieved to finally be boarded onto our flight but were then left on the runway for two hours whilst the lights were fixed. But finally, finally we were on our way, on the smallest, most uncomfortable, unfriendly and basic flight I have ever been on but never-the-less the flight that was taking us back to our friends and family.

When we landed at Frankfurt the temperature was -6 degrees, some 44 degrees colder than the world we had just left! The culture shock is always huge when we come back to visit the UK

They were busy de-icing the plane before we could take off for our last leg

And then before we knew it, we were in London. Cold, gloomy London packed with four times more people than the whole of Namibia put together. But it was Christmas and the whole place looked lovely

And of course we were with the people who will always have an uncanny knack of bringing us back to the UK wherever in the world we are!

Christmas Day itself was wonderful

Even though it all got too much for one of us!

And James got out on two wheels at last!

It was four lovely weeks getting our fix of family and friends ready for the next stage of our travels.

By mid January we were raring to get going again, back to the warmth, the space and the freedom of our nomadic lives in Southern Africa. We jumped on our return flight in mid January with smiles on our faces, excited to be getting back where we belong….