Life in the city ...

Fantastic to stay in town. For once, instead of living in the suburbs, I enjoyed the city life. And it is so simple to do, one can just walk to a coffee place or even to the work place. A very unusual feeling for me to experience in Cape Town. And I felt safe, probably because there are many visible security guards.
I have to admit that not always things work according to plan, as on this on this one Monday. Starting at 9am, I went to the hairdresser to find out that it is closed on Mondays. I walked then to the Natural History Museum to watch their special exhibition on wildlife photographer of the year, but the museum opens only at 10am. After a little wait, I very much enjoyed the pictures but walking through the aisles I came accross this strange looking white rhino: where are its horns? A little sign explained that the museum had a break-in before Christmas and that the thieves robbed the horns!! I guess the thieves figured out that it would be easier that way than to kill a wild rhino in the bush...

Then I headed to a specialised shop to have my tennis racket restrung. But I was told that the machine is broken and that it would take more than a week for the missing spare part to be installed. So I drove to my favourite shopping mall but the sport shop there did not even have the necessary equipment. So I walked upstairs to buy some children's clothes, but on the main window there was a sign "closed due to water leakage" and I could see a lot of buckets dotting the floor.Do I need to mention that my friend was then seriously late for lunch... Thankfully, the afternoon went much better. Still Cape Town is a great city and I am not the only one saying so, as its current Mayor was voted "world mayor of the year". Congratulations!

... and nature is not far

Indeed from anywhere, the mountain can be seen. It dominates the city and it is a must to climb it. This time, we chose another route, which was equally challenging and beautiful. On that day, the swiss-made cable car did not function (too much wind), so there were not many people on the top, but we did come accross numerous climbers. Nice to see that locals from all races are motivated to do such a climb.
The other big drawcard of Cape Town is its beaches. At this time of the year, the temperature is nice (even for me...!), especially in Gordon's Bay.And if anyone needs another sign that the environment is of good quality in the area, these seals enjoying their swim close to the Waterfront are a very good sign.

Getting ready for 2010

With less than 500 days left before South Africa hosts the 2010 Football World Cup, Cape Town is showing more signs that it is starting to get ready. The most visible one is the stadium, as can even be seen from the top of Table Mountain.

And the January 2009 picture (above) compares favourably with the January 2008 one (below).What is reassuring is that there no sense of urgency as yet, since the construction workers did indeed enjoy their Christmas holidays. Work started again as usual in mid-January. Unfortunately, the next day a worker was killed by a truck. And the controversy continues around corruption allegations at another stadium with the suspicious killing of an inquisitive local politician.
And what about the other infrastructure projects? Well a few roads and a few interchanges are being upgraded and enlarged - the accent is on "a few"... There is an ambitious project to introduce "european" busses, which would mean getting rid of all the local minibus taxis. This requires very tough political decisions and would most certainly improve the transport system quite significantly. On the local train network, nothing significant to mention. The airport continues to be upgraded. There tourists receive a glossy and comprehensive brochure about the city. Soon, it will be time to apply for tickets. Who gets me one?

Pinguins

Near Cape Town, Boulders Beach is the spot chosen by pinguins to nest. The colony rose from as little as two pairs in the early 1980s to more than 3000 today.

The last time I went there, in the late 1990s, we could go very close to the pinguins. Today, there are platforms for the tourists to look and laugh at the pinguins. Such charming animals. Hope you will enjoy the video!

Namibia

To state the obvious: Namibia is a big country and we cover long distances between interesting sites. But there are plentiful. Here a little selection. Geographically, Namibia crosses the tropic. This should remind the reader that the temperature here is set on "hot". However, it is far from being too humid.
Secondly, a lot of meteorites have been recovered in Namibia. This one near Grootfontein is the biggest piece yet discovered on earth. It is a mix of iron and nickel and fell on earth around 100000 years ago. Too late to be responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs.
Thirdly, Namibia has a rich pre-historic period, in particular with the Bushmen. Near Khorixas, there is a very interesting site with numerous engravings. On this one, we can easily recognise a lion and a giraffe. On others, there are even pinguins and seals, whereas the sea is more than 200 kilometers away. Some animals are depicted with a 5 fingers-paw (like the humans), which is a signature by the drawer. Apperently, these drawings were used as some educational tool for the kids.
Fourthly, Namibia has a troubled colonial past, with a short but still very pregnant German domination. In a few towns, houses have been built by the Germans, such as in Swakopmund. In shops and caffees, we still hear locals talking in German, and the local newspaper "Allgemeine Zeitung" proudly states that its article are written in pure German. Fifthly, Namibia is independant since 1990, while the ruling SWAPO party having ruled ever since. The party still very much dominates the political landscape.Sixthly, local customs are still in use, especially amongst the Hereros. One can often see Herero women in their traditional dress.Finally, economically, Namibia relies mostly on minerals (uranium, diamond, gem stones) and on agriculture. We visited this crocodile farm. The owner - a white - told us he had to sell his farm to the government (for redistribution) and decided to move into this new line of business. He now sells the meat to restaurants and the skins are exported to Asia.

Namibia - Etosha national park

The Etosha national park is famous for its herds of elephants. What a disappointment then that we did not get to see a single one! I remember that ten years ago I saw a herd of 42 elephants. It is probable that the rains were plenty enough for the elephants to remain far from the waterholes and the roads. Indeed, the park with its 22000 km2 is almost half the size of Switzerland, so the animals have space to hide. At least we saw a rhinoceros and many antelopes. The first animal we saw is the smallest antelope, the dik-dik.

During the drive, we had the chance to see many groups of animals. The most numerous ones were without doubt the very common springbok. The most elegant were the giraffes.

We obviously saw a lot of gemsbok.

Etosha, which means "white soil", is famous for its 4700 km2 salty pan. This was a large inland sea which evaporated more than 2 million years ago.

While driving in the park, we got a puncture to our front right tyre. A big moment of stress. We checked if there were no animals in the vicinity and got out of the car. We took out our luggage from the boot and started changing the tyre. Even though we worked under the midday sun, i thought we did a good job of changing the tyre in 50 minutes. At least, the tradition of having a puncture per trip in Namibia continues. The sad thing is that at the camps in the park they could not repair the puncture, so we decided not to take chances to drive more than necessary on the parks dirt roads. Which meant that we were confined to the main camps and could not do an evening or a morning drive. Fortunately, the main camp of Okaukuejo is one of the best in the world as it is organised around a well frequented waterhole. So we spent our evening and early morning seated on benches overlooking the waterhole and could watch animals (zebras, wildebeasts, springboks, impalas, warthogs, jakals) come for a drink.

Namibia - the desert

Upon arrival in Namibia, the air is dry and the temperature nice and warm. We head straight to the desert driving on dirt roads. They are actually well maintained and we reach our camp at Sesriem early enough to witness a superb sunset on the dunes. It is the next morning that we have to wake up really early. We are amongst the first ones to drive along the river bed of the Tsauchab, a river that still could make it to the sea in the XIX century but got then blocked by the barrage of dunes. Today the temporary river dies here in the middle of the Namibian desert, at a place called Sossusvlei.

The first surprise is that the 60 km long road has been tarred! There is now a perfect road leading us to the highest dunes in the world. For all those who had previously driven on the chaotic untarred road, what a pleasure. So here we are driving around while the sky gets lighter and waiting for the sun to rise. The colours are fantastic and soon the contrast between the sunny and the dark sides of the dunes is breathtaking.

We get to the end of the tarred road, after which only 4*4 vehicule can drive through the last 5 kilometers up to Sossusvlei. And there other surprise awaits us, there are now shuttle busses driving tourists from the parking area to the Sossusvlei. Nice service for the tourists! But having so much enjoyed the walk on the sand and through the dunes the previous time, i decide that we should again do the walk. It gives us so much more, we get to experience the desert and to live it much better. The desert is quiet, yet it is full of life. We also bump into a gemsbok.

At Sossusvlei, a dry salty pan surrounded by a magnificent dune, i decide for the first time to climb it. On the previous occasions, i thought that this climb was only for lazy tourists who just wanted to experience the desert at their convenience and were actually not deserving it. This time, as we were probably the only ones to have walked from the parking area, i agreed that we also deserve to climb the dune. And the view was magic. We see dunes all around, and the contrast between the deep blue sky and the orange sand dunes is most striking.