Today was another massive travel day. Up early to catch the shuttle bus to the airport and off to Windhoek.
That all went well until we boarded the plane and sat there…and sat there…and finally they announced 35 passengers had failed to board and we were going to wait for them.
So we sat on the hot tarmac for an hour. They finally brought around some water cause it was damn hot. Eventually we were off.
Arriving at the tiny airport in Windhoek we waited what seemed forever for our luggage and then we were off to MTC to get a Namibian sim card….except they were closed. No big deal there was another provider and they hooked us up.
Then we grabbed our car – a Rav 4 and headed for the nearest shopping centre for some supplies.
Everywhere here they take Rand (South African currency) 1-1 so we hadn’t bothered changing money…..until we went to leave the carpark and it only took Namibian dollars. Oh oh…but some insanely nice lady paid my parking for me (equiv of 30c) but man did she save my bacon and refused to take any money. Thank you whoever you were.
Then we had an epic drive to our accommodation – 300k and we were racing against the sun. Not supposed to drive after sunset here and many places have big gates they lock and you get to sleep in your car.
So off we went…down the B1 and really really straight bitumen road for 80k…sweet.
Then we turned off to the C24 – gravel…not so good but massively wide. I’d guess 15m wide and reasonably well graded. There are a few dips and exciting crests along the way. It was a bit like riding a rollacoaster and so much fun at one point our luggage hit the roof over a crest. These roads are not only gravel but super dusty. There’s a bit of a breeze which helps shift it but when we hit a spot with no wind, it’s like driving through dense fog.
So animals for our trip so far…baboons, Onyx, Goats, Donkeys, Ostrich, random birds.
We made it to Solitaire and quickly filled the tank. Apparently there’s long distances between petrol stations and some don’t always have fuel. Then racing the sun to our lodge. We arrived at 5:30 just as the sun was going down and was a magnificent sunset it was. No time for pics (we’ll remedy that tonight for sure).
Had an amazing dinner at the lodge – butternut soup, Onyx steak and some sort of pudding…boy was I full.
Unfortunately our local phone doesn’t get reception at many places (wish MTC had been open…) so limited internet till we hit the coast to change providers.
Tomorrow we are off to explore the dunes.