Singapore

Wednesday: Little India
Our flight from Johannesburg landed in Singapore at 7am local time. We got through Immigration and Baggage Claim fairly quickly and took a taxi from the airport into the city to our hotel. It was already 27 degrees and extremely humid, even early in the morning. It was too early to check in to "Aqueen Hotel Lavender", so we dropped off our luggage, had some breakfast and then went for a walk through the nearby Little India district.

Singapore is a south-east Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 km north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is highly urbanised but almost half of the country is covered by greenery. More land is being created for development through land reclamation.

Modern Singapore was founded as a trading post of the East India Company by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 with permission from the Sultanate of Johor. The British obtained full sovereignty over the island in 1824 and Singapore became one of the British Straits Settlements in 1826. Singapore was occupied by the Japanese in World War II and reverted to British rule after the war. It became internally self-governing in 1959. Singapore united with other former British territories to form Malaysia in 1963 and became a fully independent state two years later after separation from Malaysia.

Since then it has had a massive increase in wealth, and is one of the Four Asian Tigers. The economy depends heavily on the industry and service sectors. Singapore is a world leader in several areas: It is the world's fourth-leading financial centre, the world's second-biggest casino gambling market, and the world's third-largest oil refining centre. The port of Singapore is one of the five busiest ports in the world, most notable for being the busiest trans-shipment port in the world. The country is home to more US dollar millionaire households per capita than any other country. The World Bank notes Singapore as the easiest place in the world to do business. The country has the world's third highest GDP PPP per capita of US$59,936, making Singapore one of the world's wealthiest countries.

Some 5.2 million people live in Singapore, of whom 3.3 million were born locally. Most are of Chinese, Malay or Indian descent. There are four official languages: English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Singapore has a total area of 710 sq km, which is comfortably smaller than the Greater Auckland area, and makes Singapore the third most densely populated country in the world. Its capital city is Singapore and its currency is the Singapore Dollar.

Little India is a ramshackle, colourful, disorderly sort of place, apparently much like the old Singapore city (before it became packed with modern shopping centres). It is not renowned for big tourist attractions or postcard sights, but rather it is a neighbourhood that warrants aimless wandering, watching life unfold. Little India is packed with eateries, gold shops, fresh produce stalls on the streets, CD shops and all sorts of interesting smells, good and bad. The street atmosphere is particularly vibrant at night.

It was still quite early when we got to Little India, so some places were still in the process of opening up and the streets were not too busy. We saw two amazing temples - huge almost pyramid shaped structures full of colourful carvings. One of these temples was the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, dedicated to the goddess Kali, a bloodthirsty consort of Shiva, who is usually depicted wearing a necklace of skulls!

We walked past hundreds of places to eat, so we decided to have dinner there that night. Later in the morning, Megan went back to the hotel for a sleep (she was very tired after the 10-hour flight from Johannesburg and the time difference). Tim carried on and explored a bit more of Little India and also found an internet cafe. After checking in on Megan (who was quite happy to carry on sleeping) Tim grabbed a delicious lunch at a little food court near the hotel - sweet and sour pork and noodles.

There was a heavy downpour at about 3pm - there just about always is a short and sharp downpour at that time of day in Singapore. Almost like clockwork, it is very odd. So we hung out in the hotel in the afternoon and caught up on some rest. Once the rain had cleared, we headed out. We had a drink at a bar called "Pub 150". Most of the bars in Singapore are karaoke bars, they just love their karaoke. Pub 150 had blacked out windows and doors and a karaoke stage and disco lights inside. It was pretty much empty. We had some very expensive beers and then carried on. Most things in Singapore are very cheap (especially food) but it seems that some bars are not cheap.

We had dinner in Little India at a very popular Indian vegetarian restaurant called Ananda Bharan. Tim had the "tandoori garlic naan set" and a vanilla milkshake and Megs had the North Indian set menu and a mango lassi. Everything was superb and very cheap. We were exhausted, so we went back to the hotel straight after dinner and crashed.

Thursday: Orchard Road and Chinatown

We had a brilliant 11 hour sleep, waking after 9am on Thursday. We got up, showered and had a really nice breakfast in the hotel lobby restaurant. We then caught the metro to Singapore's home of shopping - Orchard Road.

Orchard Road was once a leafy boulevard lined with plantations, hence the name. These days, however, it is absolutely rammed with huge shopping malls. The sheer scale of this retail and entertainment haven can be a little overwhelming for some tourists. Singaporeans love the enormous malls, spending vast amounts of leisure time bathing in icy air-conditioning, shopping, eating, drinking and movie-going.

Orchard Road must be one of the most amazing shopping streets in the world. It is absolutely amazing - we wandered along the busy street, past huge mall after huge mall. It was crazily hot and humid - we were sweating just walking along the road. We checked out a few different malls and, in one of them, we spent some time in a fantastic toy shop. We could have spent hours there - they had amazing Lego!!! We also checked out a few clothing shops, including taking turns finding hideous outfits in Top Shop. Megan found some crazy bright pink matching suit that looked like it was straight out of the 1980s and yet it cost something like $800. Tim found a lovely woollen jersey with a sailboat on the front!

The shopping was incredibly fun - Megan almost bought leopard print platform ankle boots with a 6-inch heel! But she DID buy some awesome headphones at the Sony shop. Proper DJ headphones. Boom! It rained briefly in the afternoon (as it always does) but it cleared pretty quickly. We had lunch in the food court of one of the malls - Tim got some Maccas and Megs got dumplings and spring rolls.

Later in the afternoon, we caught the metro to Chinatown. Just in time Singapore realised Chinatown's narrow lanes of old shop-houses, with their shuttered windows and steep tiled roofs, were fit for more than tearing down. This old district, once home to opium dens, death houses, brothels and gang warfare, is still Singapore's most colourful. We walked around Chinatown for a while, did some internet, visited a lively pub (where we shared a jug of Tiger beer and played some pool) and checked out the street markets. Megs bought a cool T-shirt and a fridge magnet. The markets were awesome at night - the lanes were packed with people, there were bright lights everywhere and amazing smells coming from food stalls.

We eventually made it to our destination of the Maxwell Road Hawker Centre - one of many "hawker centres" spread around Singapore. Hawker centres are open air areas (with covered roofs) lined with dozens and dozens of tiny stalls, specialising in different Chinese dishes. They are immensely popular amongst Singaporeans and tourists alike - you can wander in any time of the day in jandals and shorts, pick and choose what you want to eat, grab a table amongst the steam and smoke and noise, have a few beers and fill your face. Awesome.

We had a superb dinner at the Maxwell Centre - some potato coconut dumplings, two lots of chicken on rice and one duck stew with noodles. All of it was amazing and it was dirt cheap. After dinner we walked back through Chinatown, past an amazing big temple, to the metro station. We got the metro back to the hotel and crawled into bed, exhausted from another big day and full of delicious Chinese food.

Friday: Colonial District and Chinatown

After another pretty big sleep, we got up at 9am, packed our bags, had breakfast and headed out. It was another very hot and very muggy day. We did some internet in Little India and then caught the metro to the Colonial District.

If Little India and Chinatown are the soul of Singapore, then the Colonial District is its heart and the Quays are its fancy hairdo. Home of Singapore's most photographed buildings and vistas, the Colonial District is an area of such architectural richness that a treasure can be seen at every turn. The list of heritage structures is endless: Raffles Hotel, City Hall, the Singapore Art Museum, the National Museum and the Asian Civilisations Museum to name a few. And modern buildings such as the magnificent Esplanade are earning Singapore a cutting-edge reputation.

Our first stop on arriving in the Colonial District was Bugis Junction, a large shopping complex, where we checked out some of the impressive shops. From there, we walked towards the waterfront, via the Raffles City Shopping Centre, where we also had a quick look around. The shopping all over Singapore really is spectacular. Further along the road, we passed City Hall, the Supreme Court and then we stopped for photos outside the Singapore Parliament building.

Just past Parliament is the Singapore River, which winds its way through the city out towards the Quays. There is a walkway alongside the river, showing great views of Singapore's CBD. We ambled along the walkway, checking out the various statues and sculptures scattered along the river's edge. There is a majestic-looking statues of Sir Stamford Raffles, a British statesman best known for his founding of the city of Singapore. Further around the river, we passed the beautiful Dalhousie Obelisk, built to commemorate the second visit to Singapore, in February 1850, of the Marquis of Dalhousie, who was the Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856.

The Quays area is home to Singapore's new modern buildings. The Esplanade is one of South-East Asia's most stunning pieces of architecture. It was created to announce Singapore's arrival on the world's arts scene and to challenge the city's deep-seated conservatism. It succeeded on both counts, with a year-round programme of opera, classical music, jazz, theatre, dance and more. Across the water is the enormous Marina Bay Sands Hotel - with three towers, designed to look stacks of playing cards, and a long flat piece across the top of the towers that looks like a boat! Insane.

We headed back through the Colonial District to the Raffles Hotel. The Raffles Hotel is a colonial-style hotel in Singapore, and one of the world's most famous hotels. It was established by the famous Armenian Sarkies Brothers. Opened in 1887, it was named after Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles. The hotel is known for its luxurious accommodation, superb restaurants and amazing shops. It also houses a tropical garden courtyard, museum and Victorian-style theatre. We walked through the grounds of the hotel, but the eateries were a little expensive for us, so we caught the metro back to Chinatown.

We were getting hungry so we headed straight for the Maxwell Road Hawkers Centre, where we had a magnificent lunch. We managed to get there just before the daily downpour, which was excellent timing. We had delicious chicken and pork dishes as well as chicken curry puffs, oyster fritters and potato dumplings. Mmmmm.

We had a real problem catching a taxi back to our hotel after lunch. It was a terrible time to look for a taxi in Singapore - "shift change". Every day between 4-5pm all of the taxi drivers change shift, meaning that many taxi drivers do not want to take you across the city, but rather they want one final fare that coincides with their particular route home. We eventually got a cab to the hotel, where we picked up our luggage and headed to the airport.

Our short stopover in Singapore was over and we were heading home to New Zealand. This marked the end of our five months of travel since packing up and leaving London in July. But it also marked the end of nearly five years of our incredible overseas adventure. We had lived in magical London and travelled all over Europe and to parts of Africa, Asia and North America, visiting around 60 countries and some of the world's most famous sights in the process. It was the most brilliant OE we could have hoped for and it was surely the most amazing five years we will ever experience.

Thank you to all of our dedicated blog fans who have followed our travels and adventures during the last five years. We have had a blast and we hope you enjoyed it too!

Country tally:
Megan:  64
Tim:  61
Bear:  61






Sri Veera-
makalia-
mman
Temple











Statues
at a
temple













Little
India












Dinner at
Ananda
Bharan,
Little
India











Megs on
Orchard
Road












Orchard
Road












One of
the huge
shopping
malls












Delightful
jersey...

















An angel!



















China-
town












China-
town
by night













Colonial
District
















Singapore
Parliament










Singapore
River and
the CBD














Dalhousie
Obelisk

















The
Esplanade











Marina
Bay Sands
Hotel














Raffles
Hotel












Chinese
temple













Singapore
Bear 

Africa Safari: South Africa

Day 54: Travel to Orange River, South Africa

We woke to a beautiful sunny morning, our last in Namibia. We got up at 6.10am and had brilliant showers - probably the best of the whole tour. We packed up our gear and had a great breakfast of cornflakes, followed by bacon and eggs. We departed the Canyon Roadhouse camp at 7.45am and drove south towards the border with South Africa.

Once again we were treated to beautiful landscape of rocky mountains and blue sky as we drove. Just before 10am, we stopped for diesel and spent our remaining Namibian Dollars on snacks and drinks. Shortly after, we crossed the border into South Africa, the 60th country for Tim and Bear!

South Africa is, unsurprisingly, located at the southern tip of Africa and has coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. South Africa is bordered by Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the north and Mozambique and Swaziland to the east, while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territory. South Africa is multi-ethnic with many cultures and languages. Eleven official languages are recognised. South Africa has a population of more than 50 million people.

South Africa is ranked as an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank, one of only four countries in Africa in this category (the others being Botswana, Gabon and Mauritius). It has the largest economy in Africa, and the 28th-largest in the world, yet about a quarter of the population is unemployed and lives on less than US$1.25 a day. South Africa has three capital cities - Cape Town is the legislative capital, Pretoria the executive capital and Bloemfontein the judicial capital!

We got some South African Rand from an ATM and then had short drive to the campsite, situated on the northern bank of the Orange River. The Orange River (named after William of Orange in 1779) is the longest river in South Africa, stretching from the Drakensberg Mountains in Lesotho and flowing westwards across South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. It forms part of the border between Namibia and South Africa. From our camp, we could easily see Namibia across the other side of the river, probably only 80-odd metres away.

It was a very relaxed afternoon. We had lunch and then chilled out on the lawn, playing with an old rugby ball, until the camp owner's dog got hold of it and popped it! It was a good chance to catch up on some washing and charging and for Tim to have a shave! Later in the afternoon, Megs had a swim in the Orange River, although she didn't venture as far as Troy and Simon, who swam right across the river to Namibia (illegal border crossing) and were followed by the dog!

In the evening we had a few drinks in the bar, looking out over the Orange River and then we had beef stew and pasta for dinner around the camp fire. We went to bed about 9.30pm, as we had an early start coming up. It did not help that the camp dog howled throughout the night, right outside out tents...

Day 55: Cederberg

On Thursday we got up early, showered, packed up, had breakfast and left camp before 7am. We heard the hilarious news that Crystal Palace had knocked Man United out of the Carling Cup at Old Trafford! We drove south through fairly boring scenery - just rocky hills and nothingness, but at least the roads were sealed. At about 8.30am, we stopped in a small town called Springbok and visited a "Super Spar", an amazing and large supermarket where we purchased drinks, snacks and a replacement rugby ball for Freddy.

We carried on driving south and filled in the time sleeping, listening to some tunes and eating. We stopped again at a truck stop (not very scenic) for a lunch of meatball burgers and salad. After eating, we played around with the new rugby ball and were joined by a few young kids, who had some pretty good skills. A short drive after lunch saw us reach our destination for the day, a lovely camping ground called "Highlander" in the Cederberg wine growing region, almost 300km north of Cape Town.

Our camp, owned and operated by a Scottish family, was built on a hill overlooking a huge vineyard. At the top was a swimming pool and a brilliant bar with an outdoor courtyard area. We unpacked and got all set up for the night and then hung out by the swimming pool. It was a glorious hot and sunny afternoon. One of the guys in our group saw a snake near the path to the bar, but we didn't see it.

At 4.30pm, we gathered at the courtyard outside the bar for a wine tasting. We tasted seven different wines (all made by the owners of the vineyard from grapes grown locally) - two whites, two reds, a sparkling wine, a rose, and a fortified wine. The whites were not that great, but the rest were nice and we especially liked the fortified wine. The guy who took us for the wine tasting was one of the owners - he was very funny and he really knew his stuff. Great Scottish accent too!

We rounded off a pretty solid day with soup followed by fried chicken, corn on the cob and bread for dinner. Then there was custard for dessert. Delicious. Some of the group went back up to the bar after dinner, but we were pretty tired so we called it a night. Tomorrow...Cape Town!

Day 56: Cape Town

It sure felt good to get up and pack up our tent for the very last time on Friday morning. From now on, we would have the luxury of sleeping on a bed, inside some form of building! Bonus. We got up at 5.10am and had an amazing shower (such good water pressure), before enjoying pancakes for breakfast. We left the camp at 7am and headed for Cape Town!

Unfortunately, we had to sit next to the weird old guys on the truck and they both stunk horribly! Every time they moved, we caught a waft of their stench and, as our luck would have it, they moved a lot. They seemed very interested in pointing to things out of our window, reaching across us, pointing and waving and then trying to take photos. Not cool people - why can't you wash?!

It was a four-hour drive to Cape Town, with a short toilet break in the middle. We got a spectacular view of Cape Town's famous Table Mountain as we approached the city. Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa (after Johannesburg) with a touch under 4 million people. The city is famous for its re-developed harbour area and such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. Cape Town is also Africa's most popular tourist destination.

We arrived in Cape Town around 11am and the truck went straight to the hostel in the city centre. We had decided not to stay in the hostel for Friday night and to move straight into our hotel a day earlier (much easier than moving a day later and also no chance of having to share a room with stinky people). So after a briefing on Cape Town, we caught a taxi the short distance to the Holiday Inn Express where we checked in and were delighted when we saw the comfortable bed and the new, clean bathroom with a good shower, a proper toilet and no wild animals anywhere to be seen!

Once settled in, we wandered down the street to the post office to get some packing materials for the wooden frame we would post back to New Zealand, and then we grabbed some lunch. Tim was again lured in by the Colonel. After lunch, we walked down to the V&A Waterfront, via the Greenmarket, an open market packed with stalls selling beautiful souvenirs and crafts. It was a decent walk to the waterfront and while it was a warm and sunny day, it was very windy. There was a bit of cloud around, including a thick blanket of cloud stuck on the top of Table Mountain (known to locals as "the table cloth").

The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront (Alfred being Victoria's second son who began the development of the waterfront in 1860) in the historic heart of Cape Town's working harbour is South Africa's most-visited destination, having the highest rate of foreign tourists of any attraction in the country. Situated between Robben Island and Table Mountain and set against a backdrop of sea and mountain views, it offers a variety of shopping and entertainment options to visitors.

There were loads of people down at the waterfront and lots of really cool shops. We bought some presents for people back home at some souvenir shops and we ambled around the huge shopping mall, checking out some of the hundreds of shops. Our legs got tired late in the afternoon, so we caught a taxi back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We had a farewell to the tour dinner at a restaurant called Mama Africa's in the city centre. We met the others down there at 7.30pm and had a beautiful dinner (Tim had wart hog and Megs had prawns). They had a band playing traditional African music in the restaurant, which was quite cool.

After dinner, we moved down the road to an Irish pub (there's always an Irish pub), where we had a couple of drinks with the tour group before saying our goodbyes to those we would not see again. There were a few strange characters in the pub - be aware at all times of strange British men sneaking up behind you... We walked back to our hotel and felt very safe. Cape Town is much safer than other African cities and the city centre was well lit and there were plenty of people around. It had been another big day and we were knackered.

Day 57: Cape Town

Saturday 3 December officially signalled the end of our 57-day African safari, although it effectively ended the night before, as nothing was planned for Saturday. We were on our own! We woke feeling refreshed on Saturday morning after a magnificent sleep in an amazingly comfortable bed. Our stupid body clocks made us wake at 5.30am, but we went back to sleep for another 2.5 hours before getting up.

We had the most perfect buffet breakfast ever in the hotel (we're talking bacon, eggs, sausages, tomatoes, hash browns, pastries, muffins, fresh fruit, yogurt, cereal, juice, coffee, tea, and a partridge in a pear tree). We left the hotel at 10am and headed down to the V&A Waterfront again. We had decided to take the ferry out to Robben Island.

Robben Island is about 3km long and 2 km wide and is situated about 7km off the coast of Cape Town. Robben Island is best known as being home to a political prison where Nelson Mandela and other prominent black South Africans were imprisoned for anti-apartheid protesting. Our ferry ride took about half an hour and the sea was quite choppy. It is a notoriously cold and often rough stretch of water between Robben Island, which, coupled with the threat of sharks, made it almost impossible to escape from the island prison.

On arrival at the island, we hopped off the ferry and hopped on to a bus that took us on a tour of the island. We had a very informative tour guide on the bus and we learned that, aside from housing political prisoners, Robben Island had also be used a leper colony from the 1840s, an animal quarantine station and a fortification and armoury during WWII. Our bus tour took us past the leper cemetery, a couple of churches, a small isolation prison building where Robert Sobukwe was imprisoned and the limestone quarry where the prisoners were forced to break stones in appalling conditions. At one end of the island, we got a spectacular view across the water to Cape Town and Table Mountain.

We then got dropped off at the maximum security prison buildings, which is where Mandela and many other political prisoners were held. A former Robben Island prisoner gave us a tour of the prison buildings, which included the very cell where Nelson Mandela was held for so many years, the main exercise yard and a large dormitory where less "dangerous" prisoners were housed. Mandela served 27 years in prison, many of them on Robben Island. Current South African president, Jacob Zuma, also spent time in prison at Robben Island.

It was a pretty moving experience wandering around the prison buildings and Robben Island in general. So many people spent the best part of their lives locked up there for speaking out against the horrid apartheid regime and fighting for equality. The ferry ride back to the mainland was very rough. The wind had really picked up and the sea was rough, so we were getting tossed about a lot.

Back on dry land, we had some lunch in the food court at the V&A Waterfront and then looked around a craft market and some more shops, where Megs bought a book and some other treasures. There is a really nice German beer bar at the waterfront, so we popped in there and enjoyed a wheat beer in the sunshine, before walking back to our hotel. The cloud had almost cleared from the top of Table Mountain, providing superb views of the mountain with glorious blue sky as a backdrop.

At the hotel we watched a bit of Arsenal's 4-0 romp over Wigan and then we got ready to go out for dinner. We wandered back down to Long Street (one of Cape Town's most famous streets - full of bars, restaurants, cafes, quirky shops, hostels and crawling with tourists), where we met Tory, Sara, Little Anzac, Terry and Roselin. We opted to go to a nice little pizza place, where we had fantastic food at cheap prices.

It was sad saying goodbye to the "A Team" - we had been together right from the very start of our African adventure at the Masai Mara bolt-on and we had been living in each other's pockets for two months. We had all enjoyed each other's company and the "A Team" really had enhanced the experience for us.

Sunday: Cape Town

On Sunday we had a bit of a sleep-in and another amazing buffet breakfast in the hotel. Great start to the day. At 10am we caught a taxi to the base of Table Mountain. It was a perfect day weather wise - it was sunny, scorching hot, no cloud and no wind! If it is too cloudy, you don't want to go up the mountain because you won't be able to see anything and if it is too windy, they close the cable car and you cannot get up the mountain.

Being such a glorious day, everyone had the same idea, so we had to queue for well over an hour to buy tickets and get on the cable car. It was a good ride up the mountain - the cable car actually rotates 360 degrees while it ascends and descends, so you get awesome views as you go. At the top, we got a cold drink at the cafe and then wandered around the top of the mountain, checking out the superb views on all sides. From one side is obviously the view down to the centre of Cape Town, known as the City Bowl, with Robben Island in the background. Around the other side you can see beautiful beaches and rugged mountains. Needless to say, we took plenty of photos!

Table Mountain has an unusually rich biodiversity. There are an estimated 2,200 species of plants that are confined to Table Mountain, more than in the whole of the United Kingdom. While we were up the mountain we ran into Terry and Roselin, who had been walking all over the mountain top for hours, and also Darren and Gemma, another couple from our tour. Small world! The view from the top really was breath-taking.

We took the cable car back down the mountain and then got a taxi across town to the V&A Waterfront, where we had thai for lunch. It was amazing. After lunch we did some more Christmas shopping and took some stunning photos of the waterfront area with Table Mountain in the background. It really was a brilliant day. We walked back to our hotel and had a rest and cooled down a bit. We finished off the last of our vodka, watched some football, loaded some photos to the memory stick (we took 2,278 photos in Africa after editing out the bad ones)!

In the evening we went to Spur for dinner. Spur is a chain restaurant throughout southern Africa - kinda like Lone Star - big servings and pretty good prices. The food was magnificent. We had buffalo wings to share and then Tim had ribs (lots of ribs) and Megs had calamari and fish. They were huge servings. The city was crowded - it was the official switching on of the Christmas lights and every man and his dog had turned up to watch. It was pretty cool.

Monday: Cape Town to Johannesburg

On Tuesday we had a big sleep in followed by a perfect breakfast at the hotel. Monday was to be a very relaxing day. After breakfast we finished sorting out our stuff and packing our bags, then we showered and checked out of the hotel. We did a spot of internet in the hotel lobby and posted our wooden frame home at the post office. We then ambled about the market stalls and shops on Long Street. There is a really cool place called the African Womens' Market on Long Street, where we bought a few bits and pieces from the friendly women working there.

We had lunch at Mr Pickwick's - a fantastic and somewhat famous cafe on Long Street - and it was amazing. Tim had the best and biggest vanilla milkshake that has ever graced the face of this fine planet. But it didn't stop there. Tim also had a beef and cheese burger with fried eggs in it. Just everyone pause for a moment and think about how awesome that is. Megs had a vege burger which was also awesome, but didn't have beef or eggs in it. We got superb service and spectacular food. If you're ever in Cape Town, go there. At least once.

After lunch we had a very leisurely wander through the city centre, looked at a few more shops and bought an African wildlife photo book, before heading back to the hotel to collect our bags. We hopped in a taxi bound for the airport at about 4.30pm. Traffic was heavy and it took a long time to get out to the airport. We had a decent two-hour flight to South Africa's largest and most dangerous city, Johannesburg. We arrived at Johannesburg airport after dark and got picked up by a shuttle and taken to our hotel (which was actually an airport hotel, situated right next to the airport).

Even on the short drive to the hotel, we passed a lot of scary looking people. We pulled up at the hotel and an armed security guard opened the huge gate to let our shuttle in. Hard core security. The hotel was a little different, but we locked ourselves in and had a good night's sleep.

Tuesday: Farewell to Africa

On Tuesday we slept in and had a fairly good breakfast at the slightly strange hotel (nothing could compare to the Holiday Inn Express Cape Town buffet breakfast). It was a hot morning. We showered and packed our bags and then headed back to the airport. We got there very early but we were allowed to check in. Thank goodness for the Star Alliance gold card - we got priority check-in, extra luggage allowance and we got to hang out in the airport lounge for a couple of hours before the flight.

We were leaving behind our African safari, one of the most amazing adventures we will ever experience in our lives. We had visited 10 countries in 62 days. We had travelled over 13,000km, mainly in a big old cumbersome truck. We had seen some of the most spectacular things on the planet. And we had met some truly lovely people. But now we were leaving Africa and heading to Asia. It was sad to say goodbye to Africa. It is a special place. Those who have been there will know what we mean. It is magical. It is unique. It is special.

Our flight to Singapore was actually not too bad. We departed Johannesburg at 2.35pm and about 10 hours later, we arrived in Singapore bright and early at 7.05am Wednesday (Singapore time).

Country tally:
Megs: 63
Tim: 60
Bear: 60






Orange
River -
Namibia in
the distance










Caught
red-
handed












Swimming
pool in
Cederberg











Wine
tasting













Cape Town
V&A Water-
front














Table
Mountain
from the
ferry










Robben
Island











Megs on
Robben
Island












Main
prison
buildings














Nelson
Mandela's
prison cell













Table
Mountain












And again -
table cloth
nearly gone












Cable car
up the
mountain











Megs on
the mountain












Camps
Bay











Lizard!












View of
Cape
Town and
Robben
Island










King of
the castle












Raaaa!














Megs at
V&A
Waterfront










Mama
Africa's -
Long
Street










Mr
Pickwick's -
Long Street

Africa Safari: Namibia - Part 2

Day 49: Swakopmund

It was a brilliant sunny morning at Spitzkoppe on Friday. We rose early and packed up our things. We departed Spitzkoppe at 8am and headed south-west. Less than two hours later we found ourselves in Namibia's third largest city, Swakopmund.

Swakopmund is a city on the Atlantic coast of Namibia, 280km west of Windhoek, Namibia's capital. Swakopmund is a beach resort and an example of German colonial architecture. It was founded in 1892 as the main harbour for German South-West Africa and a sizable part of its population is still German-speaking today. Swakopmund is so German that it is easy to forget you are in Africa when you are wandering around town. The city is also known for its extreme sports - something we would be partaking in over the weekend!

Similar to our time in Victoria Falls, our three day stopover in Swakopmund was largely down time - we had the opportunity to do many optional activities if we wanted to, but otherwise we were pretty much left to our own devices. When we arrived in Swakopmund, we had a briefing on the numerous activities available (including fishing, horse-riding, sky diving, aerobatics, quad biking and sand boarding). We signed up for quad biking and sand boarding!

We got a break from camping for a few nights as we were staying at a hostel in the centre of Swakopmund. We checked into a five-bed dorm along with Little Anzac and Tory and Sara. Fun times! Once we were settled, we walked down the street to the supermarket (wondering why it looked like we were in a Bavarian town) to get some cash out and pick up some snacks and drinks. We then enjoyed delicious burgers at the hostel for lunch and chilled out in the sunshine.

At 2.30pm we got picked up and taken to the vast sand dunes just outside of Swakopmund for an afternoon of quad biking. It was exhilarating stuff - there were some seriously steep dunes and we had to hit them really fast, as if you go too slow into an incline, you will run out of puff and risk rolling the bike. The scenery was unreal too - there were just immense sand dunes for literally miles; as far as the eye could see. We all had a blast - it was an incedible two hours of fun and worth every penny.

Back at the quad bike HQ, we got to meet a young macau (a colourful parrot). He posed for photos with us and he even said a few words - great entertainment. We retired to the hostel, had a few drinks in the five-bed dorm (which was the place to be - all the cool kids were there), got changed into our "nice" clothes and headed out for dinner to a place called Napolitana. This was a group dinner for the whole tour group and crew, which was nice. Megs had springbok medallions and Tim had 2kg of beef ribs, both of which were orgasmic. As is usually the case, one arsehole at our table didn't contribute the correct amount so the rest of us had to pay extra to cover the bill for the table. We have a good idea who it was...bloody French.

After dinner, we went through to Napolitana's karaoke bar, which was going off. Megan and Neena requested a song, which did not go down well with some chump, who started whinging his arse off about their song choice. Tim told him to request his own song if he didn't like what others were choosing. The guy then started on some rant about how the music at the bar was always so bad. You would have to ask yourself why he keeps coming back...

Day 50: Swakopmund

We woke early on Saturday and felt terrible (stupid body clock...stupid hangover). Having said that, it was unreal how comfortable the beds in the dorm felt compared to lying on gravel in a tent. After breakfast at the hostel, we got picked up and taken back to the sand dunes, where we had a morning of sand boarding booked in. It was a huge first walk up to the very top of the sand dunes. We were all feeling pretty tired and hungover, especially Neena, so the heat and the trudge uphill in sand was not ideal.

We had opted to do "lying down" sand boarding, which involved lying flat on our stomachs on a piece of plywood and going head first down steep sand dunes, reaching speeds of up to 73km per hour. We got to do six different tracks, although we could do each track as many times as time and energy allowed. Some others opted to do "standing up boarding", which was basically snowboarding but on sand. They were the really soft people of the group, as they reached speeds of up to 15km per hour. The "lying down" boarding was for cool kids.

Our first track was "gentle", but it was still quite scary letting go at the top of the dune. It was such an awesome buzz speeding down the dunes. Two of our group wiped out on their first run but Megs and Tim nailed it. Total pros. You held on to the front of the plywood with your hands and it was crucial to keep that raised up above the ground. If you dropped the front of your board, you would eat sand and wipe out. In that order. So long as you kept the front of your board up, you were sweet. The other thing to remember was that you could not control the direction of the board at all, so if you started to fishtail (swerve about), you had to drop your feet into the sand, so that they dragged lightly in the sand behind you - this would straighten you up again. Easy.

The tracks got quicker and steeper as we went through. On the fourth track, we did a sit-down tandem run. Both Megs and Tim sat on the same board (like a snow sled) and got pushed off at the top of the dune and then cruised down. It was not as fast, but a lot of fun. The 5th track was a super fast steep run - they guides had a radar gun for this run and we all got clocked zooming down the dune. Megs hit 72km per hour, which was the fastest time for a while, until sneaky old Little Anzac hit 73 km per hour. Damn him. Tim's fastest was 71km per hour. That was an amazing rush!

Our final run back down to the vans was intense. There was no speed gun, it was all about distance. One of the guides massively talked himself up, saying he had never been beaten for distance on the final run. Tim was second last to go and had a smoking run that took the lead at that stage. The last few metres he took his hands off the board to do a Ben Tune swallow dive finish - rugby fans know what I'm talking about! The guide was last to go and managed to beat Tim's mark by about half a metre! If not for the swallow dive, Tim would still be basking in glory...oh well.

Back at the vans, we got lunch and cold drinks as part of the package deal. It was incredible value (from memory it was something like $US35 each) and included a few hours of boarding, equipment hire, lunch, drinks, transport to the dunes and back and a DVD of us boarding!!! Get in. Back at the hostel, we took turns showering - the sand got everywhere. Once cleaned up, we wandered into town for a look around, but a lot of shops were shut! We caught up with the news that National had dominated the election, almost grabbing 50% on their own! This made us happy.

Later in the afternoon, Sara (who is actually a hairdresser) gave Megan a haircut and dyed her hair at the hostel in exchange for a bottle of rum - everyone was a winner there. In the evening we watched a bit of English footy in the hostel bar. Man United drew 1-1 with Newcastle, which was very funny, but then Arsenal drew 1-1 with Fulham, which was not funny at all. Tim had KFC for dinner - it was his first Colonel experience in years and it was magical. We had a very early night - everyone was shattered from late nights, drinking, intense heat and adrenalin activities.

Day 51: Swakopmund

Day 51 was a very slow-paced Sunday in Swakopmund. We had a well-earned sleep-in and rose around 8.30am. Freddy, our chef, was AWOL and had no breakfast for us, which was pretty upsetting. Darlington was not happy at all and had strong words with Freddy! We did some laundry at the hostel and walked into town with Little Anzac. Again, hardly anything was open, but we found a street market that was just getting set up. Megs bought a nice bracelet and Tim bought an elegant wooden giraffe. As was usual, we got a bit of hassle, but managed to escape and carried on our walk through the pretty German town centre.

We found an internet cafe, where we loaded photos on to a memory stick, did some emails and caught up on news. It was really nice to have some down time and catch up on all of these admin sort of jobs. Tim couldn't resist the lure of the Colonel for lunch - he just looks so trustworthy. The afternoon was spent relaxing in the sun back at the hostel, chatting to our roomies and having a few quiet drinks. In the evening a few of us went to Spur for dinner. Tim didn't make it to actually eating...we'll call it heatstroke. The others all enjoyed it - it was pretty good food. It was a fun night to end our Swakopmund stint. We would be on the road again tomorrow.

Day 52: Sossusvlei

It was an early start on Monday morning - the beginning of the last week of our African safari. We left the hostel and Swakopmund at 6.30am and drove south on our big orange truck, past Walvis Bay and on towards Sossusvlei. We had a few stops for photos along the way - there were lots of crazy looking trees and amazing landscape shots. We also stopped for a photo at the signpost for the Tropic of Capricorn (it's not every day you cross the Tropic of Capricorn).

We had morning tea in Namibia's smallest town, Solitaire, a great little town right on the edge of the desert. It is home to 12 people, a bakery and a general store. The bakery is run by a man named Moose MacGregor and it is famous for its apple pie. We got a mince pie and an apple pie to share - they were good, but not spectacular. The cool thing about Solitaire is that it is decorated with several old car wrecks and petrol bowsers and the like, which look great scattered amongst the sandy land and the odd cactus (photo below). Apparently there are quite a few movies filmed in the area and some of the car wrecks have been left behind from movie sets.

We drove on into the Namib-Nakluft National Park (desert) and towards our camp for the night at Sesriem. We got settled in at the camp and had sandwiches for lunch before setting off for Sossusvlei and the world famous Namibian sand dunes. We had to get off the truck and drive the last 5km in 4WD jeeps because the road ends and is replaced by heavy soft sand, which the truck cannot cope with. Our afternoon adventure included a walk in the desert, over some smallish sand dunes to visit Deadvlei and Sossusvlei.

Sossusvlei is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Nakluft National Park. The name "Sossusvlei" is often used in an extended meaning to refer to the surrounding area (including other neighbouring vleis such as Deadvlei and other high dunes), which is one of the major visitor attractions of Namibia.

Our first stop was Deadvlei, a clay pan, about 2 km from the actual Sossusvlei. A notable feature of Deadvlei is that it used to be an oasis with several acacia trees. However, the river that watered the oasis changed its course. The pan is now punctuated by blackened, dead acacia trees, in vivid contrast to the shiny white of the salty floor of the pan and the intense orange of the dunes. This creates a particularly fascinating and surrealistic landscape, that appears in uncountable pictures and that has been used as a setting for films and videos. We wandered around Deadvlei and took lots of photos - it really was beautiful and unlike anything we had ever seen.

Just a couple of kilometres away is the actual Sossusvlei (which roughly translates to "dead end marsh"). Sossusvlei is a clay pan, of roughly elliptical shape, covered in a crust of salt-rich sand. While the pan has been shaped over time by the Tsauchab river, the actual flooding of the pan is a relatively rare event, and sometimes several years pass between one flood and the next. The river is dry most of the year, and even when it is not, it carries relatively little water to the vlei. It actually looked like there had been a bit of water at Sossusvlei recently, as the edge of the pan looked quite soft and muddy.

After visiting the vleis and running around on the surrounding dunes, we took the 4WD jeeps and then the truck back to the big-boy sand dunes. There are literally dozens of gigantic sand dunes lined up like soldiers on either side of the road that runs from Sesriem to the Sossusvlei area. These colossal sand dunes are the largest and most famous in the world.

The most famous of all of these sand dunes is known as Dune 45! It is so named as it lies 45km from Sesriem on the road to Sossusvlei. Standing over 170m, it is composed of 5 million year old sand that is accumulated by the Orange River from the Kalahari Desert and then blown there. Dune 45 is also known as "the most photographed dune in the world" - because of its unusually simple and fascinating shape, and its proximity to the road that makes it convenient for visitors to stop by and take pictures. Some of our group chose to climb Dune 45, but it was quite windy and we were feeling knackered, so we stayed at the bottom and took cracking photos instead.

Back at camp, we had drinks and dinner as we watched the sun set over the distant hills. We had showers after dinner - they were brilliant showers too. Strong water pressure and plenty of hot water! Ahhh.

Day 53: Fish River Canyon

On Tuesday we got up at 5.45am and left camp at 7am, as we had a decent enough drive ahead of us. It was a cool start to the morning, but it got very hot very quickly. The scenery was superb as we drove south - hundreds of rugged mountains rising up out of flat arid plains.

We stopped in a little town called Bethanie to fill the truck with diesel and pick up a few supplies. While there, we discovered the truck had a puncture, so we were delayed by almost an hour while the crew sorted that out. With extra time on our hands, we wandered down the road to a butchery that sold biltong (a southern African delight, much like beef jerky but with a bit of heat). We got a particular type of biltong called "chilli bites", which were little bite-sized strips and rather spicy. They were amazing.

Once the puncture was repaired, we carried on a short distance and stopped for lunch - egg salad and bread. After lunch we carried on. It was uncomfortably hot in the truck - there was hot air blowing in through the open windows. The scenery was pleasant though. We arrived at our camp at 4.15pm. It was a really nice camp called Canyon Roadhouse. It had a swimming pool and a great bar/restaurant decorated with old cars and petrol station/workshop type paraphernalia. Out the front of the camp there was an old-school windmill and a car wreck, similar to those in Solitaire. The facilities were excellent too - very modern bathrooms! However, drinks in the bar were really expensive and the service was awful.

At 5.30pm, we hopped in the truck and drove about 25km down the road to the Fish River Canyon. Fish River Canyon, located in the south of Namibia, is the second largest canyon in the world (after the Grand Canyon) and the largest in Africa, as well as the second most visited tourist attraction in Namibia. It features a gigantic ravine, in total about 160km long, up to 27km wide and in places almost 550 metres deep. The Fish 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.

The view over the canyon was absolutely breath-taking. We walked along the edge of the canyon for about 30 minutes, taking plenty of photos as we went, and then we sat in a tourist look-out station and watched the sun set over the canyon. It was so beautiful.

Back at camp we had delicious bratwurst sausages, pumpkin and potatoes for dinner. A few of us went to the bar and asked them to play the football on TV, but they refused, so we kept our money in our pockets and went back to our respective tents and had an early night. Not good business sense by the bar really... Our last night in Namibia was very windy - it felt like the tent might blow away at one point, but we managed to survive the night! Tomorrow we would cross the border into South Africa!








Swakop-
mund












Tim on
his quad
bike












So much
fun











Megs and
her quad
bike












Megs with
the macau
















Ready
for sand
boarding












Megs
sand
boarding










Tandem
sand board











Swakop-
mund













Darlington
and a tree















Tim at the
Tropic of
Capricorn











Solitaire














Megs in
the dead
vlei











Dead
vlei












Sossus-
vlei










Tim and
Megs at
Sossus-
vlei












Dune 45













Climbing
Dune 45











Awesome
sand
dunes












Canyon
Roadhouse
camp










Megs and
Neena at
Fish River
Canyon











Tim and a
tree...