keetmanshoop to sossusvlei

our one night of "luxury" in keetmanshoop ------------------- "we're on the road to nowhere..."



safety in numbers seems to work for birds too



our odd campsite, sheltered from the wind -------------------- the beckoning dunes



wildlife in sossusvlei




l






gale force winds on dune 45



and the view










natures love = a sand storm









deadvlei









a carni dune dweller







the never ending straights
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the song that comes to mind when driving this stretch is "we're on the road to nowhere". indeed, this is how one feels when the GPS one, looong straight line and for as far as the eye can see, with not even a cm of a bend. the tar roads do have speed limits of 120 km/h, the gravel roads do not...not that either make much of a difference. it is easy to suddenly reach 160 (sorry margs) with not a care in the world - one doesn't pass a soul, human or animal.
the surroundings of sossusvlei were spectacular! the bold red dunes beckoned to us from the moment we laid our eyes on them. having set up camp in a rather perculier site, we watched the masses of sand change from brown to orange to brilliant red.
the following day, we faced the gale force wind and tackled dune 45 and attempted to walk 10 kms in a sand storm to deadvlei (nature proved her point, we turned back and ended up catching the taxi). deadvlei consisted of a white basin with a dead tree forest, surrounded by red sand dunes. a weird and almighty sight to behold.

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the orange river

the one and only remaining mudflap (removed) ----- welcoming words at the border



starting off, with felix unite in the background --------------- campsite #2 with some touch rugby for warmth



day two of canoing, in the rain










campsite #3



the group of us --------------------------------------- Jon owning the biggest rapid of the day



pump it! pump it!



campsite #4




boredom on the looong stretch back in over-sized shoes----a friendly multi-coloured beast friend


imagine floating down the orange river, the divide between south africa and namibia, for four days? i did and did it and it was fantastic. we drove up on the saturday morning, taking a little longer than expected, and being almost the last to arrive. we met the rest of the group - approximately 35 other mba students (including partners) - putting up their tents, having boozers, trying to get inside information from the guides.
out of the four days on the river, only one day was miserable...which is ok. not ideal but ok. many boats had
old brown sherry on hand (literally) so warming up wasn't too much of an issue.
this trip with felix unite was a great introduction to namibia and for the rest of the journey that awaited us.

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a cape tonian autumn

a bit of welcome mist to start off the day ------------- dressed with nowhere to go


chaka ampt representing gsb in his gear ----------- rebekah and i in chilly conditions


arno, seb, juliet and david, keen for olympia ----------- chilling on the harbour wall in kalk bay



view over cape town from the start of lions head



seb, in party animal mode --------------------------the durbanites, kai and rich, in matching gear



the birthday mba-ers --------------------------------------nor and lorien, looking blue steely



tim and franko ---------------------------




mingling on the balcony --------------------------------kasia




thirsty sebs -------------------------------------------------the ladies




kasia and cara-------------------------------------------mr arno von dem b............











a cape tonian summer is heat, wind and sun, autumn is occasional sun, wind and mist. this explains why the renowned 3 peaks race was postponed twice - the first due to massive storms, the second due to hectically windy and misty conditions on the mountain. as you can see from some of the pics, we were layered and ready to conquer a peak or two. alas, that will have to wait until spring!

another festive event in june was seb's 29th, celebrated in true style - over almost two weeks.
week one: dinner at ginja (unfortunately extremely disappointing), dinner at andiamo (pasta + glass of wine for R100 - bargain!) after going to jason's exhibition, postponed shark cage diving (due to 9m swell) in gansbaai.
week two: une fête française (red wine, cheese and baguettes) at our flat with many a MBA-er and a few nons, dinner at HQ - a more than meaty restaurant (although they do have a veg option) and one of the last braais of the season with the family - the sun kindly made an appearance after a week of torrential rain.