Africa – 14th Sept 2008 – Day 13

After a very fitful sleep we were up at 05:00am to catch our bus to the airport. We had ordered food to our room the night before which was truly dreadful and after several attempts we gave up trying to order a video to watch – how the D’Oreal can claim to be a 5 star is quiet beyond us – it’s a 3 star at best.

We were driven right to the departures gate at J’burg airport, we were second in the queue for the check-in to Windhoek flying with Air Namibia. The check-in was supposed to start at 05:45 but no one arrived to set up until after 06:00, by which time there were loads of people queuing. BA staff were doing the check in for Air Namibia – what a lot they were, couldn’t organize anything and were all really stroppy – seems to be the standard in J’burg. Anyway after some palaver we got our seats and went through to departures.

J’burg airport is pretty new and has some nice shops to Perouse. The exchange rate is very good so stuff is cheap. Fiona bought some long walking trousers (the bugs really bite out here, so hoping long trousers will do the trick).

The flight was pretty good and on time. When we arrived at Windhoek we were going to be met by the local Audley agent, however we waited 30 minutes and nobody arrived. John managed to get some signal on his phone but couldn’t get through to these guys, about 10 mins later the guy arrives saying the flight is usually always late !!!. He drove us to a local hotel where we were going to meet the main rep, he drove like a nutter, about 2” from the bus in front the whole way to Windhoek city centre.

Windhoek is actually pretty big and very clean, it is hugely influenced by Germans who had control of the country until 1990, all the roads have German names or famous African leaders – even Robert Mugabe.

We picked up our car which is a huge 4 wheel drive job, and the local rep took us through our itinerary in detail. Around lunch time we set off for our first destination – Waterburg Wilderness lodge, but not before John had churned up the hotel garden trying to reverse the 4 wheel jeep to get out the front gate – the rep’s face was a picture when he saw the hole that had been left, we needed to put the car in 4 wheel drive to get it out.

After that we hit the road with no major incidents. The roads are very good compared to Zambia, the main roads are tarmac, the road signs are great, either a warning triangle with a wart hog or springbok. We saw wart hogs, monkeys, goats and horses along the road side. Eventually we took a turning of the main road and headed for the lodge along a dirt track.

When we arrived we were shown to our room, the itinerary describes this lodge as simple, which is pretty accurate, the rooms are clean. When you get into your room you are given an itinerary of room items, which you need to check and then sign. We have never had to do this before, it made us feel like we could not be trusted, very odd. Everyone else at the lodge is German, so perhaps they are apt to nick the odd china cup or bowl of sugar, time will tell. One of the gardeners gave us a whirl wind walk round the facilities, these guys are not as relaxed as the staff in the Zambian lodges and it feels a bit like an army camp in terms of the rules etc.

We arrived just in time for coffee and cake, very nice. We then headed to the swimming pool, but it was very dirty and uninviting, so we sat in some loungers reading.

When we returned to our room, there on the floor was a print out of an e-mail sent to us from Pat & Ad which, was great. We will try and reply from here, but getting e-mail connection in most of the lodges is pretty patchy.

After another wee rest, we dressed and headed down to the dining area. The wine here is OK, so we sat around the fire with a few other German couples. John put some wood on the fire and then wondered if that was the correct thing to do as the Germans looked a little stern.

When we sat in the dinning area we realised that we were the only non Germans in the entire camp. Everyone just speaks German, including most of the staff and guides.

We sat with a German couple who spoke some English. However, once another German couple joined the table, the conversation was mostly in German. The dinner menu is only in German, very rude. We are in Namibia, not Germany!!

Tomorrow we are doing a walk up to the plateau in the morning and a game drive in the afternoon. We are hoping to see some Rhino in Namibia which aren’t found in Zambia, or at least at the reserves we stayed in.