This is a
big country, just under 4 x the size of the UK but with a population of only
2.4m making it the second least populated country in the world (after Mongolia). Our
itinerary takes in north, south and west and the route is approx 3,200 kms in
16 days – yikes!
Cases out
at 0700 for a 0800 departure so we had an early wake-up and a superb breakfast,
although we were both very restrained and could easily have sat gorging
ourselves for longer.
Our vehicle is very strange; Ian
thinks it doubles as a dustbin collection vehicle.
Carlos has a separate cab at the
front and then there are 12 seats in the main bit and a sealed off area for
luggage at the back. I presume it’s
designed to have maximum shock absorption as only a small percentage of roads
are tarmac, the rest being gravel. It
seems comfortable enough and the windows are lovely and large and apart from
the front ones all open.
Typical for VJV, the itinerary
made play of the fact we were driving to the Kalahari via a town named Rehoboth,
notable in Namibia for the Baster people who are mixed race and still have very
European features (blue/green eyes, straight hair) along with black skin. However in fact all we did was a loo/coffee
break at a petrol station and everyone we saw looked average “African”.
Shortly after we crossed the
Tropic of Capricorn.
Roads are generally very, very
straight and single lane (there is little traffic) and mostly you can see
vehicles coming from a long way off although there are some rather sneaky
hidden dips.
We reached Kalahari Anib Lodge
about 1300 and ordered a beer and lunch whilst our rooms were made ready. I wandered into the little gift shop and
before I knew it had bought a scarf, hat and handbag – very reasonable prices.
I didn’t really know what to
expect of the lodges and this one is certainly very different to ones we’ve
stayed in previously in Africa. It most
certainly couldn’t be taken down and not leave a trace on the landscape. There are about xxx small rooms around a
grassy area with a pool (freezing) in the middle and then some superior rooms
overlooking another smaller pool and a waterhole which I think is floodlit at
night.
Our room is small but very nice
and pleasant to sit out.
