thru africa

Saturday, 28 April 2007

The sleepy town of Windhoek

Hello everyone!

We have arrived in the sleepy, slow, mellow town of Windhoek. We have had several tough, long days on our bikes and therefore need and treasure our two days off here ... where there is not much more to do than relax, shop, go to the movies and do nothing ... obviously eat and drink in huge amounts ... ;-)

Windhoek is by far the mellowest (if that is a word?) capital city on our whole route. As they say here: If there are two cars in front of yours at the traffic light ... it is rush hour! The school holidays started yesterday, so we do have endless little brats running around the shopping mall and energising the internet cafe with us.

Thank God we have a bit of a cold front here too ... although obviously nothing like Cape Town and the West Coast at the moment ... the temperatures are in the low twenties, but expected to chill way more at night as we travel south over the next two weeks ...

... Now (exactly - 13h30), in two weeks, we should be at the Waterfront. Apparently the official welcome/arrival is at 14h00 ... but i recon we should be in about 13h00/30 on Saturday morning.

Thursday, 26 April 2007

Rushing thru Gobabis

We've made it too Namibia!!

We had a killer 208km trek yesterday ... long, tough and windy ... and ended just over the border in Namibia. Had a good night's sleep and today enduring a real tough 165km trip to Witvlei ... real bad wind and long , flat boring roads.

Well - sorry we have nothing new and exciting - also no photos of note ... maybe I'll photograph my right foot or rear tyre to give you all something new.

All the best ...

Patrick

Wednesday, 25 April 2007

Bonus Pics

Here are a few random photos for your viewing pleasure. :-)

One of my new friends

Sundowners with my folks at the Zambezi, just before the waters fall

Breaking wind just before the (time) trial

At the Zambezi ferry (Zambia to Botswana)

Tuesday, 24 April 2007

The little town of Ghanzi

Howzit everyone ... just pulled into the little town ... god-forsaken outpost ... of Ghanzi, in Botswana.

Yes ... i'm here real early ... got a little bug ... just like half the cyclists on tour at the moment. Sore throat, snotty, headache, etc ... but need the rest before tomorrows marathon stage of 208km!!! The longest on the trip!!

Otherwise we are all well. Boredom has set in with many people. Less than three weeks to go ... yeehaa or aagghh?!

the roads are still flat, flat, flat. As Al pointed out in the comments ... a fair amount of donkeys - and horses - along the road ... seemingly wild? But nothing like further north in Africa. Only sighted one local cyclist on the road for the whole of Botswana.

Oh well, that is all for now. I'll update later re our arrival in Cape Town ... time that is ... but am expecting around 12h30 on Saturday 12 May 2007 ...

lotsa love
Patrick

Sunday, 22 April 2007

p.s.

we went over the 9000km mark yesterday ... so less than 3000km to go!!!

chat again in Namibia and see you all soon in Cape Town ... 12 May 2007

I'm going to get sick ...

Hi there again.

We just went on a real awesome flight over the Okavango Delta ... in a little six seater Cessna plane ... and saw loads of animals (and water obviously) ... elephants, giraffe, gnu, zebra, hippo, snakes, ants, termites and lots more.

Thank God we went at eight o'clock already ... the ground is not that hot yet, so we had little turbulence. And still I felt like absolute shit ... I don't think I have sweated so much on my trip yet ... I came out literally green and sopping wet and a major twitch in my hand from continually thinking I may need my barf-bag.

Well, I've done my shopping, internet and the flight ... so I'm going back to the hotel to relax and lie at the pool for the whole day ... ;-) What a life ...

cheers

Saturday, 21 April 2007

The week that was ...

Hi there all ... arrived in Maun, Botswana just now. Came straight thru to the internet cafe ... getting it done today so that we can enjoy our off-day tomorrow!

We started off from Livingstone with an individual 40km time-trial ... I did real well and enjoyed it tremendously. Everything just seems to have worked out well on the morning.
Thanks to Andy Paton for the use of his tri-bars ... the time-trial and riding in Botswana is so much easier/fun.
We went on an amazing, relaxed boat cruise on our first day in Botswana ... on the Chobe River ... beautiful environment and great animals ... especially the Fish Eagle and the family of elephants.
The roads thru Botswana are real tiring and tedious ... actually boring at times!! They are all straight (for many, many tens of kilometers at a time!), flat and continually the same. No shops, Coke Stops, children, people, minimal cars and little else.
Awesome though are the ELEPHANTS! They are all over the place ... I had some very close, scary experiences where I was not watching out (cruising along on my tri-bars) and suddenly there was an elephant five meters from me - ears out and not too impressed. This is definitely one of the major the highlights of the trip.
Our distances have been continually around 160/170km. And our pace has been quite high too ... so we are all a little bushed and tired ... and ready to enjoy the day off tomorrow.
Hoping to go on a flight over the Okavango Delta tomorrow ...
Thanks to my fossils for their visit to the Falls ... it was great to see you!
Congrats to my boet - Andre - on the purchase of his new house!
The temperatures have also been quite high ... but more importantly, the sun just somehow seems to burn so much more intensely out here.

Well that is all for now. This country is really great and I'll be coming back here soon ... so if anyone is planning a holiday and wants to come with me ... see you soon.

cheers

patty