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Hi everyone and welcome to my next blog entry
On leaving Swakopmund we quickly crossed the tropic of capricorn for some cheesy photos at the sign travelling through desert landscape being chased by thunderstorms that felt as if they were going to hit us and take us away. The landscape seemed to change every 10 minutes as we travelled further south which meant i was looking out of the window mosty of time admiring the countryside which was other wordly.
The next day we headed to an area called soussevei and dune 45 for some of the highest sand dunes in the world. A bushman lead us through the desert and to a salt lake before i climbed dune 45 which was a great hike giving amazing views across the dunes. I stupidly decided to climb it barefooted and given the sand seemed like it was a hundred degrees hot by feet were slightly hot to say the least. However on reaching the top i was able to take the heat of my feet and admire the views before heading down which was much quicker as i used gravity to run down the side as fast as i could!! To help me feet recover i drank a box of goon with my drinking buddy Nuts and Matt. Oddly enough my feet felt so good the next day like i'd been to a beauty salon and had a massage of my feet!!
Shortly after that we drove to fish river canyon which was probably my highlight of Africa so far. A huge canyon nearly the size of the grand canyon in the absolute middle of nowhere. I sat looking at it for ages listening to the river running through the bottom and watching basically nothing but it was still real amazing.
Then it was on to the orange river which is right on the border with south africa. I had a quick swim in the river before Mel threw an impromtu cheese and wine night. It was certainly an eventul night and was good fun until a few shannigans went on (not involving me!) but the people involved know!!
Next up was south africa and i had to say goodbye to Namibia which was without doubt the best country so far on my african adventure. We spent a night in the countryside before heading to Stellenbosch, a university town about an hour outside of Cape Town. After a quick walk around town and a spot of lunch it was time to live the life of a student asgain which meant drinking and partying in to the early hours of the morning. Many drinks were drunk in bars full of students celebrating some rugby win and Afrikaans men are so butch i felt like a skinny dwarf!! To my surprise the bar i was in decided to play the QPR V Ipswich match at 1am in the morning so i was sitting in the corner of the bar on with mates who knew little about football cheering on the tractorts boys which was quite a surreal experence considering i was on the other side of the world!
The next was supposedly more sophiscated as it was a "Wine tour". Still a little tipsy from the night before a 10am start meant i could use the hair of the dog tactic to avoid a hangover and it certainly worked. From what i remember there wqere some real nice wines and some stunning countryside across the valleys and vineyards. My favourite wine was a wine called Chakalak so if anyone gets the chance give it a go, i promise you will like it.
After Stellenbosech it was on to 4 days in Cape Town, a stunning city on the cape penisula by the sea at the foot of table mountain. I did the usual touristy stuff like taking the cable car up table mountain, going to robben island and walking around the town. I went to see Nelson Mandelas prison cell and went to a museum called district 6 museum. It was interesting and emotional to read about how Apartheid affected the Black africans and how the White Afrikaans treated them. All i remember about aparheid is south africa not being allowed to compete in certain sporting events so to read how a black township of 60,000 inhabvitants was bulldozed to make way for a new area for middle class white south africans was quite ridicoulous. The tour guide on robben island had been imprisoned for 6 years for treason just trying to fight for better rights for the blacks in south africa, so it good to see that apartheid has ended but incredible to imagine how recent it was and how some of the beliefs are still there in certain individuals.
The last but one day me, Jono, Matt, Mike and Giseels hired a car and drove to the cape of good hope, the most south westerly point in the coninent of africa where the ships turn the corner. On the way back we went to boulders beach to see a penguin colony. We got to walk amongst them which is the single most scary thing i have ever done as they kept pecking at our ankles trying to bite us, there were a cople of thousand there easily!
I then had to say goodbye to the friends i had made on my truck tour which was a real sad occassion, like the end of an era like school or university or something. It certainly was emotional.
The truck then left minus about 20 people plus 5 polish people who seem like good guys on first impressions if a little different!
We have been to Cape Agulhas, the southern most point on the african continent where the atlantic and indian oceans meet and are now in a quaint little town called Swellendam.
I hope to post some photos when i arrive in Dubai in a coplu of weeks, my camera got wet and didn't work for a little while but it is back on now and i have taken plenty
Tom
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