22-24 August 2018
Two days to get home, we decided – a push, but we decided to give it a go. Swakopmund gave us its customary foggy farewell as we drove towards Windhoek.
It really is a pleasure driving on Namibian roads, so we flew along nicely. We pushed through to Gruenau, and had booked accommodation at The Whitehouse Guestfarm – what a fabulous place to stay. The family have converted the old original farmhouse into a guesthouse and have built on a few cottages for more accommodation. They also have a campsite. Meals can be preordered, and we chose the lamb – oh my – lekka slow cooked lamb shoulder and shank, pumpkin pie, mashed potato, gravy, cauliflower – sooo good.
Thursday morning – up early – it was freezing – below 0 degrees!
Soon we were seeing our first signs pointing home, and by 8h30 we were at the Namibian border post.
Crossed the Orange River, and into sunny SA! It felt lovely yet odd to be home. Driving through Namaqualand was gorgeous – the harsh landscape carpeted with flowers – a great welcome home.
Near Van Rhijnsdorp we stopped for a late breakfast – Emma was super excited as Wimpy toasted cheese is her favourite fast food – I managed most of my burger, but after 3 months of pretty much zero fast food, it was a struggle to eat :).
Nearing Cape Town, we started to see the wonderful effect of the good rain the area has at last been receiving over teh past months we have been away. The farms around Clanwilliam are super green, dams full, and then over the pass, and the Swartland is green and yellow – so different from last year! Beautiful sight.
Naturally, our timing was such that we hit the afternoon rush hour traffic! Quite a shock to the system after 3 months of no traffic (except for Lusaka). I was, again, very emotional arriving home – our son, Alan was there to meet us – missed him so much. And our kitties! They also came to say hello and were not too grouchy with me :).
Straight away we emptied the Hilux and Klippie –
Hilux desperately needs a service, but it was just incredible – absolutely no issues at all, despite the roads and terrain, and heavy load of Klippie, that it endured. Klippie needs a valet of note, but we will get there!
Alan and Emma had been keeping track of our trip on a map we had used for our planning, putting there sticky paper marker as close as they could to where we were at the time.
Door to door – 17 348km. And I am ready to go again!
Thank you everyone for the messages and comments, for the support, for my balloon birthday flight in Ruaha. Thank you to the people we met along the way, and for restoring my feeling of being African, and belonging on this truly incredible continent. I am gushing, I know, but this adventure was so much easier than I thought it would be, and the beauty of Africa (wildlife and people) continues to amaze me. It was so much more and better than expected.
So, if you are thinking of going on an adventure like this, go! Be well organised, prepared, but have flexibility in your itinerary so you can change tack and be able to explore places you hear about as you travel. Africa will not disappoint!