Starting 2023 in Namibia
31 December 2022 – Oubokberg
Last day of the year started with a rough night as the girls
started sleeping on some camping stretchers that were incredibly squeaky. Eventually when Robyn couldn't stand it anymore, we got them to join us in our bed, but that wasn't much better as they wriggle so much! End result was the
parents not getting a lot of sleep...
However breakfast was a treat, for Mish, as it included
Mountain Zebra Tatar. He was as happy as
could be! The rest of the day was spent just relaxing and unwinding, and mentally preparing to leave the year behind us. Day was filled with swimming, reading, napping and playing games. The girls even had a surprise of doing a archery
course with multiple stations with rubber animals. Luckily none were caught for dinner…
For dinner we had a “Bushman’s Fondue”. It was a potjie pot filled with oil, heated over the fire. For the skewers we had a choice
of warthog, springbok, oryx and home-made sausages. A European dinner with a very African twist. Mish loved it and Maxine demolished it! Sides were salad and potatoes.
We finished the evening and the last day of the year with a
glass of champagne, but didn't make it to stay up to 12... Happy New Year!
1 January 2023 – Out of Africa Guesthouse
Maxine: Cheetahs at the Cheetah Conservation Fund
(CCF). We saw the cheetahs being fed
donkey meat and horse meat, with predator powder which gives the cheetahs vitamins
and calcium to help the cheetah’s teeth strong and health. After having a yummy toastie, we had a tour
with another family of three. We learnt
about how cheetahs are being shot by farmers because they sometimes kill and
eat their livestock.
As far as possible they try to release cheetahs back into
the wild but currently have 27 cheetahs at CCF. Meat wise that equates to about
one horse/donkey a day!
After a very interesting day at CCF we moved on to Out of Africa Guest House. We were immediately upgraded to the lodge were the pool is and better accommodation. No complaints from us :-)
Harriette: When we arrived and booked in we found and
held a chameleon. His feet were slight
poky. Took our stuff out of the car and
after that we had a more than an hour and a half swim. Finally we had a very posh dinner (It even
had a lazy suzan on the table).
After the kids went to bed Robyn introduced Mish to the
amazing Don Pedro drink. It’s a
milkshake with alcohol, normally Kahlua, but since Mish is not a fan of coffee, we went with Amarula. Lovely late night parental treat while the kids were dreaming.
2 January 2023 – Waterberg
Harriette:
Today we had a lazy start. We had
breakfast and packed up. Next up was a visit to the
crocodile farm - we had a nice tour. Our
guide was called David. We saw the most
gigantic breeding females and very lazy breeding males. Also we picked up a lot of information on
Nile crocodiles, including about reproduction, raising of young and about
their eggs. We learnt what parts of the
crocodile skin are used for what (belt, shoes, purses) when they are slaughtered. They have to be five years old, because they
are big enough to get a good price but if any older their skin is too hard to
use for anything.
Maxine: After one hour drive to Waterberg (chalets 76
& 77). Once we finished our
homework, we set on a drive to the swimming pool. When we got there we realised we had
forgotten the sun cream! So we had to have a short (30 minute) swim. When we came back we had a shower to rinse off the chlorine. Then I finished my fact
file on crocodiles so all of us went on a walk. On the
walk the four of us tried going up a path a short way, but can down again as it goes right up the mountain.
It was a lovely relaxing evening, apart from periodically
having to chase away the baboons. One
got into the back of the Toyota land cruiser and tried to open a food
box. Luckily Grandma saw him and ran to
chase him away. He broke a plastic container and pooped in the car! The cati (catapult) came in very handy.
3 January 2023 – Klein Eden Guest House
What a night! It
rained and rained and rained! Robyn was
awake tossing and turning and eventually got up to watch the downpour at
3am. Remarkably therapeutic actually,
and managed to get the best sleep of the night between 4am and 6:30am.
Breakfast was at the restaurant and after we walked around the building and saw 2 dwarf mongooses, before hitting the road. On the road we saw a chameleon (with paralysed back legs ☹) and after a consultation with an animal expert we put him out of his misery. We also saw a pretty large leopard tortoise crossing the road.
Harriette: Went swimming before lunch. After lunch we had a couple of hours of home
schooling.
It poured with rain in the afternoon, but thankfully cleared
for an outside braai dinner. They had a
neat entertainment centre and the girls, Robyn and Grandma played ping pong while
it rained. Perfect marshmallow fire
tonight and even Robyn and Mish indulged.
The highlight of the evening was when a scorpion came to say hello and
settle down underneath Grandpa's chair (feet up everybody).
4 January 2023 – Windhoek
After breakfast, we discussed whether we would go to the
Galloway farm next or head back to Windhoek (Uncle Rex was also flying in). We all agreed to head back to Windhoek and
frankly we were not keen on roughing it with our own gear there after being on the road for 8 days already.
Robyn and Mish went to Kashana in Omaruru for lunch and internet so that Mish could work there (with a yummy milkshake), then headed to Windhoek, finding a unique pink gate along the route. The kids took the more scenic route through Willemsdal with the grandparents. The rest of the day was focused on unpacking and settling back in Windhoek. And of course we finished the day with another braai.
5 January 2023 – Windhoek
An early start to day with some homeschooling first thing
(worked out quite well so we might try and adapt this along our travels). The rest of the was spent just chilling out
with lots of swimming and restocking the pantry with various goodies. The grandparents are definitely spoiling
everybody.
6 January 2023 – Windhoek
Rex few in this morning from Malta, so the girls and the
grandparents went to meet him at the airport. This was followed by lunch out
with some friends from SA. Then poor
Uncle Rex was treated to the full force of 2 excited nieces, if only he could
have gotten a good night’s sleep on the plane over…
7 January 2023 – Galloways’s Farm
We decided to go back to Gallaway’s farm as prior we came
back to Windhoek early. A very basic
camp next to the river bed, with a nice outside section and bathtub pool. So the girls were happy and wallowed like
hippos all afternoon.
Not much to do = forced relaxation, reading and an afternoon
snooze. Steve (the owner) arrived late
in the evening and joined us for a butter chicken dinner. It was a nice change from braaing every day!
8 January 2023 – Windhoek
Restless night with some major musical beds. Mish start with sleeping outside under the
stars but could not get comfortable on the stretcher under a very bright full
moon. So he came into the fun,
after which Harriette joined us in the double bed that led Mish to move to
Harriette’s bed for some space, peace and quiet. Unfortunately we were all up with the sun,
except for Maxine. She slept really
late.
After a hardy Sunday breakfast of eggs and bacon, we headed on a game drive with Steve. As there was limited space in the car, we all sat up ontop of the roof rack. Then of we went on the game drive, and specifically we went looking for Nigel, a dwarf giraffe on Steve’s farm that stands only 2.7 m and has earned himself a place in the Guinness book of world records! https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/science/dwarf-giraffes.html Unfortunately we did not find him or any of the other ~70 Giraffes on the farm. We rode on the roof rack and did see 1x blue Wildebeest, 4x Bat eared foxes, a few Steenbokkies, some Impala, a few Springbok and a Black tailed mongoose.
For lunch we headed to Bach dam, that was on the way
home. The water levels were very low and
they were actually pumping water into the damn!. Late afternoon we went to
Johan and Heidi for some milk tart and a horse ride. Kids got to ride Laika, Heidi’s horse, who is
a HUGE mare at just shy of 18 hands (Mish is unsure of who’s hands it was…)! an average horse stands about 14-16 hands.
Spaghetti “Blow your nose” for dinner and kids to bed
relatively early. The rest of the
evening was spent with adults reminiscing over travels from Robyn/Rex’s childhood.
9 January 2023 – Windhoek
Another early morning of home-schooling before the girls
with Robyn and Grandma headed out for a 'girls days'. It was filled with shopping, coffee and
cake. A delicious chocolate cake what
was completely devoured by the girls.
The afternoon was spent mainly in the pool before the girls
had hamburgers with the grandparents and uncle Rex. Robyn and Mish were treated to some time
alone to go on a kid free dinner out.
Robyn was craving one of her favourite restaurants, Ocean Basket.
It is safe to say that it was a lovely time, with some great food. Only down side is that we both ate way too much!
10 January 2023 – Windhoek
It was a bad night due to the heat with Harriette struggling
to sleep, so we play musical beds throughout the night - again.
We got up had a fruit breakfast and then prepared to go to
Jan and Rheta’s on the farm for lunch. We had a lovely time at the leopard’s
camp, all of us relaxing: the kids swimming and the adults chatting. Mish unfortunately had to stay home and
work.
We had a quiet curry dinner, just the seven of us with the
kids devouring Grandma’s curry in seconds and then had seconds. It was an early
night for the whole Wozny clan due to us being tired from last night’s musical
birds, um... musical beds!.
11 January 2023 - Windhoek
Finally, a great night’s sleep and everybody work up feeling refreshed and energetic.
Mish is working this whole week – that’s so boring but
somebody’s got to do it! So this morning Robyn took the kids to the waterpark
for a couple of hours. They had so much fun.
Grandma treated Mish and Robyn to a massage (an alternative therapy massage: Bowen therapy). It was a very relaxing hour. Thank you!
Afterwards, the kids, Rex and Robyn and Mish went geocache
hunting at a Avis Dam. We managed to find five geocaches and even a token. It
was lovely to spend some time with Rex.
At Robyn’s request, we had a potjiekos for dinner with some family
friends; Peter and Margaret. It was so yummy and different from the usual
braai. This time Robyn won the battle of
the pap bransel. The night ended with Rex, Robyn and Mish staying up until 1 am
drinking and chatting.
12 January 2023 - Windhoek
Whilst Mish worked, Robyn took the girls to get their hair
done. African style. It took a good few hours to get Harriette's and Maxine’s hair done. Cornrow braids in blue for Harriette and purple
for Maxine.
The rest of the day was spent preparing/cooking for Rex' pop-up PUB DINNER dinner. It
was a 10 course experience of:
1. 1. Warm tomato soup with croutons
2. 2. Delightful crayfish with garlic butter
3. 3. Scrumptious Salmon with orange marinade
4. 4. Pallet cleanser of cold lemon sorbet
5. 5. Meatball surprise with BBQ sauce. The surprise was an apricot inside each.
6. 6.Wonderful beef roulade
7. 7. Finger licking chicken sosaties
8. 8. Gooey, chocolate brownies
9. 9. Enjoyable coffee and cookies
10. 10. Chocolates truffles to finish
It was awesome! Well done Rex. Marlene joined us for dinner and the kids
were perfect sous chef and servers :-) we all ate too much but it was a lovely
evening. We said our goodbyes to Marlene then put the kids to bed and had one
last late evening nightcap with the folks reflecting on the amazing African
adventure holiday we had over the last five weeks.
13 January 2023 - Return to the UK
Last wake up in the Namibia today :(
We have mixed feelings about returning to Wales. Relief for
cooler weather and excitement to see the doggies. But sad to say goodbye to
family again.
We spent most of the morning packing and sorting out bags.
Then a little bit of home schooling to round up the morning. Making the most of
our last day we were treated for lunch by going out to the “Beer Barrel” for
some delicious burgers and mini sliders.
When we got back from lunch, Robyn had a quick nap while
Mish finished up work and the kids had a bath. We set off to the airport at 5 pm, making good time where we were able to check in and have a goodbye drink with the folks. Unfortunately,
uncle Rex had to stay at home, due to lack of space in the car... as he was not
keen to be strapped to the roof rack!
Now on the plane back to Frankfurt! We all have mixed
feelings. Sad and happy all at the same time.
And we ended the trip, not with the braai, but with the
mandatory African sunset.
Thanks Namibia – till the next time :-)
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