Monday 8th August. Up at 3.45am! Travel to Cape Town

Alarm at 3.45am, out of the door by 4.00am.  Speedy taxi and we make it to the airport in 30mins.  We are the first of the group to leave with Nick & Raynee leaving at 5.00am, followed by Olivier, Roz, Mary & Harvey at 7.00am.  There are only 12 of us in the 50-seat Canadair RJ200 so it feels like our own private jet.  Tinge of sadness as we lift into the pre-dawn crimson Namibian sky.  What a great holiday!  The desert scenery beneath us is totally out of this world.  Like some orange lunar landscape.  Touchdown in Cape Town bang on time and we find an almost deserted airport.  Straight through controls and we get the R53 (about £5) MyCiti bus to the city.  Change to the F1 local service and we are at the Waterfront by 10.30am.  Our hotel, the Victoria & Alfred is rather splendid.  Not surprisingly our room is not ready (doh check in 14.00), but we are offered a room in their sister 5-star hotel – The Dock – instead.  Yey- upgrade!  But we turn it down, can you believe.  We like it here.  The rest of the Hampson-Ghani blog in Cape Town can be found here (if you can be bothered).

Nick & Raynee flew to Jo’burg then spent the day there before getting the BA flight to London.

Olivier, Roz, Mary & Harvey followed the H-Gs to Cape Town, whilst the rest of the gang spent the morning lounging at the Cori B&B (nice) and caught the afternoon flight to Jo’burg and the overnighter to London.

Thanks everyone for a great holiday!

Sunday 7th August. Sunrise on Waterberg Plateau. Travel back to Windhoek

Up at 5.00am for the sunrise game drive.  Very jolly driver but the admin was tedious and we finally get going in the jeeps by about 6.00am.  It was pitch black when we got up but it’s getting alarmingly light as we head for the gates.  Roz reminds them we are here for the sunrise so can they please get a move on!  It’s bloody freezing in the early morning half-light, so we are handed fleece ponchos to wrap up in.  Very welcome indeed!  After about 45mins (and I thought we were in the park??) we make the climb up to the plateau.  A table-flat mountain some 1650m above the veld.  It feels a bit like Jurassic Park.  We grind to a halt and get out of the jeep.  There behind us yet another amazing sunrise through the trees.  We survey the scene from the top and it is very surreal.  Down below it is dead flat veld.  Up here it is dead flat veld, but very different.  Well, we drive around and around and it all looks very promising.  Fresh foot prints here, even fresher rhino poo there (“why not you not want to hold it ma…?” – err, it’s poo that’s why and I haven’t brushed my teeth yet), but alas no animals at all.  The sun is rising higher and we start to unfreeze.  A cul-de-sac reveals an enclosed walkway that leads down to the hide and one of the water holes.  There’s bound to be something there (“everybody can sleep, but everybody gotta drink”).  Well no. Nothing.  And where are the birds too?  We console ourselves by reminding each other this is the wild not a zoo, as we tuck into our generous packed breakfast (boiled egg, biltong, cold ham & cheese toastie, juice, yogurt, apple, cheese – it’s OK by me but some people aren’t so keen).  We set off in another direction and Martin  our driver/guide is certain we’ll see something this time.  We drive for miles and miles on the plateau.  We turn off on to a very small track, 4x4 only.  He points out some bluffs up ahead – sure fire lounging spot for cats.  Nope, not today.  GIRAFFE!!!  Mary of course does spot some.  A couple of big’uns about 50m away, but we’ve see giraffe and so are not interested.  Up ahead first one, then two then a whole heard of Sable.  Now that is something.  We linger as that’s all we are going to get.  By 10.30 we’ve been up almost a working day and we finally head of the plateau.  Fantastic views, but sadly we left virtually empty handed.  It’s a game park not a zoo remember.  Back at the chalets we have a final team pose – everyone even Kevin under orders to wear the team shirt.  1-2-3 click Godfried and Olivier (eh?) take the official tour photos, then it’s on the truck (last puncture now fixed) and we head south to Windhoek, not before a last chance shop at the craft market and lunch at xxxx (fill this in later).  Despite our best efforts we buy loads of stuff.  Nick of course is the real pro and has the traders scurrying in fear and letting him get away with outrageous discounts, while the rest of us only scavenge a few bucks here and there.  The final stretch into Windhoek is a bit sad as it is the last time we will be together, although on the bright side we will be saying goodbye to the old truck.  Ironically as he speed pas a private game reserve we see loads of animals again.

 Check in at Cori and our final final farewells to Chico.  What a great guy!  We are all very sad.  Kevin mans it out and carries his bag to his room whilst the ladies all reach for the Kleenex.  Quick SSS then we are off the NICE (Namibian Instuitute of Culinary Education for our last meal together).

Saturday 6th August: Eveving at Waterberg Plateau Resort

(Hi folks - this post was sent on Satrday evening 13th August - it's the first chance I've had to get this updated)

The evening meal was taken in what was the old German Police Station building which now serves as the Lodge Restaurant.  There most of us walked down from the chalets as we’d spent all day in the truck.  A pleasant moonlit walk it was too.  The restaurant seem to have many more tourists than we’d seen all Day.  As usual the staff were exceedingly helpful, but the service was terribly slow.  This meant that yet again we drunk the house dry!  Another lively meal and as it was our last with Chico there had to be some ceremony.  He was presented with the Liverpool FC cap signed by all of us, and we topped it off with a rousing rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone – which managed to clear the restaurant of the final few guests.