Christmas in Namibia

Lorna & I spent Christmas with her mom and sister at her mothers holiday house in Wlotzkasbaken just north of Swakopmund (in Namibia).

Wlotzkasbaken

Wlotzkasbaken is a lovely small town (well not really, you need 100 plots to be town in Namibia and there are only 99) with a couple of houses. No permanent running water and no electricity. Resident's have been battling it out with the Namibian Government to own their property and make sure development doesn't spoil this little town.





Tour of Walvis Bay

Surfing seal



Hungry seagull



Abandoned ship acting as a bird colony



Seagull catching a fish



Point Lighthouse



Seal on board



Pelicans



Also went for a sail, did some quad biking and had

Pippa teaching me to sail a hobie



Taking a break from the quads



Candle



See all the photos here...

Batholomeus Klip

Early in December Lorna treated me for a weekend of r&r at Batholomeus Klip, a guest house near Riebeek Kasteel. Had a weekend of chilling, cycling a bit, game watching and chilling at the pool. The guest house also has awesome food. And tea time is not to be missed.

The mountains


Dinner by the water


Tea time


Bontebok


The pool


See more here...

Trip to the Northern Drakensberg

In November Lorna and I were scheduled to go hike the Whale Trail with friends. That is until a bunch of storms and rain hit the region closing the trail and resulting in a cancelled hiking trip.

So Lorna and I had some leave booked and decided to use some air miles to fly to Johannesburg, drive down to the Northern Drakensberg and go and relax there for an unplanned trip. The main feature of this area is the Amphitheatre. A massive set of cliffs & peaks forming what looks like a gigantic amphitheatre.


Vergezient

We first stayed at Vergezient (pics) which was lovely place with delicious food with a great view over the valley.





Coyote Cafe

We stopped a couple of times here and had a good time here. (Including our anniversary dinner)



Amphitheatre Backpackers

At Amphitheatre Backpackers we also stayed a couple of nights. They organise a variety of trips in the area. They organise a hike up to the top of Tugela Falls, the worlds second highest waterfall. These falls tumble down the Amphitheatre. We took this hike but had some interesting fog, rain and sunny spells on the hike. It was very pretty but the fog at the prevented a 100% clear view of the falls.

The hike also entails some chain ladder climbing on the return trip.









We also spent a morning horse riding which was fun except that I had my horse decided to slip trotting through a stream and I ended up eating some mud.



I more preferred the quad biking.




Little Switzerland

We also spent a night at Little Switzerland. This hotel has a lovely view of the Amphitheatre from the rooms. There is also a relatively tame Zebra walking the grounds.





Had a great time and would really recommend it.

You can see all the pics here.