Okavango Delta, Botswana

Staying two nights at a lodge close by the world's largest inland delta. At arrival we rented a canoe and explored the river next to lodge at sunset. Today we took a speed boat from our lodge to the delta where we continued to explore the delta by a local mokoro(dugout canoe). We went up to one of the islands where we went for a 8 km walking safari, the hot climate and tough terrain made it quite exhausting but finally at least we saw some antelopes, warthogs, wildebeests and zebras. Heidi says it is her first and last walking safari!

Trans Kalahari Highway, Botswana

Stayed at a nice place (Tautona lodge) just outside Ghanzi where they also had a breeding program for lions, wild dogs and cheetahs.

Cape Cross, Namibia

Now in Windhoek the Namibian capital. We took a bit of a detour getting here and paid Cape Cross a visit. There we saw the beaches crowded of thousands of seals, it seems like the beach is also their toilet as the smell was far from pleasant. However amazing to see so many seals at once some were swimming, others fighting over space, others enjoying the sun...

Swakopmund, Namibia

Today we met up with some of Heidi's colleagues that are here on vacation and went for some exciting quad biking.

Sossusvlei, Namibia

Fish River Canyon, Namibia

Orange River

We are now staying at a great place (Felix Unite River Lodge) just by orange river. Orange river makes a natural border between South Africa and Namibia and our accomodation is on the Namibian side. The river is still full of water but not as bad as during the floods 2 months ago, We were told the cottages were bady flooded and a major restructuring of the place was needed. It is still possible to see some signs of the floods but our banda is very nice. Crossing the border on Easter Friday was a pain as a lot of South Africans were also heading North and we spent more than 3 hours at the border before we were able to eventually cross. We have decided to take one day at a time and not plan too much ahead and go with the flow. Heidi has the big responsibilty of food supplies along the road, a job that she takes seriously and accept for hours spent at various supermarkets I enjoy her job and think I might gain some weight during this adventure :)

1st night of trip spent here.

First night we spent at Lebanon Citrus Holiday Farm, 3 hours north of Cape Town. Apparently the water level comes up to the cottage when the dam is full, which was not the case now and kind of missed the water feature at the cottage. It was however nice to get started with the trip even though we only got to leave Strand at 16:00. Woke up before sun rise and enjoyed the sceneries and some breakfast before hitting the road again.

Unusual sunbather

I looked out the window and noticed there was something on the beach that had caught a lot of attention. My curious mind made me rush down on the beach to see a seemingly dead seal. Some man in the crowd however notified me on that the seal probably is okay and eventually will find its way back to the water. That is also what happened after probably getting intimidated by all the people and especially the police who tried to put up their crime scene yellow tapes around the seal.

Beach art, Strand

Preparing for da trip

The drive to Iringa from Cape Town will start on 21st of April and expect to be in Iringa by 10th of May. Planned route is: South Africa->Namibia->Botswana->Zambia->Tanzania

tent, table, chairs, beds, pillows, sleeping bag.... This is some additional equipment to what Matti will supply together with the car such as a GPS, 2*gas jerricans, 2*spare wheels, cooler bag. Not sure how it will all fit in the tiny RAV4 but anyway :)

Getting into the explorer mood by testing the camping equipment. A trained eye might see that I am reading 'How to succeed in your Master's and doctoral studies' :-)

Braai in Strand

As Erkki have been visiting together with Silvia and Jaakko, me and Heidi organized a Braai where we also invited Johannes (my second supervisor), his wife Franci and Matti. A Finnish couple I met in Maputo (Toumo and Hannele) also joined. With four professors and two PhDs around the table, many of the discussions were of academic character :) The food prepared by me and Heidi was great, if I may say so myself :)

Erkki doing chocolate and wine tasting

Mzoli's place: Most popular 'restaurant' in Cape Town

Yesterday me, Matti and Heidi went for a food experience in Gugulethu township. It was a bit confusing how the whole thing worked and how we would be able to get some food. But we joined the looong queue that eventually led us to the butchery where we selected some nice beef, pork, lamb and sausages. 2 kilo of meat should be more than enough :) further inside the butchery we found the Braai area where we left our meat to be grilled. Here we met many hungry persons that had waited to get their meat grilled for more than 2 hours. We decided to be patient and enjoy the vibrant atmosphere of the place so long. The dining area resembled more of a night club and the party had moved out on the street that was filling up with crowds of people eating and drinking and playing loud music from their cars. In the car I had some camping chairs and a table so we set it up next by the car that was parked in the yard of one of the neighbors and we had our excellent meat there in the yard. The lunch turned into almost a dinner and after that we were parked in by another car and had to wait another hour or so before we were able to get out. It was for sure a lot of hassle to get the food but it was an interesting experience. Strange how one place like Mzoli's have become so popular and crowded as the concept is not unique to South Africa or other parts I have visited in Africa.

A piece of art on the wall

Tomas Ärlemo took this fabulous picture of table mountain from Lion's head and was kind enough to have it printed for me and Heidi in the size of 160*84cm. It could hardly fit into my Saab but now gives a nice hole in the wall view of table mountain :)