Change of Plans
Well it won’t be the last time we change some plans.
We arrived in Namibia relatively on time. (Amazing). The flight on Air Namibia from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe to Windhoek, Namibia was on a smaller twin turbo prop. Nice plane but small for sure. So small that the co-pilot handed out meals, newspapers and flew. He was a young guy and accessable so I quickly struck up a conversation with him regarding flying. It’s great how fast pilots can become friendly with each other. The problem was that the plane could not hold all the passengers and an even smaller one was flown in to take the four odd left overs. We didn’t want the really small plane. After befriending him, he took us onboard first and gave us the best seats possible. When we landed, he instructed the other passengeres to stay put while we got off first. It pays to be nice to people, and we have had the privilege a lot of kindness already.
Our hostel in Windhoek was amazing. We would recommend the Chameleon Backpackers to anyone. We had really nice and clean rooms. We even slept on their sheets (a first for us). As our plans were a little fluid in Namibia we started right in trying to put a trip to Namibia’s 200 ft high sand dunes together. Unfortunately, the plans got to be pretty painful to pull off. Facing a week long overland trip on trains and buses in order to get from Windhoek to Pretoria, South Africa a trip essentially the width of Africa we decided to change our plans and to fly. Our energy levels are still pretty high but that part of the trip seemed as if it would be too much. So for $900 we jumped on the now non-striking South African Airlines and headed directly to Johannesburg International Airport.
We will return to Nambia in late September, as our flight out of Africa is on Air Namibia to Frankfurt. So we have decided to plan a few extra days in Namibia at that time in order to photograph the dunes.
Since we did not plan on being in South Africa for another week, we had no accomodations or anything lined up. So upon landing we purchased a SIM card for our cell phone and instantly felt connected to the world and people again. We were able to call the hostel we had planned on staying at and they picked us up for free. A large savings for us since the airport is 25 miles plus from where we needed to get.
Last night, tired from yet another day of travel, we ventured out into the dark streets of Pretoria to a local tavern for dinner. Considering the crime present in the country we felt very apprehensive about doing so, but we were hungry! Assured by the staff that we would be fine, and after we emptied our pockets of everything beyond what we thought the cost of dinner would be we headed out. We had no problem. It was only five minutes in each direction.
The restaurant was amazing. A sight for sore eyes after Africa Heavy. A totally modern bar/restaurant that you would find anywhere from Times Square to the local mall in the US. Sitting down, we noticed everyone was ordering big steaks. So we followed. A 1lb T-bone with a free beer included was only $5.95. Awesome. Kids had a full rack of ribs, desert, numerous drinks and total bill was $30. This is the kind of expense we need to help us to stay on budget.
This morning we lined up a rental car for a trip to a farm that cares for sick and wounded cheetahs. The kids are looking forward to holding one. Should be great. Also while in Pretoria we will go to Soweto to visit some schools, take some pictures and make some chartible contributions to help the schools. It should be amazing.
Otherwise, we hope to rest for a few days. We leave for Kruger National Park and out on safari one week from today. We will start our malaria pills today as well. We are happy to be here in South Africa and are looking forward to a relatively quiet week to catch up on our energy.
Tags: Africa, Namibia, South Africa, Transport, Travel
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