Oct. 30, 2007 Swakopmund, Namibia

Well, we are back into civilization that is a smallish seaside German town on the Atlantic coast of Namibia. It is misty and coolish here compared to extremely hot only l km. inland. We are enjoying a couple of good restaurants here. It is a nice touristy town.

We have had our ups and downs on this camping trip for the past 2 weeks. The game viewing in Etosha was amazing - like absolutely amazing. We saw lions on a rhino kill - as our guide says that has never been documented before on film. We saw rhinos at night at the waterhole -5 - and one breaking a tree up, we watched an elephant break a couple of trees from only a few feet away, we watched lions just outside the vehicle and we watched the story unfold of lions watching the waterhole and how the giraffe listens into the wind and is alerted, how the zebra move back and forth quickly in fear and the springbok that is very skittish - all trying to drink and becoming aware of the lions in the background. Another evening saw a lion scared off by a rhino and the giraffe watching carefully. So interesting to see the interaction between the species. We saw great wildlife in Kenya but not the concentration and interaction that we saw here. And of course birds, interesting landscape features and interesting plants.

Our guide has not done his job to our satisfaction. He is very moody and somedays he is silent and controlling- makes decisions and goes who knows where. He also has no idea how to cook or shop so we feel like we are on tour - the 4 of us - with a driver. So 2 days ago after discussing from the beginning our concerns and he just getting worse we called the office in Cape Town. He seems a lot better and he has been given some instructions re communication and cooking. So hopefully the attitude will be good all of the time not just on certain days - like the days of superb game viewing.

We are off quad biking for an hour now in the dunes and tomorrow it back on the road further south into the desert.

This has been some of the most spectacular stuff that we have ever seen, since leaving Zambia!