LIFE CONTINUES IN NAMIBIA - NEW HOME AND KOAKOVELDT

It has been a while since I have written on my "spot" but the time just never seemed right or I had absolutely no idea what to write about and when I did, well the time was not right. Actually I have to admit, I only wrote once since I started this site, shocking!

Where to start, a lot has happened since I last wrote we have done several trips in Namibia and I have made two trips down to Cape Town, one in April and one in July to finally go and pack the house up. It was emotional and stressful, what with the fact that even though the house is not sold yet, it is now final, we are renting but the house will definitely remain in the market to be sold a.s.a.p. It was sad because this was it I will not be going back, well not soon anyway, but on the other hand, it was time, we needed to move on and not have one foot in Namibia and one in Cape Town and everything else "dangling" inbetween. It was time to get settled, various things pushed us to finally go out and buy a little townhouse of our own and what followed was a tremendous amount of moving (and poor Günther staying behind, earning the money, and sorting out all the admin so that we could move in end July). Where to start, well I went to Cape Town, packed up the house, fixed up an exploding floor of tiles! Loaded our furniture in Etosha transport's truck and finally stood in an empty house, echoing the sadness that I felt, good thing I was alone at that time, the house and its memories will stay with us for always, it may change ownership but not memories.

It just felt so strange to have someone moving into your house where you lived all the time, renting the flat out was ok, we never really lived in it! I think the worst is the agents coming in and inspecting your house as if it is the worst house on the market and that after you have spent days cleaning and scrubbing. mowing the lawn, fixing the garden up, washing windows, touching up those bad spots on the walls, etc. Everything was spotless when I finally handed over the key, the only thing she could find a fault with was the plates in the extractor fan, I omitted to dust and wash that (and that was only because I could not get it out, that was Günther's job when he was at home and besides I was just too tired)! I could finally spent time with my sister, who helped me tremendously, running around looking for tiles that would match the claytiles which we could not find anywhere as they do not import it anymore, keeping me calm when I thought the whole house was going to collapse (it was just the tiles!) and just being there with me through it all, knowing full well that in a month or two when she packs up I will not be there to help her made me appreciate it even more, a lot to say for family..... I finally could spend an evening with my very best friends, Estelle and Viennatjie, Steve and Christene and my sister having a lovely braai at Christene and Steve's house and just relax, it was all done! The bakkie was loaded to the brim with things I had to take up, which included a brand new Stealth kayak (men's toys!), helicopters, plants, odds and ends leftover from the load, bedding, luggage, tools, you name it, there was not a spot left for anything else. Christa drove back up with me and I was so grateful for that, it is a long, very straight and lonely road with only music and your thoughts to keep you busy. We stayed over just across the border at Grünau and was up early the next morning on our way to Swakop. My sister stayed for a couple of days and flew back on the Sunday, was nice to have her and spend time with her and nice to have "someone of your own" to walk around town and go shopping and drink coffee, same places, same streets, different mood and feeling! Also the fact that she would leave for Germany shortly and not knowing when you will see them again!

A strange thing this moving, at the beginning you pack with all the energy and drive and really think and rethink what you are going to keep and what not, but, towards the end, you just want this done and that is the time when you cannot imagine keeping the things you originally thought you cannot live without, it just had to go - no more clutter! No more clutter - wonder how many times I have used those words in the last couple of months, and mostly it was when I was extremely tired and at my lowest and thought that I just can't move one more box! A good thing you forget about all of that, packing and moving makes you do and say things you would never think about under normal circumstances. It is draining and tiring and for the first time in many years I felt my age, I just couldn't do what I did when I was in my twenties and thirties!

Two weeks later we started packing to move into our new place, No. 29 Santorini, Kramersdorf(nothing Greek about it, no white sand and lovely beaches, to the contrary, lots 0f sand and brown as we are surrounded by the desert), it was exhausting to pack and clean once again but this time it was into our own place and that makes it all worth it. While my sister was still here our furniture arrived from SA and we stored everything in a container, now we had to do two moves, from the container and from the flatlet where we stayed, I could not believe that in the year we have been here, that we have collected so much in that small little place, it is ridiculous what hoarders humans are. The house was not clean and I scrubbed and rubbed and carried on so that we can move in, you know the thing us women normally do - the call it nesting! Finally everything was in the garage and the first Saturday night even though everything was still pretty chaotic and no curtains we decided to sleep here, we wanted to be in our own place and just could not wait anymore. I quickly put up some curtains, all wringled and crinkled and made the bed, funny how that is always the first thing I make sure is ready, the bedroom, once again women practicality and after a pizza we flopped exhausted but happy into our own bed! It took us the whole of that weekend to unpack, sort and decide on what we were going to keep and what needs to go back to the container while we did the building. Yes, we are still going to build on, we needed a scullery, a door through to the lounge from the garage, a patio in the front and back, the walls around the property definitely needed to go up, my neighbour could look straight into my bathroom, both actually and that would not do not for them and definitely not for us! Tiling and painting and fixing up in general. Our little place, 29 Santorini is a mess at the moment, but sunny and warm and we are happy here, finally I am using my own things, we can start gardening (be it a small garden), do things in the place and know it is yours, we have a budgie (called boy, originally Pipit but Boy seems to come more naturally) and we plan to get a kitten as soon as the building is finished and things are done (the argument is about where it will sleep, Günther says with him in bed and I say no on a cushion! In the end I think the cat will decide). We are almost there now, door has been put in and painted (my husband is a wonderful painter- German precision!), the patios have been made, one has been tiled halfway, finishing tomorrow, the back patio is done, the path packed with pavers, the scullery is there, roof up, door in, electricity done, walls screeted and tiling being done tomorrow, the cupboards should be put in next week and the painter is coming in, the tilers will finish up tomorrow and we are almost done, then we start inside, the nicer part, all worth it! Lawn is expected from Windhoek somewhere in October and then there will be something green, you really need something green here!

During all the building, I had to marvel at the black African spirit - sometimes one can actually learn a lot from people far less fortunate, doing really hard, physical and labour intensive work. All through the work, they talk, they are worse than woman, they do not stop, and sometimes you will hear bursts of laughter and all through the whole process no aggression, anger or irritation. Just once did I see a leader getting upset and had to reprimand one of his young workers who tried to steal a nap on the bench in the back garden, 5 minutes later they were laughing again and all the time singing, the singing never stops, one will stop and someone else will pick up where he left offf. At 7.30 they are there and commence with a smile! Having said all that though, you have to constantly monitor and watch that no short-cuts are taken and have to ask them to redo the mistakes, Günther took control of all of this and at least this minimized the mistakes.

KAOKOVELDt, KUNENE RIVER AND EPUPA FALLS

Prior to the packing and house building in July Kim came to visit and we went to the Kunene River Lodge on the Kunene River and border between Angola and Namibia. We went to the Epupa falls and drove about in the Kaokoveldt for a couple of days. The Epupa Falls and Kunene River is beautiful, the whole area is magnificent and home to the Himba people. When you stand on the bank of the river, you can almost touch Angola, it is so close. We did a lot of driving, Günther on his motorbike and Kim and I in the support vehicle. The strangeness of the country and the people there is something to behold, the Himbas although still keeping to the traditional ways, know very much the value of money and sweeties and European things, they will take your clothing off your back if you let them and at times it can be a bit over-whelming this is unfortunately the downside of tourism. Still, there is a certain magic to it all, and it will be a sad day when that disappears. The Kaokoveldt, is beautiful but because of the wars which were fought there and on the border, there is absolutely no animals for miles to be seen, you really have to go into the more rugged areas to look for elephant and game, we saw one kudu and the odd little buck here and there, still the countryside is awesome. At Epupa tented lodge, we were told that recently they had, for the first time in many years, elephants coming to the camps there, problem is they destroy the locals' gardens and therefore are being chased and shot at, which they are trying to stop, mention was also made of the possibility of the government re-introducing animals into those areas, it will be wonderful to see that. The Kunene River and Epupa falls are awesome we had a great time, had a braai in one of the camps we visited for the day and were told some horror stories about the crocodiles in the area obviously making me totally paranoid, I would not even go within two metres of the river in case some monstrous crocodile attacks me, but.... it does happen! On our way back we stayed at Palmwag, this is of course all in Damaraland, harsh country but scenic and beautiful, the sunsets are unbelievable. Palmwag is nice, it is the second time we have camped there, but it was a little windy and cold and we were exhausted from driving, the roads in Damaraland not that great and can be pretty trying at times. Just before Palmwag a goat jumped in front of Günthers bike, and, by the time we got there after a photo session with the Himbas which cost us N$20 a loaf of bread and sweeties, but it would probably the last Himbas we will see (except for the tourist attractions in Swakop and Windhoek!) for a long time and Kim needed photos, he was already up and standing there looking a bit dazed but he was in a far better state than the goat!

For obvious reasons, we decided to try and get to Palmwag as soon as we can, it was getting late and we still needed to get the tent up, Günther's arm and many other spots were quite badly grazed but he was tough (thats my man) and rode the bike with scew handles and all to Palmwag. We made a braai and had an early night, so that we could be up and heading back towards the Skeleton Coast and then from there back to Henties and eventually Swakopmund.

The sunsets at Palmwag are amazing, and we sat there for a while looking at the vivid colours and were surrounded by Dutch, Spanish, Italian and German tourist all flashing there big lenses (cameras that is)! We loaded the bike on the back of the bakkie and we set off for the coast. We had breakfast on a hill and had beautiful views from there over the whole area. When we got to the gate of the Skeleton Coast park we had a flat, we pumped it full of magic foam and manage to drive home with it without incident and very heavily loaded with the bike and all the camping equipment.

We got home on the Friday afternoon and Kim and I had to unpack and repack to go to Cape Town on Sunday lunch time. We had such a great time together, it was so nice to have Kim doing a trip with us again, we miss her so much and it felt like old times when we used to do the trips into the Karoo and she was still a little girl then, how times have changed!

So we are almost at the end of all our nest creation, but knowing us it will be ongoing, hopefully soon the house will sell in Cape Town and we will be able to start building on our house. I told Günther the other day, by the time we can built, we are going to be so nicely settled in here we may not even want to move!

I promise, photos of everything once we are done - the photos of our trip to Kaokoveldt is a bit mixed up, however, I am still trying to master the art of proper blogging, so bare with me!

Till next time! LOL