petergostelow.com

View Original

South from Windhoek

There's too much to write about in this blog post. I'm currently sat in a restaurant in Springbok, South Africa, wearing the warmest clothes I have. The temperature outside is about 10 degrees Celcius and I doubt it will get much warmer in the days to come. "You've arrived at the wrong time of year", says Jan, the restaurant manager whose house I was invited to stay in last night.

I was soaked to the skin and freezing cold when I rolled into town yesterday afternoon. Talk about a change in weather conditions having crossing the Namibian border the previous morning. There the skies were characteristically blue and I was cycling in familiar shorts, vest top and sandles. Now my tan seems destined to disappear and it's hard to imagine wearing those clothes again between here and Cape Town.

Earlier today I booked a flight back to England. In exactly one month's time I will be packing up the bike, loading it onto an Air Emirates plane and leaving Africa behind. It doesn't seem like a fitting end to what will almost be another 3-year long journey. The Big Africa Cycle is very much in its finishing stages. As for what's next, well I'll leave that for another blog post.

The Namibian landscape continued to impress me as I cycled south from Windhoek, but rather than write about the wonderful sand dunes, breathtaking landscapes, irritating roadside fencing, numerous punctures, wild camping experiences, hiking the Fish River Canyon and the time-warped two donkey towns, I'm sharing some of the pictures I've taken in the past several weeks. Click on them to be taken to the Flickr page where I've added some notes.

Self-timing myself

Wild camping near the Fish River Canyon

Sunset from the Spreetshoogte pass

On the Spreetshoogte pass

Descending the Spreetshoogte pass

South towards Solitaire

Fencing to nowhere

Keep out!

Dune 45 at Sunrise

Deadvlei

Deadvlei

Dune at Sossuvlei

Sky at Sossuvlei

Sunrise on Dune 45

Resting at Sossuvlei

Scenery near Sesriem

Landscape in the Namib Rand Reserve

Oryx disappearing

Grinding along gravel again

On the edge

Camping above the Fish River Canyon

Fish River Canyon

Above the Fish River Canyon

Start of the Fish River Canyon

Descending into the Fish River Canyon

Descending into the Fish River Canyon

Moon rising in the Fish River Canyon

Setting up camp within the Fish River Canyon

Fish River Canyon

Within the Fish River Canyon

Morning Reflections

Morning in the Fish River Canyon

Hiker in Fish River Canyon

Yohan and Nami

Fred the Frenchman

South from Sesriem

Another puncture!

Rare spot of shade

South to Aussenkehr

Beer at a bottlestore

Salt stains

Into South Africa