OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
TOT ZIENS ZUID-AFRIKA Wat hebben wij een drukke tijd gehad in Nederland! Behalve alle familiebezoek, vrienden en kennissen, oppassen op mijn kleindochter (leuk!) en 2 verjaardagen was er de overlander-rëunie van Coen en Karin-Marijke die al een jaar of 10 reizen. We begroeten er oude bekenden, maken kennis met nieuwe reizigers en wisselen ervaringen uit. Wij zijn vraagbaak voor…
One gorgeous morning on the deck at Caprivi Houseboat Safari Lodge (and camping) I set out to interview the Viking himself. We are overlooking the Zambezi River, with Zambia visible on the banks on the other side. The sun is shining, the birds are singing. What better place for an interview! African GirlChild (AGC): So, here we sit on the…
As you travel eastwards, the narrow Caprivi Strip opens up into the Eastern Caprivi – a triangle of land that looks to me like a foot at the end of a long leg. The Caprivi part of Namibia has its own character. It is far less touristy. There are more traditional villages – and they are so well groomed and…
It happens sometimes. You arrive at a campsite, and before you know it, days have passed and you’ve lost track of how long you’ve enjoyed your home. Djidjack south of Dakar, Senegal was one such place. Roy’s Rest Camp north of Grootfontein, Namibia is another. We had passed through Roy’s at the start of our Namibia loop, and were only…
We thought we’d share with you a day spent in a campsite – one of the those we aren’t on the move. Time to wake up! Our canvas rooftop tent is very dark, and so we are very rarely woken up by the sunlight streaming in. More likely, if we oversleep we are woken by the temperature rising inside the…
Thought I’d give a quick update on some vehicle techie issues. One of the suggestions we received when we had our initial discussions about vehicle preparation was to install a fuse box in the vehicle. This fuse box would run off the second battery and be the source of power for all subsequent power needing installations. Sounded good to me…
We thought we’d do something a little different … I am sure you all have questions you’d like to ask us about our trip so far. When we travelled with Scott and Karl in Botswana, they had a few questions for us, so we thought maybe our other readers would have some too. So it’s over to you! Please send…
So, we have had a few humorous experiences camping, and we thought a little guide would be useful to help Europeans and Africans understand each other. Camping – southern African Style This is how a typical southern African selects their campsite. Arrive at rest camp and check out which sites are occupied Find the furtherest possible vacant campsite from…
The Namib-Naukluft Park is a park of contrasts; in the Namib part there is sand and koppies (small stone hills); in the Naukluft part there is sand and mountains (large stone hills). The main difference between the two (apart from the size of the hills) is the sandy area in between the hills. Namib is a desert landscape, it has…
After a truly fantastic experience in Namib Desert Park (par of Namib Naukluft National Park) it was time to head towards Sossusvlei – in response to a call for help! Our dear friends Noel and Ping have been travelling the same length of time as us. We met In La Linea in Spain while contemplating crossing the border to Morocco. …
We finally reached the sea! The vast Atlantic Ocean. We had descended about 900m over more than 100 km from the plateau to Henties Bay, a charming seaside town. It seemed to be mainly retired people living there, and holiday homes for those living further afield, but had a very welcoming feel to it. As we came into town, we…
On the way out of Brandberg, we passed through a little town called Uis. It really was the typical one-horse town! It was a tin mining town back in the days of high tin prices, but that is no longer the case. Now, it feels more deserted, more sleepy. Aside from a little supermarket for essentials and a fuel station,…
With the feel of cheetah fur on my palms, and raspy licks on my legs, we bid farewell to Otjitotongwe – off to Twyfelfontein! On our way, we stopped past Vingerklip. This is a limestone pillar, about 35m high, that is all that remains after erosion of a plateau formed more than 15 million years ago. It is impressive when…
The magic of travelling – for me – lies in the unplanned experiences. And sometimes, these are the memories that last forever. After Etosha, we headed towards Damaraland – or sort of in that direction. We were on the way to Kamanjab, following the tar road from Andersson Gate via Outjo to Kamanjab. About 20km before we reached Kamajab, we…
We are suffering from a bit of sensory overload after three days in Etosha. It is not easy to describe the scenery, the vegetation, the vastness of the Etosha Pan, or the animals we saw. Or the numbers of animals we saw… Etosha National Park started out in the early 1900s as a 90,000 square kilometre park, but the last…
Next day was a longish one – we needed to make it almost 300km to Roy’s Rest Camp just outside Grootfontein. We also discovered that the main part of Namibia is on a different time zone! So, turning the clocks back gave us an extra hour in the day. On the way, we stopped in Rundu to find the “Forget-me-not…
So, here we are. Already been in Namibia a few nights! Time is just flying. After crossing the border at Ngoma, we headed up to Katima Mulilo. Here, we had a few errands to take care of: draw Namibian dollars, pay for Namibian road tax, fill fuel, buy provisions. We knew ahead of time that South African Rands are legal…
Ola, The route the last 2 days. Where do I start… Lets start with a goodbye. Nellie and I left Etosha at 7am. He was heading back to SA via his uncle’s farm in Aranos, Namibia and I was heading for the unknown. The day started out really good. There was a nice cool breeze keeping the pants and jackets…
Howzit! (Hello in South African slang) We had a long and hot day in the saddle. We did just over 600km from Divundu to Etosha. The roads are in extremely good condition with almost zero potholes. The local road guys really do a good job looking after Namibia’s roads. Map of today This is how our day started. We headed…
Ngepi! (Hello in Thimbuaushu) My day today… We arrived safe in the heart of the Caprivi today at Ngepi Lodge. This is how my day started. This will give you an idea why I had a really good day on the bike! The road was AMAZING! I never knew that the Caprivi would be so cool. We left Kasane this…
WOW…..so beautiful. The contrasting colours make this place amazing!! …
No trip to Swakopmund is complete without a visit to Sandwich Harbour!! Strutting here stuff Preparing to go down the dunes!!!! Suspicious plant growth…..…
An interesting journey to Brandberg but not much to say about the sites on the way Brandberg at Sunset Sporting a new fashion B??? Feeding the pigs pork ribs Boring Organ Pipes…
After Tsumeb, we headed to Rundu, where Richard had some friends-of-friends who did farming there. Considering we didn’t give them much time to prepare, Sean and Heather welcomed us into their home with open arms. It felt like home! They put us up in their spare bedrooms (yay, no tent for the night!) and we had a braai for dinner…
Puros……some water after days of dry terrain!!! Well I am sure we hoped the canyon was drier Into the canyon where we got stuck Valley to Puros Slowly does it!!! Into the canyon where we got stuck First try to winch out Now a high-lift jack….. She is in pretty deep We’re out, Gerro with a cut after the…
Wow! From the most spectacular waterfall (Epupa Falls) intrepid mountain passes (Van Zyl’s pass), through valleys (Marienfluss and Hartmans) with undergound rivers, up and around sand dunes, through river beds and inside huge canyons, Koakoland can capture the mind of everyone who is willing to to do this route through Northern Namibia. We met up with the Kuipers at Epupa…
If we thought it couldn’t get any better we came across the Hartman’s Valley. ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING!!!!!!! Hartmans Valley….need we say more Open spaces….. Gemsbok…
Well we thought this was pretty spectacular!!! Marienfluss Valley….. The famous red drum!!! Our swimming spot…
I haven’t been able to blog for a long time, but to be honest, i hadn’t blogged much up until the robbery anyway – so the thieves aren’t entirely to blame! Whats nice about not blogging all this time, is that i have now seen Namibia and can look back at tell you what my favourite town of all was.…
After much planning we finally went down it. 3.5 Hours later and 11km down we were at the bottom Checking out the scenery Directing each other down Directing each other down…