Looking after Martelize and Annemie

The week after our Namibia holiday, we looked after the two H’s as Thelwyn went to Fauresmith for the National Endurance Ride.  (Sadly her horse became lame and she was unable to complete this tough course.  A real pity after she had worked so hard!  But there you have it: sport is sport and accidents can always happen.)

At home we had fun with the two H granddaughters.

Martelize loved playing with my bag of potatoes. They could transform from bird’s eggs to ice-creams. Jan’s grandmother’s silver bowl was just the right container for them!

Annemie  8 1/2 months and Martelize nearly 4 years. 

 

One morning Annemie only ate about half of her cereal.  Silly me left the bowl with the left overs on a side table in the sitting-room.  This is the scene that greeted me a little while later:

Annemie had found the bowl and spoon-fed herself the rest!  At 8 months a bit of a mess is to be expected, but neat little Annemie used the cloth on the side table as a serviette…

Jan went to fetch the two L’s to join in the fun.  We were so busy, there wasn’t time for photos!  To get all five of them ready for playschool was quite a challenge!  (My friend Jessie and I have a small play group at Camp Reynard next door.)

The following day, we all went to Pretoria zoo.  Janita is standing in front of Franco, with Surprise and Tannie Jessie next to him and Tabihle and Martelize at the back. 

Martelize, Janita, Surprise and Jessie

Janita, 2 years and 3 months.  She walked all the way up to the lions and back and never complained!  Quite a long and steep walk for such a little one!  Only right at the end of our tour did we put her in the pram and Annemie onto my back!

Franco, 4 years 2 months was disappointed that the lions were in their cage under the road – we could hear, but not see them!

A special treat was a ride in the zoo train. 

Frans and Annemie

The family came for a braai to celebrate my birthday.

Dorette with the Breytenbach “crystal”.

Hendrik

My precious darlings!  8 July 2012

Thelwyn with Martelize on Jessica.

Thank you God for my darling, darling grandchildren!  Bless them and keep them safe. 

Namibia tour: Days 9-12: Agama, Sossusvlei, Namtib, Oas

En route from Swakopmund to Agama camp.

The sunset at Agama. This was a very clean and neat camp in the desert. We especially loved the roofless bathroom – they certainly do not expect a lot of rain there!

We drove through to Sossusvlei the next morning – not as early as our camp neighbours who aimed to catch the sunrise there. The arid landscape was pretty much the same as the day before, but then suddenly we saw the first red dunes. Gene did the 4 x4 thing and got us safely through the sand until Dead Vlei.

Anne, Gene and Lalie hiking to Dead Vlei.

Anne at Dead Vlei

Jan and I scrambled up the side of the dune. Was it ever steep! And the sand was so loose that we had to scramble up the last bit on all fours!

My red face says it all – I was exhausted, but it was well worth our while!

Gene going back after taking beautiful pictures of the Dead Vlei

Lalie on her way back

Jan coming down – walking down the ridge was much, much easier than going up the side of the dune!

At Sossusvlei itself – lovely shiny water in the middle of the desert!

After Sossusvlei we travelled down the loveliest road in Namibia: the D707 along the Tiras mountains. We struggled to get hold of a campsite, We had hoped to sleep at Koiimasis, but they never answered their phone! When Anne finally got hold of a site called Namtib, they lady said we couldn’t possibly make it there in the afternoon – we HAD to travel the road in the daytime because it was so beautiful. As it turned out, we did arrive at the camp after dark, but could easily pitch tents in the moonlight. The only light in the bathroom was a candle, but the water in the donkey was still nice and hot.

Jan and Gene – we did not have as many campfires and we had hoped to have: the camper was packed to capacity and there wasn’t space for wood.

Early the next morning Jan and I scrambled up the irresistible rocky hill. How I wished that we could stay there longer! These rocks were easier to navigate than the extra large ones at Spitskoppe. It was FUN!

En route to Karasburg to pick up our bakkie.

We drove along a road that is not on most maps…

Outside Karasburg – on our way to our last camp in Namibia and this time in our own bakkie. With the new engine, we had to drive @ 80km per hour, but seeing that we were going to drive on dirt roads, this did not really bother us.

God, please bless Kobus and his work shop and all the people of Karasburg. Thank you for the good roads of Namibia that made it possible for us to see your creation.

Namibia Tour: Days 6–8: Windhoek, Spitskoppe, Swakopmund and Walvisbay

 

The Saturday morning in Karasburg was bitterly cold!  We were glad to have a room in a guest house as we patiently waited for the mechanics to finish their work on the bakkie.  Jan, Gene and Anne visited the local cooperation while Lalie and I worked on a draft for Inkululeko’s concert.  Finally we got the good news: the bakkie had been taken for a test drive.  Then the bad news: the new engine was fine, but a crucial pipe was on the verge of bursting.  We decided we could wait no longer, and after some reshuffling we all piled into Gene’s bakkie again.  This time with a proper light for the tent and a seat for everyone!  It was too late to make it to Marienthal as was our plan B, so we again camped in Keetmanshoop!  (Plan C) This time the owner of the Quiver Forest gave us a discount.  We left early the next morning – there was not enough time to wait for the tents to dry – we had to be in Windhoek by 12:30 to meet family.

 

On our way from Karasburg to Keetmanshoop – for the 2nd time!

Our Windhoek nephews, Dawid and Theron Steenkamp with their families.

The Portuguese restaurant where we had a lovely get together with the Windhoek family. 

Theron took us on a Blitz tour of Windhoek on our way to the camping grounds. 

The Freedom Museum (?) and the Christuskirche.  Some of the Steenkamp family got married here.  We also drove past the new state buildings, but were not allowed to take pictures.  As we stopped in the street, security guards warned us not to take photos and to keep on driving, so we drove past slowly, but an angry security official from the top of the hill waved us on, quite angrily it seemed to me.  Apparently these new buildings have been built by Chinese and not local Namibians!  The cherry on the cake was the rather tacky “plastic” wild animals in the gardens surrounding the state buildings. It looked, hmm,  very Chinese!  (We wondered why they were so paranoid about having pictures taken of the new State House!)

The Arebush camping grounds in Windhoek were very clean, but we had no electricity.  And we realised we had left Anne’s ground sheet at Keetmanshoop!  Ours was still in the bakkie.  How to pitch damp tents in the sand without a ground sheet?  How to  open our large mattress bag?  Dawid saved the day: he lent us a massive piece of black PVC.  For the rest of the tour we could pitch our tents right onto it and everything was much cleaner thanks to this ground sheet.  (Do not attempt to camp in Namibia without one!)

The Monday morning in Windhoek was bitterly cold: –2 degrees C!  After some shopping we left for Spitzkoppe via a route south of Windhoek – a very scenic road recommended by the Steenkamps.

The scenic road C28 Hochland route.

However, at the first turnoff, Gene realised we would not have enough fuel to make it to the next definite filling station. After the GPS had sent us on a wild goose chase looking for fuel, we decided to backtrack to Windhoek and to take the road via Okahandja. So we got to see the pass from the other side as well!

We arrived at Spitzkoppe late in the afternoon

We immediately fell in love with the enormous rocks.

We did not have much time to look around: we had to set up camp before dark.  This was really camping in the bush with absolutely no facilities – just SILENCE and a starry sky.  To me this was one of the high lights of the tour.

Of course it helped to have the Aha camper!  It comes with sufficient light, a water tank and everything one needs.

The next morning we spent climbing up those “delicious” rocks! 

As we have wasted much time with the bakkie setback, we could stay there only one night, and only fool around one morning, but it really was well worth it!  Just before lunch, we set off for Swakopmund.

The road to Hentiesbay:  the infamous Skeleton Coast.  As children we were horrified by the stories of ships that got stranded on the dangerous coast – too far to be reached by either truck or helicopter and shipwreck survivors engulfed by ocean and huge desert. 

Swakopmund.  Sadly we could only stay one night and so missed the museum. 

Seagulls in the lagoon at Walvisbay

There were lots and lots of pretty jelly fish at Walvisbay!

Driving through Walvisbay, it was still misty and chilly, but not for long.

En route to our camp in the Namib desert, we stopped at the bakery in Solitaire.  Their renowned apple strudel deserves its fame!   Our next stop was Agama Camp – where the bathrooms are without roof ,affording one the luxury of lying in the bath and looking at the stars!

Thank you God for Namibia!