Gael warning in the Congo

Wow Scotboxer! We (my family) stayed on that reserve Sibuya sone years ago.

Whilst Jim was dodging lions, we were enjoying the frantic tempo of a Swakopmund Sunday
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Some will remember I gave out pens and pencils to kids earlier on my Africa trip and in one case caused a friendly mob to form in a village in Angola. Riding back from town today I saw some kids, apparently on the way home from school. This seems a good opportunity to relieve myself of the remaining pens and pencils. To avoid an other mobbing, I followed the trail of kids back to the school and saw the lady below, with no kids around her. She was a teacher, as I had hoped and gratefully recieved the last of my pens/pencils. Tomorrow in leaving Maun and the great Backpackers camp and will aim for the Namibian border en route to Windhoek.
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And the Westerly Gael (and Scottish pillion) headed North up the Skeleton Coast of Namibia to one of the largest Cape seal colonies in the world:
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We passed a wrecked trawler, one of many wrecks caused by the fogs along this coast
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The dirt roads were pretty good, even when there was a lorry helpfully spraying them with water

Many seals and strong smells:

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Some very young
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And some very chilled
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By this point the bike was covered in salt from the salt pans, so it had UI TS first was in a while when we returned to Swakop


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Fec, I just took this pic at the back of my shed "sunset in Galway" what the heck did you go all the way to Africa for?:):D
 

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..... As I finished breakfast in Kasane, the waitresses asked where I was going and when I told them they looked surprised and asked if I was not afraid of the lions. I had seen many elephants on the way here and thought probably other animals were in this park, but had not seriously thought about lions, till then. Thanks ladies

With the thought of lions in my head, I wasn't delighted that the rains had caused the grass to shoot up on the side of the road in places. Comfort breaks would need to be taken with some care as I was on my own .....

Just how fast do you reckon you could fix a flat?
 
Having spent some fantastic days in Swakop I was hankering to visit the mountains.

But I was given some warnings about the condition of the dirt roads in the interior and was conscious of the potential of 300 kms of corrugated road to bounce something loose on the GS. And in the desert there was not a lot of passing traffic and literally NO shade.

So although Kit was all up for us trying it, I was also conscious she had a plane on Tuesday from Windhoek so I played the prudent hand and found this little 4wd
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Brand new and inexpensive to hire for 3 days...so off we went
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Fire mountain approaching
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Hot and steep to the prehistoric white lady (actually bloke) cave painting
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The inevitable iguana photobomber
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Amazing at sunset
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And at dawn
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We dine (me on oryx) at the sigh of the Zundapp
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And a jeep offers new forms of photo opportunities

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And more cool iguanas (this is male of the previous, female, photobomber)


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I realize I had not tidied up the conclusion of my bike trip which I left off in Maun on the Okovango Delta. When I left to return to Windhoek I had a number of issues to resolve, which I thought may take a few days. These where, where to store my bike, should I upgrade it to a BMW 650 which was on offer and how to fly home, as my return ticket was from Johannesburg. As it happens I got all of these resolved in the afternoon I returned. I didn't upgrade to the BMW 650GS Dakar as it was much too tall. It did have some good panniers and auxiliary tanks but it seemed massive after my little Suzuki. Once these were resolved I didn't fancy a week in Windhoek, as it's OK for a couple of days but not longer.

I therefore decided to head back on Friday and caught a flight to Frankfurt last night. This means the bike is stored near Windhoek airport, ready to be collected, hopefully later this year for a tour or the south of Namibia and South Africa. Simon will also drop his bike off there in a couple of weeks and we'll share a battery charger.

My last significant ride was from Maun, in the Okovango Delta, Botswana, Windhoek, Namibia over 2 days. No major drama or incident, just the afternoon temperatures in the mid 30's. The bike ran well cruising at 85kph.

Before I left Maun I had a last delightful surprise in the river by the Backpackers Camp. Anyway here's a few photographs and comments.

Can I say thanks for all the interest and support over the last 2 months. It was a great trip and my thanks to Simon for the invite and look forward to the next leg and good luck to him for the remainder. Safe flight back to Kit.

So below we have a hungry croc who joined me for breakfast on my last day in Maun, the giant Kingfisher was also feeding close by, this lady in traditional dress from Namibia and Botswana, I passed on the hotel and went back to Urban Camp, who warn about going into the city of Windhoek, the souvenirs salesman is fitting tusks to the elephants I had just bought, while I shelter from the 36C temperatures and lastly where I am now, in Mainz, where the musicians are ranged around the big wheel playing away.
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Thanks for the great ride report I've loved reading it. I also think that its so cool that you did it on a small bike especially a road bike! I'm looking forward to reading your next installment and any small trips in between ;) I live in Cape Town although I am working in the UK at the moment. If you need any help when in the Western Cape please don't hesitate to message me.

Thanks again
 
Thanks guys (and well done JIM (aka Drumacoon Lad)!.

It ain’t over yet, though.


Tomorrow the yellow peril sets off back to Windhoek where pillion departs for Blighty.... whilst I carry on towards Cape Town.

Today was a kayak trip to Pelican Point in Walvis Bay

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Shipwreck on the way
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And brilliant contact with a group of jackals looking for a seal brunch
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It will be odd to leave 'little Germany' (Swakopmund)...it's been a delightful place
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And the Brandberg and Spitzkoppe mountains were tremendous
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For the 300 km jaunt this little Suzuki Jimny was a hoot even if it meant breaking the GSer code
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And met a few of these whilst there
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And on our way d8wn from the mountains we met this... the fuelling pump in the large roadside cross is figurative rather than real!

The 4wd allowed us to access the intriguing (but very sandy ) lunar landscape here

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