A Taste of Africa

Thailand...signing off

It was already a massive wrench for us to leave our paradise in Thailand but it was made worse by the thought of enduring our longest period of travelling so far. From Bangkok we had 30 hours ahead of us including three international flights. Firstly three hours to Hong Kong and then a 13 hour overnight flight with a plane full of disgusting throat clearing Chinese to Johannesburg and finally two hours to Namibia situated on the south west coast of Africa. Despite this still being a massive part of our trip its tinged with mixed feelings as sadly it means we are on our final leg, our final country and the final few weeks of our nine month trip.

Thailand had been a wonderful experience from start to finish but it did have a sting in its tail or more like a sting in its toes. Our first taste of Africa was the inside of a doctor’s surgery! We emerged a mere £60 lighter but armed with magic potions and a course of antibiotics for a pathetic and painful toe infection which must have come from a bite whilst wallowing for hours in the bath-like sea for the past few weeks. So, fully deserved I suppose.

Even limping around the city of Windhoek didn’t take very long as its not the sort of African capital you would probably envisage. Its small and quiet but very clean and modern with excellent traffic free roads plus a good choice of cafes and restaurants.

Luckily we’re staying in a gorgeous little guest house with a pool, ideal for putting your feet up which spookily enough was just was what the doctor ordered. It’s winter here now which means the days are dry, hot and sunny but with chilly desert nights.

In a day or so we collect our hire car and venture off for a couple of weeks to explore the country’s deserts, dramatic Atlantic coastline, monumental sand dunes, bizarre German towns from its colonnial past and one of Africa’s greatest wildlife reserves, Etosha National Park.