Just Do It

[ READER TRAVEL ] SOUTHERN AFRICA

- Clive Cawood

Have you ever wanted to visit the countries north of South Africa, but for some reason or another not done so yet? My advice is just do it!  After retiring and settling into our new home last year, my wife Vivienne and I decided that this was to be the year for us to go.

We were away for almost seven weeks, travelling 11 760 km and visiting four countries. Not bad for a couple in their 70s.

We have a Nissan NP 300 4x4 diesel, and last year became the proud owners of a Sherpa Tiny Rough Roader. We spent all but one night of our seven week tour in the Sherpa, which has a fold-out cooker hatch as well as a kitchen hatch. As the weather was warm, we didn’t even put up the awnings and spent the whole time living, cooking and eating outdoors – what a relaxing holiday!

The Nissan was amazingly comfortable on rough roads and had enough power to easily handle the Sherpa, which also took rough roads in its stride.

Our journey started in our home town of Barrydale, from where we headed for the N7, which would take us towards Namibia. Heading north we camped at Van Rynsdorp and then Port Nolloth. We drove around Alexander Bay and were amazed at the bright green of the golf course set in the desert, and then travelled through the Richtersveld before crossing the border on the pont at Sendelingsdrif.

Ai Ais was next and then we drove up on good gravel roads to Windhoek and Swakopmund, which is such a lovely town and worth spending a few days at. We saw the White Lady and the rock engravings at Twyfelfontein before going on to Etosha and then to Caprivi.

The quirky Ngepi Lodge is a novel experience, and our campsite there was right on the bank of the Kavango River.

The Mahanga Game Reserve is just a few kilometres away from Ngepi, and during a visit one afternoon we saw lots of animals as well as extensive bird life.