Day 3 Gariep river

Felix Unite campsite.

27th October 2023

Day 3

the day dawned gradually over the vinyards of Highlanders lodge.

I made my way up to the swimming pool bar where Raul had coffee on the go at 6.30 am. 

Pretty soon, the two Rhodesian Ridgebacks made their appearance, the younger one, Geoffrey with a tennis ball in his mouth, covered in slime and drool.

I still threw it for him , he was so adorable.

Soon, he was joined by his larger companion, Troy, same breed, but twice his size. They gambolled about( if that’s not a word reserved for lambs) while I attempted to drink the coffee in between it spilling everywhere as they bumped and nudged me to play.

Breakfast was at 7.15  and the coconut yoghurt went well with fresh fruit, around the now extinguished campfire.

Swise and Tawanda rallied us after the washing up was done and we left the Cederberg for new pastures. 

We spent the day driving north, punctuated by loo breaks (bushie bushie) and a longer one for lunch.

One of these breaks was in Springbok- formerly famed for the amount of these beasts that inhabited the area before man came along and killed off so many of them. I was fascinated that the rugby team actually had a place. The Springbok is the emblem of South Africa.

We were still in Northern Cape, the largest of the nine provinces in South Africa.

We kept going until we got to the border to leave SA. We had to produce our passports to the police who stamped them and gave them back to us, thankfully.

On a few miles and out again, this time to enter Namibia.

We had to fill in forms individually and another stamp was applied to our passports.

When I got back to the bus, I read my Irish passport for the first time ever. It is full of patriotic phrases and welcoming sentiments towards immigrating people. It has images of ancient and modern Ireland embossed on it that are very impressive.

We crossed the Orange River, now known by its original name, Gariep River,  and were officially in Namibia. It was formerly German South West Africa and gained independent statehood finally in 1990.

Felix Unite, our accomodation for tonight was only a 10 minute drive.

The chalets are set looking over the Orange river, as it swirls and eddies along. We can see where it had flooded, leaving reeds and grasses on the higher ground.

There is a manicured lawn in front of our chalet with outside chairs and a table.

At last a chance to break open the bottle of red from Robertson winery that I bought 2 days ago – or was it yesterday? – the days are melding into each other.

Dinner will be at 1845 and river canoeing awaits us tomorrow.