If the photos of the past days haven’t convinced you yet, hopefully today’s shots will: Put Namibia onto your bucket list! This is an absolutely stunningly beautiful country. Come and visit! Photos showing: Sunrise at Dune 45 in Sossusvlei area Dead trees in Hiddenvlei area Sesriem Canyon
Day 107: Dare to get naked and live without regrets
Today has been the day of the (in)famous Naked Mile—a TDA tradition, the origins of which no one seems to know. “No way, I’m not going to participate”, I’d said over the past weeks, and even just yesterday evening. This morning, I’ve changed my mind. Would I regret it if I don’t? I didn’t...
Day 106: Sharpen your saw
Today has been absolutely spectacular—unexpected so, for most of us. The morning started with a scenic ride through a countryside that reminded of Arizona (so the Americans say), or cowboy-land (as I would call it, using western movies as my benchmark). At one time, well-nourished horses were running alongside us as we sped over the dirt road....
Day 105: The obstacle is the way
We’ve said goodbye to tar this morning. For most of our remaining 2,000km until Cape Town, dirt roads and hills will be our final challenge. If you’ve been following my blog, you know my attitude on that—bloody hills, bloody dirt! I can push up on hills rather fast even though I don’t particularly enjoy...
Days 103–104: Beautiful Windhoek—modern, clean & green (and very German)
We’ve had two wonderfully relaxing rest days in Windhoek. What a beautiful modern, clean & green city in an absolutely stunning setting surrounded by rolling hills and blessed with a benign climate! Highlights on my end: Chilling for hours at the Craft Café inside the Craft Center—great food, great service, fast Internet, nice ambience...
Day 102: Ups and downs are more fun and rewarding than endless monotony
I wasn’t looking forward to this afternoon’s ride into Windhoek. 900 meters of climbing, the Whiteboard had announced—this after weeks on almost perfectly flat roads, and after a sequence of very long cycling days. “Forecast of rain—dress warmly”, the whiteboard further warned. Brrr, no one was looking forward to another difficult, cold and rainy day....
Day 101: The more Western, the more hazardous the drivers
Entering into Namibia has been quite an eye-opener for me. This is no longer the Africa that I had expected to see and experience on this tour. We are back in civilization. There are lots of signboards in German and Afrikaans, evidence of Namibia’s colonial history. Gobabis, the first town we’ve passed today in Namibia,...
Day 100: If you miss the train, it might be gone forever
Today has been our longest cycling day on the entire tour—208km. Of course, this was yet another mando day. “We start at 6.45”, Max had advised at dinner. “Can’t we start earlier?” I complained. “I’ll need half an hour to get back out” that bloody 3km sand road that I had walked coming into camp,...
Day 99: There will always be doubters and naysayers—just ignore them
We’ve had a team time trial today. Max assigned us into random teams of five, each with a mix of faster and slower riders. The time trial went for 40km before lunch. It was not a race for time, but accuracy. Each team estimated beforehand how much time it would need to complete the...
Day 98: Beware when mailing things to Africa—common sense does not apply
I mentioned in Lilongwe that my bank cards had expired unexpectedly. Since then, I’ve had to use my credit cards and incur ridiculous cash advancements fees in order to draw cash. According to the Swiss Post international mail delivery time schedule, it would take up to 10 days for mail to get delivered in...
