BOTSWANA 2010 - Trip Across Africa DAY #15

Maun, Botswana
Monday, July 12, 2010
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Trip Across Africa DAY #15
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Our chalet at the Sedia Hotel in Maun, Botswana

 

BOTSWANA 2010 - Trip Across Africa DAY #14

Maun, Botswana
Sunday, July 11, 2010
.Trip Across Africa DAY #14This morning we slept in real late, taking our time to get up and do the daily morning routine. We didn’t know, but God had a plan set out for us this morning.
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We started driving into the town of Maun and we heard a church service going on across the street. We went inside to hear an on-fire preacher giving an on-fire message. The people in that service were all lovely, Spirit-filled people who welcomed us warmly.
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After the service, we went and ate at a hotel that had a restaurant and an internet café. Dad checked some emails and then we ate some lunch. Now we’re back in our chalet that we are staying in tonight and are about to watch the World Cup finals. It’s not South Africa, but Botswana is close enough.
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Jonas Young

BOTSWANA 2010 - Trip Across Africa DAY #13

Maun, Botswana
Saturday, July 10, 2010
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Trip Across Africa DAY #13
Drove across Namibia and into Botswana across the Kalahari Desert today. Still had bad fuel in our tank and I decided to drive until the car ran out of gas, and change the diesel filter (again, after the mechanic wouldn’t drain the tank for me a couple of days ago). So we sputtered at about 80km per hour to a town where the vehicle conveniently ran out of fuel at the gas station. With the new diesel and filter, it seemed to run good, for a while at least.
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Crossed the border fine and hassle-free. About a couple of hours into Botswana, I started losing power again and the vehicle was hesitating and had little horsepower. We think somebody accidentally put some unleaded into the tank, after smelling the fuel in the filter earlier. Am all out of filters now. Will try to figure something out here in Botswana. I’m sure it we will get our Nissan Terrano running strong in the next couple of days.
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We are staying at the Crocodile Camp right on the Okavango Delta in Botswana. We arrived at night after the long drive, so we haven’t been able to get a really good view yet. Looking forward to our time in Botswana. Tomorrow, we will just relax near the delta, and spend time with God individually, and together. Catch up more soon.
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Christian Young

NAMIBIA 2010 - Trip Across Africa DAY #12

Sossusvlei, Namibia
Friday, July 9, 2010
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Trip Across Africa DAY #12
One time, in Namibia we wanted to go to Namibia’s dunes. We were going from Windhoek. It was very early. Daddy woke me up. We were leaving. As we were going there was a lot of mountains. Lots of caves there, too. It took hours and hours. We finally saw some sand dunes, and drove around. We arrived there. We got out of the car. We each slowly climbed higher and higher. Dad slid down. We watched and laughed. It was great. It was so much fun.
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Justine Young

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We had traveled around four and a half hours to get to the sand dunes of the Namib desert. Then we saw the large hills of sand.
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When we came out of the car, I watched the sand blow off the “Dune 45,” the [closest] dune you can climb. It was hot on flat ground, but when I slowly climbed up the red sand dune, I felt colder and colder. Soon, wind was whipping my feet and when I put my hand low to where it almost touched the ground, I felt dirt blowing around. Then we climbed down the thick sand, jumped in the car and hit the trail.
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Jordan Young

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[Today] we started off early in the morning to the Namib desert of Namibia. As we left Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, we had one of the most scenic drives anyone could ever have.
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We drove on a great road through the rolling hills; with golden grass dotted with sparse, green shrubbery. On our beautiful drive, a not-so-beautiful thing started happening to our engine. The day before we took our truck to a mechanic to get checked. The engine was cutting out while we were driving and we were pretty sure we got bad fuel when we were in Etosha National Park in Northern Namibia.
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We went in faith all the way to the sand dunes as we felt it was cutting out again. All of the sudden we went over a hill and in the distance there were the great, red sand dunes of the Namib desert!
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We got to the park entrance, paid the entry fee, and went on our way. We read in our Lonely Planet Africa book that there was a dune called, “Dune 45” that was accessible to hike on. We took the opportunity and hiked part of the way up, but it was too difficult for us to climb all the way to the top as it was windy. It took us ‘till about 11:00pm to get back to Windhoek because our car was hesitating [and we got a flat tire].

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Jonas Young

NAMIBIA 2010 - Trip Across Africa DAY #11

Windhoek, Namibia
Thursday, July 8, 2010
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Trip Across Africa DAY #11
Another travel day. A four and a half hour drive took us from the Etosha National Park to the capital city of Windhoek today. The last hour was sketchy as the diesel fuel filter for our Nissan Terrano began to go out, most likely due to water in our fuel from getting some bad diesel somewhere. So we prayed that God would allow us to make it to Windhoek without having to stop and do repairs myself. God came through once again. I did prepare well for the journey as I brought two extra diesel filters (as I have had them go out before and had to change them myself) as well as an extra oil filter and all the fluids we would need

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We saw elephant crossing signs early in our journey across Namibia. On the drive today we saw warthog crossing signs, and there were definitely many of them alongside of the road. We also saw massive termite mounds everywhere along the way, some the size of trees. We also have these in Mozambique, but these were pretty big, and a whole lot of them, too. Don’t build with wood in Namibia, I guess.

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We found a very professional, large auto mechanic in Windhoek, but had to wait until 2:00pm to have the diesel filter changed as well as the oil and oil filter. I did score a new air filter here in Windhoek, which has been near impossible for me to purchase or order in Lichinga. So praise God for that! I was hoping that we would be able to get our window that had broken in Zambia replaced at a glass shop while we were waiting for our appointment with the mechanic. No-can-do. Apparently, there are no replacement windows for our Nissan Terrano in all of Namibia! I will have to look into ordering one from Jo-berg when we get back to Lichinga. The tape will have to do for now.
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We are staying the next two nights in our tent, again, this time at a place called the “Cardboard Box Backpacker’s Lodge.” Everyone is out of rooms we can stay in and this is the less-expensive route anyway. They have a cool Volkswagon Bus all graffiti’d up with their logo. Tomorrow we make for the sand dunes in the desert.
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Christian Young

NAMIBIA 2010 - Trip Across Africa DAY #10

Okaukuejo, Namibia
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
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Trip Across Africa DAY #10
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NAMIBIA 2010 - Trip Across Africa DAY #9

Onguma, Namibia
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
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Trip Across Africa DAY #9
Drove from Rundu to Etosha National Park today. We have been blessed that most of our travels on our trip across Africa, as of yet, have been on paved roads. After arriving at the gate to enter Etosha National Park, we had to pay at the Namutoni Camp for the two days in the reserve. But when we asked about a place to set up our tent to camp, they had none. So we were forced to find a camp site outside of Etosha National Park. We found space at the Onguma Camp, which was a very nice spot with a braai-pit and restroom facilities. But before we left to set up camp, we drove around the Fisher’s Pan in Etosha and saw giraffes, an elephant, ostriches, springbok, gemsbok, jackals, eland, zebra and wildebeests. At the restaurant near our campsite, there was a place that you could climb up and that overlooks a water hole. We hung out up there while waiting for dinner to be ready and got some awesome footage of a giraffe coming to drink from the waterhole.
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Christian Young