Eleanor – Page 12 – roaming.kiwi

Eleanor’s Birthday

It was my birthday in Namiba.

First I opened my presents. I got a flamingo toy, coloured clay mix, a Heidi book, some Elena of Avalor figurines. Genevieve gave me a pillow case and pink thread so I can sew a flamingo on it!

For breakfast Daddy made pikelets and bacon. It was delicious.

pike

Then we drove to Ludertitz, which is on the coast. We could see the Atlantic Ocean!

For lunch we drove to Diaz Point. On the way we found flamingos!! Mummy and Daddy made wraps and I ate mine with bacon. But there were lots of flys. Daddy put a special mesh hat on Genevieve. We walked up to a viewpoint with a cross, and we could see seals playing in the water. Daddy and Genevieve licked some salt off the rocks.

At our campsite we played on the big rocks. It was fun.

For dinner we had nachos. It was tasty. Daddy also made a banana cake. It tasted excellent but it wasn’t solid enough to put candles on.

Then I wanted a movie night, so we watched ‘How to Train Your Dragon 1’.

It was the best birthday ever.

April 29, 2019 3

Mesosaurus Fossils

We went to a farm to see some mesosaurus fossils. A mesosaurus is a creature that lived before the dinosaurs. It lived in the swamps. It looked a bit like a crocodile. The farmer’s son found the first fossil, but they are not allowed to open any more, in case they damage them. You can see the bones of the ribs, tail and feet. The head has disappeared. There was also fossilised poo called copralite!

He also showed us some very cool rocks, called dolerite rocks. They were formed when the magma from a volcano bubbled up through the soft clay, but didn’t reach the surface. They are covered in desert varnish which is manganese dioxide. It is black and very hard. It makes the rocks ring. He played us a tune…. See the video!!

We also learnt about quiver trees. They are called quiver trees because the bushmen hollowed out the branches to make a case for their arrows. This is called a quiver! It is actually an aloe – like the national flower of Lesotho!

I saw a massive bird’s nest in a tree!

It was very interesting.

April 28, 2019 1

Fish River Canyon

On our first morning in Namibia we saw 2 giraffes, but they were too far away to take a photo. We have also seen zebra, lots of springbok and gemsbok and ostriches.

We went to Fish River Canyon for lunch. It is the second biggest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon in America. The road to get there was very bumpy. The canyon was wide with a river at the bottom. It was a long way down. The view was amazing but I didn’t want to go too close to the edge.

April 28, 2019 1

Preparations

After Lesotho we went to a campground along the coast, because the Taniwha had to go back to the garage. The campsite was good because there was mini-golf, a playground with a trampoline (!) a swimming pool and the beach. We made some friends called Daniel and Brody.

When Daddy was finally happy with the car, we hit the road. We went to a charity shop in Pinetown and I got some new books to read. I am now reading Alex Rider – it is really good! We also got a book on how to do a cat’s cradle. My favourite is the tea cup and saucer that changes to the Eiffel Tower.

We did lots of driving to get to Johannesburg so Daddy could buy an air jack. Then we drove all the way to the other side of South Africa to a place called Springbok. We all did the parkrun, then we went to Namibia, and got a new flag on the car!!

namibia

April 28, 2019 2

Sehlabathebe National Park

We did a lot of bumpy roads to get to Sehlabathebe National Park. We camped next to an old lodge. The next day we did a really long walk. Daddy said it was the same as a half marathon! (21km)

We were trying to find Tsoelikanyane waterfall, but we got a bit lost. The path wasn’t very clear and there were no signs. Finally we found it! Daddy threw a rock and we counted to 4 before we saw it splash.

On the way back to the car Daddy nearly stood on a snake. It hissed at him. When we checked in our animal book, it looked like a Mozambique Spitting Cobra!! It was a bit scary. We also found a porcupine spike. We were looking for a bearded vulture but the birds in the sky were up too high to see properly.

In the afternoon we looked around some of the rocks. They were very cool. Some were like caves and had stone walls underneath. Some of the walls were for a house and others were a corral for animals. On the top of the rock you could see where the water had worn through. There was an arch, and one really big rock that looked like a table!