Archive for ‘Roaming’

Posts about our travels…

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!

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It was very interesting.

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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.

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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!!

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Busted knee!

One of the things that parents repeatedly tell their kids is “do up your shoelaces, or you will trip on them and hurt yourself”. Well… on Thursday morning we got up bright and early in order to catch the sunrise on Dune 45, and I stupidly popped my boots on for the shuffle across the car park to the toilets, neglecting to do up my laces.  The laces on my right boot caught in the hooks on the left boot, and I hit the ground hard – VERY hard, point of impact being my right knee.  I am not light, and the carpark was rocky.

After a few minutes of exchanging verbal pleasantries with the carpark, I managed to get back onto my feet and hobble around – no major damage done as I was mobile.  We packed up camp and drove to the Dune, Margaret climbed up to get the photos as I was still very sore.

Fast forward a few hours of (extremely) rough driving and we got to the bakery at Solitaire (excellent Apple Pie, btw) – I climbed out of the car, and within a few seconds my knee had tripled in size and really started hurting.  By harnessing the powers of foul language I got back into the truck and drove on to Walvis Bay (driving is actually OK – its the climbing in and out, and bending the leg into position to use the pedals that is the problem).

At the campground in Walvis Bay I thought things were improving – camp set up (mostly by Margaret) and beer consumed – when all of a sudden it flared up again.  Off to Welwitschia Hospital I went in a taxi (The people here are fantastic – reception, nurses, radiographer and doc – apparently most tourists are sensible enough to have better reasons for a visit, like quad bike crashes).  After a few hours we had a diagnosis of an enormous haematoma, plus bleeding in the joint itself – hopefully no damage to meniscus etc, but time will tell.  The good news, no break, chips or cracks which was initially feared pre X-ray.

So… to wrap up, it’s now the next day, swelling has gone down a bit and the bruising is coming out nicely, I am on crutches, bandaged up and we are chilling out in Walvis Bay for a few days before proceeding north.

morning after

The campsite has an excellent playground, and is close to the beach (featuring both flamingos and pelicans). The beer is still cold.

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Beautiful Gate Lesotho

Beautiful Gate Lesotho

If you are ever going to share a post of ours, share this one.

Lesotho surprised us. We knew it was mountainous, but we didn’t expect how mountainous.  We went up and down, and up and down, all generally between 1,000m and 3,400m above sea level. The cosmos flowers bloomed pink and white, men wrapped in blankets and wearing gumboots and balaclavas waved at us, kids asked for sweets on their walk to school, (right next to a major road – no parents in sight) and it was simply beautiful.

However what surprised us most was visiting Beautiful Gate Lesotho. We were dirty, dusty and tired after much (stressful, old landy related) time on the road, and Lindiwe and Peter welcomed us like old friends. They gave us accomodation with comfortable beds and amazing showers.

Beautiful Gate is an orphanage, currently looking after approximately 70 children.  It is unique, most countries don’t run orphanages, as kids are put straight into foster care. However Lesotho does not have this infrastructure.   A third of the kids have HIV, and many fall behind their developmental milestones.

They are divided into three houses: Khotso, meaning peace. Pula meaning rain, and Nala meaning prosperity. Lindiwe gave us a tour and we were blown away by the size, the soft play rooms, the competent medical facility, the outside playground and the sympathetic memorial to children who have passed away.

Most touching of all,was the children singing to us, then coming for high fives. My children were shocked that they didn’t own their own clothes, and had no toys to call their own. But yet the children were the happiest kids we had ever met.

We were inspired by all of the people that we met there.  Eleanor interviewed two of the long term volunteers, Jennie and Marissa. She was so inspired that she wrote a letter to Prince Harry.

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We don’t normally ask for donations for charitable causes, but should you have any spare cash Beautiful Gate is completely worthy.  We personally saw that the money is put to good use, no hint of sparkly new Land Cruisers being badly driven over mountain passes (ahem, Red Cross and World Vision…). So as you get stuck into your Easter eggs, click the link below.  Every pound/dollar/rand/whatever really does help.

www.givengain.com/c/bgl/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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