DAY 3 – DRIVING STRAIGHT

Driving from Windhoek to Etosha was underwhelming. Straight. Dead straight. 

We saw a couple warthogs and baboons and three guys with pangas but that was about it.

Stopped on the side of the road to make braai broodjies and dine with a beehive.

Made it to the checkpoint an hour early because we were on South Africa time.

Milo the mongoose was quite an amicable host.

Settled in our new campsite we went about meeting new faces and re-meeting favourite teams. Camped with Wasted Potential and Love and a Half. Lovely.

Grabbed our animal hats for the Animal Kingdom checkpoint party and headed off to the bonfire for some yummers dinner and a squeak a bit of takkie.

DAY 2 - ROADSIDE SARMIES AND HIGHFIVING LEOPARDS

We were up early and packed our camp rather efficiently, escaping before most of the other teams and before the sun could wake up. 

Kitty whipped out our two-way radio devices and tried to find the Put foot frequency 

or signal aliens or something.

Kitty: “Hello? Anybody there?!”

Put Foot/Aliens:  “-------------”

Kitty: “Alpha Delta Alpha Delta Come in!”

Put Foot/Aliens:  “----------------------“

Kitty: “Putfoot Botswana come in!”

Will try again another day maybe.

We stopped on the side of the road while the sun was coming up for a nice Motherland coffee and rusks brekki. A cup of the Motherland is worth two in the bush.  Ha.

Driving Tertius, branded Etios Christmas tree on wheels, there is always a lot of interest about who we are and what we’re doing and where we’re going. This makes us think we are pretty rad. 


And then we met 5 industrious dudes who making a similar trip, but on foot. (And skateboard it seemed) They are making a 30 day endurance walk from Windhoek, Namibia to Maputo, Mozambique, and are handing out educational material to 36 schools on the way, 
AND building a Class Room at one of the schools on the way.
Yeah. That makes them pretty cool too. Check them out here (http://www.mafrika.co.za)


So we headed and over the Namibia border with a rather unfriendly nod (and an odd inquiry on whether we were right handed or not), and picked up some cheese, tomatoes and bread for a roadside lunch stop in the sunshine. Truckers and other teams zoomed
on by with hoots and waves.

We had covered a lot of ground so had some time to spare heading into Windhoek.

Ideal time to stop at the local German Taxidermist. Achtung! We were pleasantly surprised (and only slightly disappointed) when the quality of erm, creatures, was indeed very lifelike. No eye-popping armadillos or scraggly flea-bitten chinchillas. Sigh. But Andre the Taxidermy dude was indeed very obliging and lovely. Took us on a whole tour of his shop from start to finish. Now we know how to throw bison skin over foam molds and that makes us feel very manly. 


ROAR!

High fiving the locals

Bought a sticker for Tertius and headed on our way.

In our mission to find a place to camp for the night we stopped off at the famous Joe’s Beer House to “sample the local beer” and munch on some animal. Manda went straight for the Gemsbok. Kitty braved the Zebra. And Dani opted for the Bok on Joe’s logo. After an amazingly tasty meal and three full tummies the great “where do we sleep tonight?” question still loomed. Four fully booked backpackers later, we settled at Backpackers Unite. It must have been the coldest night in the universe, but colder. We’re still talking about it.

Vodacom data still not working, but at least we have a phone that can send and receive smses.


Onwards to Etosha!

DAY 1 - OK GO!

Dear future Toyota Etios Drivers, this boot space is gigantic. Three girls on a road trip through Southern Africa? No problem.

After 4 hours sleep we woke up, packed up the car, and then we were ready. Finally. And after months and months of tedious planning and organizing it was quite surreal being at the starting point, lined up with the other teams.

There was no big bang, no big send off, no giant air horn or teenage cheerleaders in matching outfits. Just a simple press photo, a supportive whoop from Amanda’s boyfriend Darren, and a Put Foot Official who yelled: “GO!”

The plan was to take the 682km pretty easy. Head up through the Botswana border and into Kang overnight.

Stopped off in Rustenburg for a quick Wimpy breakfast and to sort out our Vodacom pay-as you go & data. Breakfast – great success! Vodacom – not so much. Still battling to get our SIMS activated and load data. The nice gentlemen at Vodacare tried to help us out as much as they could. They also helped us push our car. We left our lights on. Rookie error. But on we go!

ZOOM!

Worked out a simple rotation system within the car. Backseat is for napping. Front passenger for co -piloting, entertainment & general commentary. Driver for, well, driving. It works well. And gives us all a chance to zone out & enjoy the view.

Driving through Botswana the terrain moved and changed and went from rocks to bush to sand to herds of cows to grass to goats to sheep.  Donkeys cheered us on eagerly. Not really. Donkeys are pretty chilled. Dead on their legs they stare blankly as we zip by with our racing stripes. Jealous I imagine. 

Kang was epic. As epic as a truck stop on the side of the road can be. The campsite was clean and we met up with some of the other teams. Too tired to care to make dinner, we sat down at the local restaurant with some new friends and sampled the local beer. Manda taught us the best way to experience the local beer is to add lemonade. She was so right.

So day one was done and Tertius (random pet name which stuck for our Toyota Etios) sure was a trooper.

Things we learned today: Don’t leave Tertius’s lights on. Locals are friendly and helpful. Petrol is cheaper in Bots and Kitty doesn't like Tina Turner while she’s napping.

Can’t imagine why.

Team OK GO & Tertius pose for the camera just outside of Botswana border