We first arrived in Namibia at the beginning of August, last year. So, we’ve been here a while, seven months, to be exact. This has included getting two permit extensions from Home Affairs. The majority of this time has been spent working on the Land Rover - which has been coupled with hours and days and weeks of frustration. See the Land Rover Rebuild story.
But, there have been some good times too. Traveling with Kate and Gareth for a few weeks, making awesome friends in Windhoek and of course the holidays out on the coast which included getting me addicted to yet another adrenaline sport – sky diving!
The entry permits were expiring again at the end of February and this time we were really going to leave the country.
A large part of the country in the South is under water and the roads washed away. We decided to head East through Botswana. A planned early start on the day ended up being 16:00 in the afternoon. We had to stop by at Theatre Garage to say goodbye to Oubass, Nelson and the crew. Everyone wished us well and best of luck with the truck.
So, it would be the first day on the road again and we’d be driving in the dark. Go figure. There was only one problem with the driving in the dark bit – the lights now didn’t work. I almost found it amusing. I tinkered around with the wiring under the hood a little and got one of the low beams intermittently working. That would have to do for tonight.
We crossed over into Botswana shortly after 20:00. We had a stack of receipts for which we hoped to claim our VAT (tax) back. Unfortunately, it turns out that we could not claim any of the items that we could not carry as hand luggage. This meant, we couldn’t claim any of the vehicle related expenses. That was a bit of a bummer.
The customs agents on both side of the border greeted us with a smile and a good sense of humour. I must say, we’ve had no problems in Southern Africa. The Botswana Officials are always very particular of where you will be staying and will only grant you entry into the country for exactly the amount of days you will require – unlike Namibia, where a 90-day entry permit is usually issued.
Once across the border we stopped at the new gas station in Charles Hill. From the road, the lit signs looked awfully dim. As we approached the gas station, it became apparent why – MILLIONS and MILLIONS of bugs! The entire gas station was covered in a thick blanket of creepy crawlies! The gas station attendant was madly batting about a shirt to fend off some of the flying insects. I stepped out of the truck to unlock the gas tank and quickly was covered in an assortment of interesting critters!
We drove along the gravel road past Charles Hill and pulled off to the side of the road for the night. The light in the cabin attracted the bugs rapidly. Soon, we couldn’t see out of the front windshield! There wouldn’t be any cooking or setting up of camp tonight. We had a quick snack (luckily the fridge, cooler and water is accessible without going outside) and slept on the new platform that I had built in the back of the Landy.