The first half of Week 11 had us heading North from the Delta. North you say? Aren't we supposed to be heading South to Cape Town? Yes, but a cheeky detour will allow us to spend more time in Botswana and Namibia and experience a couple of added bonuses.
One of those bonuses was more time by the Okavango River which we have followed north all week. The journey from Maun to the Namibian border was a 400km stretch of fairly monotonous flat roads. The only highlight was on the second day, a big 150km day from Sehithwa to Gumare, we spotted four ostriches parading about in the bush. They are weird animals! At the end of most days this week, we have found ourselves staying at some nice spots directly on the river. This is always the perfect place to sit and watch a crazy African sunset over the water whilst we, more often than not, listen to the grunts of hippos not far away.
It was almost too relaxing for us. We racked up some bonus days by peddling too fast through Tanzania, but a great deal of our adventures in Namibia are pre-booked on specific dates. Which means we have to hit these spots at the right time. So we had to cash in two rest days along this stretch so as to not be too early. It’s crazy how quickly you get used to being constantly moving, these down days felt like time-wasting and our itchy feet wanted back on the peddles.
We crossed into our 6th country Namibia midweek. We are planning to spend a month here as we work ourselves down from the top tip of this country to the bottom tip of South Africa. On arrival to Namibia, we were told that the first 12km was a national park with lots of lions and we weren't allowed to ride through it. Our pleading and attempts at persuading the guards that we we really speedy or that we’d faced off elephants or at the very least could be chaperoned by cars whilst we cycled, failed. So reluctantly, we crammed the two bikes into the back of a tiny Toyota Corolla and both jumped into the front passenger seat. It was like a comedy clown car. Our entry to Namibia was to be an uncomfortable bumpy ride to the end of the park. There the bumps didn’t end. Our first real taste of gravel roads. Washboard ridges and sliding in sand. We knew we were going to hit some less good roads in Namibia, but the luxury of constant tarmac for five countries meant the bone-rattling terrain came as a bit of a shock.
We finally reached the nearest town of Divundu where we went about our usual “new country - get sorted” routine: get SIM cards, get Namibian dollars, get supplies, get a place to stay. Unfortunately, the only two ATMs within a 200km radius were down. When we asked at the supermarket we were met with a nonchalant, “Meh, they never have any money in them”. The supermarket owner has literally cashed in on this predicament and allows customers to take cash back, for a hefty fee. But he also directed us to a corner shop, (where the Chinese man running the joint had not a word of English in him, yet managed to run a successful, so it would seem, business in the middle of Africa-nowhere) to get SIM cards.
This moment was captured perfectly by some other tourists who we met later
The next 200km to Rundu came with an exciting milestone: we passed the 5,000km mark on our journey. We were also headed to a beautiful spot on the river that had been offered before we even set off. Arriving at Hakusembe River Lodge, we could sense a little bit of luxury and were especially looking forward to tucking into a big buffet that night.
However, disaster struck... Not more than one hour after arriving, Charlie was hit by a gastro bug and was sick all night. Charlie isn’t one to fall ill, so it was a bit of a worry. The next morning, after feeling fresher and having a nice breakfast, Naomi caught the same at about 10am. Struck down out of nowhere. And so it continues, in bouts and waves for both of us - tricking us into making plans to head off the next day before forcing both of us to retreat to our bed clawing for the nurofen.
The planned departure has been called off twice, there is no way that either of us could have cycled with the sickness and complete lack of energy. We both went a good couple of days without being able to keep even liquids down. It’s been a tough and painful ride, but the dream team at Gondwana have let us stay for two additional nights, fed us soup when we thought we could manage it and even escorted us to the pharmacy for more dehydration sachets and painkillers.
As we remain laid up in our big four poster bed overlooking the river, yet still feeling very sorry for ourselves and struggling to keep anything down, we don't know what we would have done without the kindness and generosity of Gondwana and the staff at Hakusembe. Imagine if we’d been camping. In fact imagine if we were anywhere else (other than at home. With Friends reruns on in the background. Under my favourite blanket...) We’d have been in real strife. The thought doesn’t even bear dwelling upon. Our plans for next week have needed to be slightly adjusted as a result, but we are flexible enough to keep on track even when no doubt we will need to take it relatively easy as we gain our strength back. We’ve got places to hit and we are determined to cycle every kilometre, but it’s feeling harder and harder.
***THREE GREAT REASONS TO DONATE*** 1. You’re inspired/impressed/shocked at our peddling skills and think that climbing the equivalent of Everest over three times since we set off and conquering 5,000km in 11 weeks deserves a penny or two; 2. You’ve read our blogs on the African charity partners, and agree that the work they do is incredible and that they deserve as much funding and support as possible; 3. Gastro is bloody miserable Do a great thing, hit up this link and support The Egmont Trust - https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/equatortocape
