Basecamp on the Orange River

Our sleeping area!
Toilets!
And the bar with a satellite dish to ensure sports can be watched!

The first and last night of the trip we stayed at basecamp. Beautiful surroundings! We stayed on the South African side of the river but the other side of the river is Namibia. We slept out under the stars (and the beasties) after a drink or two at the "local pub"!!

Heading North to Namibia!

Judith, Rich and Ishmael ... the back of the bus!

Here we are driving up towards Namibia to the Orange River. The terrain becomes more desert as you get further north in South Africa. We traveled in rather bizarre looking vehicles that didn't take the hills too quickly! Even at the "toilet stops" there wasn't much to hide behnd!! At each estimation the journey got longer ... and from Stellenbosch to the Orange River took about 12 hours.

My favourite picture of Table Mountain ...

I think I have taken thousands of pictures of Table Mountain since getting here! It's so spectacular and the back drop for most things in Cape Town. This was taken from the Wharf a few days ago. There will be more pics to come, but this is my favourite for now!

Afrikaans ....

This is the building we have Afrikaans class in. In the "Skatkamer" which means "treasure room" ... understood "kamer" as the only Afrikaans word I came to South Africa with was "Badkamer" meaning bathroom. Thanks Dan!

The words are huge! In Afrikaans a concept becomes one word. So, for example, the word for peanut butter sandwich is:

grondboontjiebottertoebroodjie

The class is going fine and I am doing well but I don't know that I'll ever master it too much! There are a lot of pronunciations which sound like "ch" (in the Scottish pronunciation of loch) and like creating a large amount of spit in the back of your throat! Potential to get quite messy :o) The great source of entertainment are the other people in the class and the teacher!! We'll see if that remains after an hour oral exam in a couple of weeks!!

Rafting the Breede River ...

This was my first "rafting" experience in South Africa. Note that nowhere it says "white water" ... and look at the peacefulness of the river! There was one petty excuse for a rapid which was about a foot wide. Incidently, we struggled enough with that one and ended up stuck in a tree!! Judith and I were rafting partners (everyone else was thankful that we chose to go together!) and single handedly hit just about every set of bushes on both sides of the river. But it was beautiful surroundings and very peaceful. We slept out under the stars after going to a pub to shower (never done that before!) and a wine farm for tasting along the way!!