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April Break - Southern Namibia

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 Our first night in Namibia was at a very nice "campsite" with sites for tents as well as air-conditioned rooms. It was a relief to arrive after having spent several very hot hours at the border crossing. One woman from the Czech Republic needed a visa to enter and that delayed us. The rest of us, from the US, Korea, Brazil, Belgium, Lithuania, Zimbabwe did not need a Namibian visa. We cooked and ate meals here. You can see our Nomad truck in the background. The pool was beautiful and very refreshing. Most of the pools at our accommodations were not heated. The next morning we kayaked in the Orange River which forms the border between South Africa and Namibia. The longest river  in South Africa, its source is in the mountains of Lesotho to the east. Chris took the opportunity to swim between the two countries. The drive north through the desert was quiet, hardly any traffic, surrounded by sand, rocks, cliffs, and plains. Along the river, we passed huge farms irrigated with Or

April Break - South Africa

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  We arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, at night, March 31st. It's kind of fun to walk out of the airport and find someone holding a sign with your name on it. It's also expensive! Cape Town is a beautiful city and one day is no where near enough time to explore it. Our one day was also a public holiday so we saw lots of families and quite a few places that were closed. The morning clouds covered the iconic mountains in town so we rode a shuttle to the waterfront rather than riding the cable car to the top of Table mountain.  Cape Town doesn't feel like the other major African cities we have visited. The infrastructure of apartheid persists with whites living in the cities and blacks living in the former townships surrounding the cities. The economic divide is very real.  This is Lion's Head mountain and the small, colored splotches are paragliders. To the left of Lion's Head is Signal Hill, also known as Lion's Rump. When you're farther away, together they