Namibia Day 1 - Windhoek

So after a night relaxing following the long flights from Cyprus via Dubai and Capetown and with a nice meal and a few beers we were collected early morning to go and pick up our 4x4 and equipment.

On arrival at Asco Car Hire we were welcomed with big smiles and shown into the office for paperwork and a safety video covering the risks of driving on gravel roads, wildlife and the vehicle.

Once all paperwork was signed off we were taken out for a full briefing on the 4x4 in our case a Toyota 4x4 Double Cab with Roof Top Tent and equipment. Each aspect was shown to us including how to open up and pack away the tent. Daily checks were covered for the 4x4 and good advice offered.

Whilst I went through everything with the guys they helped load up our camping equipment and Angela stood back taking a couple of photos and thankfully still smiling.

Final job to complete at Asco Car Hire was to fill up the 2 fuel tanks giving us a range if needed of about 1500km although as petrol stations can be spread out in the more remote areas of Namibia the advice was to keep everything topped up as often as possible.

Next stop was Pick and Pay to stock up on provisions. We did go wrong on the way a few times as we got used to the roads, drivers and the sat nav but made it. We had heard about cars especially hired overlanding 4x4's being broken into at Pick and Pay so we parked as close to the entrance as possible.

Pick And Pay was an experience from someone trying to steal Dave's mobile phone out of his combats pocket to Angela being continually pestered by mothers with very young babies wanting her to pay for the shopping. Not quite the first experience of shopping in Africa that I really wanted Angela to have.

However we made it through the gauntlet and got what we needed to start us off on our trip and give us a good few days where we could be self sufficient.

Next it was back to Arebbusch Lodge as we still had another night to stay before we started the trip proper tomorrow. We did manage to get lost on the way and ended up arriving at the lodge from completely the wrong direction.

At the lodge we got ourselves sorted out, provisions packed away, beer in the fridge and our gear stowed away. As it was a nice day we took a walk around the camping area of the lodge to check out some of the other trucks and set ups and to watch the ground squirrels which were absolutely everywhere.

All this was making Dave thirsty so we headed up to the restaurant for a cold Windhoek beer and some lunch.

The rest of the day was spent going over the maps, checking our routes and loading the GPS before a nice meal in the restaurant and a nice bottle of wine. We decided an eartly night was a good idea as we had a longish drive ahead of us tomorrow to Sesriem and Deadvlei and a hangover did not seem a good idea.