Life is full of surprises!

Seven hours it took to cross into Angola. Seven hours.

They wanted photographs of all angles of the truck and Motorbike, they wanted us to get them stamped and then take them on to another department and then another and another, but most of all, they wanted our American dollars.

So, we entered with a mindset that was soon to be dashed thank goodness.

I don't think I have ever met a more friendly bunch of people in my life.

Everyone had huge grins and waved at us as we passed shouting greetings in Portuguese whilst Obrigada was all we could muster up.

Pretty good when your life expectancy is only 63, it used to be 41!

All I really remember of Angola was the grainy black and white TV footage from my childhood showing the war taking place and the MPLA and UNITA battling for supremacy. Remember Princess Diana in body armour walking in an active mine field? Yes? That was Angola in 1997. Thankfully that's all behind them now and Angola was until recently, growing at a phenomenal rate partially due to its Oil which it has lots of.

Buying Diesel for the truck in Angola was most enjoyable with Diesel topping out at around 20p a litre. Much, much cheaper than beer or water and when you have a big thirsty beast as we have, it's a real joy.

After spending so much time crossing the border, the day was almost over so we looked for a place to stop as there are few if any actual campsites in the country.

We found a small path leading off the main road and managed to get the truck in a position where we couldn't be seen, so we felt safe for the night.

As we settled in, a group of women presumably on their way home from working in the fields walked by and stopped to check us out. They were simple countrywomen and I guess and I guess working the fields all your life, you don't learn about personal space and they congregated around our stairs and stared up into the truck gesticulating that they wanted food.

This is something that everyone now does as we drive past and we are not sure if it's learnt behaviour or a real need?.

Anyway, we gave the women cooking Oil, flour and a few other items and they went away happy. What we then saw were two little boys who had stood behind the women and looked terrible. Assuming they were with the women, we carried on with our day assuming they would at least be fed that night. The next morning the boys reappeared and I produced a shiny new bat and ball set in fluorescent pink and yellow that I gave them as a gift and I took a photograph of the occasion for my own satisfaction.

They looked happy but not ecstatic with the offering.

As we drove away I thought about these boys and it hit me like a train. They wanted food, not some fancy toy produced in China. I have regretted that day ever since and we even went back to try and find the boys to no avail.

Where are they now?

On a similar theme, the next day we hit the town of Lubango just as the heavens opened. We sought sanctuary in a large 5-star hotel and asked if we could park for the night to which they instantly agreed and said we were most welcome.

The carpark was full of shiny new 4x4 vehicles and we parked at the back away from them. On closer inspection, we realised these were all vehicles belonging to various charities.

Later that day, as we wanted to repay the kindness of the hotel, we ate in the restaurant that night and watched as legions of charity workers ordered lavish meals and clicked their fingers at waiters to be topped up with the free-flowing wine.

The next morning the weather was good and we watched these charity workers get into their chauffeur-driven vehicles and head out through the gates patrolled by armed guards whilst through the fence of the hotel, starving children held out their hands wanting food as the convoy of vehicles sped past completely ignoring the needs of the children.

Oh, the Irony of it all.

There wasn't water everywhere in Angola, many areas were experiencing a drought and at a later date, we were flagged down by a woman desperate for water to drink and cook with. We helped her fill all her pots and pans from an outside tap we have on the truck and we thought about the parallel universe of this poor woman taking life-saving water from a vehicle she would never be able to dream of never mind afford.

Still, in many areas, the rains continued to fall and that made driving difficult at times and never more so than when we traversed the notorious Serra da Leba. A series of hairpin bends led to the bottom of a mountain and we passed down it in heavy rain.

Before we started our descent we passed a police checkpoint and after checking our papers the officer said something, I asked him to repeat his words and then Google translated it.

He said “Good luck and may God go with you”……

I have attached a library photograph from Google it's classed as one of the world's most dangerous roads and we somehow didn't fancy stopping for a photo opportunity?

That's all sounds really dramatic but we are enjoying every minute of what we are doing and Angola is truly stunning with the landscape changing, twisting and turning at every corner almost.

Unlike many African countries, Angola has two sides.

The country people live in mud huts and the cities that wouldn't look out of place in Europe with Luanda, the capital being the jewel in the crown.

Superfast wifi, Tall glass-clad buildings and oozing wealth with the townships surrounding the stunning centre.

Whilst in Luanda, were able to stay at the Naval club or Yacht club as we would call it I guess?

The President of the Naval club is a keen Overlander and welcomes all Overlanders to stay for free in the carpark that doesn't sound glamorous but with with a view of the Ocean and the city, we didn't complain and this kind gentleman also took Charlotte and I for lunch, with his wife and daughter. Such a kind jesture.

The conversation was very interesting as Jorge spoke perfect English and the conversation soon got around to the big C that we all hate.

Jorge informed me it wasn't Covid the big killer in Angola, Malaria was and he reminded us that we were in the Malaria belt and told us we must always use nets (which we do) and always cream up (which we do).

Jorge then settled our nerves by telling us that although Malaria is a huge killer, the hospitals know how to deal with it and test for Malaria just like we have our Blood pressure taken. It's just routine he said.

I think that made us feel better?

Sometime later and we were heading to see some waterfalls where we intended to spend the night as we had read that are a must-see.

Around 20km shy of the Falls, we were stopped by the Police which we assumed was to be a simple document check. It turned out the bridge ahead had been washed away by the rain and the road was unpassable.

Now I'm no stranger to foreign languages but being told that information in Portuguese and then trying to translate it into English …. Well, let's just say it took a while.

Once we had the facts we faced 150km of backtracking along a narrow unmade road that had taken many hours to pass and darkness was just around the corner so we enquired using sign language again if we could sleep by the checkpoint for the night, but that was a breeze at the side of the last information exchange!

The Policeman told us to wait a while and then pointed to a house (there were only 4) where we must park outside.

We parked as instructed and to our surprise, a gentleman in a shinny uniform came from the house and introduced himself. He was the police Comandante of that area and as he spoke English, he told us we were welcome to stay outside his house and we would be safe.

We slept well that night!

Angola is a place we will return and savour. It's a place that deserves a visit.

It's a place of two faces. In Luanda, the capital we bought 3 Green peppers and some bread - £10.00!

In the country, we bought a bucket of Avocados from the side of the road. We estimated around 6KG of Advacodo’s - £2.00?

Fuel 20p a litre?

What does it all mean?

A fascinating country. Please go and take a look.

Quick facts

Population - Around 34 million

Size of the Country - Around 3to 4 times the size of the UK

Average monthly income - $35.00 a month

The population of the capital Luanda - is 2.5 million

Angola, what a lovely place. It will stay with Charlotte and I forever.

Our follow on from Angola was to drive into the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DRC for short…… Hmm, not that's a place!

It's life Jim, but not as we know it!

From door to door, leaving Dakar, Senegal to arriving at our apartment in Windhoek, Namibia took 35 long hours.

We flew the complete width of the African continent to Adis Ababa, Ethiopia and back again to Namibia. That was the only route available, otherwise, it was back via Europe.

We arrived in Namibia in the late afternoon and the skies were blue and the air was warm and dry. It was altogether very pleasant.

The small airport at Windhoek (the capital of Namibia) appeared very calm and clean.

As we entered the city. it showed all the makings of being German as indeed much of it was (look it up).

We had left Dakar, the capital of Senegal which is colourful, chaotic, noisy and let's face it, filthy and we had landed in this pristine clean and quiet world. It was completely alien to what we had been used to.

But as we settled in we found ourselves mesmerised by Windhoek, a leafy, calm manicured city with pristine buildings surrounded by huge walls with razor wire and what was going on? So many security cameras everywhere. Vehicles with ‘Armed response’ emblazoned on the side and containing beefy security guards sat on every street corner.

Wealth oozed from every corner.

Our rented apartment was modern and extremely western with all the mod cons we would expect from home. What was this country we had come to?

The next day after resting up, we walked a couple of Kilometers into the city and the real picture started to emerge.

We were staying in ‘Mayfair’ effectively and what we had seen was only part of the story.

The city had the usual array of fine shops, interesting architecture and an odd well-manicured park to look around. Just the sort of thing you would expect from a capital city.

But as we dug a little deeper into the suburbs, the mood changed and the emphasis was on discount supermarkets, Fast loan shops and a large number of amusement arcades, fancily called Casinos?

The reasons for the armed response guards and the high wire fences were becoming more evident.

Like a lot of Africa, Windhoek has two sides and the main difference to which side you belong to is mainly down to the colour of your skin and that is a fact and is evident throughout Namibia as we now know.

Moving on from Windhoek we headed to the coast to wait for our truck and we stayed in Namibia’s only real seaside town called Swakopmund. Another German-built town that even boasted many menus in German as well as German beer, German Sausage, German bread all being available at the local 7/11 and strangely the whole town backed out into the Namib desert and so we had the sea to our front and sand dunes top our back - very strange.

Our choice of accommodation in Swakopmund booked via Booking.com offered the usual array of Ikea style furniture, a clean kitchen to cook in etc, etc. We have done this a thousand times we know what to expect.

What Booking.com, or more to the point, the owners of the flat had failed to mention was that this brand new flat with all mod cons was situated in a gated compound, slap bang in the middle of a township.

The best way to describe our position is to use an old comedy catchphrase, of which the inference, if not the content is correct.

We were the only Gay’s in the village so to speak.

We wouldn't have been hauled up in an identity parade. That wouldn't of worked!

This was best-brought home to us when we went for a sundowner at the local hole in the wall bar just outside our compound. It was a pleasantly warm evening and we sat outside when we were approached by a guy whom we watched walk over to us from a neighbouring bar.

He introduced himself and said he owned the bar next door and that when we drank our drinks we should come and drink at his bar. He told us if we drank with him, he would look after us and he would make sure we were safe!

We drank up quickly and shuffled off back to our gated compound and only left by car thereafter.

Now the townships are controversial in every respect, but I want to point out a few facts as we see them.

They are 100% populated by Black or coloured people as far as we could see.

They are always on the outer edges of a city or town.

There are now some social housing mingled in that are at least a little more substantially built and the roads in the main towns and cities are predominantly sealed tarmac and as you arrive at the Townships they became dirt roads.

The Townships had walls surrounding them almost to hide them from the rest of the world and most interesting to me, Capitalism was evident as some of the rickety homes within the townships that are built from wooden pallets, Corrugated steel sheets and Taupaulin’s and some parts of the home structures had quite clearly sold off, or traded away to the people next door who had used the material to increase the size of their own homes.

The cost of living in Namibia is very low and as an example, for a pint of beer, we paid around a gentle £1.20ish and about the same for a glass of fine South African wine - Heaven!

Anyway, these prices gave us access to any establishment that took our fancy and it was good to see all establishments had a mix of Black and White clientele and so although the townships do exist and they do, there are opportunities for all to prosper and they do that too.

I spoke with a white Namibian guy who summed the position up like this.

Both Black and White people don’t really like each other but they tolerate each other as they realise they have to for both to prosper?

A black Namibian told me he was pleased to have a job as a handyman in a hotel full of white tourists. I asked if he minded serving a mainly white community and his answer was that he was proud to serve them as the alternative of unemployment was a lot worse.

An interesting take on a huge subject and neither statement reflect my own views.

Whilst waiting for the truck we had time to spare and we took a day out to visit the amazing sand dunes of the Namib desert and joined an organised and got to see the so-called little 5 (as opposed to the usual big 5 in Africa - Elephant, Lion etc).

Our guide drove us through the dunes and scoured the baron sand for various reptiles.

We saw a Camillion that could disguise itself by having half its body white and the other half Grey. We saw snakes that lived under the sand and learnt how to respect the desert by not walking without looking as there is life under the sand.

The highlight was when our guide dug down into the sand and found a Gecko. A young pregnant female whose beauty will stay with me for a long time.

Whilst driving through the dunes, I was reminded of watching Lawrence of Arabia when I was a kid, I imagined myself riding a camel through the dunes, having blistering skin from the intense heat and a lack of water and how I would be a hero when I finally made it back to camp ..… and then the guide called me and I got back into the Airconditioned Landrover and pulled a bottle of water from the icebox. Dream over I guess?

The dunes were enormous and although we were being taught about the right things to do to preserve the fragile lives that existed in the desert, we then got passed by a group of quad bikers who had no respect for anything in the pursuit of fun. It’s a strange world we live in, isn't it?

All these outings and visits were to pass time waiting for our truck to arrive and as the rest of the world counted the number of sleep’s to Christmas, we counted the sleep’s to our truck arriving.

We had invested in a great amount of extra security for the truck as we had been told of people having everything stolen from their vehicles whilst on the high seas.

We had also stripped the cab of radios, electronic equipment and speakers and all personal effects, we had stripped our motorbike and put it inside our truck along with everything from our external lockers.

Our hearts were in our mouths the whole time the truck was sailing but now as I write, I can say it arrived in one piece with no damage and with a myriad of countries ahead of us with no border closures we can now get on and do what we set out to do.

Today we realise how lucky we are as we do most days. Wild camping at the edge of the ocean, waves crashing in the background and just flamingo’s for the company and after writing this we are going walking along the shoreline that is deserted.

We have been here almost 24 hours and have seen no one. It's majestic.

Namibia still has a lot to show us and we are looking forward to the next chapter.

It's been a while...

As Covid continued to ravage everything and we couldn't move on due to land border closures, we left Africa and we spent 4 months travelling through the Balkans by bus and train and then on to the UK for my daughter's wedding and a brief mention here. What an amazing part of the world the Balkans are but before we left Africa we had our first Covid jabs that were recorded in a big leather-bound book in Ziginchour, Senegal (not a computer in sight) and the only evidence we had was a paper sheet with our details on but well done to our UK Doctor for recognising this and within 48 hours back in the UK we were both supporting sore arms having had our second dose of vaccine fully recorded and evident on our NHS records.

Meanwhile, back in the Balkans we had to rely on public transport to get around and so we barely scratched the surface as we travelled between towns and cities by bus and train but the scenery was incredible with forest, lakes and quaint villages in abundance.

Our journey took us through Turkey to Bulgaria and then on through Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and finally Austria and Slovakia.

That's a lot of time on bus and train seats and a lot of shuffling around on the seats to stay comfortable!!

Many of these countries are seldom visited by us Europeans as I am sure like me, you just remember the terrible wars and it's true to say that many buildings in these countries still bear the scars with bullet holes being evident on most buildings.

To try and better understand, we went to various museums and exhibitions about the conflict, but the more we saw and read, the more confused we became.

The war is hopefully behind them all now and the city centres in all these countries are making a real effort and Casual dining and chilled out bars are now the norm which came as a very pleasant surprise to us with Ljubljana the capital of Slovenia being our favourite city of all.

With this in mind, we would look into the eyes of many of the older people waiting tables, driving lorries or just walking down the street and wonder what part they had played in the war as many would have been involved?

Did they use a gun, did they lose family? Each one would have a story to tell we were sure.

From the Balkans, we headed to London and Doncaster for my Daughters wedding and I got to be a proud dad for a day.

From the UK we headed back to The Gambia in early November, to be reunited with our truck finally. A moment that was quite emotional for us after 40 different beds in 4 months of travelling we were delighted to sleep in our own bed. And that's a lot of emptying and filling our backpacks (well for Charlotte at least).

Once reunited, we set about getting a few upgrades done with the goodies we brought back with us from the UK (all 8 bags worth)! And we now have a nice new kitchen table and yes, we carried a kitchen table in our luggage with us but I drew the line at a Kitchen sink!

Extra security throughout the truck, better door fasteners are to name but a few upgrades we had done and we are delighted with the results. body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

When we weren't at the workshop getting our upgrades we spent a little time driving the River Gambia and heading off the only road along the river to find new and exciting places to stop for the night and as always, when you think you are really remote and away from everything, someone wanders past as though its the most normal thing in the world to do- Welcome to Africa.

One guy we met who was mesmerised by our truck was happy to engage in conversation and it's easy in the Gambia as they speak English and although we were only around 60km (36 miles) outside the capital of Banjul, this guy had no idea about Covid 19 and the devastation it was bringing to the world. A fact we found astounding and we wonder what percentage of the population actually do know about Covid 19?

On another occasion whilst chilling, we had our usual selection of 4 legged friends taking shelter or looking for food as they always do as street/wild dogs are common almost everywhere and we try our best to feed them whilst we can and whilst feeding this particular lot, Charlotte noticed some alarming lumps in the skin of these poor creatures and so Charlotte set about donning her rubber gloves and examining the poor things to discover they were riddled with Mango worm.

Lava burrows into the skin of dogs when they lay in contaminated areas and grow into worms.

With a lot of patience from both the dogs and Charlotte, most of the worms were squeezed out giving great relief all around and allowing the dogs to take refuge under the truck and enjoy a peaceful sleep at least for that night anyway.

Meanwhile, once our upgrades were complete, we were ready to move on but had to await a suitable vessel to ship the truck down to Namibia from where we can then finally move a little easier with few land borders closed in this area of Africa.

In some ways, our timing is once again, terrible with the news of the new Omicron virus hitting Namibia and South Africa, but on reflection, we are pushing ahead armed with the knowledge that Namibia is a country over 3 times the size of the UK, twice the size of Germany and California with a population of less than 2.5 million and that's around 3 people per square Kilometer versus 280ish per square Kilometer in the UK?

Their daily Covid count is around 12 new cases a day and the deaths to date are just a few thousand since the start of the Pandemic.

Life expectancy in Namibia is also rising again to around 64 years of age after the country (as much of Africa) being devastated by HIV for so many years and even now, 91% of the world infected children live in Africa. With over a million deaths every year. HIV is still a devastating disease to deal with.

But we feel will feel a lot safer in Namibia than in the UK?

Now, the only part we have to overcome is the actual shipping of our truck. The last shipping experience (Casablanca, Morocco to Dakar, Senegal) was horrendous as we spent 3 days being hauled between offices handing over handfuls of money for bills that seemed to be being made up as we went along.

This time we are a little more organised but we can't control the wanton theft that takes place on the sea whilst travelling the west coast of Africa.

Our route this time is Dakar in Senegal to Walvis Bay in Namibia is notorious for theft from travelling vehicles and our actions to counter this is extra locks and emptying all external lockers and stripping down our motorcycle and placing it inside our beautiful home. Not something we undertook lightly and we hope our investment in several mattresses (foam covered in fabric) will save the lovely interior of our truck as they have been wrapped around everything we have placed inside. It looks a lot like a teenagers bedroom inside the truck currently.

As I write this we are now hauled up in an apartment in Dakar as the truck is full of our goodies and not livable presently and yesterday we trawled around dozens of offices collecting signatures and official-looking stamps to our paperwork and now its all done and tomorrow we deliver the truck to the port and say our farewells until late December when it will be delivered back to us safely in Walvis Bay, Namibia we hope (we hope) and we contemplate the flight of 27 hours we have to undertake to get to Namibia.

Hay, ho, the next blog will hopefully be from Namibia and will hopefully be back on course depicting local life and the scenery the country has to offer.

Anyway, Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all and I hope 2022 is a little easier for us all than 2021 has been?