Riaan, our guide, shook our tents to wake us at 5:30am. Ouch. We packed up our tents and our bags before a breakfast of cereal and tea, and said goodbye to the many indoor luxuries of the Gekko's Backpackers. Our 500 km drive north begins with rocky, rugged landscape and gives way to very flat and dry scrubland.
Our lunch break was at a rest stop near a bazillion little weaver birds. Jocelyn put out a spread of sandwich fixin's. The bologne-like substance looks a little dodgy to me, but I can add sweet chili sauce to cucumbers and shredded cheese for a fine combo. I also can't help but notice that we have peanut butter -- this yummy relic from home was so frowned-upon in Europe.
After lunch, we visited a small town called Springbok (also the name of the most prevalent antelope in South Africa and their national rugby team) and stock up on pillows, water, and snacks. The guide team did another major stock up on groceries while our truckload wandered through town.
As we continue driving, I spot many small patches of flowers through the truck window. Yellow, orange, white, fuschia, and some red. Namaqualand has lots and lots of wildflowers and is the perfect time to see these flowers, though we didn't get a single photo. :(
The truck stopped for the night at the lovely Fiddler's Creek campground. The showers are these excellent bamboo reed looking thingies that have views out onto the Orange River.
The Orange River flows gently past our campsite's bar (also made of the reed things - there's a real motif here). It looks brown and gentle. Alec proved today that it is indeed swimmable... but I watched from the shore. This same river forms the boundary with Namibia -- and combined with its tributary, the Vaal, it is the longest and largest river in Southern Africa. Along its shorest near our campsite is a stark contrast of the green fields and fruit trees (because of the available irrigation water) with the brown of the desert and mountains just a few meters beyond.
This same river has a forbidden zone further along where diamonds literally wash ashore even now. They shoot first and ask questions later, or so we were told.
Dinner tonight was a wonderful beef and veggie stir-fry on flat noodles. So far, I'm really impressed with the food.
Alec and most of the others hung out at the rocking campsite bar watching another overland group make drunken fools of themselves in an air guitar contest. I watched for a bit and enjoyed the super-starry night before crawling in our industrial-strength tent. It's chilly here at night.