Hey San-Clan

Here's a shout out to all the Burners, fresh back from Tankwa Town. You have all been on my mind for the last few days, mirages in the stoff. Hope it wasn't too cold, that you gave and received in abundence, saw awsome creativity, met some crazy people, stomped up the dust and had a few tequilas for me. And hey, happy birthday Alex!

L'eau de Djin and Tonic

We elected not to take the Doxycycline. Instead, we pop garlic capsules a few times a day and cover exposed skin in Citronella oil. Our method definitely has less of those dreaded side effects, if you don't count the crap taste in your mouth. This note serves as a warning to all those intending visiting us and perhaps an explanation as to why we haven't been chatted up yet.

The Nerdy Birders

We've racked up quite a list of birds in Nam. Lots of regulars but definitely also some unfamiliar songs at dawn. A few have been left unidentified, like some of those seed eating LBJ's in the sea of waving blond and green grasses where we camped near Sossusvlei - um - were those larks or cisticolas? We are still in charted territory, but soon we'll be crossing into new habitats when we can start twitching out a list of lifers!

Marking time until Angola

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Tomorrow is Friday - drinks night in the dog park.  Peggy and I will have a drink in our hand/paw tomorrow evening at 6pm SA time to join the gang for a sundowner, wherever we'll be - maybe at Kunene River Lodge, where we must wait until my credit card pin arrives.  We're missing you very much.  Peggy is having the time of her life and is a very adventurous pooch, often taking herself for walks!  There are lots of geese in the campsite at Ondangwa which is a great temptation for a herder.  Jen and I keep spoiling her fun!  The rope and caribiner have to work hard sometimes!

As soon as the credit card pin arrives, we can cross into Angola.  Thanks, D, for doing the PO Box run for me.

Who we've met

Check out http://www.jorust.com/.  She is an amazing girl, biking around Africa on her own for a year.  We met her in Ai-Ais and she stopped with us for coffee.  What a pity she's travelling faster than us as it would have been nice to cross paths later on, but we'll follow her on her website instead.  Good luck, Jo, and we'll be rooting for you in the 2014 Dakar as the first South African female entrant!
On the less adventurous side, but loads of fun, were the 11 men we met at the pool at Ai-Ais.  They were a scream of doctors, farmers, interior designers and dog-lovers, not a “camper” amongst them!    We joined them for dinner and wine from a bottle – welcome respite from the “doos”.  Lots of wine and song from the “male voice choir” of gorgeous men, but not an eligible one amongst them.  Thank you lads for a lekker evening!
Now we're in Windhoek and trying not to meet our neighbour in the campsite, who's been living here for 10 months with his roaring V8-sounding BMW, his caravan and his klippies and coke.  We worry that Peggy may be squashed by the BMW – she really doesn't dig that exhaust. 

Off for our first G&T on the tour.  Keep you posted...

Peggy

 She's having the time of her life, mostly.  It's tough on the days when we're driving most of the day.  Then it's no fun for a border collie in a Land Rover.  But once we've stopped, she has no end of interesting smells to follow and is quite bold in the campsites.  In Ai-Ais, we had baboons visiting sometimes and it took her a while to clock that they're dangerous.  But by the time we left, she was jumping in the car as soon as she smelt them on her turf.  Sensible girl.  At Little Sossus camp (http://www.littlesossus.com/), she made friends with Joepie, the resident Jack Russel and at Nauams camp, Nicky, the white Husky hunter, joined our camp for the night and was more of a match for her size.  It didn't take Peggy long to pick up a few hunting tricks and she's now after the mongooses (or is it mongeese?) and ground squirrels in the Windhoek campsite.  Nothing escapes the border collie stare, even the ants!  Of course, while hunting, she has to be careful not to get things in her eyes.  At Ai-Ais, one eye was swollen closed for a day having been punctured by something sharp.  She does look very funny in the picture of her and Bel as Bel strips the chicken – a fun job.



Vegetarian stripping chicken for carnivore



The Stickers

We've put the djinandtonic stickers on Preshy's doors now.  Thanks Di, for a fabulous present.  How was the Go Slowly tour?  Loads of people in carparks, tearooms and garages have asked us what Djin and Tonic is all about and hopefully many of them will join.  Brent and family from Joburg were wonderfully enthusiastic at Solitaire.  Please send us the picture you took  We hope your Irish Twin girls do the same thing in about 20 years.  Otto in Windhoek, who fixed Precious' shocks and who reckons our name should be changed to “brandy and coke”, see you on the return journey.
Of course, we think we're very clever cutting up one of the stickers so that we can have “tonic” and “djin” on the vents on our respective sides of the car. 

Catering on the Djin and Tonic Tour

The catering so far leaves a lot to be desired, so Windhoek has brought a welcome relief.  In Springbok, we stocked up on rice, chicken necks, carrots and cabbage for Peggy.  Once in Ai-Ais, we realised we were a bit short of vegetables and long on tins of baked beans.  So our diet from there until we got to Windhoek has been a number of variations on that theme.  What fun!  If there are 50 ways to leave your lover and 8 ways to leave a Kulula aeroplane, there are countless ways to eat with carrots and cabbage, as long as you have some curry powder, baked beans or tinned sweetcorn.  And yes, there is still some cabbage left, blackening in its cloth bag as it slowly oxidises.  It should make one more batch of food for Peggy, lucky girl.

"Leisure"

Thank you, Sue, for your mantra. We'll do lots of standing and staring!

What is this life
If full of care
We have no time
To stand and stare.

No time to see
When woods we pass
Where squirrels hide
Their nuts in grass.

No time to see
In broad daylight
Streams full of stars
Like skies at night.

No time to stand
Beneath the boughs
And stare as long
As sheep or cows.

A poor life this
If full of care
We have no time
To stand and stare.

2 more sleeps

2 more sleeps before we leave. We're all packed up, bar our bags with our clothes and now I've lost my credit card!