On Tuesday, 10 April ’12, I crossed the border into Namibia. This is my fourth time in Namibia in the last year. I really do love this country. It feels like home. This is the one country in Africa where I feel completely and utterly safe! I remember last year, when I was cycling through here, I woke up one night around 11:00pm in my sleeping bag(I camped wild most of the time) and there was a man standing over me. Sure, I got a fright and immediately gripped my knife that was in my pocket, but all he wanted to do is check whether I was alive! (Not sure what he would’ve done if I wasn’t….)

Experiencing Namibia on a motorbike is a little different to the slow pace I’m used to on my bicycle. The upside to now being on a motorbike (Apart from faster progress), is that I now get to see different parts of the country. Like riding to Ai-Ais for instance. I’ve always wanted to visit the Fishriver Canyon. And now I got to do so! Really is a beautiful place. I took the C10 to Ai-Ais. Beautiful gravel road. Before I knew it I was blasting off at 100km p/h. (This might be no mean feat for most dual-purpose bikers, but I’ve never ridden so fast on a gravel road!!!). Also had my first decent fall on this road! (oops) I moved to the side of the road to make way for an oncoming vehicle, not seeing the sand lying right on the edge of the road. Snaked a bit at first…and next thing the front wheel just gave way and I hit the ground with a great cloud of dust erupting around me. Luckily the car stopped and a German guy jumped out to help me pick up the bike. I’m sure he must’ve found my laughing very strange. Well I thought it was very funny!!!



I camped out at Ai-Ais for a night. Checking myself in was a load of fun. I’m used to people always staring at me from my bicycle days (not everyday you see a white chick in Africa cycling with a heavily loaded bicycle…all on her own). On the bike, it’s so much more fun. People initially stare when they see the bike, with all her kit and stickers etc. Then, as soon as I take my helmet off you see jaws drop like a Mexican wave.



My evening at the camps was rather quiet. Spoilt myself to a nice and juicy fillet steak and a Savanna Dry to celebrate the occasion. Next morning the other campers started to approach me. I met two ladies (Jennifer and Belinda), accompanied by their Border Collie (Pegasus) riding up the West Coast of Africa in a Land Rover. Yay. More adventurous people!! We had coffee and swapped stories and notes before I left for my next destination (Mariental). Before long we had our maps out and compared routes to see where we could possibly meet up again. But it was obvious that I would be going at a much faster pace than them. So we opted for email updates.



I could feel that I’m coming down with a bit of a cold. This ALWAYS happens right after I launch for a big trip. I think it’s when I start relaxing, then my body just releases all the stress it built up over the preceding months of preparation etc. Initially I wanted to push for Windhoek, but because of the cold I decided to rather stop over in Mariental. The place where I wanted to camp for the night (River Lodge), was fully booked. As luck would have it I met a bunch of guys from Vredendal and Bellville, on their way to Henties to go fishing! They came to my rescue and said I could stay with them as their chalet had two open beds. Perfect! They had seen an article about my trip in a newspaper (not sure which one) and recognized me as soon as I pulled into the camp. Wonderful gentlemen, they took it upon themselves to look after me and gave me a place to sleep and food and drinks…and we even made a deal to meet up in Henties again. (Seeing as I’m also heading that way!). So on Sunday we have arranged when and where we’ll be meeting to continue our little “it’s a small world” party.







Staying over with Ingo and Lisa Waldschmidt tonight. Ingo was the first Namibian to have competed in the Dakar Rally. Namibia will be my training grounds next year in preparation for Dakar 2014. So we've just been chatting Dakar all night! Gets me all excited!!

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Life's a journey, enjoy the ride! www.jorust.com