Day 6- Rundu

Of this day I have taken nearly no photos. Except the morning when we spent some time just sitting and enjoying the splendor of the view of Popa Falls….

We just needed some time to regroup after Johan’s fall. Johan and his wife was picked up early that morning by one of the notorious minibus taxis of Africa, just before sunrise. They brought along a trailer, and so Johan and Magda went onwards to Rundu, where they were dropped off at an engineering works, that fixed Johan’s bike that day. There were no such bolt available in the whole of Namibia, that was confirmed by the BMW dealers in Windhoek. So the people at the engineering works just made one out of high tensile steel.  African ingenuity!

Meanwhile, the rest of us just packed up, and at a very leasurely pace started to find our own way to Rundu, just 2 hours away. I have thankfully stopped vomiting by then. But then the next calamity struck- I had another 2 days of hickups laying ahead, a reflux reaction after all the vomiting. It was not that good riding my bike, fighting a hickup every 5 seconds.

The road in the Caprivi strip is straight, and level…  It is also very dry, and can get hot, even in winter…

Photo Andrea

We arrived at Rundu, and after eating very little the past few days, I needed energy. We were happy to find a Wimpy at the Engen garage (filling station for you US friends…) And I had a beautiful doublethick milkshake. But the hickups just continued… so I went to find a pharmacy, and got some industrial strength medicine.

We camped at Ngandu Safari Lodge, which charged us about Nam$ 100 pp.

Photo Andrea

The wonderful news was that just after sunset Johan and Magda rejoined us, their bike fixed and ready for the next of the road.  I again went to bed very early, feeling drained after the past three days of being ill. But I do remember that Elaine has cooked us some beautiful pork chops for dinner.

Rundu is a large town with about 65 000 inhabitants- the capital of this Kavango region of Namibia. There are at least 3 pharmacies in the main road, one at a three story medical centre. They also have some excellent shopping, with a brand new mall with Shoprite as the anchor tenant still being built.

Camping at Ngandu was safe and on grass, there was just a hot water problem in the ablution blocks. I did manage a hot shower at the other side of the camping site, a small trickle of water at that shower. If the hot water problems can be fixed, this lodge will be good enough for most travellers not looking for luxury but affordability.

PS- The Caprivi strip ride map- from Kasane to Rundu: