Our next destination was the town of Swakopmund which bills itself as a bit of an adventure/extreme activity mecca but these were all well out of our budget, so it would simply provide us with some civilisation after a week or so of bush living and camping. Our plan was to drive down the much lauded skeleton coast which is famed for its trecherous sand banks and fogs which has claimed many a ship. We entered the easily accessible southern section of the park and we were greeted by truely obscene prices; 6 quid each just to drive through the sodding place. And because the place was so remote we couldn't just turn around and leave. So we unhappily paid the money and started the long drive down the skeleton coast. And after a bleak and unpromising start it got more and more bland and the unpromise just carried on we started to rue the extortinate entry charge even more. We saw one wreck which looked so small and pathetic that I couldn't even be bothered to leave the car for. The day was somewhat salvaged by the seal colony further down the coast. I had previously never seen a seal before and before I new it I was looking at a pebble wind swept beach which was home to an estimated 80 000 fighting, stinking, feeding seals of all shapes and sizes. Their amazement brought on by their sheer numbers and noise they generated was almost over shadowed by the stink they produced. We then had a nervous drive along the salt road as our petrol gauge blinked red and cued some rally driving by myself as a figured the faster you drive the more use you get out of the little fuel you have left. We made it, just, and treated ourselves with a sausage role and made our way to Swakopmund, arriving just before dark. We did what we had to do, treated ourselves to a kudu steak, checked the internet and visited the big sand dunes outside the town. I will mainly remember Swakopmund for three things though 1) The fog 2) The school which we walked by showed that whilst Apartheid has ended as a policy, white kids still play with white kids and black kids still play with black kids. 3) It showed me how cynical people can be. Watching the first semi final World Cup game, I have never seen people cheer so loudly at another teams and nations misery as when Italy knocked in their goals to sink Germans. I can't critisise toomuch because I probably jumped the highest of anyone.

After a couple of nights experiencing urban life we headed back in to the bush. We made the relatively short drive to Spitzkoppe which sounds pretty bland dscribed in words. Just really a series of big blood red rocks jutting out of the ground. But it was a spectacular place and we climbed one of the islands of rock which gave us a special and isolated moment to look at the Namibia stretch out before us. Again we had a great isolated campsite, this time straddled by some huge rocks which framed the beautiful star studded desert sky. After Spitzkoppe we again had a relatively short drive to Tsaobis Leopard Sanctury. We didn't know much about it but it was on the way and promised to provide something different and had the allure of a promise to see the one big cat which we had failed to see in the wild. On arrive at the reception we were met by friendly french researcher who had been at the sanctury researching the movements of baboons for the last seven months. He informed us that we were the first visitors in over a week and the place had actually been sold the Monday before we arrived and was now closed for visitors. They kindly, though, realised we had gone out of our way to get there and let us stay for free. We did a nice, and sweaty, walk and also got to see the leopards as well as some a few lynx and cheetahs. The place was little more than a gloryfied zoo but it had a nice campsite again and we again just enjoyed being in the bush with just us, tazzy, our slightly decepit tent, a log fire and a lot of stars.

I'm running out of steam....