August 26th. John is jumped on by a cheetah!

We had a 1&1/2 hour stop in Outja and caught up on emails and internet with the free wifi at a lovely German bakery. The toilets there were lovely and clean, so it was a pleasant break. Walked down a couple of blocks through the town to the supermarket and bought more water. We have been drinking purchased water everywhere, and needing lots every day because of the heat. However teeth cleaning and cups of tea is done with local wat
In the supermarket were some young women from the him ä tribe, which we were about to visit. The photos on Facebook will show them. The contrast between them and the business man in his suit was rather extreme. Lovely well-stocked supermarket.

From Outja we drove for about 15 minutes to visit the Himba tribe. This is a group of people who still live in the traditional way. There was a European man around the 1950s who married a Himba woman. She could not have children, so the adopted some orphans and set up a village for other orphans to be cared for by young women. There were some lovely young children there, and we were shown the traditional way the women clean themselves (no water, a herb smoke sauna), and how they live. An interesting place - there are 3-4,000 Himba people left. However a bit of cynicism raised because of the commercialisation of their way of life - there were a couple of other buses of tourists also there paying a fee to see the area and bringing food and school items.

From there it was a short drive to Otjitambi Cheetah Park where we were to stay. On arrival we went into the high-fenced owners house to pat the four tame cheetahs there. They had just been fed so we watched them devour their meal of meat. John was kneeling taking a photo of one when another came up and jumped on his back and took off his hat. The cheetah then proceeded to play with the hat! Eventually the hat was recovered in one piece. Jeromé also had the same thing happen to him later, as did Monica.

After we drove on a few kilometres to our camp site we were picked up by the owner and his father in a couple of utes with trailers, and taken to feed the wild cheetahs. We stood on the open decks,vans were driven into the large enclosures. The animals were thrown large pieces of meat, which they caught and dragged away to devour. There was another enclosure with a mother and three cubs, and one with a mother and two cubs.

Tents erected, shower - lovely and hot - then Liz was on cooking duty. Very easy meal to prepare - as we had a campfire we had baked potatoes, a bean salad, and steaks on the barbeque. Following dinner we were entertained by John reciting poetry and Amy singing a song, as well as Phil reciting a few limericks. Bed at 9.30 in time for an early start.

Alarm rang at 5.00am and we were all packed up and on the road at  6.30. The first town we passed through was Kamanjab. After that we turned onto a gravel road, wide, in good condition. Very dusty though. It was a long days drive. As we approached the Atlantic Ocean Coast, known as the Skeleton Coast, there was no vegetation, just sand as far as the eye can see.

Just arrived in Swakopmund.    Staying here for three nights in proper beds. Going out for dinner tonight as a group.