Check out moremission4x4africa.weebly.com for final edited updated chronicle of our journey. See also www.namibpsychologist.com and www.HRMatrixConsulting.com
Date of Arrival: Thursday, 14 July 2011
Swakopmund, Namibia
Yes, we did!
One step at a time...
One bite at a time...
One brick at a time...
One turn of a wheel at a time...
Date of departure: Wednesday 19 January 2011
Welcome!
As our journey's kilometers grow, we hope wisdom will grow as we develop and build our site.
Willie, Caren, Hugo, Andrej and Sammie
One bite at a time...
One brick at a time...
One turn of a wheel at a time...
Date of departure: Wednesday 19 January 2011
Welcome!
As our journey's kilometers grow, we hope wisdom will grow as we develop and build our site.
Willie, Caren, Hugo, Andrej and Sammie
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
Henry Miller
Our posts are organised from the latest to the first
8 July, Friday Otjiwarongo, Namibia
We crossed into Namibia on the 1st July. Awesome to be here. Willie, Hugo and Andrej are in the Etosha National Park and Sammie and I are with good friends in Otjiwarongo. They come back tomorrow and the plan is to do Kaokoveld and Sossusvlei before we reach our final destination - Swakopmund. The internet up to now was not update-do-able...but that will happen soon. Looking forward to hear from all of you.
17 June, Friday Nkatha Bay, Malawi
Hugo celebrates his 20th birthday!
11 June, Saturday Dar es Salaam
Our overland friends from England surprised us last night by joining us at our camp! So, we've decided to stay today and hang out with them. The plan is to leave tomorrow.
10 June, Friday, Dar es Salaam
Andrej celebrates his 20th birthday! We plan to leave for Malawi border tomorrow.
8 June, Wednesday, Dar es Salaam
Hugo and Andrej went to Zanzibar today. It appears as if there might be a website problem...I'm waiting to hear from the website team. Sorry!
7 June, Tuesday, Dar es Salaam
Smooth border crossing into a stunningly beautiful country...one speeding ticket... almost two... later and we are in Dar es Salaam.
Amper daar!
30 May, Monday
Getting ready for Tanzania!
29 May, Sunday
Arrived back at Jungle Junction, Nairobi, last night after an amazing week at the beach with Ruco.
24 May, Tuesday
Ruco got his lost luggage. We are going to the beach for a few days - spend time together before his project start. Andrej had lab tests done, and good news is that he is on the mend.
22 May, Sunday, Nairobi
Ruco!
21 May, Saturday, Nairobi
Raining in Nairobi. Cannot wait for Ruco's arrival tonight - sad though that Kristi cannot come!
20 May, Friday, Nairobi
Successful car maintenance: new oil filter and -change. Laundry today and stock up on supplies. One more day and Ruco will be here!
19 May 2011, Thursday, Nairobi
Jungle Junction - a wonderful place to be!
18 May 2011, Wednesday, Nairobi
Nairobi! It is wonderful to be here. We are in Jungle Junction with running water, hot showers, flushing toilets, internet without wires...time to get ready for the last stretch. We cannot wait to see Ruco on Saturday! Please write us if you can. We think of all of you often.
3 May 2011, Tuesday, Addis Abeba
We are leaving Addis Abeba today for the Omo valley and then Kenya. Have been in Ethiopia for almost 2 weeks and it was good. We've reached the halfway mark and are a little travel weary, but will pep up again! Internet has been a problem - a big and frustrating one. Thank you for everyone's prayers and messages. We miss you!
16 April 2011, Saturday, Khartoum
Our transition into Sudan went well. Sammie and the car arrived safely a day later on the barge. We are thankful that everything went well and we are united again. Our drive, through the desert from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum was fiercely hot - 45+ degrees! Hugo and I came down with some kind of stomach bug and were so sick...Weak this morning, but getting better. We will probably leave for Ethiopia later today.
6 April 2011 Wednesday, Aswan
We finally received our visas this morning. I've seen it with my own eyes!
So the next fire: yes, there is another one: The barge is fully booked according the "barge man" and we will hear on Sunday if there will be a place for us!..
Good News: Our stuff was finally released and delivered in Swakopmund for which we are very thankful!
2 April 2011
We are in Aswan. The Khartoum official told Willie on Thursday that 2 visas were done and the other 2 will be done on Saturday. They will then fax it to the Sudanese embassy in Aswan. We will go to the embassy tomorrow and we hope it will be there and that they will be able to process it for us in 1 day.
As we "kill" one fire another starts: most of the day was spent to deregister our car in Egypt and to book the cars (our friends from England and ours) on the barge that will take it into Sudan. We have to go with the ferry and "meet" our cars once there. The plan was for Willie to stay on the barge to be with Sammie. We heard today that no one is allowed on the barge anymore after an incident where a foreigner was seriously injured, and Sammie is not allowed on the ferry!
This is so stressful...! I'm not sure what we are going to do yet. Once the car arrangements are done we will have to talk. Please "think" of us. I will let you know!
29 March 2011
Luxor in a campsite. Willie spoke to an official in Khartoum again and a visa agency will be able to process our Sudanese visas for us! We hope to collect them in Aswan later this week.
26 March 2011
No news yet! Went to Alexandria yesterday - had a wonderful visit with good friends; more news about that in the update.
"I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within."
~Lillian Smith
24 March 2011
We are still in Cairo - waiting to hear from the US Embassy in Khartoum who is trying to help us obtain visas for Sudan.
22 March 2011
All 4 of us received Ethiopian visas for which we are very glad...one stress less!
We went back to the Sudanese embassy and had a better reception. We could speak to a higher official in the embassy who welcomed us and at least listened. The embassy here in Cairo received instructions not to issue visas to US citizens. We need a letter of approval from Khartoum and for that to happen we need to know someone in Khartoum who can help us with this...!
Willie wrote to the Dept of Foreign affairs in Sudan this morning. We hope that they will answer us. Friends of ours in the States have used a visa agency in the past and we will try to contact them as soon as we have a number.
We are stressed - some of us do better with it, some less better - so continue to think of us, please! I hope we will have postitive news soon.
All 4 of us received Ethiopian visas for which we are very glad...one stress less!
We went back to the Sudanese embassy and had a better reception. We could speak to a higher official in the embassy who welcomed us and at least listened. The embassy here in Cairo received instructions not to issue visas to US citizens. We need a letter of approval from Khartoum and for that to happen we need to know someone in Khartoum who can help us with this...!
Willie wrote to the Dept of Foreign affairs in Sudan this morning. We hope that they will answer us. Friends of ours in the States have used a visa agency in the past and we will try to contact them as soon as we have a number.
We are stressed - some of us do better with it, some less better - so continue to think of us, please! I hope we will have postitive news soon.
21 March 2011
We are in Cairo in a campsite on the outskirts of the city - primitive with no internet access. All 4 of us and Sammie are well. We have a problem with Sudanese visas. They told us at the embassy yesterday that they do not issue visas for Americans. Please think of us. We will try again today and tomorrow - that we will find someone who will listen. We hope to find an internet cafe to update. We miss you and think of you all often!
10 March, Thursday
We had the smoothest crossing of a border known for its ill-famous reputation. 2 hours at port arrivals and we were in the land of Egypt. Friends of ours crossed yesterday - it took 6+ hours and 110 Jordanian pounds more than what we had to pay! We are tired, relieved and happy! Thank you for thinking of us, praying for us and "traveling" with us.
9 March, Wednesday
Our visit to the Egyptian embassy went well. We had a friendly "interrogation" and received our visas. We leave on the midnight ferry for Egypt - into Africa!
8 March, Tuesday
We arrived in Aqaba, Jordan yesterday afternoon and are in a campground overlooking the Red Sea. We needed water...to shower, to bathe, to wash clothes, to shower, to bathe...
Resting today, catching up on e-mails, blog and administration. We plan to go to the embassy tomorrow for our Egyptian visas and will take a ferry across tomorrow night.
We've spoken to several people different places, different times about the situation in Egypt - the freshest news are from overlanders here at the camp who have been waiting in Aqaba for several weeks for the unrest to calm down. They are leaving for Egypt later today. He gave us great advice about the visa process etc.
Situation in Egypt: we know many of you are following our progress, and are, like us, concerned about the recent events in Egypt and other countries. News reports from people that have been there are encouraging. Tourism has suffered severely as a result of the unrests and that had a significant influence on and in the lives of thousands of people working for the tourism industry. We do not have first hand experience or information, but the reports and feedback from travelers who have been there recently are positive, so we do feel comfortable about going in.
We also have several friends in Egypt whom we will make contact with today to find out how they feel about the situation.
3 March 2011
We are still waiting to hear from Namibia about our container/furniture problems and we hope to have more details today.
1 March 2011
We are in Amman, Jordan and reunited as a travel family. I'm updating as fast as I can. Thank you for writing to us. We love hearing from you!
25 February 2011
We are safely in Damascus, Syria. Internet cafè's and ATM's are few and far in between. We miss Andrej and Hugo and look forward to see them on Sunday.
20 February 2011
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16 February 2011
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9 February 2011
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