Namibia was one of the countries we were most excited about seeing on this trip. One of the most arid landscapes and with the lowest population density we were ready to get lost in the vast expanses of this country. Our first stop through the border was the the Etosha national park. The write ups were almost as good as the Okavango delta with watering holes scattered across the park being a sure way to see the parks wildlife. Our first drive in during the late afternoon wasn't very fruitful and a few of us started thinking of Botswana again! But then we got to the campsites and things started to get better.

The camp sites are set up near watering holes and have a few flood lights and a mini theatre seating area to sit and watch animals come to drink. Before dinner a few of us set off to the hole and witnessed thousands of small birds flocking around the reeds in unison. Flying over heads and making an impressive whooshing sound. It's hard to describe well, but it was beautiful to watch and left the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

The next morning we set out early again and within 5 minutes came upon 3 lions in the field and a few hours later we had seen a family of rhinosplaying around amongst a herd of oryxs, a hyena in a stand off with some zebras and giraffes executing some amazing moves to drink from a water hole.

From etosha national park we headed west across to a small cheetah sanctuary, although sanctuary is probably an over statement. The family that run the place have three domesticated cheetahs which we were able to pet and play with. A surreal experience as they were licking your arms, heads and the boys beards. After a play, and plenty of photos, the family brought out cuts of zebra and the cheetahs instantly reverted back to their more natural state of ripping apart the meat and crunching their bones. In the evening we were taken on the back of a truck into the cheetah park to watch another feed. Between us were just the metal bars of the truck not far from the ground. I managed to drop my bright pink hat out in front of them and they instantly took an interest to it. Our guide gracefully got out of the truck and with a stick shooed them away. All of these cheetahs had been rescued from farms where they had attacked livestock and farmers wanted them off their land. So I had the feeling this was a well meant park but the animals relied on this family daily for food.

An early morning start we headed west again to do our final night of bush camping of the trip. Bush camping means no electricity or running water at the campsite. The drive to the park was one of the longest and hottest, we could really feel the heat of the Namibian desert. As we drove into the wild the road deteriorated significantly and the bus was shaking violently, so much so we had to stop as part of the brake system had come loose and fallen off. A game of football ensued whilst two of our team headed off back down the road to find it. Cars passed us by honking horns but never stopping. In all the time we have been driving we have never stopped for any broken down car, so I guess thats karma!

Reaching our camp we raced to set up tents so that we had enough time to climb up one of the rock formations to see sun set. myself , Olly, Tom and Jason headed one way and set about a steep but short climb to the top. The views were amazing and the sunset breathtaking!

After a dinner of mutton stew we clambered into our tent falling instantly asleep and setting our alarms early (5.15) for an early morning hike up to watch sunrise. We have had many an early morning rise on the trip but the early mornings started to catch up with me and I v much struggled to wake up, but good old fomo (fear of missing out) got me out of bed and up the rock! I was so pleased with myself! Until the gents realised we were in the wrong place for sunrise and we had to clamber back down and up another hill. Running as fast as I could to see the sunrise I made it with one minute to spare. Phew. Great sunrise definitely worth waking up super early for!

From the desert we set off to finally reach the Atlantic and the much famed skeleton coast. I'm not sure what I thought it was going to look like, but grey and overcast weren't the first thoughts that came to mind. We stopped on the coast in front of a huge ship wreck to appreciate the accomplishment of crossing the African continent coast to coast. We were then treated to another spot of wildlife; seals! Thousand of seals, hundreds of dead baby seals and many new born seals scattered across the seashore. The smell and the sounds were incredible. The culmination of the smell from the many rotting seals and the sound of roaring seals was strange and unsettling. Olly put it quite well ' it's like the end of a war scene'. It made me realise how much great wildlife we had seen but it has all been happy and uplifting to watch, this again was wildlife at its rawest form; as I thought this amongst the chaos and the stench we saw a seal give birth on the sea shore. We were all willing the little guy on!

From there we moved onto our next major stop swakopmund. This was the strangest of places we had been in Africa. People drove around in 4x 4s the streets were lit at night and a lot of the people spoke German. This was little Germany in the heart of Namibia. The pull of attraction here is the desert sports, and of course, sky diving. I had deliberated doing it for a big stretch of the trip but when push came to shove ( excuse the pun) I opted out. After finding the main pub, and convincing ourselves that we all needed to drink from glass shaped boots, we were all set for the next morning and the sky dive, me in tow to watch and photograph ! Olly and I took ourselves to bed at a respectable hour, only after spending a bit of time looking for one of the group, who after drinking too much boot, ran out of the restaurant into the night not to be seen again for a good few hours. At 4 am he burst in through doors of the dorm and got into bed.

On our way to the sky dive centre he relayed how he thought he may have been in a casino, a night club someone's house, and finally a bit of desert.

It's hard to describe Ollys sky dive apart from to say that it was surreal saying good bye to him and then 15 minutes later saying hello, knowing he had jumped out of a plane. He said he enjoyed it but like white water rafting, he definitely won't be doing it again any time soon!

Our high octane day continued as we headed into the sand dunes for some quad biking up and then into the night for drinks and a local night club, cramming 8 of us into a 4 person car to taxi across time. My memory is fuzzy but I recall Olly and I walking home at some point!

Ready for an early morning we gathered around and presented our driver Steve with his early Christmas present. A few weeks back he has told us that his phone had broken in a pile of all ours when we were charging them. Feeling bad that we had broken it and also sad that he had no way of contacting home whilst on the road for so long I decided to organise a whip round and by him a new phone. We presented it to him and his face was priceless. That apparently is our guides best moment of this trip. Steve left home at 12 as his parents were too poor to look after him. He hung around a car workshop and started picking up the trade as a mechanic. From then he has driven taxis, buses and trucks and learnt English from tourists he has taken around. Steve earns now a significant amount of money in relation to his village and it seems that he is seen as a leader in the town. He helps people when they need something fixing or need money and when it is a big event such as Christmas he will buy the alcohol for the village ( although he doesn't drink himself). He has been amazing on this trip driving for days and days without a good break, and saving his accommodation money by sleeping in the truck cab at night. We will both miss him a lot!

From there on we undertook a seriously long and hot drive south towards South Africa. The air coming through the window was like a hair dryer and the journey was seriously bumpy. This was probably one of the toughest days we have done on the trip. It tested patience and civility towards all our friends as we travelled down in our big metal hot box! Arriving at the camp site we were treated to kudu steaks and salad before heading out to climb a 'worlds tallest sandune' I was dubious as when we go to the top there were definitely taller ones everywhere else I looked. The views from the top were stunning. The classic desert dune views with a sunset to finish off a 'tough' day of driving, everyone was re energised and ready for Santa to come and deliver some presents.

Christmas Eve we set off early to cross the remainder of the desert stopping only for pee breaks and lunch. After making it to the other side we had the opportunity to go to the worlds largest gorge to watch sunset and start to feel Christmassy.

Christmas Day was a very different for both of us. Our first time the Southern Hemisphere, first time waking up on Christmas Day in a tent and the first time I've willed myself to take a morning run and cold shower before the day starts.

Fortunately in the morning we only had a short journey to the campsite by the orange river. The day then started as the drink started to flow and dinner was served. An African Christmas dinner with rice instead of roast potatoes and a pineapple twist with grated carrot, all Washed down with South Africa wine from the spa supermarket. From there we traded presents with a five dollar budget; Olly recieving a t shirt of Namibia and I a bottle of Namibian wine. After dinner the Christmas game started with a quiz about the tour and a few awards were given out. Olly came runner up in best dressed, and I a runner up in most organised and best snacks. Needless to say the rest of the evening was a drunken affair culminating in Olly jumping into the pool with his clothes on and headtorch. Subconsciously he was ready to finish camping. Only two more nights to go. Boxing Day wasrelatively traditional with sore heads being nursed and not much else going on!

On 27th December we rose early to set off to our final country on the tour South Africa!