We finally tore ourselves away
from the wonderful hospitality of
Lars and Juanita in Kamanjab
and headed off down the road, 
with Zambia as our next country
of call.  Of course, there were a
few stops along the way, such
as at the Hoba Meteorite in the
Grootfontein area.

This is the largest known meteorite in the world today and weighs approximately 60 tons.  Scientists have been able to determine that the meteorite fell to earth less than 80 000 years ago but the age of the meteorite is estimated at between 190 and 410 million years old!

The meteorite consists of 82.4% iron, 16.6% nickel and 0.76 cobalt and other elements.  (In Alan's words, a big hunk of *#* steel fell out the sky!)

After weeks and weeks of travelling through arid areas devoid of people - we found them!!  More than a million people and the vast percentage of the entire population live in the very north eastern most section of Namibia - why?  Water is the answer.

Pole and dagga huts abound where children play in the dusty verges and cattle and goats aimlessly wander in the road ahead while an air of poverty and sadness prevails.  It is a hard life with hours spent fetching and carrying water, trying to cultivate maize in poor soils and keep food on the table in an area with very little employment.  The children, oblivious to the hardships that face them in later life, laugh and wave at the passing cars.  It is one of the real faces of Africa, the face you don't see in the glossy tourist supplements, but so much part of Africa.

After two nights at Ngepi, we just had to force ourselves to say goodbye to the Namibian leg of our journey, and soon the Okavango River was replaced in our camera lens by the mighty Zambezi River.  Hello Zambia!!  

Our first impression is that Zambia is a true African country, with warm, friendly people and much to feast the eye on.  We travelled over the new bridge linking Namibia to Zambia at Katima Mulilo and our first stop was in Livingstone, the Zambian side of the Victoria Falls - the town is "interesting", with polite vendors trying to sell curios to you and large potholes in every street!  The Victoria Falls - magnificent!!