How to explore Etosha National Park

For some of you, this will be a look at some of the many pictures we didn't get to show you while we were there in November of 2013. For others, wanting to go to Namibia themselves, this will be primer on how best to explore the park, and the things we learned that we could have done better.

First of all, Namibia's Etosha National Park is huge.

Have you got a gun?!

So the water is definitely rising. But not as much as they said it might. Actually, I think they were just a day or two off. It really only started coming up fast yesterday morning, and it did rise about a foot yesterday. It also came up quite a bit overnight.

I took a couple of photos on Saturday morning and again just now.

It wasn't meant to be...

I came across another fantastic airfare yesterday morning. It meant changing our (very loose) plans again, so we hummed and hawed about it for over an hour, despite knowing that it was a great deal.

Eventually, we decided to book it.

Very strange!

Man it is a small world sometimes, isn't it? Do you remember the strange coincidence we told you about when we were in South Africa? That was just simply weird. It still leaves us shaking our heads.

Well we learned of another strange coincidence yesterday.

All we need is a rocking chair...

Despite the fact that we have very few campers at the park, there's still a lot to do to keep us busy. Fortunately, I think we're now at the point where we're doing things that we want to do rather than things that we have to do.

Oh. Scratch that. I just remembered that I've got a loose toilet to fix. Don't really want to do that, but I have to!

Long day yesterday

Was up at 4:30am yesterday morning to take Lindsey and the kids to Regina airport for their flight back to Nova Scotia.

We've been getting a lot of rain the last few days and the hill leading out of the campground gets pretty muddy. I was a little worried about the ability of the little blue car and it's driver to get us up the hill!

What motivates you to travel?

We want to know what motivates you to travel and how do you like to travel?

Everyone has a different reason to travel and enjoys traveling in a different way. No way is the wrong way if it is the right way for you.

Starting to turn people away

We had quite a few phone calls and emails yesterday from people wanting a campsite for the long weekend. But most of them want a full hookups campsite and we're pretty much sold out. There are a few tenting sites remaining, and a couple of 15 amp electric and water sites with no sewer hookups.

The Canadian July long weekend is a little goofy this year.

San Francisco on our agenda?

Boy, it was a miserable weekend weatherwise, so we spent much of it indoors. That meant that I was on the internet more than normal. And when on the internet, my usage tends to be towards travel related things.

So I was once again exploring the options for how we're going to get from Seattle down to Mexico in early November when we return from South Korea. And I came up with an interesting plan!

A picture is worth a thousand words

Not sure I could write a thousand words about how cold and rainy it was yesterday. If felt like April, not June! Still, we didn't want to be stuck in the house all day, so we went out for a walk a couple of times just to get some fresh air.

Keeping busy when it rains

We're in the middle of our first real rainy spell. It poured buckets all afternoon yesterday, and still raining this morning. And it's abnormally cold too. The high expected today is only 13C (55F)!

But even with the inclement weather, there's still lots going on here at the park!

Surprise visitors!

Apparently being a little further south in Saskatchewan means that more people are more inclined to stop in and say hello. Last year we were just a little too far north. This year, we're only about 45 minutes from the Trans Canada highway.

It was kind of funny when Robert and Karen showed up!

Push Button for Service

Most of these regional parks in Saskatchewan (there are around 90 of them) started out back in the 1960's or 1970's. Many began as just a place for a group of guys to go camping and fishing.

As time went on they grew to include other services. Some of them now have swimming pools or even golf courses. Each one seems to have a specific attraction. Last year, our park was known for it's fantastic fishing. The main attraction here at Cabri Regional Park seems to be recreational boating.

Not the most glamorous part of the job...

For us, the worst part of managing a campground is dealing with the bathrooms. Unfortunately, keeping them spotless is a big part of Ruth's job...but I also have some crappy responsibilities when the plumbing needs work!

We spent most of the day yesterday on one bathroom!

Malealea Lodge in the tiny country of Lesotho

We saved a few posts for you from our Southern Africa trip. Today we're going to look at the place we stayed in Lesotho, the tiny country surrounded by South Africa.

The family owned Malealea Lodge in the remote village of Malealea is located in a fertile valley and is surrounded by beautiful mountains. It is a hiking and horseback riding paradise, and was one of our top five experiences during our four month visit!

We feasted like kings!

The day began with Chris and Juan making a common Mexican breakfast for everyone. Huevos rancheros! Eggs served on tortillas with refried beans and potatoes and salsa.

What a great start to the day!

Some assembly required...

Great day yesterday. It's funny how quickly the weather changes though. Yesterday morning was totally beautiful, and then a cold front passed through and the temperature dropped like a rock and it got windy and rainy. That lasted for two hours or so and then the sun came out and it was beautiful blue sky and sunshine again!

Ruth and I had a little campground work to do, and everyone else kept busy too...

Visitors from Mexico!

Average day here at the park yesterday. It's a little cool, and so we still don't have that many people coming in. Besides the people who hold seasonal sites, I think we had three reservations for the weekend.

One of them was a couple of RVers who drove here all the way from Mexico!

A nest full of baby birds

Yesterday was hedge trimming day for me, while Ruth and Lindsey and the kids went into Cabri to pick up some plants and flowers. Hedge trimming is a big job, and one that I've never done before.

But I caught on pretty quick and I think the finished product looks great!

I'd rather stay at the park!

Going in to town to do our weekly grocery shop is a pain in the butt! We left at around 11:00am and didn't get back until 5:15pm.

It's a 45 minute drive each way, and we have to make a lot of different stops in town. It doesn't help when the lineups at the checkouts are so long!

They Have Arrived!

Ruth did the three hour drive each way to Saskatoon airport yesterday to pick up our daughter Lindsey and grandkids Cameron and Sadie. Apparently she parked and walked to the terminal and as she entered the terminal, there they were! Perfect timing.

Photo of the Month!

You'll notice that today's header photo dates back to October of 2007. That was the month that we officially vacated our home in Ottawa and took off in our motorhome, Sherman!

For the next several weeks we're going to be featuring our choice of photo of the month as our header photo. We'll be going month by month since the October 2007, so this should continue with a different header photo each day.

Camping Slobs

Pretty uneventful weekend. We met some more of the seasonals who dropped their trailers and fifth wheels off for the summer. And we had two sets of young people show up and do some tenting.

After they left on Sunday morning, I went to tidy up their sites. One was not bad, and just required the normal cleanup. However the other was a mess.

May Expenses

A little higher than we expected, but not by much.

Really, our only expenses for the summer are food and internet. Oh, and of course insurance and a bit of fuel for the little blue car. But we arrived here to empty cupboards so we had some stocking up to do!

One month down...

And four to go.

Not that we're counting. To be quite honest, we're totally enjoying ourselves as managers here at Cabri Regional Park. And, we have lots of visitors to look forward to!

1,000,000 Unique Viewers

Sometime within the next hour, the unique view counter on this blog will cross the 1 million mark!

Even though we've been chronicling our travels since October of 2007, we've only been using this blog platform since June of 2008. So the counters that log our reader statistics only date back to that month.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

No, this isn't the beginning of a ghost story. It really was a dark and stormy night!

We actually had a tornado warning in the area yesterday. We didn't see one, but the conditions sure looked like there could have been one.

Now That's a Tractor!

Camping reservations are coming in at the rate of two a day or so. After the big rush the first couple of days when we began taking reservations on May 5th, things really quieted down. Those who knew what they wanted booked them right away! Now, the weather has been beautiful and people are starting to think about camping.

Looking at our reservations, it's easy to see that our busy time is going to be between June 27th and August 4th.

How to Get the Best Airfare Deals

Very few people on your airplane paid the same price. In fact, the variance in pricing is amazing. But you want to be one of the lucky few who paid the lowest price! How do you do that? We've booked some fantastic airline fares over the last couple of years and we're going to show you how we do it.

There are three things you have to have to book the best deal. Patience, persistence, and flexibility.

Before and after

What a change to the park in almost four weeks. I took a couple of "after" shots this morning, but we've got some showers happening at the moment, so I'll try and do a few more another day when the sky is blue.

But for now, you'll get an idea of the changes.

Some things are worth the extra money...

When we received our new hats last fall, the good folks at Tilley had included a couple of surprises for us to try out!

Tilley is known around the world for it's hats. They've been making the best quality hats since 1984, and have since expanded their product line into other clothing and accessories.

I thought the water was supposed to rise in the spring??

The water level here at the park continues to drop. Lake Diefenbaker is actually a reservoir lake, formed by a dam at the eastern end. Most of the water flow comes from the Rocky Mountains west of Calgary, and the spring runoff from the mountains really doesn't reach this area until mid June.

I was told about a website yesterday that forecasts the flow to the lake, and they're saying it will continue to drop until May 31st.

Fun with airfares

I've been booking a lot of airfares lately!

We told you about our great deal ($471 return) from Calgary to Seoul, South Korea. But our daughter and son also have some trips coming up and I thought I'd tell you about the deals they got. One of them is totally amazing!!

What a day!

You'd think my "what a day!" title would be related to how much work we did at the campground or something. But no, it's because we went shopping yesterday! Let me tell you, I'd rather stay at the campground and work.

Okay, but first things first. I'm sure you all want to know who won $50 dollars in our contest...

Our baby owl is about to fly!

We want to talk a little bit about our pump and water system here at the park, but before we get to that we'll show you some more pictures of our baby owl. Actually, it's not so much a baby anymore...it's a youngster.

The changes in the owlet have been amazing over the last two weeks...

What do we eat?

A couple of weeks ago, we posted our grocery bill. Many of you have questions about our gluten free eating habits, so Ruth thought it would be good to show you exactly what she makes with all that food and how it fits into our daily intake.

So here's the list of what we eat each day...

Who wants $50 USD cash???

Yep, we're giving away some cash this time! We love doing these little contests, and it's been a while, so we're looking forward to seeing one of our regular readers pocket the cash! However, you can win even if you stopped by here today for the first time!

This time, we've partnered with DriveNow Australia who has sponsored this contest for you. It's pretty simple, so let's get to it...

Things are coming together

Due to water leaks from frozen pipes and valves over the winter, we didn't have the five washrooms totally ready to go when campers arrived on Friday. But all of them have full service campsites, so it wasn't a big deal. Besides, we did have two of them ready, so if they really wanted to use the public facilities they would just have to walk a couple of minutes.

We probably have twenty or so rigs in the campground at this time.

DriveNow in Australia

What started out as an advertising post almost has me sold on the idea itself. We've always known that the best way to explore Australia would be in a motorhome or some kind of van or RV. And we always kind of thought that maybe buying and selling would be the way to go because renting usually adds up.

But some of the deals from DriveNow are pretty attractive.

Open for business!

Well, our campground officially opens for business this afternoon. It's not totally ready, but most of the items not ready are beyond our control.

That's okay though, because it's not going to be busy. In fact, we don't have any reservations. Although there will be some of the seasonal campers here for the long weekend.

We're hosting another giveaway!!!

That's right, we're giving away some cash again! Working with one of our advertising partners, we're going to give somebody a little thank you for putting up with the occasional advertising post.

We love doing this kind of stuff...we make some money, and so does one of you!! But you'll have to wait until Monday morning to see the details.

Never expected to wake up and do THAT this morning...

I just booked us a flight to Seoul, South Korea.

I belong to several flight alert services, and I had an email waiting in my inbox alerting me to an oddball Delta airlines deal that went from Saskatoon to Hong Kong for under $500 return. That's quite a bit less than half the usual price, and I would have booked it but the dates wouldn't line up for us. So I started doing some research...