Ariving at the farm we started getting the aircraft ready for the week long trip thru the central part of Namibia
This time it will be Thomas, Josef, Neurath, Stefan and Holger taking to the sky over beautiful Namibia

Early morning on the 27th we started up the ever reliable Rotax engines and waiting for the oil to warm up we did our radio checks and one by one we taxied to 03 on Otjivero.
Neurath did the radio work so he was off first, followed by Thomas and Holger in UEW. Me and Stefan followed last in UFJ

During the flight to Solitaire one goes thru different phases:
Firstly the excitement of a new trip takes over and your mind works overtime. Thinking of all the beautiful sights we will see but also being anxious and worried of things that might happen.
We must not forget: 1 engine.... lots of open space below us. But, this soon passes and you start to relax Once you start to relax and take in the sights mixed with the humming of the engines, watching UEG and UEW floating beside us the second part of the trip kicks in. We reach the Namib rand with a massive drop into the Namib plains.
This is one of my favourite parts of the trip. You throttle back and let the Aircraft float down to Solitaire.

This time around, Pasquale the owner of Solitaire treated us to something special...
He set up camp on his farm Sparwater which is about 15km North-west of Solitaire. During the day we stayed in Solitare, eating the world famous apple crumble and just being lazy next to the pool.

At 16:00 we started up and took off for the 15 minute flight to Sparwater.
Each had a tent, stretcher, chair, cold beer and a warm meal. But before that we all went for a sunset flight over the plains with the Cheetah's doors left behind. Perfect flying conditions let us cruise at 60 mph watching the Zebra, Springbox and Oryx grazing on the plains.

   You don't get much better than that!!!

The flight from Solitaire to Swakop was without any events. We phoned Swakopmund for the weather check and were told that the fog is on the ground. We waited until 10:00 am and then took off in the direction of Arandis. We agreed that we will have Neurath's farm as the alternative if Swakopmund is still closed up by the time we get to Arandis. All went well and we could creep in under the fog and land safely at Swakopmund.

You need 2 days in Swakop to relax and just hang around in this beautiful town.
We did not rush the departure to Uis knowing that Swakopmund seldom lets you leave in the early morning ours.
By 10:00 am we had the Cheetahs ready for take off and the fog cleared enough to let us fly along the coast line towards Hentiesbay. We followed the coast line a little longer up to Cape Cross and then turned right toward Messum Crater and Brandberg.
As usual, we passed the Brandberg to the west and once we get to the Ugab we follow the river a while hoping to spot the desert elephant.
No luck this time but Neurath spotted some desert lions strolling in one of the many side arms of the Ugab.
Not long after that we landed at Uis international Airport 

The flight from Uis to Neurath's farm is a 2 hour flight which ends crossing the Erongo Mountains and then into Karibib.
We left Uis late and by the time we arrived at the farm the morning sun had already warmed up the ground and thermals were throwing us around.

October the 2nd we took the short 45 minute flight to Erindi
This is the perfect stop if you want to see animals in style.
Take a game drive or just sit on the 'porch' and the animal will come to you drinking in the evening.

After breakfast the friendly staff at Erindi loaded our luggage and dropped us off at the Erindi Airstrip.
Taking off, we had a 1:45 hour strech back to Otjivero. Watching the weather charts again carefully we timed our arrival perfectly again. Shortly after landing the east wind picked up but by that time we were already on the ground safely back at Otjivero.
Washing the Cheetahs and parking them each in the same condition as we left off, we knew we had another safe trip around Namibia... and ready for the next one.