Visit to Namibia.

Full of courage after the successful flights to Milan and back, we get ready for your first intercontinental flight: destination Namibia! It is Friday 25th March when we board the Virgin flight to Johannesburg where we will stay over for two days. On the plane you get a flight cot, also called a bassinet, strapped to the bulkhead separating the different sections of the plane. The system works really well and after a reasonable night's sleep you set foot in Africa for the first time!

With Iiris,Theo and Demi

Our first stopover on this African safari is with Heino's Aunt Iris, Uncle Theo and their daughter Demi. As always they are very welcoming and make it a very relaxing couple of days. Theo introduce us to the wonders of Gripe Water (very good for stomach cramps) and you also experience your first braai(BBQ). The final step in preparing us for the Namibian trip is for your mom to have her hair cut short, as it has become impossible for you to resist giving it a good pull!

Monday morning sees us on Johannesburg airport again, this time the desitination is Windhoek, capital city of Namibia. It is here that Heino's brother Henrico and sister Letitia lives. It is great fun to introduce you to your African family, and especially your cousins Sonja and Jacobus are very pleased to see you for the first time. Jacobus even spent a whole half an hour cooing and playing with you in your basket!

With Jacobus, Sonja, Letitia, Pieter, Henrico

Three days later it is time to take on the next leg of the journey: 710km's in a southerly direction to the small village of Karasburg. It is a town full of history for your dad as it is here that he was born, as was your grandfather, where both of them went to school and it is here that this Oupa Joepie of yours still lives today!

Despite a very hot day you are very good in your car seat and after 10 hours and numerous cool-down stops we enter the dusty town of Karasburg!

As you can imagine entertainment in a small African village is not in large supply, which makes it for a very restful break. We visit the doctor to use his scale, and we notice that you've made very good progress and now pull the needle down to 4.7kg! We also visit the grave of your Ouma Sonja who you so sadly will not be able to meet in person. It is a very emotional experience, however we can imagine how she is smiling down on her cute little granddaughter who has come so far to visit her!



Something we've been looking forward to all year is to visit our family farm, Haruchas. We stay with Louis and Anina Potgieter, the neighbouring farmers who rent our farm from Oupa Joepie, and their hospitality literally knows no bounds! It is great to go around the farm and to look at all the nice scenery, especially as it has been a great rainyear! We also visit the old farmhouse in which your dad lived for the first four years of his life. Unfortunately, as no one has lived there for many years, it is severely derelict, but it still is our ambition one day to fully restore it!

On the way back to Karasburg we stop over at oom Dolf and Tannie Kinna de Wet, lifelong friends of the Von Wiellighs, and largely responsible for your dad's love of tennis. Again the braai fire is lit, old times remembered and a new member of the Namibian family welcomed into the fold!

With Oupa Joepi

The final part of our journey is a three hour drive to the South African town of Keimoes. It is here that Heino went to secondary school, and here that his childhood friend Eric Swenson lives as a grape farmer. We stay in his mom, Tannie Etta's house, and she is extremely good with you, even giving your parents a few hours off for a rest! This used to be a second home for Heino whilst being at school far from his parents, and it is easy to see why he had such a good time here! Naturally more meat meets the braai and more friends are met, as well as you meeting little Evert, Eric and his wife Christine's son of just over a year old.

With Eric and Evert

Back in Karasburg the time just flies by, and before we know it, it is time to start making the long trek back to London. Your Oupa Joepie is very sad to see you leave, and it is easy to see that he got very attached to you in a short space of time! In Windhoek we spend the last two days looking at some flats and houses. The market here is still massively undervalued compared to Europe, and it is our desire to make an investment here for your future one day.
After another short stopover in Joburg, we are back in London, but with the amazing Namibian landscape still in our hearts! It's been a very good time for us all, but especially for you as the scale tells us that you now weigh 5.57kg, up from 4.5kg when we left. Undoubtedly the combination of good Namibian food, lots of sun and fresh air did us all good, ensuring that we will do it all again next year!

Under a quiver tree