A (very) small tour group.

I was doing a 15 day small group tour this time. Little did I know how small that group would be...

As promised, at 07.45 on the dot, my guide arrived: Charly Herman, a German guy in his early 60's cheerfully greeted me, took my luggage and handed me some stuff to read.

I instantly liked him. It was a good job; to my slight dismay, it was going to be just me and him touring the country for the next 1800kms, before we picked up another guy in Swapkomund.

Charly had moved to Africa 33 years ago from the Black Forest. He'd travelled to CPT by boat (apparently, the first to go through the Suez Canal after the crisis), and had eventually moved to Windhoek because he "didn't like the weather in CPT". He was knowledgeable, proud and passionate about his country, and the Germanic qualities of reliability and matter-of-factness quickly came through.

I'll admit, I initially had my reservations. 30kms out of W'hoek, sayings like "nice sheeps" and his dubious, slightly risque German patter gave me some cause for concern.

But as the days have progressed, we've developed a good rapport. We chat but, thankfully, the silences on our six hour, 400km drives have not been uncomfortable and our dinners a deux have been pleasant.