Namibia - dunes and skydiving !!

---

Namibia is the country I looked forward to visiting the most on our trip. It is a country of compelling beauty and wide horizons dominated by the brooding and desolate Namib Desert, which has the highest sand dunes in the world.

Leaving Maun at the crack of dawn, now standard practise, we headed towards Rundu in Namibia. The roads in this random part of the world were amazingly sturdy with no pot holes in sight, and, other than being very hot, the trip was uneventful.We eventually stopped at Rundu for supplies before heading to Sarasunga campsite located on the banks of the Kavango River which forms the natural border with Angola.

Camping on green grass sure makes a difference, other than the obvious comfort when sleeping, the best part was not having sand invade every crevice in the tent. The night was a short one as most of us were nurturing varying degrees of hangover, however we did manage a few drinks playing pool with the Irish before leaving them to another binge.

The 34th day travellng through Africa brought with it a shorter than usual drive to Etosha National Park, Namibia's premier park covering 20 000 km2. Namutoni Campsite, situated on the eastern side of Etosha, derives its name from the old German fort around which it is built. The Fort, overlooking the King Nehale waterhole, is the hub of activity with restaurants, swimming pool, a bar and curio shop for the girls in addition to an elevated decked walkway along the water-hole provides views of the surrounding scenery, wildlife and spectacular sunsets.

After a day spent sipping cold beers and messing around in the swimming pool with Rudi and Neil, we settled down to watch the animals creep down cautiously to the watering hole for an evening drink. After seeing the usual wathogs, giraffe and zebra sip nervously at the waters edge, two bull elephants made there entrance. For such large imposing creatures, it is astounding how nervous they were around the water hole, clearly uneasy with the noise and smell of us humans. I thought they would have been used to human presence, and I can only assume its down to their poor night vision.

Behaving for a second night in a row, we set out early the next morning travelling 150km across Etosha. One of the major complaints of an organised tour is the rigidity of the schedule; staying an extra day or extending the time spent in a favorite spot was not possible when taking 30 people into consideration. Visiting most game parks down Southern and Eastern Africa, as fantastic as it was, can get tiresome and this was definitely the case in Namibia. Nearly mowing down a young black rhino as we entered the park soon woke us all up. The fiesty youngster staring down the truck for a moment before showing his backside and trotting off into the thick of the bush. Soon after this we spotted a lioness with her head buried in the abdominal cavity of a wildebeest, but the highlight for me in that first hour were jackal's!! Pigeons not being the cleverest of birds were easy game for these cunning creatures who would circle around the watering hole, pretend to drink water, then pounce on the nearest bird. You would think the birds would take note of a missing friend, no chance, those jacklals has a feast!

Well that was it, after that first hour the back of the truck became unbearable and we all eagerly waited for the next stop at a safari lodge which had a swimming pool. After lunch we voted to cut the drive short. Shooting through the park the only animal we saw were white elephants finely covered with dust from the Etosha pan. Seeing these remarkable creatures, masquerading as marble statues with their fine white coat, and no other living specimen within miles around, animal or plant, accentuated how desolate a land we were visiting.

Etosha Safari Lodge is 10km outside the park set on the first hill of the Ondundozonananandana mountain range. Advertised as inventive and rustic with furniture and paintings by local villagers, it has a very african feel, more so than any other campsite.

After setting up camp it was straight to the bar, the only difference being the small bottle of rum in my pocket, important for a cheaper night out. The rum must have worked as, together with Todd the American and Rudi the Dutchman, I finally out did the Irish!

The next day we drove to Cheetah Park, a private farm dedicated to conserving Namibia's cheetah population. Walking with 3 tame cheetahs, handreared from birth after they were orphaned was fantastic. Their tongues were unbelievably rough, basically x10 your average tabby. That evening we jumped in the back of a pick up and went feeding the cheetahs. The guide, the poor fellow had to jump off the truck and throw pieces of meat to each of the 14 cheetahs. Dinner is worth mentioning as Francis, the cook, ordered double the quantity of rump steak, there was so much we couldn't finish it. The night was very entertaining; with an outside bar in the middle of a farm it was license to make as much noise as we liked. Add the standard South African bar games, involving bar stools, and a few bottles of rum, you can guess the rest.

Departure from the Cheetah Park took us to the Matterhorn of Namibia - Spitzkoppe. The 1728 m high rock formation, one of Namibia’s most recognised landmarks, is well known as an ancient San sacred site. Tired and looking forward to a few days in Swakopmund, we were about to leave for the coast when a 4x4 arrived, and to our amazement out steps Matt & Trent. After leaving us in Maun they flew to Swakopmund, staying a few days before driving up North. The chance of bumping into them along the way was quite unlikely, and definitely accidental.

Swakopmund has a holiday feel similar to that of a small German village. Recreation is the towns number one draw card with everything from sandboarding, quad biking, dune carting, parachuting and gambling available. There were also great restaurants, pubs and cafes dotted around town.

The next 2 days were spent relaxing as well as deciding which activities to do: sandboarding, skydiving, quadbiking or deep sea fishing to name a few. The choices what meal to have every night was also too much: the seafood platter which could have fed 20 or springbok loin with garlic sauce. Making decisions was just too much to ask for us sheep in the truck.

Activity wise, the Sandboarding was amazing. Lying on thin cardboard flying at 70km per hour down was a pure adrenaline rush, and besides, you can do it as many times as you like depending on how often you can climb back to the top of the dunes. I was glad we decided to lie down as stand up boarding looked very frustrating even if you have snow boarded. The quadbikers, on the other hand, had mixed results. Some complained about the pedestrian pace after being stuck behind slow riders, other crashed twisting knees and shoulders, but, others said it was fantastic. I'm just glad I went skydiving instead!

Skydiving!! Where do I start: not as scary as gorge swinging for one thing; a 30 second free fall which felt more like 3 seconds; thinking about jumping out of a plane for 25 minutes as the small Cessina slowly circled up to 10 000 feet; floating above the Namib Desert feeling as free as a bird (its true); the euphoria once you land safely with the biggest smile on your face, its just a must.

Saying all that, I wasn't even going to do it!! The deal was I would go white water rafting and Kathryn would sky dive. Neil and myself tagged along to take photo's of Ciara and Kathryn skydiving and took a few beers with to quench our thirst. Well by 2pm, after a few beers, the extra US$350 to skydive wasn't an issue for a very confident, well oiled Andre. Rather than waiting like the rest of the skydivers that day, I was shuttled off after paying, suited up, driven to the airfield, loaded in the plane, flown up to 10 000 feet and, Bobs your uncle, jumped!! Easy as you like!

Day 41. The last leg of our Namibia trip was south to the Namib-Naukluft Park one of the oldest deserts in the world. We stayed in Sesriem, a short distance away from Sossusvlei which is a huge clay pan surrounded by gigantic dunes, the worlds largest at over 300 meters. If you have never walked up a dune imagine walking on the beach at a 30 degree angle, it is strenuous work. Luckily the most famous dune - Dune 45- where tourists go to watch the sunset, is only 110 meters high, and after eventually getting to the top waited in vain for the bloody sun to appear. The guided tour through Sossusvlei was interesting but expensive for US$10. The white bushman, a middle aged Afrikaans guy, walked through the desert explained how animals and plants survived. It was actually very interesting with the highlight being Deadvlei, once the main part of the clay pan, it dried up after the river source was cut off by the dunes. The vlei is home to fossilised trees still standing in the vlei, and are reported to be close to 1000 years old.

After a quiet night in camp we left the serenity of the dunes and head south to the Fish River Canyon. At 161 km long, 27 km wide and about 550 m deep, it’s the second largest canyon in the world. The arduous journey was unfortunately longer than expected, eventually arriving at The Roadhouse campsite well into the afternoon. It was a rushed lunch and setting up of campsite before we left for the canyon, arriving in time to walk along the canyon edge for roughly an hour before the sun set. As stunning a sunset as it was, travelling such a distance to view a spectacular canyon, then to only stay an hour was unbelievably frustrating. Why on earth the tour company doesn't plan a day hike through the Fish River Canyon is beyond me!

The final night in Namibia was absolutely freezing, cold enough to pee by the nearest tree. Maybe that is why Neil, with his ultra thin sleeping bag, got hammered. Even with our tents 100 meters away we could still hear him bellowing away late into the night. That night was also memorable for the biggest, ugliest beetles you ever came across. You have never seen girls shower so fast in your life.

Day 43 of the trip and we headed to the Orange River bordering South Africa. THe change in scenery as we drove to the border was remarkable with the dusty plains of Namibia gradually changing to fertile fields of South Africa!!

---

Photos

Etosha Park
The old fort in the park; facilities are 1st class in Namibia.

Etosha Park
White Elephants

Cheetah Park
The cheetahs were happy to be patted.

Swakopmund dunes
Sandboarding down the dunes was brilliant, walking back up wasn't great!

Swakopmund skydiving
Kathryn coming in for landing

Sesriem - Deadvlei
The trees are over 1000 years old; the vlei was cut off by moving dunes

Sossusvlei - Dune 45
This dune was 130m high, the one opposite is 360m!!

Fishriver Canyon
The 2nd largest canyon after the Grand Canyon