Riding Through the Desert on a Truck with No Name

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Namibia is an amazing country - plain and simple. From the wildlife in Etosha National Park in the North to the incredible natural wonders of the land in the south, this country has it all. Entering Nimibia in the north we headed first to Estosha National Park. We spent two nights there. Etosha means "Great White Place" because about 25% of the park is a massive mineral pan that was formerly a lake thousands of years ago. It is now a large depression of salt and dusty clay. Although the game was not as plentiful as in the Mara, I did get to see animals that I did not get to see a lot of before, including quite a few Oryx (one of the largest of the antelope species), thousands of flamingos and we had an extremely lucky spotting of a mother jackal feeding its pups right next to the road. To top it off we saw two black rhinos on the side of the highway just before we left the park.

After Etosha we spent a night at a private cheetah park. We got to see the fastest land animal in the world up close and personal. The owners have a few as pets at their house where we visited and had a chance to actually pet them and listen to them purr like a very, very big cat. Later we drove into the sanctuary during feeding time, where the owners served up large pieces of meat to their delight. Although not the same as watching them kill in the wild they are impressive animals, especially when they hiss and growl. It was also funny to hear these natural killers make little chirping sounds like a small bird. There's no other place you could see 7-10 cheetahs come out of nowhere and surround your vehicle like that.

Namibia was a former German colony and still retains many flavours of German culture. The one I liked the most, especially after 1.5 months of not eating real deserts, was the German bakeries. When we arrived in the small town of Outje I gorged myself on German pastries at a small bakery. They were all so, so, so good, especially being washed down by a large cup of delicious cafe latte. Sitting on the street-side deck I almost felt I was in Europe.

Spitzkoppe rose out of the arid plains as we headed southwest towards the coast after leaving Cheetah Park. Spitzkoppe is a large outcropping of 700 million year old granite rocks that have been sculptured into weird and impressive shapes over the millennia. The afternoon was spent exploring the area around our camp, including looking at some ancient San people rock paintings. We spent the night sleeping out under the stars on the granite after watching another awesome African sunset.

The German influence was definitely prevalent in Swakopmund, the seaside tourist town. Here was where I saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in almost 2 months. It was nice to dip my feet in the cold Atlantic, knowing that it is the same ocean that is not 2kms from my doorstep back home. Although the cold waters of Pondville Beach are a world a way, it was comforting seeing something familiar after so much exotic sites and sounds. However, on the flip side it was a little sad, as the sight of the Atlantic signaled the soon end of my adventure.

Swakopmund gave me a chance to do some more adrenaline activities. In Canada, a lot of people snowboard in the winter; well in Swakopmund people sandboard either stand-up or lie down. Basically stand-up boarding is when you strap on a snowboard and sandboard down the side of a dune. Lie down is like going down the side of the dune on a crazy carpet. Not being a snowboarder I opted for the lie down sandboarding - insanity in the dunes. After waxing up 2'x4' piece of particle board you go head first down the side of the dune. It was great fun, especially when you are traveling 74km/hr with nothing but a 1/4 inch of material between you and the sand.

After Swakopmund we headed further south to see more of Namibia's natural marvels. Our first stop was to the incredibly sublime dunes at Sossusvlei. Supposedly the highest dunes in the world, their windswept sides and peaks create amazing patterns and colors with the changing daylight. We walked for several hours through the dunes, with the highlight being an area that used to be where the river once flowed through, but now has long since disappeared when the dunes closed in the river bed. All that is left is what is known as a Dead Vlei (more-or-less circular, hard-surfaced depression that is almost entirely surrounded by sharp-edged dunes). The one we walked through was filled with dead wind and sand blown trees that was a surreal sight. Later we viewed the sunset from Dune 45 and took part in the running of Super Dune 45 Race. That is where everyone from the truck sprints down the side of the dune anyway possible (run, walk, jump, hop, roll, tumble...). After almost falling head over heels I was narrowly defeated by my American competitor (Adam) by no more a grain of sand.

The next day we visited the 2nd largest canyon in the world - Fish River Canyon. The canyon is 161kms long, 27kms wide and 550m deep. We walked along the rim for about 2km, peering down into the deep ravine below where the Fish River flows through.

Tomorrow (day 57) we head further south and cross the border into South Africa. Seven countries down, 7 days and 1 country to go.

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Photos

Mother Jackal with her little ones
This was a great spotting right next to the road.

Comments

[Manecas Samunda]

The best continent
Africa is the best continent and the richest one in the world

[C.toy]

Africa
put more photos becouse i have injoyd your sit