Death by Namibian Roads & Sun!

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When someone tells you the roads in Namibia are bad your reaction is automatically “well yeah, it is Africa!” However nothing could prepare me for the endless corregated dust roads ahead of us. After the luxury of sealed roads & actual beds in Swakopmund we stepped back on the truck heading north, armed with dot to dot colouring books, word searches and a pack of cards. Two hours out of swakop we stopped at Cape Cross, home of one of the largest breeding seal colonies in the world. Along the shoreline were hundreds of black figures which could be mistaken for rocks if it wasn’t for the stench & the grunting noise that came from all around us. After the retching had ceased I could appreciate the vastness of this colony. Where there is one adult there are about 5 young ones ‘running’ alongside. The ocean was spotted with black heads and tails bobbing up and down sourcing dinner for the family. For conservation reasons there is a walkway along the periphery but the seals sleep under it and walk all around it. On our walk we came across a little baby which had found itself on the walkway but was unable to get off it. The entrance to the walkway wasn’t too far behind him so as we tried to coax him back some extremely helpful fellow travelers thought they’d alert me to the fact that he was scared and continued to walk towards the helpless baby - in the other direction that we were pushing him! We hope that the little one managed to get off eventually as we was getting very worked up and the helpful ladies were making him life pretty difficult.



As we headed further north the heat was cranked up a few degrees and the dust continued to fly everywhere. As the vegetation was scarce & townships few we had a lovely lunch by the side of the road as the sun beat down and the wind blew. We stayed in a town called Brandberg which is situated between the two highest mountains in Namibia. This town also has many remnants of tin mines which operated there a couple of years ago, while they are not currently active there is talk that these mines will start running again soon. From Brandberg, we continued north on our way to the cheetah farm stopping off at some stalls by the side of the road run by local Herero people. As mentioned in the Swakop blog these people have had colourful history and have a distinctive dress. They are members of the bush people who you see wearing very little, leaving their upper torsos bare and who paint their bodies with powder mixed with animal fat for sun protection. The Herero stem of these people wear their multi layered dresses and cow horned hats as a symbol that they have accepted civilisation. This drive seemed to take a very long time as our driver stopped many times along the way and then reversed half way up the road to pick up some discarded items. I’m not sure if this is them just taking heed of the saying ‘ one mans trash is another mans treasure’ or if they just felt we hadn’t experienced enough bumpy road! Slowly but surely we eventually arrived at Otjitotongwe Cheetah farm.



The cheetah farm is a cattle farm which has 3 tame and 14 wild cheetahs in their care. We were first introduced to the tame females, who I would name but the farm owners had very strong Afriakaan accents so I couldn’t spell the names if I tried! The cheetahs roamed the garden with the loyal family dog trotting along behind, and were very partial to the salty skin on the back of their carers legs. We sat down with them, petted them and they happily allowed us to take photos of them and watch as they mauled some fresh beef fed to them. One of them did get a little grumpy and removed herself from the group, even kicking up a stink at the beef that was served but was happy enough when she was presented with some Zebra. We then said our goodbyes to these placid oversized house cats and drove into the reserve area of the farm to meet the wild cheetahs. The reserve is around 250 acres of land and while it is fenced off there are stalking holes to unsuspecting warthogs or springbok may wander in only to become dinner for 14 hungry cheetahs. Although if this does not happen the owners go around every day and feed those who are hungry. As we rode in the back of the ute we soon came across the cheetahs in various places and either on their own or in small groups. It was interesting to see how uncomfortable they were both with the car and the owners who fed them everyday, with one even hissing and snarling at the guys as they moved to the bucked full of fresh meat. Overall this was a very interesting afternoon, and got Megan and I even more excited about the challenges that follow this tour. That evening we sat by the campfire and learned about our guides culture and their marriages. They attempted to convince us that it is good to get married and have kids young (which as the oldest in the tour I profusely argued) and that it makes sense to buy your wife! For half a day we forgot about the bumpy roads ahead and the dust that dried our skin and even the life threatening mosquitos that buzzed around us.

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