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Published: September 18th 2012
We wake up early to have an early breakfast so we are be able to buy some stuff from the supermarket before we have to check out at around 10 AM. The breakfast is the first of many very filling breakfasts that we have on our trip in this case it is a combined buffet + hot item from a menu breakfast. We both choose eggs unfortunately without knowing that we will get sick and tired of them by the end of the trip. And then it is off to the supermarket - if we only knew how to get the SUV into reverse. We try multiple ways with no luck almost driving it through the wall. Finally we read the manual and solve the mystery (there was a ring on the shift that had to be pulled up) and are on our way. First we snap a few pictures of the accomodation as we forgot the previous day and then we go to the supermarket according to the instructions of the host. After a few bad turns we find the store but it is not yet open as it is Sunday. We wander around a bit and find an open gas station where we buy water and a few food provisions for our trip. And then we check out and go to explore Windhoek.
We park at the only covered parking in downtown which supposedly also has security even though we don't see any and it looks a bit deserted. After a short walk we get to the pedestrian zone the Post Street Mall and go directly to the most well known sight in the area the Gibeon meteorites. There are actually 33 meteorites (minus ~3 who have been stolen) that are presented as a sculpture in the middle of the mall and are part of what was supposedly the world's heaviest meteor shower some 600 million years ago. In order to ensure that no meteorites are stolen anymore there is a 24h on duty guard who eyes us really carefully so we snap only a few pictures before moving on. The downtown area has very few craft sellers this Sunday morning and also most stores are closed but at least the Bushman Art and African Museum is open so we take a look at the different artifacts from across Namibia and buy a few postcards and then we return to the car to drive towards the Christus Kirche (Church of Christ) which is another major attraction in Windhoek.
We park at the Christus Kirche where we face for the first time the Namibian parking system. Parking is free but you tip somebody to watch your car. The tip is given afterwards at least and is in the vicinity of USD 50c so it is not high by any means it's just that you never know whether the person is just a random bypasser or really a security guard. In our case he gives some directions to the attractions around the Christus Kirche. The first one however is not mentioned by him and actually not mentioned anywhere across all the guidebooks we read: the Independence Memorial Museum. It is not open yet even though it was supposed to be opened in 2010, it was built by a North Korean company and it might be a bit controversial as it involved moving some other historic colonial monuments, especially the Reiterdenkmal (Equestrian Statue) to make place for it but still it is almost like it doesn't exist. We then walk a bit further up the street to see the moved Reiterdenkmal which commemorates the German soldiers who died during the wars of conquest of Namibia, ok maybe there is a good reason to move the statue a bit. Behind the statue is the Alte Feste (old fortress) which is the first structure erected by the Schutztruppen (protective army) when they arrived at the end of the 19th century. It is really not that impressive from the outside but we intend to visit it as it also houses the National Museum of Namibia and it is open between 10-12 am. We get there at 11 am and it actually is closed which is really a surprise for us and the other tourists who climb to the entrance. At least we see a few chat (birds) that walk around on the lawn.
Then we walk back towards the church and a different direction to get to the Tintenpalast (ink palace) which is where the colonial government was housed and the name came from the copious amounts of bureaucratic ink used. Now it is the Parliament of Namibia but there is no one guarding it as far as we can see. We then walk back through the park in front of the Parliament to the car and view a few large lizards and quite a few birds and there are some locals who enjoy the time off picnic-ing and walking around. At the car the guard tells us that the church is open (which is rare) so we go inside to see the stained glass windows donated by Kaiser Wilhelm II. After this we finally leave the city on the main street going north, the B1, which should be paved almost up to our destination. It is interesting to see the street names as we leave the city including people that are not well viewed in Western countries such as Fidel Castro and Robert Mugabe.
After leaving Windhoek we start to zoom along the highway - the paved road is great the speed limit is 120 km/h (75 mph) and there are not that many cars going in our direction. However we learn relatively fast that we have to be careful with the wildlife as we see troops of baboons feeding near the highway in a burned area. As we will discover across our trip the burned area is part of a Namibian program to keep quite a large swath of the shoulder on both sides of paved roads clear of brush so animals cannot hide and in our experience it works great in two ways - first you see most animals far ahead so you can avoid them and second you see lots of animals that you wouldn't otherwise. There are even a few bicyclists on the road possibly taking a tour of Namibia. As we pass the first larger town after Windhoek, Okahandja, after about 70 km out of Windhoek we get a bit distracted by the fact that the fuel gauge does not seem to go down and as we go km after km nothing is happening. In the end we stop on a dirt road to check again the manual and identify how to change the trip indicator to distance remaining - this will be very useful given the long distances between fuel stations. However the short stop turns almost in a mini safari for us with multiple termite hills that we investigate, a family of warthogs crossing the road and quite a few birds just flying around (and cows...everywhere we go there are cows). The views are also great with mountains in the distance. We also check the tires and notice one of them doesn't seem to be filled up so we decide to check all tires and top them up at the next gas station if possible.
After returning to the main road we notice the distance remaining indicator going down and after ~150km away from our rental point the dial finally budges so we can forget that worry. Pretty soon we arrive at the turnoff for Waterberg NP where we will stay the night. Still we have quite some driving left to do first 42 km on a paved road and then an additional 17 km on a dirt road. As soon as we turn from the main road we notice wildlife everywhere especially warthogs and guinea fowl. The speed limit on dirt roads is 100 km/h but the road is corrugated in some places so we drive carefully until we arrive at the NP. The visitor center looks quite nice and we notice the fuel station nearby where we intend to buy fuel the next day before leaving. Here for the first time we observe the Namibian bureaucracy in action as we have to complete a card with quite a bit of information to check in. Finally we receive the key and drive up through the park to the bungalow zone.
When we arrive we are quite impressed with the bungalow as we didn't expect much from a government run camp but it is a back to back cabin with a covered garage a small veranda and grill area. Inside we have a small kitchen with a refrigerator and we like the way the towels are folded in origami like fashion.
But what we like most is the wildlife, it seems to be everywhere. First there are baboons seemingly all around us and luckily they do not seem interested in us, yet. Then a troop of mongoose is passing through and they are interested in us especially the car jumping from underneath the car in the motor area. We try to shoo them away but they really do not care that much about us and finally leave on their own accord. Then there are birds everywhere both larger ones like guinea fowl and red billed spurfowl and smaller ones. We decide to take a hike but first we check the pressure in the tire and now it looks even worse so we decide to go down to the gas station to see if the attendant can fill up the tire. After a bit of talking he proposes to actually check the tire for punctures which we accept and he comes back showing that it is punctured by a large nail. So we change to the spare tire (which now we notice is not full size) while he tries to fix the tire. We go back to our cabin and eat some prepared sandwiches and then return to find the tire ready. The fix looks temporary and he mentions that it is about 85%!s(MISSING)afe so we should keep the spare tire on and then fix or buy a new tire in the closest town. As all this took almost 2h and the sunset will be coming soon we change our plans and decide to go to the historical cemetery today and do the hike in the morning.
The road to the cemetery is pretty bad so we stop a few hundred meters away from it and then walk the reminder of the way. We know that this cemetery has historical importance as on Waterberg was the last large battle between the Germans and the native Herero where the Germans after a day of fighting forced the Herero to retreat and cede their last reliable watersource. The cemetery was built by the Germans so almost all of the buried are Germans but there is a place inside the cemetery that was recently dedicated to the lost Herero warriors (a lot more died than Germans). On the road again we see lots of birds including "go away" birds that look like a cross between a gray parrot and a pigeon and a few Damara Dik Dik - a very cute small antelope.
As we are exhausted we decide to not go to the restaurant this evening and eat from the provisions bought at the gas station. After a nice dinner under the stars we review our plans for the next day and then go to sleep.
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