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Published: August 8th 2007
Part I
Namibia (formerly German South West Africa)
April 30 - May 15 2006 NOTE: You can click on the photos to enlarge them - particularly helpful with route map. After a month of traveling in South Africa (see previous journal: South Africa - April, 2006) we headed north for Namibia, land of diamonds on the beach, great sand dunes, the
Skeleton Coast, Etosha National Park, Cape Cross seal colony, among other wonders.
Since Germany was the colonial power, German is still spoken by many folks in Namibia, but Afrikaans and English are more prevalent. German-style restaurants abound and lots of Germans vacation there - it has a very different feel from South Africa, especially Swakopmund on the coast. Some of you might remember that at the very time we were there,
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were there having their baby. I’m sure had they known we were in the area they would have had us over to their compound, but we were loath to intrude and so forewent that pleasure.
We left South Africa and entered
Namibia via Noordoewer on April 30, 2006. Our first stop was at the
Fish River Canyon (April 30 - May 1) near Ai-Ais. Folks claim it is the “Grand Canyon” of Africa, and although very picturesque, it is not nearly as grand.
Namibia’s roads are mostly high-speed gravel, very few are paved (except those in and around towns), and even the main roads between towns are gravel. And those towns are a good distance from one another, so we carried extra gas and water (on our bakkie rack) while in Namibia, Zambia and Botswana.
Heading north we didn’t go along the coast, as one would normally want to do, because the south coast of Namibia is the Sperrgebeit, which is the restricted diamond area and thus off limits to any 'unofficial' visitors. Evidently they were picking diamonds up off the beaches at one time, not sure if gems are that easy to come by these days, but they are still actively mining diamonds there.
Luderitz (May 2 & 3), an old diamond mining town, was our next stop. The town was not much to see, so we drove out of town to Agate Beach in search of gemsbok (oryx), as we hadn’t seen any of these beautiful antelope yet. Sure enough, not too far out
of town we spotted some gemsbok grazing just off the road. We had passed a sign (of which there were many) warning people not to go over the fence into the diamond area. Well, Ernie and I got so excited when we saw the gemsbok, without thinking we jumped over the fence and started shooting photos. It wasn’t until we got our photos and relaxed a bit that common sense fought its way into our consciousness and we heeded the shouts of Kaye and Bernie to get back over the fence before we got ourselves shot! Getting out of the restricted area was easier said than done because Ernie and I were laughing so hard we could hardly walk, let alone run. Ironically, when on our way to our next destination we stopped for lunch at a funky old ex-railway station, now a hotel and restaurant, where we had gemsbok burgers, yes, they not only look pretty, but also are quite tasty!
Also in Luderitz, we had a piece of our exhaust pipe come loose and get lodged in the pipe, making the most god-awful noise - we thought something serious had happened. The mechanic turned out to
be good and honest, and removed the piece of metal and didn’t over-charge us.
Our next stop was
Sesriem, gateway to the
Sossusvlei oasis (May 4 - 6) and the Great Namib Dunes. The sands in these dunes comes from the Kalahari desert to the east, it is blown into the Atlantic Ocean and then washed up onto the shores of Namibia, which, over millennia, formed the great sand dunes. This was indeed one of the highlights of our trip - a very special place. Depending on the angle of the sun, the colors and shapes of the dunes changed. Bernie was the only one who got to the top of a high dune, simply because he had the proper footwear - the sand was hot and although I tried to follow him, the sand in my open sandals was burning the bottoms of my feet. Thus I stayed down and took photos.
We camped at the dunes and had a great, walled campsite. Early the morning of our departure for Swakopmund we were awoken at 2:30 a.m. as the wind picked up. By 3 the wind was so strong it was caving in the sides of our
tents making it impossible to sleep. At first light we were up, breaking camp in howling wind (damn the stuff bags - things were just thrown into the bakkie). We had thought the wall around our camp was so quaint, but realized its practicality - the area is notorious for sand storms, one of which we experienced. We were just happy that we were planning to leave that day anyway and had several perfect days exploring the dunes.
Swakopmund/Walvis Bay/Cape Cross (May 7 - 10) was our next destination. After camping for 3 nights and enduring a sand storm, we were ready for nice accommodations, which we found on the beach in Swakopmund. A very nice couple had two rooms with kitchenettes, nice ocean view, shaded courtyard and lots of advice on what more to do and see in Namibia. Following their advice, we saw several places we hadn’t planned on, and they were some of our favorite sites (Spitzkoppa and Twyfelfontein).
The town of Swakopmund is very pretty with a German influence. Nearby just up the coast toward the
Skeleton Coast (so named because so many ships were wrecked there) is a huge seal colony at
Sossusvlei Sand Dunes
Some of the dunes are over 300 meters(900 feet) high and said to be some of the highest in the world. One of the things you don’t necessarily think about right off the bat is that huge numbers of seals means one hell of a stench! We wondered, for about a nano-second, why the visitors’ center was so far from the beach. As we neared the colony the wind was blowing on-shore carrying the most horrendous odor imaginable (there were many dead pups on the beach contributing to the stench). I took some Kleenex, put scented hand cream on it and stuck pieces up my nose. Honestly, the others just did the breathing through the mouth routine, but I don’t see how they survived - it was the most noxious smell EVER. The sight was fabulous, however, so I guess that took their minds off the whole breathing issue. I cared not one wit that other folks stared at me and the big white plugs hanging out of my nose - at least I wasn’t the pale green color they were.
We finally had to leave comfortable Swakopmund and head to the hills, literally, to
Spitzkoppe (May 11 & 12), a lovely rock outcropping with campsites that were each about 5 acres in size. I’m NOT exaggerating,
well, maybe a little, but it actually felt bigger because there were only two campsites occupied, and we were so far from the other camp we didn’t even realize they were there.
Our Spitzkoppe campsite was magical because we had a full moon while there. Because we were so far removed from any light interference, the moonlight illuminated our camp so brightly that we didn’t need flashlights, and when we walked around, you could even see our moon shadows. Yes, of course we sang Cat Stevens’ 'I’m Being Followed by a Moon Shadow' - we are, after all, children of the 70s.
As lovely as the spot was, we had to continue our adventure and head to another campsite at
Aba Huab (May 13 -15) near the
Twyfelfontein and some of the best
rock art (petroglyphs) in Namibia. Most of them date back 6000 years to the Stone Age and are most likely the art of ancient
San (Bushmen) hunters.
We found the likenesses amazingly good, and the spent several hours exploring the site. We had a guide who was well prepared and answered our many questions patiently. The visitors’ center was well laid
More Dunes
We were lucky to be in Sossusvlei right after a rare rain, which brought out lovely greenery out and informative.
We did several side trips from Aba Huab: one to a petrified forest (very like, but not nearly as big or developed as the one in Arizona) and in search of Wondergat, a sink hole that was supposed to be “enormous, with daunting views into the subterranean world,” which we never did find, despite getting directions from several 'knowledgeable' guides. We were not meant to get a glimpse of the subterranean world it seems.
Etosha was a marvelous experience and I took tons of photos, so I am going to publish a Part II to this Namibia adventure so as not to overload you now. Stay tuned!
Travel Journal of
Kathy & Bernard Doughety
2007
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Marc and Yvonne
non-member comment
tears
Saturday morning at Timbuk2, looking at your travelblog, beeing catapulted back into Namibia, safari days long gone but never forgotten and longing for the desert and the chance to going back to one of Africas jewels. Thank you guys for the wonderful blog. Greetings and all our love