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Fog
Just so you get a feel of what I was driving through. It was like drivng through clouds.So, for the fateful road trip. We had five days between my final and Susy’s final. Perfect, right? We thought so. The plans had been set, and we were on our way to a 5 day road trip through the country of Namibia. A lot happened in those what ended up to be four days, so I’ll hit the highlights.
We had planned to leave at 5am on the morning of June 4th, but as usual, we didn’t get out soo early. We got out at about 6:00, and since Guy, Susy and Lull had all had about two hours of sleep the night before I ended up driving. Not exactly what I wanted to do since I was still a bit uneasy about driving on the left side of the road (with a manual transmission at that), and it was dark and rainy and foggy making it hard to see, but once everyone fell asleep, it was fine. Eventually, once the sun had come out and the sky had cleared, we switched drivers. About seven hours after leaving Cape Town we arrived at the South African/ Namibian border. It may have taken a while, but we finally made it
Teasing Sun
The sun kept teasing me and pretending like it was going to come out. into the country, and only with one minor setback that was quickly resolved. The rest of that day was mostly just a lot of driving. Now, Namibia isn’t the most populated country, and most of the roads are gravel (all but 3 if you don’t believe me check the google satellite picture), so once we got into the country we decided to pull over on the side of the road just to appreciate the totally untouched nature of it all. All you could see for miles was the desert like wheat stretching over rolling hills with mountains in the distance, and since there was no traffic we just laid in the middle of the road and sat in silence. When there was no talking, there was absolute silence, well besides the car settling and Lull’s stomach growling. There was no wind or birds or anything. We continued driving through the rest of the day, and we got to the Fish River Canyon area right as the sun was setting. Talk about a sunset!! That night we went to the Fish River Canyon to watch the sun setting, and then found a campsite. We stayed at the Canyon Roadhouse, which was
Bee Hive House
In South Africa was this weird house. Do you want to live in a concrete bee hive?? only 20km from the canyon. Our camp site had our own shelter area and our own bath house. It was really nice, and only about $8 a night per person. We set up our tent, and after some supper we tried to get us all into the tent but after we were unsuccessful the three girls stayed in the tent and Guy started out next to the tent but ended up in the car.
The next morning, June 5th, we packed up and went back to the canyon to see it in the daylight. Fish River Canyon is the second largest canyon in the world. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s still amazing. After we had had our fill of the canyon, we got back on the road. We had quite a bit of ground to cover. Well about 15km down the road we had our first minor setback of the day. Susy was trying her hand at driving on gravel, and as we came up over a hill, out of the wheat and into the road ran nothing other than a large male ostrich. That poor ostrich didn’t have a chance. We hit him pretty straight on, and then
Cool Church
This was in the middle of the country by where we stopped to get gas. he rolled over the top of our car. Well, after I got Susy to stop the car, I got out and looked back to see that the ostrich was not moving, so I went to assess the damage to the car. There was definitely cosmetic damage, like the hood being totally smashed in, but there appeared to be no mechanical damage. Of course it was hard to tell since we couldn’t get the hood open. Well, when I looked up from my car checking, I noticed Guy was now out of the back seat with his video camera and was taping the Ostrich. When I looked back, the ostrich was alive. He was still on the ground, but his head was up, and he was looking around very confused like. I guess I would be shocked too, especially if my brain was the size of a marble. He may have been conscious, and as concerned as Susy was, she hadn’t decapitated him, but when he tried to stand we quickly learned that his legs were broken, and he wasn’t going anywhere. So, we went a bit further down the road to where we had stayed the night before to tell
Vashti!!
After I was relieved from driving, I had to document that Vashti got to come too!!! them about it, and some great motorcycle riders looked at our car for us.
So, we were back on the road, and in the next town (Bethanie), about two hours later, we stopped for gas, and were going to have a mechanic look at our car. Well, while we were at the gas station my friend Lull accidentally locked our only set of keys into the trunk. Well, just one more setback for our little road trip. So, needless to say we were stuck for a while. Thankfully, the people of the town of Bethanie were awesome. The petrol attendant got the owner of the coffee shop, who called the local mechanic, and about 45 minutes, and three different thicknesses of rods later, the mechanic had unlocked the back door. I then just slipped in, climbed over the seat and popped the trunk. The best part is that we didn’t have to break a window, which we thought we would have to at first. To make things even better, the mechanic then looked at our car, and even checked the pressure of our tires all for free. Now, Bethanie was a town about the size of Plainfield (for those
Springbok
We stopped in the town of Springbok,SA for water and a map. They had their name in the side of a mountain! who know Plainfield), and we were definitely the most exciting thing to happen to that town in days. While they were breaking into our car, we attracted quite a crowd.
So, after getting our keys out of the trunk and making sure that our car was up to par, we were back on the road. About two hours before the sun went down we reached our final destination. We were headed to the Namib dessert, and we found a great campsite to camp at just 20 minutes from the dessert. It was still in the process of being set up, so we got a really good deal, and the guy who owned the place was really nice. Once again we had a shelter and our own bathroom and shower. After we cooked our supper over the fire we headed to bed ready for our day in the dessert.
The morning of June 6th we slept a bit later, and then headed to the dessert. The plan of that day was to go to Sossusvlei, which is the place in the Namib Dessert where there are the biggest red sand dunes. We drove our little car into the dessert
Pasta Salad Anyone!
Lull made pasta salad the night before, so every time we stopped we ate pasta salad out of the trunk. and watched as the red sand began to surround us. We parked our car in the parking lot, and walked an hour into the dessert to see the dunes. Along the way we climbed a dune and just walked a lot and talked. It wasn’t too hot, because there was a breeze, and since it’s Winter in Africa right now, that helped too. After much walking, we finally got to Sossusvlei, and we climbed one of the largest dunes. There was nobody for miles, and we just chilled at the top of the dune. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. And, to make matters better, while we were sitting up there, three ostrich came to the bottom of the dune. I couldn’t help but laugh. After hanging out for a while, some other people started to climb up so we decided it was probably time to head down. So, we skied down the super soft red sand. It was amazing. Skiing down sand dunes may be one of my favorite things to do. We then caught a truck back to our car, and then drove to another dune and climbed it to watch the sun set. It was absolutely gorgeous. We then
The N7
Driving through the bush down the N7 in South Africa stopped at a restaurant for supper and headed back to our campsite for the evening.
The next morning, July 7th, we packed up and headed back south. Our time in Namibia was over, and we headed home. The plan was to go a little more than half way on the 7th, find a place to stay and then take the scenic route along the West Coast of South Africa the next day, but when we got to the border, we decided that we were all ready to go home. This was especially true for Guy who said we were sucking all the testosterone out of him, so we decided to just drive until we got back to Cape Town.
At the border we got through the Namibia side with no problem, and as we were going back to our car on the South African side, one of the police officers asked us whose guitar was in the back seat, so we pulled it out. They asked us to play them a song, so Guy played while Susy and Lull sang. Then Susy played and sang the one song that she knows on guitar. Then Lull told them that
Rest Area
A South African Rest area. Isn't it great. They even have little signs with picnic tables on them telling you they're coming up. she could rap, so the police men laid down the beat while Lull rapped for them. After a free style rap by Lull, we took our picture with the police officers and went on our way. We spent about 45 minutes at the border, and we were probably the most exciting thing that had happened to them all day. Of course, we wouldn’t do it any other way. We had a good time too.
So, at about 12:30am we arrived back safely in Cape Town. It was a wonderful trip, and I’m more than glad we did it. Namibia is a beautiful country, and there are soo many places that are totally untouched by humanity. Of course, I guess there isn’t a whole lot of draw to a dessert I guess. And besides our little setbacks, it was wonderful to spend 4 days playing in God’s playground.
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