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March 27th 2010

Published: March 27th 2010

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Slowfeet

Last Etosha Lion

We spotted this man as we were leaving and I don't think I have put him up before. This one is for Janet. Likes her male lions she does.

We have hit Capetown. And with end of trip celebrations pleasant but - in parts - relatively hazy memories, it might reasonably be said that some of us hit it pretty hard.

This post covers the 10 days that it took for us to travel from east of Swakopmund down to Cape Town mainly through Namibia, passing through the Sesrien National Park, Keetmanshoop, the Fish River Canyon, Orange River and into the Western Cape of South Africa on a big run to the Cape of Good Hope and Capetown. We have the adventure/activity stuff at Swakopmund, long desert drives and along the way the magnificence of Spitzkoppe, Sesrien and the Fish River Canyon with the opportunity to see cheetahs up close and personal at Keetmanshoop.

I mentioned in a previous post that Namib means flat, dry land. I thought we had seen some of that already. Really though, we had seen nothing much at that stage. The green of Malawi and Zambia is now a distant memory having been very firmly replaced by the sand, deserts and rough scrub of Namibia. But it would be a mistake to say that the place is featureless or boring. Some on the

Fencing

Every wooden stay is individually twitched on. No shortage of cheap labour or attention to detail here.

truck found the drives we have done over the last 10 days a little taxing and it is true that if you had a bit of a kip along the way you didn't miss a great deal but it is still great country to wander through. A lot like Central Australia for much of the way.

Namibia has a very small population, somewhere between 1.8 and 2 million people. First Europeans to move in were the Portuguese but they didn't really take over. The Germans did and lasted in control until WW1. The British, or really the South Africans, for some reason, beat them up and took control but, the then, South West Africa, was governed as a separate entity. The country has now been independent since 1991. In comparison with earlier countries on our route, Namibia is very European. The Germans had a major impact on the organisation of the place and there are good roads, neat, well organised towns and things seem to be pretty efficient. The low population level and very large area of land means that you float through without seeing too many people unless you go out of your way to find them.

Spitzkoppe

Pity about the blurring caused by the scratched lens.

I don't really know whether there is any bribery or corruption but you get the impression that such things are simply not acceptable. The one major time we ran into the bureacracy had to do with meat, uncooked meat to be precise. We had bought supplies in a place called Rundu not too far after one of the many border crossings back and forward from Botswana. A substantial amount of fresh meat had been purchased and was in place in the fridge. We came to a checkpoint that had signs all over it to do with the carriage of uncooked food. There had been a few of these earlier but, at previous ones, no inspection took place. At this one the officers were more organised and they checked, found the meat and offered us the options of going back to Rundu and getting a veterinary certificate, cooking the meat or dumping it. After a strong attempt to have them change their mind and let us proceed we decided to cook the meat there and then.The main man was prepared to stand by and advise when it was cooked enough. Basically, just seared on all sides. This was enough to remove

Spitzkoppe again

the risk of transmission of foot and mouth which is an issue in some regions apparently. Everyone was pretty reasonable after we became compliant and there was no suggestion that we could pay an amount and get on our way.

Our route took us west from Etosha. As we headed west the country just dried up. It wasn't even really a particularly gradual thing. Etosha had been drying out but there were still plenty of waterholes around and good feed for the animals. But it wasn't long at all before the country was very much like Central Australia in drought. By the time we made it to Spitzkoppe there was not a lot of grass about, tough and thorny acacias and not a lot else in terms of vegetation.

The guide books talk of Spitzkoppe as very interesting rock outcrops that are well worth a visit. Perhaps I am becoming a little cynical but I wasn't expecting much. Guide books sometimes do tend to become a little more exuberant than is necessary. I was expecting a pile of reasonably interesting rocks and not a lot else. And that is pretty much what it was although I will say

And Again

that they were more interesting than I had expected. Perhaps a bit of cynicism is a good thing.

It was too hot to move about too much during the day although some intrepid souls made it to the top of the main rock outcrop. Patricia and I had a walk around about half of the area - a distance of a little over 5 km - but we turned back when it was clear that we would have to walk a lot further to make the whole journey. Janet took a guided walk and gathered more information on the rocks. Basically, it doesn't really get up close to Katajuta or Uluru but it is in the same zone. We did have a nice camp there and the place clearly becomes a favoured camping destination as the weather cools down.

As it turned out it was handy to have a couple of relatively quiet days at Spitzkoppe to get outselves ready for Swakopmund. This is Namibia's Livingstone. A place where people come to play. It is not the most likely place for this though. Rolling towards the Atlantic coast the country becomes increasingly desolate until there is not a

And Another

shrub and, soon, not even a blade of grass. Then the mist/fog rolls in (Someone somewhere reckons that mist comes up and fog comes down - or vice versa.) I am not sure whether this one is up or down but there is a lot of it and it extended on the day we moved through for at least 50 km inland. All dead flat so there was nothing to impede the flow.

We hit the coast a bit above Swakopmund and turned up a bleak, straight road past groups of salt mines to one of the largest seal colonies in the world, or at least around here. During breeding season over 210,000 seals are here to do the business. Impressive but the pong is substantial.

Swakopmund is a service town for the uranium mines inland but its prime source of revenue is tourists. It has gone down the adventure activity route. We were offered sky diving, sandboarding - standing or laying down - quad biking, fishing and scenic flights up and down the coast. We don't always get too much into the activity stuff but this time Pat went for the sandboarding and I went fishing. The

Male Lizard

His mate was a green hue

sandboarding is apparently much like snow boarding, but warmer and more abrasive I suppose. Pat secretly wants to become a snow boarder and this was a way of getting in some practice without getting too cold. She came out without major injuries.

The only fish that they hook here on the Namibian coast that put up any kind of fight are apparently sharks. Thus we went shore fishing for sharks with a guide, Shane, who knew his stuff. We had early success with Jona bringing in a 'horse' shark of about 18 kg. We were fishing in about knee deep water in low rocks off a beach. He duly towed his shark about 50 meters to the beach to take the photo. I then brought in a gully shark of about 16 kg. 50 meters to the beach with a knee that was still crook was more than I needed. Anyway I figured that without a photo the shark had a chance to grow, so I have no photo. We then chased sand sharks, the best bait for bronze whalers, and then the bronze whalers. Despite spotting a good sized bronze whaler just meters from my bait, we didn't

Sunset

And there are many many more where this has come from.

hook one. Great day though.

Janet was a lot more adventurous than either of us and added sky diving to her face down sandboarding experience. On the sandboarding you can get up to 80 kph but she came down out of the plane a lot quicker than that. She is still amazed that she did it I suspect but what a thrill.

Sesrien National Park was special primarily for our second major encounter with a Bushmen guide. This bloke, Franz (I think) took us to show us some of the sand dunes in the Park. The lines of dunes extend 55 km to the coast. More dunes are being created as the sand builds, water is restricted and, eventually, stopped thus causing the remaining vegetation to die. A surreal place with claypans - sossus vlei - with trees that have been dead for over 900 years but are still, more or less there. As good as this was, Franz's explanations, complete with anecdotes and sound effects, made for a memorable visit here. It seems that there may be Bushmen sense of humour. He had us enthralled and brought the place to life.

Keetsmanhoop was supposed to be

Old Man of the Bush

special for the Giants Playground - about 200 acres of rocks - but will probably live in our memories more for the hand reared cheetah that they had at the sheep station campsite.

Next stop the Fish River Canyon. Good canyon much rougher and wilder than the Tara Canyon in Montenegro. Not as big though as far as I know. It is not developed at all although there is work going on to construct a viewing platform. You can currently sit there with your legs dangling over the side, until your wife spots you and drags you back.

And then it was down to the Orange River and the border with South Africa. I would dearly love to have taken a photo of the drug sniffing cats at the border post but cameras and borders don't go well together - and the camera is not going so well at the moment anyway. After looking at the area there was a general consensus that, rather than camp at the Orange River, we should try to make Citrusdal, our next planned stop in South Africa. It was a long drive and tough for the drivers but we made it before

Janet by the Fire

night fall. Much celebration that night with many reliving their youth with a bag of left over gift type clothes.

The big drive gave us the option of relatively short drives for the last couple of days. First down to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope and on the next day up to Cape Town to finish the trip. The Cape of Good Hope was the scene of the long planned run into the surf by those who started in Cairo. The run was to be done sans clothing and the women and one of the blokes bailed out. It was cold. You will have to wait for the video.

Our night at Millers beach at the Cape was another special. It was blowing a bit when we pitched our tents but, by the time we came to climb into them, some were actually being flattened by the wind. Most tents were moved into the lee of a wall where we had some protection. Even then there were times during the night when the tent came down to cuddle us a little. Janet bravely left hers out on the flat and survived.

We also all

Seals

Lots of them at Cape Cross. And this is just a part of the mob.

survived the final night's celebration although there were some wandering around next day who looked as if they perhaps wouldn't make it. All did and now it is all over.

Janet has now gone home along with most of the others from the truck. Patricia and I will spend a few more days here in Cape Town. We need to sort out our camera issues and a few other gear problems and get ourselves set for Europe. We fly out to Paris in mid-April and will spend the next 4 or 5 months around Western Europe before heading on to the UK for a few more months.

We have a car booked and will drive up the East Coast along the Garden Route, the Wild Coast and possibly to Swaziland over the next couple of weeks. Will keep posting when we can.

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