Pattygoes

The next day, somewhat rested despite the stony ground, we set out once again at the crack of dawn as is our custom. Today we we travel a grueling 425k before our next camp site. We pass through Bethany a town remarkable only for having the oldest church. Along the way stop at yet another coffee house purportedly offering 'The Best Apple Strudel in Namibia!' How odd it is to find these antiquated German establishments and attitudes deep in the African hinder land. Even my European co- travels look askance at the proprietors frosty voice and superior attitude sent in my direction. Several overland hours later, sustained by coffee, sandwiches and apple strudel (definitely NOT the best in Namibia) we arrive at our impressive destination: The massive Fish River Canyon, the largest in Africa, second in ... read more

Namib-Naukluft National Park 49,768 square km is bigger than Switzerland Sossusvlei Dunes 1 well rested beach-strolling day later we are once again en route. Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn 23* south of the equator, entering the area know as Moon Scape, leaving behind the bustling vibrant market, smiling persuasive vendors and stately colonial buildings of bygone German Swakopmund, each mile adds what feels like another several degrees to the temperature. We have met Boseman, theoretically know how to spot and catch lizards, tomorrow in the dunes we will practice our Bushman skills. Tonight we camp in the Namib-Naukluft National Park which is bigger than Switzerland! It is in this area that evidence of Gondwanaland (ancient sub continent) and of the subsequent separation of Australia and South America can be found. We are about an hour away ... read more

En route to Swakopmund: En route to Swakopmund we stop first at Sorry Sorry, a village of Herrera. Here in stark contrast to the Himba, the women dress in many layered voluminous skirts, shawls and pancake triangular hats, their unique interpretation of 19th century European ladies dress. Tourism is the life blood of so many rural communities here, the women smile, welcome us and offer their lovely wares in the form of patchwork purses and beautiful, colorful, detailed dolls in traditional Herrera dress. On my truck are several women, German, British, Swiss, Russian, American, some more sensitive than others but for the most part generous of spirit and of pocket. At every stop they marvel at the handy work, interacting with smiling, kind, humility, woman to woman, spending liberally, they do the west proud. Scores of ... read more

The Himba Tribe Day 5. After hundreds of Kilometers of dusty roads, game drives and more hot, dusty unpaved roads we make our way to Kamanjab to visit a nearby Himba community. The Himba, a nomadic people have lost huge swaths of their land to mines, farmers, westernization and have suffered greatly being displaced by the wars that raged in nearby Angola. At present count roughly 50,000 Himba live the nomadic life in the northern regions of Namibia while the several stationary settlements, the 'buffer zones' or 'educational tribal centers' are visited by outsiders for a fee...the money collected goes to support orphaned Himba children, the greater community living in the wild and of course the buffer villages themselves, their last line of defense. The buffer villages offer us a glimpse into the lives of these ... read more

Namibia! Namibia! Was there ever a land that seemed so vast, mysterious, remote? Having successfully extracted myself from the cloying, mind numbing world of e cigarettes, cigarettes, designer faded jeans, expensive fine cotton t shirts distressed just so, coffee, cafés, coffee houses, late's and trust fund hippies, I have landed in a vast barren land of apparent sanity.Although nothing could have prepared me for the wall of heat that body slammed me as I stepped onto the shimmering Tarmac, that addictive familiar bubble of excitement and wonder has started it's slow happy percolate deep within my soul.Namibia!What a world o... read more