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Diary - Namibia - Swakopmund to Windhoek (26th Dec to 4th Jan)
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With the festivities over we felt it was time to escape Swakopmund and continue our exploring north. The town has been a great place to spend some time, but there is only so many walks along the beach and through town you can cope with. The second you reach the outer edge of town you wonder how the town even came to be there as it is completely barren with nothing but sand as far as your eyes can see.
It is hard to understand why so many people head to the coast over Christmas as it is not even warm. Yes the sun is shining all day long, but this is soon put to waste when you feel the whipping of the Atlantic chill smack you across the face. It does mean you end up spending more time with a jumper on than catching a tan. Of course the sea life brings them to brave the rubbish weather and everywhere you look anglers are stood lining the shore with their cars filled with rods reaching for the clouds. We even came across some crazy people dressed head to toe in thick wetsuits to go diving in the rocks and surf to catch crayfish. It is one hell of a way to catch a cold never mind building up an appetite.
As we headed out along the half sand, half tar road along the Skeleton Coast it isn’t long until you come across the first wreck. This one is in almost complete condition and it makes you ponder how the hell it crashed with all of today’s mod cons on board boats. Of course this is also the reason that there are not many wrecks that remain along the coastline. The area was surrounded by dozens and dozens of anglers so we couldn’t miss it. But it also proved to make us ashamed of ourselves as we struggled to get Gweneveer back of the beach. After a lot of worry and some unpleasant burning smell we were back on the tarmac.
Half way up the Recreational Area we stopped of at Cape Cross that is the home to tens and thousands of seals. The smell almost makes breakfast return and doesn’t make for a thoroughly relaxed place. But when you combine that many animals in such a small place, especially when some are dead it is a smell that can’t be prevented. It was fantastic to see so many seals, some sleeping, others fighting and lots of pups calling for their mums. However as nice as it was, escaping to clear your nose was the most satisfying part.
As we reached our nights camp, Mile 108, our fears were realised that it really was a barren place. So much so that if you wanted a shower that cost you more on top of the ridiculous charge for camping you had already paid. Now we thought that our group at home that goes camping together were starting to get carried away with the amount we all take. The South Africans proved that we had a long way to even get close to how they travel. You see pitches of tents that have complete fabric fences around them, all with plenty of lights and normal sized fridges, private shower/toilet tents and sometimes their housekeeper from home. Of course to have all the extras they have you need power, so they ruin the peaceful surrounds by each having a generator running constantly.
The following day we travelled through the Skeleton National Park towards Koakoland. The purpose of the park is to simply protect a complete wilderness area. If you are unsure what to expect the intimidating skull and cross bones on the gates makes you realise that not a lot survives here. At the first wreck you realise just how scary it must have been to come to shore here as the place is so inhospitable, with no signs of life in any direction. Even an old Oil Rig that had previously been built has succumbed to the power of such a tough environment. As empty and vast as the place is, it is fascinating to see all the little microclimates that are scattered about providing plant life and habitats for hundreds of animals and insects. It is a difficult place to describe but you really do get a sense of man being insignificant to Mother Nature.
Even outside the park there is nothing about as far as the eye can see and very little traffic. This gave us the perfect opportunity to wild camp and we found a lovely little spot hidden behind a small hill. With nothing around but desert plants, dried grass and other hills climbing to the sky it was the stillest place we had been in Africa and we slept like logs all not long. So well that were most wild camps you are up early we actually had a massive lie in.
The aim over the next couple of days was to travel to a little settlement called Puros, way in the north and far away from civilisation. The journey was a long dusty affair completely on gravel; slowly getting worse the further we went. It wasn’t until the afternoon that we realised how cold the coast was as the heat of the desert began to kick in. Thankfully we found a quite lunch spot under a shady tree in the middle of a river bed. Now we should probably tell you that although it rarely rains in Namibia, there are huge quantities of rivers that are throughout the country. Of course these are almost all dry for the majority of the year and as we were at the end of the dry season we have only seen one with any water, even that was a trickle.
What we thought was going to be the perfect place to stay, Sesfontein, turned out to be a patch of dust and huts with nothing else. As the campsite wouldn’t budge on price we continued our already long days drive. As we crisscrossed a riverbed we eventually reached the point of being too tired to continue and decided to have another night of no shower and setup camp in the dry riverbed (Yes, we know your not meant to, but it was a perfect spot). As we sat there escaping the sun under a tree we slowly began to understand the remoteness of the area. We were metres from the road and it was not for another seventeen hours until we saw any sign of life. No passing traffic, no fences and no telegraphy poles.
Namibia has very little public transport and Kaokoland has even less, therefore you are recommended to help when you can. Only 30Km from Puros we came across a young guy hitching and feeling friendly we stopped. Those that remember we only have two seats, so with Steve pointing to the roof he gladly climbed aboard. The morning had brought a few drops of rain with it and Katie felt guilty that we were sat in the dry that she made us stop so she could hand him a poncho. |
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Arriving super early in Puros we realised the place was made up of 150 people and one shop only selling biscuits and soft drinks. So we set about doing nothing, all day. Well actually that was the plan and how most of the day went until we realised we had an issue starting the car. Location could not have been more perfect to have mechanical issue, especially one as deliberating as not being able to get going. After chatting to a mechanic we thought we knew the problem but no parts exist for several hundred kilometres (if we were lucky). The only option was to bump start the car every time, Katie of course doing the pushing while Steve did the technical bit!
As annoying as a day it was our day ended magically and as well as we could have dreamed. Whilst sat eating dinner a number of Desert Elephants came strolling through the camp. It was a great moment as they are generally hard to see due to the remoteness them and the extent of the land they cover. Even better was getting woken by some more crashing and trumpeting through in the middle of the night. It makes you nervous when they sound so close but you can’t see them, only for them to suddenly come into view of the little tent windows in between you and the nearby bush. For once Katie was struggling to stay awake, leaving Steve to lie awake in excitement at any kind of rustling, poking Katie in the ribs every time he heard a noise like an excited school boy.
We had decided that as the car was not good we would take a guided walk to a local Himba village to see what life for them was all about. The Himbas are a tribal group that use a local red rock to cover their skin and also mat into their hair in a clay form. It is really bizarre and very different to most others that we have seen. It was also a lovely to approach the village by foot and made you feel better about making the effort to get there. Unfortunately it seems that a Norwegian mobile school, provided to help the Himba people get educated also prevent the children to attend if they are not western dressed and have normal ‘hygienic’ haircuts. This means that a lot of children no longer maintain the tradition, taking away a large aspect of there culture. A typical give with one hand and take away with the other approach to Africa the west seems to have. You can’t help but wonder if the kids would return to the traditional way of life after school.
After our early morning walk we decided to enjoy the serene atmosphere that such an isolated place provides. However the tension was not always as pleasant as we have taken to playing cards more, Gin Rummy in fact, which gets a little heated. We had thought about another walk or trying the car to search for Elephants, but decided to be lazy. It turned out doing nothing was the best approach and throughout the day about a dozen Elephants appeared in the camp, ate a little and then moved on.
Having struggled to bump start a car in a sandy campsite we left the way we had come, only to see about twenty Elephants by the road. We continued on our way south again, never needing to head north again until our flight home. After a long drive we decided a walk in the heat was just what we wanted and went to Twelfontein to see the rock art that is carved into the sandstone. After which we went in hunt for somewhere both cheap and nice to camp to celebrate New Years Eve. Following our noses brought us to the perfect place. It was a hidden away campsite with the most amazing view giving us the perfect setting of aloneness you could imagine, an outdoor shower and some drinks later we celebrated taking the trip into another year.
On the way towards Windhoek we stopped to see the Petrified Forest. Effectively it is ancient dead trees that have turned from wood to solid rock but keeping the look and patterns of real wood. It was a bit surreal and fascinating how nature can transform itself. The next stop was yet more magical setting for camping in the rocky peaks that make up the Spitzkoppe. As the sun descended it illuminated the orange rock formations into the warmest glow imaginable.
Once we finally reached a town with more than a small shop and a single set of robots (traffic lights), we were able to work out the issue with the car. It seemed like normal that the previous garage had messed up something else unrelated, this time failing to connect the battery negative cable correctly. So feeling like idiots but happy that we no longer have to bump start the car we are ready to head off back into the wilderness towards South Africa. |
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