Year: 2018

Left Khowarib about 8am, after paying our bill. En route to Etosha, Olifantsrus Camp. We stopped on the way for diesel, they had it at Palmwag. Then shopping at Kamanjab, basic, but it worked. Even managed the post Kalahari Magnum! Arrived at the park about 2.30pm, bought our park permit from the usual dour staff at the gate! Our camp was about 60km from the gate. We stopped at several waterholes and were rewarded with giraffe(loads), springbok, kudu, ostriches, bateleur, zebra (loads), Secretary bird, great bustard, the back end of a rhino, and lots of elephants. At the camp we settled in chatted to neighbouring campers, had a beer, then went to the hide. Lots of zebra there, plus two jackal, guinea fowl, springbok. We left to eat and everyone came back telling us we missed a rhino! Really, why didn’t he wait? We’ve met again a couple from Vienna who we’ve crossed paths with three other times en route. So much so she invited us to go to visit them in Vienna. A charming couple. We must share email addresses. Lots of bugs here tonight, attracted by the light, moths and other things. I feel very twitchy! We went back to the waterhole after we’d eaten, very sad we’d missed the rhino, but we were rewarded with the rhino who came back, two single elephants and a spotted hyena. Great viewing. 

A day in Khowarib camp and  a bit of a difficulty deciding what to do today. Paul was toying with the idea of a trip down the Hoanib Dry River Trail but the staff on site said three vehicles had been washed into the river last week and we must now wait for the sand to dry out. When wet,  some of the sand becomes like quick sand and some is just very deep. He said the guides in the area are not doing the Hoanib at the moment. There goes our last chance to see Desert  Elephants we think.  Another suggestion for today was a trip across country on a 4×4 trail but again not recommended as we are on our own. Both these comments were verified this evening by three of the managers of the Lodge. So we went for a walk up stream to a small waterfall. Lots of red billed quelea swooping in and out of the trees and river. There are thousands of them, quite a sight. We then went to Ongongo waterfall but  basically a  spring. This place is only about 5km from here, but then 6km on an Off Road track.  Arriving, we met a man who spoke no english and having run to meet us ran off again! We walked down some very steep steps to a valley floor where there was a pool of water from a small waterfall. This was also a camp site. The man had run to find a lady who spoke English. Basically so they could charge us! Paul went skinny dipping in the pool, but I was too unsure about its cleanliness! We bought a very strange nick nack from a little boy on the road on the way back. Not worth anything, but 100N$ into the family pot. Four children all without shoes running over this stoney ground to get to us for a chance of a sell.  Makes you realise what we have! 

We had a light lunch in the Lodge then spent the remainder of the afternoon by the swimming pool. Last day in Kaokoland, off to Etosha tomorrow. Night sounds of the frogs etc amazing. Very noisy. Sitting in front of our wood fire, having had dinner and a bottle of red,  listening to all the sounds out there and about to go to bed aloft, bliss!!

Up early and took another trip into the conservation area. Spent two hours looking for desert elephants, saw some Kudu, but not an elephant in sight. Back to camp for breakfast and pack up for our short journey to Khowarib Lodge where we are staying for two nights. En route we saw about 12 giraffe and lots of springbok. Lodge at Khowarib lovely, very rustic but beautifully done. The camp is by the river, with water, a first in Namibia. We drove on to Sesfontein, which was very basic. A round trip if 60km for fuel, but the tank had a sign on it….. no diesel! We ventured into a couple of shops, very basic, few tins, salt, mealie, pasta, rice and loads of soap! Took a short trip up the road to Purros, to see what it was like, then a km into the Hoanib River bed! This is a difficult ride on sand. We think we may try it tomorrow, tyres let down. We’ll have a go, but turn around if it gets difficult. Bit daring to go alone. Marianne and Lod where are you? Ate in tonight, but had sundowners at the lodge

A day in Palmwag conservation area. It’s a huge site and we just touched a fraction of it with a four hour drive. A bit hairy in places, onto river beds with big boulders, definitely off roading. Didn’t see much game, but the scenery was stunning. Photos don’t do it justice. Saw no one else all morning. Spent the afternoon around the pool and ate in the restaurant that night.

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Monday 26th November 

Left White Lady about 8.30 am after ignoring all the advise not to do the off road trip we’d planned. The staff at the lodge were horrified that we planned this particular route. So we set off, on it! All was good, lovely views, quiet, sunshine….. until we reached Land Cruiser Hill! As soon as I saw it I realised why it was called that. A hill in deep sand. We tried five times to get over it, each time Paul getting more frustrated! Eventually the brain took over and we retraced our steps for 6km. After that we saw a few sandy hills ahead, but we managed all of them. A route of 100km took us three and a half hours……slow going. We needed diesel, so we took the long way to our nights stop via Khorixas. Filled up the tanks, bought more water which was running low and decided to put them in the back of the vehicle BUT we couldn’t open the back door. After two hours and the help of Gabriel at his ‘garage’ and 500ND later we had a fixed door but a hole in our gauze fly netting! The only way in! We think the lock was faulty and during our off road experience, it had locked itself from the inside. Now we are in Aabadi Camp, the only punters again. Simple ablutions, most of which are falling down or not serviceable! Wild camping at its best! Paul just walked down to the river bed to see baboons, d’assise (Rock rabbits), francolins, but was really looking for elephants. We haven’t seen desert elephant yet, but hope to in the next few days

Sunday 25th November

Bad start to the day, I have the runs! Intended to leave camp at half past seven to get to the White Lady Rock paintings when they opened at 8am. Had to leave it a while! Ventured out about 9am, cloudy, so we were lucky. Started the hour walk with guide Romeo, and French family, 45 minutes in I had to opt out. We returned to camp without seeing the rock paintings. Sat around quite a lot of the day, by the pool in the afternoon as my guts improved. Ate out in their restaurant that night. Basic food additional singing afterwards from staff. Hot camp showers were fired by ‘donkeys’, like a hot water cylinder on its side heated by logs. Very unusual and traditional, but effective. 

Saturday 24th November

As usual we were up early. Showered and then left to fill the diesel before we left Swakopmund. I found a coffee shop that looked great so persuaded Paul we needed another coffee. It was really civilised one of the highlights of Swakopmund, Kristinas. We decided to take the more direct route to Brandberg, via Spitzekoppe. This was a better road and more direct, but it still took us 5hours. We were very glad we hadn’t done the off road route we’d planned! White Lady Lodge in Brandberg, the camping is basic, but the lodge has two lovely pools, which we sat around twice and cooled off in the pool. We were there for two nights. First night we decided to cook for ourselves. We’d heard singing coming from the Lodge and at about 9pm out of the darkness came twenty people who asked if they could sing for us. It was lovely. They sang songs in the local dialect of the Damaraland language. Very clicky language. One of the ladies was carrying her 6month old baby, who didn’t murmur.  

 

Friday 23rd November

After a nice cooked breakfast we set off about 8.30 for the drive to Swakopmund via Walvis Bay. The landscape changed quite a lot, some small “mountain passes”, wide open plains and finally the desert landscape again where the sand dunes hit the Atlantic Ocean. The road from Walvis Bay to Swakopmund is called the Kalahari Highway, it has the sandy desert one side of the road and the sea on the other. Walvis Bay is the main port of Namibia through which just about everything arrives. Just to the south of the town is the Lagoon with its huge numbers of flamingos and other sea birds. Arrived at Swakopmund about 3 ish. It’s a lot cooler here and at time of writing we are wearing extra clothing and waterproofs, and we are in the tropics, quite bizarre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday 20th November

A night in a real bed, luxury, BUT we were both awake early and left for Sossusvlei Dunes at 5.30am. The staff were already up and gave us our packed breakfast and coffee or tea before we left. Back to Sesriem to the Sossusvlei Dune Park. It opens at 6.15am, we were there about 6.30 am and were the 36th vehicle through the gates. The road was tarred through the reserve which made travel more comfortable. We stopped a few times en route to the end of the valley, to take photos. We left the tarred road for the last 4km, BUT we hadn’t put our tyre pressure down for soft sand and had a few worrying moments, where we had to reverse for a bit to try again without getting bogged down in the sand. We saw dune 45 that Sarah and John climbed, quite a few were doing it, it was a bit of a procession and we decided not to do it (too hot, too crowded, and too much of a whimp). We drove on to Sossusvlei and did the walk to Dead Vlei. It took about 11/2 hours, and was really hot on the return journey. The dunes are amazing, they go on for miles towards the coast and the length of Namibia. The colour is astounding, a rich amber/ terracotta colour. The shadows created by the early morning sun make it beautiful. We’ve taken a few photos and hope we can give a bit of an idea of the scale and beauty. 

Back at the Lodge just after lunch, lazed, plunged, read and researched the next leg of our journey.

 

 

Wednesday 20th November 

Our camp last night was near to the Duwisib Castle and they have a small restaurant, so we decided to breakfast there this morning. Full English but the coffee was instant. 

On the road at 9.00. Drove the scenic route to Sesriem through the Namib Rand Nature Reserve. This borders the Namib/Naukluft National Park where Dunes start. We dropped into Sesriem to check out permits for Sossusvlei and for later on an off road trip towards Swakopmund. It was baking hot there, and I think it made our mind up that we must start very early tomorrow morning in order to be able to climb the dunes in the coolest part of the day. So it’s packed breakfast about 6 am and off to the dunes. We then drove another 50km to where we are staying for two nights, Moon Mountain Lodge. This is a canvas camp, huge rooms with en-suite all canvas and built on stilts. It looks over a huge plain towards the dunes. We are high with lovely views. Our room has its own plunge pool on the terrace. Quite different to last night! We had a beer in the bar and a dip in the pool. We were reading and the wind started to blow. It’s very fierce and you wonder how the canvas copes with it. I went out to get my towel on the terrace and one of the chairs and both our towels were in the plunge pool! Oops. Paul has just gone down to reception to ask for replacements.

We have dinner, bed and breakfast, so lap of luxury tonight. A girl has just arrived with two bath mats! Hopefully she’ll be back soon with bath towels. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 19th November

We spent a very cold night at Klein Aus Vista, as soon as the sun went down last night we needed extra clothes. We needed to find the sleeping bags from under the mattress. We’d used them for extra padding, last night we needed them for warmth. We assume it was the height of the resort at 1,400m. We survived! This morning, up a little later at 5.50am, we had a cuppa and decided to take a walk before it got too warm. We walked for an hour and a half taking in a great view point over what I can only describe as a sand glacier! Check out the photo! We then caught up with emails at the main lodge over a coffee. 

Our journey to Duwisib Castle took 4hours as we decided to take in a much blogged about route D707. It was off the main route and at least half of it was stunning. The silver grass contrasting with the amber dunes and road, quite beautiful. Again only a few on the roads, this time about 6 in four hours, so by Namibian standards very busy! 

We arrived at Duwisib to find an eccentric castle, reminded me of Castle Drogo. Built by an eccentric German for his even more eccentric American wife, and filled with European furniture all transported here from Europe and eventually by ox cart. Some of the pieces are huge, can’t imagine how long they took to transport them in 1906. Now owned by Namibia, NWR.

Camp site a bit down at heel, so looking forward to our two day Lodge stay tomorrow. 

 

 

Saturday 17th November 

Up at dawn as usual now. This is so unlike Me and even Er  is not usually this early. The early going to bed and the heat makes a difference. After the border immigration at Mata Mata formalities were  over we were on our way at 9.00 am, now  in Namibia on our way to Hobas near to the Fish River Canyon. One night here. The scenery on the way was stunning, miles and miles of desolate gravel roads for 460 kms. We did not pass a single car and there were no more than six to eight vehicles coming the other way. The “dune roads “ were  fascinating rolling through a red ochre landscape  then dry  river beds opening out onto flat desolate open spaces for miles and finally Dolomite hills that look man made but go back millions of years with Quiver Trees  atop. 

Arrived Hobas camp at 3.30 pm, not bad on gravel roads, they are very well maintained and a speed of 90 to 100 kph is fine. 

Went to the Canyon at 6.30pm for the sunset, stunning ! Back tomorrow for the sunrise before the short drive to Ai-Ais for another night stop. 

 

Wonderful trip so far only to be enjoyed by being independent, traveling off the main routes can be very rewarding. The Fish River Canyon is a  World Heritage site and hardly a soul to be seen. Lovely!  

Sunday 18th

5.30 rise is now becoming the norm. No real hurry this morning but wanted to get back to the Canyon before the sun got too high and the day warmed up. Arrived at 7.30 am, not that hot so walked the 3 kms to another view point. All views totally stunning, so much so that photos don’t do it justice. The mind is the best photo, being in the place is what it is all about,  photos are just  memories all be it very important. 

Completed the off road 4×4 trail along the Canyon edge, Irene having kittens. Saw Gemsbok, Springbok and the highlight about 10 Hartman’s Mountain Zebra. The Ai Ais National  Park is famed for the Canyon and it’s wilderness and flora and fauna not as a game park, although as it is not fenced, there is a small number of species around, even some leopard. 

Drove from the Canyon to our next night stop and Ai Ais Hot Springs Rest Camp. The camp is an oasis between barren and rugged lower sides of the Canyon with hot springs which is why the camp developed although it is again miles from wherever! 

Lovely pool and camp ( not wild at all, all mod cons, electric hook up, nice ablutions, petrol, restaurant and a nice pool area. Arrived here early about 1 pm, decided to go for a cool and  refreshing swim, shocked when diving in that the water is about 60 degs centigrade. There are hot springs here after all. Nevertheless once one adjusts to  the temperature it is very therapeutic especially after all the driving we have done so far ( about 2000 kms). 

 

Monday 19 November

Ai Ais to Aus today staying at the Klein Aus Vista camp at which we arrived at 5.30. We could have arrived earlier but we wanted to take the much longer Off road route. The scenery was a lot better winding through all the rocky outcrops and once again drove for over three hours without seeing a car or people. Before hitting this route we dropped into the Orange River valley which forms the border between Namibia and South Africa. Stopped at a town called Rosh Pinar to stock up with some much needed supplies, water, some fresh veg and a little fresh meat, just to tidy us over for the next 2 nights. It was a small town which has grown from the nearby zinc and copper mines. It looked quite prosperous and luckily the Spar supermarket reflected this. 

Nice little camp with 8 spots. No electric and no lights, perfect. A few kms away is a “inn” which is owned by the same people as the camp. It has a nice terrace and restaurant and believe it or not a swimming pool. Off there now to catch the sunset with a sundowner and download some blog and catch up with some e-mails.