Kaokoland Trip – 2nd April 2010 to 27th April 2010
1.0 What made the trip of a lifetime happen?
Peter Tied (alias Tecno-nut or Fearless Leader or Illustrious Leader) a fundi on SAPS
computer accounting systems and with a list of interests as long as my arm eg a tracks for
Africa aficionado, a chaser of eclipses and convergence lines (lines of longitude and
latitude) around the world, bumped into John Wells a retired mining engineer originally with Goldfields, moved down from the big
smoke to the more civilized environs of Ballito in KZN and on first glance a twin of Kingsley
Holgate complete with long white hair and beard, a midriff to match and a history of traipsing
through Africa with Kingsley.
The chance meeting between these two with a history of trips into the overland areas of
Africa, was at a book launch in Ballito (probably a Kingsley book) at which a common
interest was expressed of putting together an expedition to the furthest reaches of Namibia
i.e the Kaokoland where time appears to have stood still for the last hundred years. Peter
immediately advertised his intention in the Land Rover magazine and called for interested
parties.
Richard von Berg, an ex-colleague from Grinaker Construction days and family friend, asked
yours truly (we had been planning a trip for years but because of work commitments this had
never come to fruition) whether I was interested and got a qualified yes (qualified because of
my commitments at the new King Shaka International Airport) and he was the first to
respond positively to the advert.
Glen Jones also a keen overlander working in the built in furnishing environment was the
other to respond and whala!, the four vehicle team was in place and the final time agreed
was commencing over the long Easter weekend and finishing nearly four weeks later.
2.0 Expedition members, their wheels and trip ambitions
Vehicle No 1
Fearless Leader
Fearless leader drove a special edition Defender 110 Tdi with the five cylinder BMW
sourced engine. The vehicle was impressively kitted out with rooftop pop-up tent, solar
power to keep his batteries loaded for a superbly cold fridge (one could always count on ice
cold water for the whisky) and other specials like a log net on the front of the bull bar and
two data loggers for T4A (Tracks for Africa)
Fearless was single and as his lady friend was otherwise committed was traveling alone. I
spent a lot of time traveling with the illustrious leader and we had many common interests
e.g birds, construction etc. It was his meticulous planning that made for a relatively stressfree expedition.
His ambition was to register new tracks, camping sites as well as convergence lines. On
board was red paint and brushes to upgrade the “rooi drom” of which more later. On his first
overlanding trip was Shumba (a fluffy lion from the Hospice ladies) and making friends with
Rastacarian (more about Rasta Later). Shumbas seat was on the dash tucked in behind the
Ingrams camphor cream tub.
Vehicle No 2
Cruiser
John, Marilyn (25 year relationship and 6 year married) with UCT student son Ian 19 years
(who was seeking direction between academic qualifications and the adventure career) were
a copy of the Kingsley Holgate family that also had the father, wife and son combination,
with the wife being very active in the planning and recording. The difference was that
Kinglsey was a Land Rover man whereas the Wells family piloted a still pretty new
Landcruiser 70. The large vehicle was expected to carry kit and provisions for the three as
well as Marilyn’s brother Bill van Dongen, a GP from Ballito and his daughter Lisa, a 27 year
old social/environmental consultant with a large international Cape Town based company.
Due to time constraints Bill and Lisa flew in to Ondagwa in Ovamboland to join the team
there. Similarly towards the end they flew back from Windhoek thus missing out on both long
haul trips through SA and Botswana.
John and Bill had previously been part of a Kingsley support group in hauling a boat through
northern Mozambique and their vehicle was bedecked with all sorts of trans-Africa and
mosquito net stickers. John was often mistaken for Kingsley. John’s chief interest was to
locate as many Geo-caches (containers sponsored by overlanders containing travel bugs
and a log books) on route and if possible establishing new ones. The Geo-caches have to
be located with GPS equipment and are invariably located in locations with spectacular
environments. John also was the tax collector, the custodian of our funds for the payment of
any accommodation or other fees that the group would have to pay. The Well’s were
accompanied by Rasta who later issued his version on the behavior of the party. Shumba
and Rasta were to become friends on the trip.
Marilyn was the expert in both photographic and computer related graphic productions and
on completion of the trip issued a 4,500 pic electronic album of the trip. Marilyn also played
the matchmaker in terms of who traveled with whom on a rotational basis and she had the (I
would think pleasant) job of providing hugs to all that were in need.
Ian was the sergeant at arms i.e he chaired that fines meeting that were held in the evenings
around the camp fire.
All members in this team were highly professional.
Vehicle No 3
Gemma
Glen and Gail Jones from the Highway area were after Richard the next to respond to
Peters advert. With their V8 Discovery (previously christened Gemma) very well kitted out,
this was the luxury “passion wagon” of a newly married couple. With membership of all the
important 4x4 and overlander clubs, roof top tent and cleverly done internal kit out, Glen
needed his experience to stay with the more robust vehicles with their higher ground
clearance and bigger tires.
Glen like Richard had been in the war in Angola and thus had very similar interests in the
border area with Angola. Also like Richard Glen was very handy with mechanicals and both
were found under and in their vehicles to attend to mechanical repairs.
The couple was content to stay together and did not participate in the rotational system
devised by the Well’s. Also Gail suffered from home sickness for her daughter.
Vehicle No 4
Duckie
Richard and daughter Emily von Berg were very at home in their Defender 110 four cylinder
diesel that clocked 400,000 km on the trip. Richard, the surveyor had taken leave and Emily
had resigned from her physical training appointment to join the trip. They had allowed a third
seat for the passenger (me) that was more often occupied by others due to the rotational
basis even though all my kit etc traveled in this vehicle. They both slept in the rooftop tent
and I slept in a separate pup tent or if weather and mozzies permitted under the stars. I
together with the occupants of Cruiser, formed the tented community that had to pitch tent
every evening and strike tent every morning.
The Defender had traveling with it a green Duck (one of Emilie’s many) fixed to the left
fender and together with the toy ducks traveling along hoping to get a home in one of the
Geo-caches, this resulted in the vehicle being referred to as Duckie.
I had just completed my challenging stint as project manager at the new King Shaka
International Airport and would not have missed this trip for anything. It was the perfect
getaway from the life consuming environment of the airport construction.
Team colours
Team cohesiveness was promoted by the adoption of an expedition badge cleverly
developed by Marilyn and entitled Kaokoland 2010. Decals of this adorned the externals of
the vehicles as well as our beige Kaokoland T shirts. These shirts had to be worn at
important occasions and failure to do this would result in fines being issued.
3.0 The Expedition
2nd April 2010 -
Friday before Easter
-
KZN, OFS, Bots.
Clock in time at Cato Ridge BP one stop was 4h00. Team leader was the last to arrive some
15 min late and was the first member to receive a fine. A passport check was done, a few
Wild Bean coffees were ordered and our first team photo was taken. Peter introduced us to
Big Dug and Little Dug (shovel and spade respectively bolted to the rooftop frame) and soon
our convoy was on its way, me filling in the passenger seat of Peters Landy as he would
otherwise have been the lone ranger.
Travelling up the N3 our first stop waiting for catch up was at Mooi River Plaza. I found a
play gadget next to the road that Peter kept for his daughter. Next stop was Harrismith truck
stop for cheaper fuel. The first Mettwurst from the Easter Festival made its appearance and
the new biltong knife from Mr Price Sports worked beautifully. All moved on to Bethlehem
where a breakfast stop at a roadside restaurant was just the answer. Rasta and Shumba
joined in.
Onwards relentlessly we rattled of the Freestate towns of Lindley, Steynsrus, Kroonstad,
Viljoenskroon, Orkney, Klerksdorp, Hartbeesfontein, Coligney, Lichtenburg and Mafikeng to
the Botswana Border Post of Ramatlabama. The post being under construction we passed
through without a hitch and on to Kanye (the earlier proposed stop at Jwaneng being past
Team Leaders four fingers between sun and horizon limit) where we booked into our first
“formal campsite” at Motsi Lodge. We had covered over 1,000 km on this first stint.
All set up comfortably but we got the first taste of ants and “wag n bietjie”. The meal was
courtesy Fearless leader – a hearty portion of home-cooked chicken and prawn (a 50:50 mix
of one chicken one prawn) followed by Peters famous bush-cocoa. The showers at the
lodge were hot and a pleasure. Late into the night background music from the lodge –
otherwise a good night.
3rd April 2010 -
Botswana
An early start and good getaway saw us at the bowser in Kanye for a look at the local
newspaper and pie and cold drink bought in Pula. Northwards was the trek to Jwaneng,
Sekoma, Mabutsane and Kang for a pit stop. Onwards our first Cache under a tree next to
the road, successfully retrieved, a travelbug removed and a ducky installed. The onlookers
like us were referred to as “muggels”.
The number of donkeys seen here and also later in the trip was amazing. These were
regarded as a major road hazard as were the cattle that frequented the road verges. Roads
generally were very good and less pot-holed than in the good old RSA.
Travelling north, the Trans-Kalahari Highway was flanked by endless fields of yellow flowers
(must have had good rains), and bushveld trees. The landscape was flat with the occasional
pan and any minor depressions were announced by warning traffic signs. We were traveling
over the supposed largest sand mass in the world, remnants of an early sea with the
occasional calcrete ridges. Before Ganzi is was decided to have a look at the Trailblazers
campsite that was to offer an ethnic bushman experience and furthermore indicated the
bonus of a cache. The site was abandoned, the cache had been muggled but some semibushmen appeared. They respectfully called Ian “Sir” after their president Sir Ian SeretsiKama. All were flying high but a good site with hot water ablutions was negotiated and camp
was set up. A good birding site, Peter logged the camp for T4A and a campfire was lit.
Stargazing was good and Peter lectured us on the various constellations. Gale was
frightened out of her wits when walking in the dark by a loud flatulence blast. Initially Gale
was suspected but the source of the loud report was located by means of headlamps.
Richard was found lying behind her on his back with legs up in the dark looking at stars.
Gales pride was thus restored.
The evening meal was again a prepared meal of highest order – a lovely home-cooked
stew.
4th April 2010 -
Easter Sunday
Easter was not forgotten and in conformance with the pagan ritual, the Easter bunny visited
early. Marshmallow eggs were found outside each tent on rising. Peter had been playing
bunny – this was much appreciated. A quick pro-nutro, a pack and we were on our way to
another cache on the way to Ganzi. A large Kameeldoring next to the road was the stop
from which the track into the bush was commenced and after a lot of searching the cache
was located in a disused building. The clue was “leatherman” and the cache fixed to the wall
had to be opened with a screw-driver. Another ducky from Emily entered the system. A stick
insect (ala praying mantis) about 250 mm long frequented the same disused building –
never seen such a big one before. The walkers among us walked back to the road through
the bush and settled under the Kameeldoring at the road awaiting the bushwhacking
vehicles. Somewhere in the apparent wilderness church bells were ringing and thoughts
went back to my Family, Ramona being on a flight to Peter, Sarah and Jessica for Easter. I
SMS’d the Raeburn-Wards and got a quick response.
With a successful cache visit behind us we aimed at a SPAR in Ganzi – a mining town. We
stocked up on essentials and found Jagdwurst that after a tasting session with my Biltong
knife started a long lasting passion for Jagdwurst on the expedition – but onwards to the
destination of Lake Ngami at the town of Sehitwa north of the Central Kalahari National
Park. The lake after good rains held potential for a beautiful camp stop.
Lake Ngami was the first rest place for the Dorstland Trekkers after a long and dangerous
trek across the Kalahari planes. The first wave successfully reaching this “land of many
vleis” as the Trekkers called it in 1875 was led by Gert Alberts and consisted of 10 families,
sixteen wagons and fourteen hundred cattle. The second and much larger wave led by Jan
Greyling (500 volk, 128 wagons, 7,000 cattle, 500 horses, 1,000 sheep and goats, 200 dogs
and many fowls and ducks) was disastrous as there was inadequate water along the way
and the wealthy boers lost most of their livestock and lots of wagons and provisions. There
was amazingly no loss of human life to this stage but huge losses to malaria were to follow.
Two major waves followed later.
Lake Ngami was also the settling place of refugee Hereros fleeing from the Germans intent
on wiping the troublesome Hereros off the face of the planet. The survivors that reached
Lake Ngami selected the best areas in 1905 and formed the dominant population group.
Back to our expedition, Lake Ngami unfortunately provided only a brief glimpse of the water
with its wide range and large numbers of water birds. The bush that had developed over
many years on the pan due to the absence of water in the lake was now showing substantial
signs of dying due to drowning in the lake. Soggy conditions and mossie rich forests resulted
in the team high-tailing it out of here. A few pics of the local beauty parlour and the logging
of many birds by yours truly and we were heading north (no longer in the direction of Maun)
to the first red line control point.
We crossed a number of vet control points set up to prevent the spread of foot and mouth
disease. The questions “have you any meat” was followed by an inspection of the fridges,
decontamination of the wheels with knapsack sprayers, and passengers needing to step into
a pan of antiseptic fluid before all could cross. Needless to say no meat products were ever
found in the fridges.
Not far from the vet fence the expedition turned off from the tar road (all roads up to now had
been tarred) and onto gravel road heading west towards the Namibia border. Peter had on
T4A found a convergence line point that we duly tried to find but without success as bush
Elephants had trashed to track and we had to turn back now to find a camp site as four
fingers were getting close. Trying to find our way out of the enveloping bush resulted in
Richard reversing into Fearless resulting in a bent bulbar on Fearless and a dinged back
door to Duckie. The bulbar was straightened in camp with the assistance of the Cruiser
winch but Duckie had to live with the bent door. Two possible campsites were not chosen
due to ant infestation as well as signs of an elephant track. Cruiser had actually seen a
young bull elephant en route and the country was wild with no fences. I had found an empty
cartridge on the road confirming that this was hunter territory.
With luck we found an area that had been cleared of ants by antbears (isambanes) and we
duly set up our first bush camp named “Ardvark Camp”. Ant holes were filled (all except
one at the entrance to my tent – with a bit of luck I would spot an antbear that night),
oranges hung in a tree at some distance from the camp (elephants break into anything
containing oranges) and a fire made in preparation for the grilling of Nuernberger sausages
from the Easter festival together with sauerkraut, german mustard and foil potatoes. These
went down exceptionally well.
It was the first bush camp where portable showers and toilets were successfully brought into
operation. The men however still preferred to walk into the bush with shovel and paper.
Easter Sunday had been quite eventful however no antbear was sighted that night even with
me sleeping with my head outside the tent and the oranges were still in the tree in the
morning.
5th April
Easter Monday
Unlike the traditional Easter services and family orientated acrtivities, there was a
remarkable absence of anything related to the death and resurrection of Christ over the
Easter period and the significance of this event in our lives. Music never mind Bachs Easter
Passion and the church services were absent and were missed by me.
Travelling east the next destination was Drotsky Caves, so called when Bushmen showed
Drostky the extended multi-level labyrinth of caves in a mountain protruding ever so slightly
from the otherwise flat horizon that sometimes feels like the flat horizon of the sea. The
bushman name (we were now in “Bushman land stretching into Namibia) is Gcwihaba
Caverns and was formed 3, 2 million years ago in the Dolomite marble. The site was a
registered national heritage site and the Verreaux’s Eagle Owl guarding the entrance for
food departed with the arrival of our band of overlanders.
A virtual cache was located in a tree in front of the caves that were guarded by a camp of
the Botswana Defense Force. The bat cave floor was a soft mass of dry powdery batshit that
provided food for the Beatles living in the cave. Although walking through this may have
raised some dust, at least the expected squidgy poo did not materialize and our special
footwear did not suffer. Stalactites and stalagmites were impressive and we duly recorded
our visit in the visitor’s book in the entrance of the cave. Absent from the caves was the
commercialization associated with the Cango caves i.e there was no entrance cubicle, no
entrance fees and aside from the BDF nearby at their camp and ourselves, there were no
people around.
An orange for refreshment and we were on our way to Xaixai (Caecae), a small village with
bushmen (ladies) sighted. A short chat with the local friendly police officer and Fearless
leader took us on a new route he had established using Google Earth and which was now
being established by him on T4A using his two data loggers mounted on the modified dash.
Having reached the Namibian border (21 degree east) we headed south to 20 degrees
south where Fearless duly located and logged the convergence. Of interest was that the coordinates used were the now standardized WGS system and differed from the border fence
erected on a meridian or Mercator system by some one hundred meters. Registering the
point was done by photographing the GPS readout together with photos taken north south
east and west. John had in the interim attempted to log 19 degrees 50 minutes south or
some similar arbitrary point – not sure whether this was successful.
The boundary fence consisted of a central main fence on the actual boundary and two
further fences, one on each side some twenty meters away. The Botswana fence included a
heavy galvanized cable to prevent damage by the bigger wild animals.
Travelling north along the fence (border patrollie), having found a rhino stone now proudly
located in our entrance hall in Kloof, Gemma having had the honour of towing out Cruiser
from an soggy patch, having stopped to photograph the first engraved Baobab on the fence
and having skirted around the Aha mountains (small hills really), four fingers made us stop
for our next bush camp (Borderline Camp) and a somewhat wet evening around the fire.
Sightings for the day had been three Gemsbuck, an olive snake and many Namaqua sand
grouse and Namaqua Doves, all pretty skittish again indicating that this is probably still
hunting terrain. Best wild sound was that of wild dogs in the bush, unseen. Cat (leopard),
Hyena and Giraffe spoor were seen but generally this was more spoor sighting than animal
sighting territory.
6th April
Tuesday
Bots – Nam – Kavango
Grens patrollie carried on north to Dobe border post consisting of one army tent and a
small room where the book was signed. As the post was geared for locals only no road
permit required by Namibia law was available for the vehicles. According to the officials
Namibia time was the same as Bots time – this was at odds with Fearless’s advice that
daylight saving was in place in Namibia and the time should be one hour different. All went
well on the Bots side, the border was crossed and Nam side officials were becoming a bit
awkward about meat so we high-tailed it out of there. We were in Bushmanland and as we
did not stop for Groot boom and Holboom these will have to be visited on a later trip. We
stopped at Tsumkwe to fill up on Windhoek draught, cold drinks and bread. Bushmen were
selling their ostrich bead wares outside and the opportunity was missed to buy for Yolande
and Ramona at favourable rates.
Turn right and northward bound on gravel towards Kaudom. Ian had proposed a lunchtime
stop for a bite to eat as breakfasts were generally of lightning speed Pro Nutro and coffee.
The Dorstland Trek Boom was the perfect venue and boy what a tree. The Baobab had at
some stage fallen over but carried on growing on its side creating a host of massive
horizontal sausage-like baobabs that we climbed and walked on. It was near this tree that
the Dorstland Trekkers had their first rest place in Namibia. Some of their carved names
should have still been visible.
The Kaudom in the Kavango Province is a non-commercial reserve, no gate entrances and
limited staff at the southern campsite Sikereti. The park was as a whole deserted and no
other tourists were seen during our visit. The campsite had limited facilities and Richard
brought out his hot water shower set that worked quite well although with the air and water
temperatures a cold shower was my preferred option.
7th April
Wednesday
Kaudom
A leisurely trip though the park, past some water holes brought us to a stop at Leeupan. No
“leeus” or any sign of animals during the whole day but a few interesting birds were sighted.
The park is known for its unspoilt bush mainly on white sands. At the dry Xaudum river bed
there were plenty spoor of Giraffe and buck and the break was used to get some front and
rear (in Glens case a brownie was offered) photos of the group. This was a break from the
endless bush scenery.
The elevated Kaudom campsite chosen had been a chalet site but the elephants had done
some major damage as they had wrecked most of the chalets in the search of water that
they had learnt to find inside. The view over the Kaudom River bed was superb.
A solo sunset walk behind the camp brought me to a timber watchtower that was manned by
a guard. I was invited up and spent some time chatting to the guard (an Ovambo – the
reception man was a Damara) overlooking the valley and bush into the distance. He spotted
with a naked eye a herd of some animals on the valley edge a good few kilometers away
that I could not even spot with my binoculars. The elephants had moved far away he said
and we were not at risk at present. The elephants roam through the park from Angola and
Botswana and the numbers in the park vary with time. Further advice was that the “white
road” in the north east of Rundu was not in good condition.
Gale had whistled up some lovely dinner and boy was she good with preparing all sorts of
dishes with all sorts of ingredients. Ian and Emily took a night drive after dinner and reported
next morning that they had seen a brown owl.
8th April
-
Thursday
Kaudom to Grootfontein
The track north out of the park and to the Rundu – Katimo Malilo highway was pure white
sand with the added wider tracks for the Mercedes Benz four wheel drive park vehicles one
of which overtook us with a squad of labourers on the back being thrown around
nonchalantly by the weaving truck. Mopane bush with high trees dominated this stretch of 54
kilometers that was completed by Fearless in half an hour shorter than the next vehicle, this
being Duckie. This gave time for roadside exploration e.g observing pastoralist activity with
beautiful African cattle (could not say that they were Nguni but similar to ours with big horns)
being hearded by the local heardboys who would shout directions to their bovine friends in
this land free of fencing. The wayfinding signage i.e. Rundu was covered in grafitti writing
such as “Never give up – all the way from California”. The local tribal village structures
seemed reasonably substantial when compared to structures seen later in Kaokoland and a
wayside tree appeared to be ancient judging by its gnarled main stem – a good sign that it
had not been chopped down long ago to make charcoal or carvings as elsewhere on the
impoverished African continent.
Having pumped up the tire pressures with the on-board pump, and the overlanders finally all
being accounted for, we covered the one hundred and eleven kilometer tar road to Rundu in
pretty quick time. At Rundu service station the pomp joggies confirmed the Botswana
officer’s advice that Nam time was still the same as Bots and RSA. Funny this as cell phone
world time and Grootfontein was in fact one hour later – maybe Okavango has decided to go
it alone with their times. A mobile meat market with entrails swinging off meat hooks on the
back of an open Colt bakkie stopped at the service station.
An unfortunate omission was that we did not enter Rundu proper and savour the sights of
the Kavango River, being so close and having driven close to but out of sight of the River
and the border with Angolo for the last stretch of Tar Road. Another item to visit on the next
trip up this way.
The debate of traveling “The White Road” in the north for Glen to reminisce about war days
or to restock in proper shops, celebrate Peters birthday in a proper restaurant and see the
meteor, all at Grootfontein was won by the latter. Off we headed on good, dead straight and
tarred road to Grootfontein, witnessing along the way the typical rain squalls that in this open
country with low trees can be seen in any direction form zero to three-sixty.
Grootfontein camp was a formal camp checked out before the facilities of the town were
visited eg Spar, butcher, garage repairs to overhead tent structures etc before heading off to
the Hoba Meteorite and champagne in silver goblets to celebrate the sixty fourth birthday
of Peter. A phenomenal show was put up by the setting sun against the cloudy sky on the
way “home” where camp was set up, hot showers were gratefully used for freshening up
before heading out to the Meteor Hide for Eisbein, Kudu steaks and other delicacies not
seen yet on the trip. Tafel beers, Windhoeks and Jaegermeisters worked well together and
thanks to Peter for providing a very good reason to celebrate. Peter, John and I were senior
in terms of years and in that order, spaced at yearly intervals.
9th April
-
All the way to Kunene River Lodge
A comfortable start and we were on our way north, past the mining town of Tsumeb to our
first stop at Lake Otjikoto with its museum dealing with ancient geological times, the
bottomless lake, bushmen poison plants, the old steam pump, sunken german war
equipment etc. Always an impressive stop, but relentlessly onward we drove north past the
north eastern corner of Etosha where no animals were sighted through the park fence. We
were now in Ovamboland with its O town names such as Oshivelo, Onyati and Ondangwa
where we stopped to pick up Bill and his daughter Lisa who due to time constraints had
flown in from Johannesburg and Windhoek at the airport, once the transfer and training air
base of the South African war effort. There was lots of radio banter between Glen and
Richard who had both served in the war however at different times. The base no longer
resembled a fortified military establishment but with a runway of 2,5 km (the new King Shaka
runway length is 3,7 km) had a daily Air Namibia flight service.
Bill and Lisa introduced a new dynamic but with welcoming hugs they immediately were part
of the crew. We stopped for lunch under a tree located by Fearless on his Garmin. Richard
and Glen immediately fell into conversation with locals who had also served in the war. They
had noted that the cessation of the war had reduced the economic activity in the area and
created some hardships. Beautiful cattle grazed in the area and of interest was the cluster of
what must have been well points – these were sighted in many areas of standing water and
may have been the main source of potable water.
Oshakati, Oshikuku, Ongongo and Ombalantu were all towns of similar character, many
pubs and parlours in-between franchise outlets generally known in SA. The area was flat
with lots of inundated areas fed by rivers emanating in Angola and finally ending in Oponono
Lake further south. Donkeys were grazing waste deep in these waters and fishermen were
displaying their catch in bunches hanging off branches next to the highway. Flowering water
lilies and trees, villages of grass huts in millet fields surrounded by stake fences, grass fields
with tall palm trees gave this area its special flavor. A concrete lined canal on the left with
regular bridges over appeared to be the water supply to this relatively densely populated
(the most densely populated in Namibia) region. SWAPO flags had been hoisted onto poles
in roadside trees, on houses and fences. It was clear that this area of Namibia was SWAPO
territory and probably well supported by the government.
Ruacana west had the last dependable fuel supply for the next 1,200 km so all spare tanks
were filled to the brim and last minute snacks enjoyed. Cresting a hill an awe-inspiring vista
of the Kunene River valley with the “smoking” mass of the Ruacana falls opened before us.
With good rains in the Angola catchment, the Kunene was in full flood and the falls were
spectacular. Normally the barrage upstream and in Angola would channel the water through
the turbines with hardly a drop going over the falls. It was a first class photo opportunity and
also the end of the very good tar road.
On the winding tar road into the valley an articulated truck carrying crushed stone had come
to a devastating stop on the last corner. The cab was unrecognizable and parts were strewn
over a large area. The engine having landed some twenty meters from the impact zone had
been used for supporting the warning signs and the deviation showed that this accident had
happened quite some time ago – was there no capable salvage operation in Nam?
Fearless had recommended that we give Hippo Pools a miss for camping and the gravel
river road to Kunene River Lodge was selected. It was soon evident that we were in for a
hard slog as the Kunene had flooded portions of the road to levels that required alternative
off-road driving in many places. The flooded portions were all waded through to check
depths. Many detours over rocky and bushy terrain slowed progress and it was not long
before the sun set and darkness was on us. Wading by the light of headlamps, with fish
swimming and jumping clear of the water in front, a feeding water thick-knee being surprised
by the night time visitor and the ever present thought of crocodiles, made this portion one to
remember. The action included:
-
Doctor Bill instructed the application of mozzie spray due to the profusion of insects.
Fearless had to be jacked off a rock that had his defender front in the air,
Fearless also had to be pulled out of a near tip situation,
Glen had to be hauled up a steep hill, tires had to fight their way up bolder slopes,
Himba children would run barefoot ahead in boulder areas where no pathway was
visible,
As navigator to Fearless, Lothar followed tyre tracks by headlight to establish bye
pass routes
Elf-like Himba women in traditional regalia would gesticulate and jabber wildly about
closed roads
A Mercedes supply truck had got its engine under water and was abandoned
Fearless would lose lighting under a bow-wave and travel sections in darkness
A large detour was done as one short side route was not seen in the dark
On a number of occasions the option of bush camping favoured by John was not taken up
as the majority longed for a chill day at Kunene River Lodge that had got rave reviews from
previous travellers. The pure determination and the way the team took up this extreme
challenge was for me by far the best and most rewarding portion of the trip so far. We
thankfully arrived at KRL at 21h00 and set up camp.
10th April
-
Saturday
Kunene River Lodge
Not that by this time anybody really new or cared what day of the week it was, we had
nevertheless been on the road for one week and this was our first chill day. Richard and
Emily’s hammock was strung between two palm trees and especially Emily and Ian made
full use of recovering sleep lost to over-imbibing the previous nights. The pool (with blue
sodalite in the rock surround) right next to the camp site that had the rising Kunene lapping
on the opposite side of the campsite was used extensively as were the wash tubs. Whether
the cold water Omo combined with our washing skills did the trick is doubtful but judging by
the long lines strung between the trees, our clothing must have seen a remarkable
improvement after one week of service.
Lounging on the lodge deck eating toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches, drinking Tafel
lager, inspecting the rising Kunene water levels against the deck supports and meeting for
the traditional fines meeting for sundowners was the order of this day. John would identify
birds by their calls; we discovered the symbiotic relationship between blue waxbills and
wasps and generally caught our breath so to say.
Bill, Lisa, Richard and I strolled outside the camp noting that the trees in the rising river
water already had a paler leaf complexion than those in the dry indicating that they had been
partially submerged in the rising water for some time. We walked along the millet fields and I
photographed this to me unknown staple food. We soon found that we had missed a track
turn-off the previous night that would have saved us at least half an hour on our trip.
The iconic bird in this area was the Cinderella waxbill and for R100.00 a piece we could
have followed a tour that would “try to spot” this bird. This and a boat ride on the Kunene
were not for this party however we still had a fruitful bird sighting day.
The chill day was hugely needed and the camp site was thus etched positively in our
memories.
11th April
-
Sunday
KRL to Epupa
The River Road to Swartboois Drift was passable (but thereafter not), so off we drove to
have a look at this famous crossing point between Angola and Namibia (SWA). For the early
migratory tribes like the Herero and the Afrikaner Dorstland Trekkers this had been the
border crossing. We found palm trees and nothing much else but up on a hill overlooking the
drift was a small cemetery of trekboers as well as a memorial erected by the descendants of
the trekkers.
The trekboers that had reached South West Africa had negotiated a settlement agreement
with the Portuguese and in successive waves had crossed the Kunene in the early 1880s to
settle on a very fertile Humpata plateau. They retained their cultural values and life was
good as they were seen to be valuable allies for the Portuguese in the fight against
aggressive local tribes. The unfortunate element of their comfortable existence was their
uncontrolled poaching in Kaokoland that all but nearly caused the extinctions of the
abundant elephant and Rhino populations that have never really recovered. We at no stage
saw either of the two species even though we paid guides to take us to these animals. After
some forty rather comfortable years in Angola the “trekgees” again raised its head and this
time because of the Portuguese requirement that Portuguese be taught at the schools and
the fear that Catholicism would erode their religious beliefs. So in 1928 all but four families
moved back into SWA, their culture and language intact but to the surprise of the local
Afrikaners the men now wore black leather hats as opposed to the traditional brown. The
Union of South Africa flag was hoisted at the drift and all their livestock had to be left behind
– they were compensated by the SA government. Both northward and southward treks were
commemorated by the descendants by erecting a large pointed stonework memorial with
engraved granite inlays.
Not far from the memorial site we located a small sodalite mine. The blue sodalite rock is a
semi-precious stone used for ornamental jewelry as later witnessed in the crystal museum in
Swakopmund. Pure blue colours we did not find but samples were taken along.
As the river road to Epupa was not passable we drove the gravel roads to Epembe and
Okangwati where we provisioned up at “The Good Road Shop”. Himba herders with their
ornamental horns worked into their hair and Himba women in traditional garb were
commonplace. Gone was the misconception that traditional Himba dress was only for
tourists – they actually still covered their skins with ochre and lard as this protected from the
harsh climate and retained their beauty. With their refined features, elaborate hairstyles and
traditional ornaments they are very attractive people and very different to the everyday KZN
native.
The Namibian topography must be the most varied and stunning in the world. We travelled
south past the Zebra Mountains and then north again past the same mountains on our way
to Epupa Falls. Bare black dolerite intrusions in Zebra patterns alternating with the original
bedrock now overgrown with vegetation gave the whole range a Zebra pattern – most
unusual. A view site overlooking the falls on arrival showed the whole falls area and a
helicopter perched on a promontory between two of the falls – one wondered how much the
lucky tourists on this rock had paid for their privilege. The R10.00 a head demanded by the
local gentleman was not paid due to Johns insistence on “no hand-outs”, there was no
formal evidence that the R10.00 would actually reach the community as claimed.
The campsite chosen by Fearless was right on the water’s edge and some 35 meters from
the first fall. My dome tent was erected between three palm trees to catch me in the event
that the rising waters should enter our campsite and carry my tent and me downstream. The
tall palm trees in the camp had dropped the ivory kernels and the locals were either throwing
these into the river to clear the camp or use them to carve ornaments out of the very hard
ivory.
Having set up camp the usual team of Bill, Richard, Lisa and I did our normal walk, this time
with the geo-cachers to the view site overlooking the endless array of falls. No geocache
was located and the cachers duly disappeared leaving the walkers to absorb the falls in full
flood. There were of the order of thirty six individual falls and it needed my six-shot
panoramic function on my trusted Samsung cell phone to capture the full extent of the vista.
We were truly blessed as this view is seldom seen with the Kunene in spate. Lisa could not
resist the temptation to submerge herself in a shallow portion of the river under the watchful
eye of her dad.
There was cell-phone reception and I had my first call to Ramona – what luxury. All was well
at home except for the news that Abbi had been shot but survived.
Another walk by Bill and I brought us to a hill overlooking the Kunene upstream of the falls.
Ever the engaging doctor, he helped a picanin push a wheelbarrow with a water drum up a
small hill. A jovial laugh from the little fellow was followed with a begging hand for money.
This is exactly what cruiser John had such a passionate distaste for – money should only be
paid for services rendered, handouts were a no-no. Not far from our look-out point where a
luxury lodge was in the process on being built, was a tavern with loud music. This has
apparently upset campers in the more expensive camp upstream from where we were
camped.
Our camp had a raised deck with bar facilities and this is where Bill and I found the rest of
the crew on our return.
The camp was probably the most beautiful of our camps. The camp fire under palms with
the Kunune slowly drifting by, mourning doves peeping in on our activities and Angola
mountains on the opposite bank. My tent some 35m from the first spraying falls, some
300mm above the Kunene water level only housed my body with my head outside being
cooled by spray from the falls and looking at the stars though the palm fronds. If only I had
had more peace and quiet to fully absorb this once in a lifetime experience.
12th April
-
Monday
Epupa to van Zyls
The heat had got to some overlanders and rehydrate was called into action. The desire to
move on got us travelling back the road we had come to Okangwati, between the Zebra
Mountains and the Baines Mountains. At the Good Road Shop we again stopped for some
refreshments with the Himba ladies again proving a center of attraction. R16.00 bought 1,5
liter of Bon Aqua.
The country side on the way to van Zyls camp site was rugged to say the least but sprinkled
with surprises. Plant life such as the bottle stemmed flowering Impala lily and the Paper
bark, the smooth black stemmed trees and the remarkable softwood trees forcing
themselves through plates of sandstone that was lifted into the air proliferated in this harsh
environment. The going was so rough that items were thrown off the tops of the vehicles e.g
a dozen cans of beer but more distressing was the tent poles from my dome tent that
worked their way out of its bag causing unnecessary hardship. Also a lifer for me was the
yellow-billed oxpeckers being hosted by of all animals domesticated donkeys.
Lunch saw us stopping for a bite in a sandy river bed with massive Kameeldoring trees.
Onward through the rough to our campsite named van Zyls. If not as dramatic as the
previous, the 35m diameter kameeldoring was our canopy also providing at its base a
double kitchen sink with excellent clear drinking water. Ablutions were good and Richard
would stoke up the donkey so we could shower with warm water. Outside the shower was
another sink with even a mirror. Rules were nailed to the kameeldoring and these I duly read
out for the team to take note. One of the rules was “no public show of affection” which
resulted in a fine being imposed on Gail for her public utterances in the “open” shower when
she joined Glen for her heavenly experience.
My tent was erected “boer maak n’ plan” style with poles borrowed from another tent and on
packing away my tent next morning I could claim to have slept on a scorpion. This was the
only scorpion sighted on our trip even though scorpion holes were present in abundance
throughout our trip.
13th April
-
Tuesdays
van Zyls to Camp Synchro
We struck camp and posed with vehicles for a photo-shoot on the wide dry sandy riverbed.
The rugged work horses deserved the attention as they took us through the roughest of
passages without a murmur. In this terrain reliable vehicles are a necessity not a nice to
have.
The van Zyls pass was a long one over four stages. The environment changed constantly
and new to us was:
The white hail-like stones covering the ground in places
The near vertical descents into gullies and rises out of these gullies
The boulders in the road that needed inch by inch guiding by Ian
The clear blue skies with the white puffy clouds
The trees at the side of the road laden with rocks perched in branches
The variety of succulents some in flower
An important Himbas grave site with near-naked Himba boys showing a keen interest in
our party
We finally arrived at the crest of the mountain overlooking Marienfluss and its spectacular
view over the Serengeti like pale green plain below dotted with trees. Anyone who has been
here will attest to the beauty of this valley. A cache was located and a brown snake-eagle
identified. Having absorbed the moment, the last hurdle of the pass was tackled. The van
Zyls track dropped off the back of the view mountain and with the packing of stones in
places and a lot of marshaling all vehicles managed to descend this famous pass finally
hitting the valley floor. This was the rest stop where under a tree lay a mountain of flat
stones all inscribed with pride by people from around the world that had successfully
negotiated van Zyls. With great pomp Peter’s white group stone from the Umzimkulu quarry
and with everybody having added their name in black coky, was laid by Peter after having
walked through the tunnel of honour formed by the rest of the overlander team. With the
stone firmly wedged in one of the higher branches, I added a stone from the new King
Shaka International Airport, suitably inscribed to show its origin. After another group photoshoot lunch was taken under some large trees in the sandy valley and the group all got an
introduction to Tim Jan – the bitter aloe and vine concoction that was supposed to be an
excellent tonic for all sorts of ailments. Suffice to say, the vile taste did not make it a popular
aperitif.
Once in the open on the valley floor a sign welcomed us to the valley and requested that we
observe local customs and requested looking after the environment by not driving off the
tracks. This latter request was however sadly not always adhered to by the younger drivers
who still had to fully develop a sense for protecting this extremely sensitive environment.
How green was my valley would have been an apt description of the vast plain of green
grass waving like mini sugarcane in the wind. Fairy circles where everywhere and in the
distance to the west the Hartman Mountains. We followed the valley “downstream” to
Camp Syncro on the Kunene where camp was erected with the tents on a wide berm
ostensibly to hold back flood waters. Our evening walk took us to a hill upstream that again
gave us a clear view of the snaking Kunene and in the distance a green piece of prime
property looking very much like a luxury golf course.
A beautiful firelight setting under a tree and a scops owl perched above, steaks on the camp
fire, an ice cold whisky and only my second cigar on the trip in hand was rudely interrupted
by advice from the camp manager that the camp site would be flooded that night. The
blissful peace was shattered and camp had to be hastily struck with tensions rising – I was
not able to put in the effort to satisfy my host’s expected requirements. The heat had finally
got to us and the night at the relocated bush camp was my low point of the trip. Having no
water in my tent to quench the thirst and scared to wake the camp in my search for water,
the heat had driven me to a panic attack. I just pictured our green Kelvinator at home with
the permanent supply of fresh orange juice and would have given anything just to be able to
access that fridge to quench my thirst. I had till now not realized that some of the
overlanders had already been availing themselves of the doctors re-hydrate and a lesson
was learnt – next time take plenty of Game or Re-hydrate on a trip like this.
14th April
Wednesday Camp Synchro to Kunene Dunes
Going back to the camp site we noted that the site had not been flooded and all relocation
had been in vain. We still paid our camp fees and used showers and wash facilities before
leaving. Having asked birder Bill if he had seen the little birds in the tree and getting a
negative, I quickly hauled my binoculars from Duckie to have a look and lo and behold, a
small flock of the Cinderella Waxbills in all their glory. Being the last to board the departing
column and fearful of further upsetting my sponsor, I jumped aboard with the result that I
was the only one privileged to see this bird that only lives in restricted areas of the Kunene
river valley. This was my best bird sighting of the trip.
Traveling south in the Marienfluss valley and in the opposite direction of the previous days
travel we finally rounded the southern tip of the Hartmann mountains to Rooi Drom in the
drier Hartmann’s valley. Hartmann had been a German scientist commissioned to survey
northern Namibia for mineral deposits and had the mountain range and wide valley named
after him even though he did not find any deposits worthy of developing.
Rooi Drom was a marker erected in honour of Jan Joubert who did a lot of good work in
Kaokoland only to be killed by the locals. The drom was in need of freshening up and a
friend of Fearless Mike Lauterbach (of Harburg stock) had asked that the team repaint the
drum. Fearless had taken along paint and brushes allowing the whole team to participate in
giving the drom a fresh appearance. Marilyn duly added the reference to Jan Joubert and
the co-ordinates.
Before long we hit blou drom erected for fun by some big coporates. It had a telephone with
no innards and a satellite dish to which we added our logo sticker (my honour as I was the
only one tall enough to reach and for which I was later fined for despoiling a public facility ).
A sign noting that due to continuing load shedding there would be no connectivity to the
outside world explained why the telephone that was complete with cable and handset did
not have anything behind the face plate.
Travelling north to the dunes destination we could see a distant dune but did not realize that
we were actually travelling over vegetated dunes. A breathtaking vista opened itself from the
crest of a dune. A large black valley with a river snaking far below presented a 180 degree
view as a backdrop to our red dune. All around us rain showers were pouring down over this
desolate area and after we had located our campsite behind a dune, one such squall
decided to select our site. The volume of rain was intense and dancing and whooping in the
rain out of pure delight after the interminable heat Lisa infected us with a madness that soon
had my shower gel being passed around for having hair washes. Rinsing was no problem
with water pouring off the Landies tent covers. Because of the multitude of scorpion holes
we spread our ground sheets – it appears scorpions rule in this forsaken world.
We could not travel to the Kunene River unfortunately as the Wilderness Safari Company
had the exclusive use concession over this area and was based at Sera Cafema lodge.
These people operate fly-in safaris for the monied folk and we ran into a number of Land
Rover viewing vehicles on our way out. We did however manage to soak up the beauty of
the environment that was again very different to what we had previously experienced. John
managed to establish a geocache in what was without a doubt the most dramatic vista on
our trip.
15th April
Thursday
Dunes to Khumib
Travelling south and in the opposite direction of our previous day’s travel this time on the
western side of Hartmann’s Valley and staying as close as possible to the Skeleton Coast
(entry to the park at these points was verboten), we saw the most dense wildlife on our trip,
Hartmann’s zebra, blesbuck, springbuck, the endangered lappetfaced vultures and large
flocks of Abdims stork. Travelling with Duckie, we spotted a gemsbuck skull and horns and
this was immediately retrieved and cable-tied to the bulbar. The gemsbuck was named
“Steven” a new member of our team and “he” was forthwith allowed to join us around the
camp fires.
The searing heat was interrupted by cool air blowing through gaps in the mountains from the
cold Benguella currents lapping the Skeleton coast that we were skirting. Before long we
also parked against some lovely high dunes where the black and white beetles (Onimacris
Bicolor) were sighted on the windward side of a dune. Of interest was that the sky was clear
in the direction of the Skeleton Coast but over the Hartmann’s mountains on the opposite
side the white puffy clouds in the clear blue skies were plentiful. At this location the
Hartmann’s Valley was barren and not at all green like the lush Marienfluss.
Groen drom was the last drom in this desolate landscape and we duly added our name to
those few that have travelled this way and recorded their visit. Orupembe finally came into
sight. Shown on the map as a town or village it consisted of a police station, Shop No 1 and
a square hut (less than half the size of Lueneburg). We managed to stock up on fresh water
for those that had run out (Glen) and cold drinks for the thirsty (the rest of us).
The Kumib River offered a route off the beaten track i.e the D3707 that was known to be
corrugated, not a good thing when river valleys were around. Along the route we collected
wood for our campsite referred to as Visagie’s a spot next to the river with no distinguishing
features. It was here that a clandestine party transferred Steven under cover of darkness
from his position on Duckie’s bull bar to the more distinguished location of Fearless Leaders
bull bar. There were some witnesses to the crime but the culprits shall for this expose
remain nameless.
16th April
Friday
Kumib (Visagie) to Puros
A further journey down the dry Kumib saw us locating a track away from the river and over
the Etendeka Mountains in a really really barren rock strewn environment. The closer we got
to the Hoarusib Valley the hotter and barren it got. Entering the Puros reserve we drove
over brown boulder beds as far as the eye could see with further dramatic geological
surrounds. Multicolour mountains with avalanches of decaying dark rock within red masses,
light colours interspersed.
Having reached the Hoarusib, the heat was intense (50 degrees) and wading of the water
indicated no way across. My suggestion to ford upstream brought some success when Ian
and Richard found a suitable ford (in hindsight the one we had not found first time round)
and after lunch under outstretched awnings we crossed the river to the track on the other
side the first two vehicles tied by winch rope in the event of one getting bogged in the river.
Searching for an overland route on the western side was not considered and option because
of topography.
The eastern route was quite pretty with palm trees along the river side until we had to cross
again to the western side. This time we located a ford easier with yours truly as for the
previous crossing acting a guide standing in the river. By this time experience had taught
that tires did not need to be deflated and the time consuming activity of re-inflating after
crossing as per the previous crossing was not needed.
The formal campsite at Puros was found without any difficulty and as per our previous
formal campsite we could choose any site as we were the only occupants. Again we
selected a large Kameeldoring tree and once set up the walkers did their scouting around to
the river that showed no signs of abating. A crimson breasted shrike was the cherry on top
as we wound our way back to camp for our evening fire and braai.
The next day was to be our next chill day and we were relieved to find that a Herero woman
in traditional garb would pick up our dirty washing to be returned the next day. This was the
first proper washing service some two weeks into our trip and this certainly lifted all our
spirits.
In the meantime observers had noted that Richard had taken on too much heat and some
re-hydrate was hauled out for some recovery service.
17th April
Saturday
Puros
Chill day – woken by red-beaked francolin that had the previous day eluded the catty shots
from the youngsters Emily and Ian who had not yet twigged that we were guests in a
conservancy. A sign warning about lions and elephants walking through camp saw me
erecting my tent between trees too close to allow elephant loitering – no lions or elephants
however bothered us.
An early morning travel with a guide saw us circling a bush where lions were supposed to be
but none were seen. Similarly our trek to see elephants was unsuccessful so we stopped in
the Puros village of square block houses to purchase petrol (for petrolhead Glen) and cold
drinks and chips for the rest. The lady in the shop was dressed in traditional Herero garb
copied from the German missionaries. The Hereros were taller and more well-set than the
Himbas and overdressed in comparison.
Of interest was that the village was located on a barren piece of land so hot that the crows
would sit on the fences with gaping beaks trying to survive – why not the cool tree and palmfringed river banks? The reason was the risk of elephants and lions frequenting the latter did
not make this shaded location worth it. Thus the ample warning signs in our camp.
John had chased a geocache and in the process located a sundowner spot for later. Ian and
Emily in the meantime had made no progress in hitting their francolin targets that seemed to
be quite safe in their conservation environment.
The Herero lady brought back a mountain of clean clothes – what a pleasure.
Late afternoon saw us on a hill overlooking the Hoarusib in the area of our second crossing
the previous day. The valley seemed idyllic in the golden sunset and Ian provided
entertainment below by trying to get cruiser stuck in the river. Like children we attempted to
throw rocks from our elevated hilltop into the river far below. Most of us managed to hit the
river at least once.
Return to camp allowed a walk to the river and around the camp before campfire and dudus.
18th April
Sunday
Puros to Sesfontein
The target destination for this day was the “pearl of the Kaokoland” Amspoort Gorge on the
Hoanib River. The track was pretty rugged with some vegetation and we witnessed a
Verreaux’s Eagle (black eagle) being seriously attacked by a very much smaller and rare
Auger Buzzard that was vigorously defending its nesting terrain in an aerial combat lasting
some considerable time. Having travelled quite some hours an oncoming Landcruiser bakkie
with the technical manager of Wilderness safaris met us. Hermann informed us that it was of
no use to carry on as the Hoanib had flooded the route to the poort and back to Sesfontein.
Café Sera had a youth camp planned and as the elephants had destroyed the borehole
pump, he had brought some water to the camp and was on his way to get the pump
replacements. He did show us an up to now unknown route through a valley that Fearless
immediately called Fearless Pass and got it logged with T4A. The valley had good game
and Hermann was pleased to report that the much hoped for arrival of Rhino had happened.
One rhino had taken residence in the valley and they were planning to bring in a mate. The
tenders for the concession were due and they hoped that they could extend the concession
period. Namibia had offered these wildlife areas to concessionaires who set up luxury
lodges for fly in safaris as we had experienced at the dunes.
Once back on the D3707 Fearless set a fast pace. On route Hermann invited us to rather
stay at their Palmwag lodge and he would give us free campsite accommodation with use of
the pool and restaurant. We did not take up the invitation. We stopped at an unmanned curio
sales stall next to the road at which Himba and Herero fertility dolls amongst other trinkets
were on offer. A WRC type drive by fearless in his Defender impressed and its BFG tires
gripped the road unbelievably until we reached Sesfontein again well before the others. The
little town was disappointing with drunken beggars at the local shop making a serious
nuisance of themselves. The hoped for petrol pumps did not have fuel but Peter and I did
manage to have a look at the Old German Fort that had been restored to former glory and
was now a luxury lodge with luscious green gardens in the large courtyard. Under cover
were a gleaming brand spanking new Unimog and another 4x4 vehicle that indicated the
type of clientele being catered for by this luxury lodge.
The camp sites in the village had not come recommended and we carried on to the site near
Warmquelle. The site had a crystal clear warm water pool complete with its own terrapin and
waterfall. This had us all inside pretty quickly and while the camp site as a whole was not
popular with some, the sleeping under the stars was good.
Lisa and I walked up the hill to marvel at the sunset view over the plains below that again
looked Serengeti like. The terrain would have suited the filming of Jesus in the hills around
Jerusalem. Sadly the fridge at the open air bar was not cold and accordingly the bar was
deserted.
A French couple that was like others we met on the journey were on a long trip around
Namibia. Some people seem to have all the time, the money and the peace to travel without
apparent cares in the world.
19th April
Monday
Sesfontein to Twyfelfontein
Hoorah, finally fuel was found at Palmwag in northern Damaraland. The “pomp joggie” was
a very babalas Damara and the rush of four vehicles at once was a huge stress with comical
four letter expletives. Palmwag was the luxury resort to which Hermann had invited us and
we had the luxury of a full breakfast of yoghurt, cereals, bacon and eggs and lovely orange
juice and coffees – heaven. Glen had his spare tire brackets welded and Fearless sorted out
his slow puncture, the shredded tire obviously past help. A second phone-call to Ramona
brought on emotions – absence makes the heart grow fonder.
A one armed man at the lodge turned out to be a chopper pilot who remembered having
seen John at Epupa. He had obviously spotted the large white beard and been struck by the
vision.
Departure through a vet control point brought us into tourist world where camper vans were
the order of the day. On the way to Khorixas we stopped at the very popular petrified forest
heritage site where large tourist buses disgorged masses of middle and old aged tourists. A
walk through these large tree trunks that we were advised were washed here from central
Africa in a previous age and Welwitshia Bainesii was well worth the stop.
Khorixas saw us invading the local equivelant of our Kwikspars for provisioning. Not a long
stop as the wilderness called and we travelled south and then west again toward
Twyfelfontein against the setting sun. Ducky stopped in a river bed to celebrate its 400,000
km and beers to celebrate were in order. Damara lads soon joined in and as usual Lisa had
these under her spell doing cartwheels across the sand.
A further milestone to be celebrated was John and Marilyn’s 6th wedding anniversary.
Having had a relationship for 25 years and a son Ian for 19, six was not really the significant
number. The very close relationship between father son and daughter was special and
enviable.
Having witnessed another spectacular sunset we arrived late at our Twyfelfontein camp and
soon I had a fire going with the standard braai and Fines meeting. Richard again had the
duty of firing up the donkey for the open air showers. Ian and Emily disappeared to the pub
and were not seen again sober until later the following day.
20th April
Tuesday
Twyfelfontein to Brandberg
First stop was to see the Rock art (engraved as opposed to painted) at the Twyfelfontein
valley at one time inhabited by white colonists the Levines who failed to make a living in this
harsh environment and partly due to inadequate water supplies. The artwork is attributed to
Shamans (spirituals) that would document on stone by engraving what came out of their
drug induced visions. Significant and also part of the tour guide’s logo was the lion with its
long tail. The only human depicted was of a man holding an ostrich around its neck. A seal
indicated that the artist had travelled to the coast.
The burnt mountain looked like the side of a coal mined mountain in northern KZN. A
geocache was successfully located before proceeding to the Brandberg campsite. Lunch
stop was in sight of the Brandberg that was a local version of the Australian Ayres Rock. A
large volcanic intrusion remained after the surrounding layers had been eroded away
leaving the highest point (Koenigstein at 2,579 meters) in Namibia.
Early afternoon saw us camped at White Lady Lodge where the swimming pool at the lodge
gave welcome relief to the desert heat. A planning meeting did not fully resolve whether the
Sossusvlei loop should be included in our itinerary – certainly a keen interest was shown in
this possible extra to our trip.
Richard had made friends with the local red-billed francolins and was hand feeding them.
That night I slept under the stars again. Gail had a bad night of homesickness. Her
prophylactic tablets for malaria that were to be taken weekly had nasty side effects and Dr
Bill had a week prior suggested a change to a daily tablet that I was taking. The change to
my tablet had improved things but not taken away the home-sickness for her daughter Jane.
Fearless had returned from the lodge with the very good news that the Ugab was once
again accessible by 4 x 4’s and that we could reach the skeleton coast via this route.
21st April
Wednesday White Lady to Ugab camp
The walkers that did not include John and Marilyn, beat the tour guides for the white lady
painting to reception and boldly Johnny the watchman took us into the valley. He was very
good at explaining the various trees like the acacia and combretums that were used by the
locals for home building. The highlight was the famous white lady that has had so much
research and opinions world-wide with no real clear resolution. It was very faint but was
surrounded by lots more bushman paintings – certainly an exhilarating excursion. A dusky
sunbird was sighted in one of the acacias and Emily was rock-hopping with youthful
exuberance.
Johnny who had enjoyed his enhanced status as a guide and who had been ragged by the
other group guides that we met on route with enthusiasm read through the Damara
language exhibit at reception. The Damaras had their own click and sh sounds that were not
catered for in the western alphabet. The written words were thus supplemented with
crosses, double crosses and exclamation marks inserted at points in the words to create the
required sounds.
The trip down the Ugab river valley was dramatic with wide sandy river bed, high cliffs and
large acacia trees. The track took us through marshy reed beds where we picked up a minitortoise, up and down challenging sand embankments that needed quite a few tows mainly
Gemma with its smaller wheels and tall elephant grass where the vehicles would literally
disappear from sight. At one stage three vehicles needed a tow.
When the river became impassable, we trekked into the Brandberg nature reserve where a
lunch stop was followed by a drive over desolate but o so pretty geological terrain. The
eroding layers around the Brandberg intrusion displayed different colours, some layers were
folded in sweeping shapes and other black layers were protruding needle sharp out of the
ground in rows. Other plateaus were covered with hundreds if not thousands of Welvitias
that changed my perception that they were endangered. Grotesquely shaped succulent
trees were growing in what appeared to be absolutely dead soil. The really worst
environment experienced on the trip was the diversion down to the Rhino sanctuary
supported by world-wide wildlife groups. The rocks closing in on the track on both sides
appeared as if they had been burnt in a fire in hell. There was no respite in the dead burntout environment and this affected our choice on not to stay at the camp in the valley. So out
we drove again and thank goodness for we found a brilliant bush camp site on a sand bank
in the shade of massive cliffs on the opposite side of the Ugab river.
A lovely evening around the camp fire and sleeping under the stars is the ultimate wildlife
experience, especially when animal tracks pass meters away from the camp site. We were
still in the rhino sanctuary and the thrill of sharing the animals territory with rhinos and
possibly elephants and lion was tops.
22nd April
Thursday
Ugab to Henties
Mid-morning saw us at a large gaping hole of the Brandberg West tin mine that had been
decommissioned. John had remembered a visit to this mine during his time with Gold Fields
and was unimpressed with the way the mine precinct had been left. The buildings had been
flattened but no further clearing up or re-establishment of the natural environment had been
attempted – a blight on the mining sector. As usual Bill and others searched for valuable
stones before our onward trip back into the Ugab river where this time travelling in the
cruiser with Ian driving I spotted a sign high up on the rock face. Stopping and zooming in
with the camera we discovered that this was a Skeleton Coast National Park corner
beacon. We were on the boundary between the Skeleton National Park’s recreational and
restricted areas, the Ugab being the boundary. We were also exiting Damaraland into a
different world.
A stop for oranges at a Skeleton CNP permit entry sign led to the discovery of a wonderfully
bubbly like surface. Tapping the earth bubbles would crack these shell like surfaces showing
the salt crystallized underside of the thin earth shell. Everywhere salt crystals could be
picked up and munched on.
A good road surface now through the SCNP recreational area that showed tracks all over
the surrounding landscape led to the salt highway demarcated by white vertical post
markers, possibly to keep drivers driving in the right direction with the coastal fogs that come
off the cold Benguella currents off-shore. Cruising down this good highway we drove to the
sea where the stranded Winston fishing trawler had disintegrated due to the seas corrosive
power. Spirits were high and the cold water was no problem in getting our feet wet in the
Atlantic.
Names like mile 108, Predikant se Gat, Sarah se Gat etc denoted various spots along this
desolate coast with virtually no distinguishing features. At mile 108 vehicles were filled with
fuel and cold drinks purchased. A further stop to see another trawler wreck that had not yet
had time to break up and we arrived at Henties Bay and our modern formal camp site.
There was enough time to drive through this clean and well-developed town with 2,700
permanent residents mainly Afrikaans farmer pensioners that found this fishing environment
more attractive than the very German Swakopmund. The hangman’s noose was erected at
the entrance to the local nine hole golf course as a reminder of what would happen to
people caught littering the town. John posed for a hangman’s photo.
The fish restaurant was taken over by our motley mob and what a great evening on mainly
fish courses and white wine it was. Also in the restaurant were four German men playing
cards, probably Skaat.
23rd April
Friday
Henties and Swakop
Having arrived at Swakopmund one day ahead of schedule, we could not get
accommodated at Die Alte Bruecke and had to book into the municipal campsite on the
other end of town. It was here that we met and invited Andreas a lone traveller from
Australia who was planning to travel solo through Africa, Russia and China before heading
back to Australia in his Nissan Patrol double cab that was new to us as it was not available
in RSA. Andreas from Stuttgart, had studied photography in Cologne as had Stefan Braun
our friend from Cologne. He landed up getting lots of advice (four fingers, fuel/water filter
and T4A from Fearless and routes through Africa from John).
Swakopmund was clinically clean. It could only be Germans that could get a town in such
good shape. All the houses were in superb condition as were the roads and public places.
The explanation given by the lovely german lady at the curio shop near Café Anton where
we had coffee under palm trees and where I bought my trinkets for home was that many
mines had opened in the vicinity and this had brought money into town. Rentals on the
houses were high. News from home was that Julius Malema had misbehaved and with his
hate-speech had upset South Africans to the extent that we thought Swakop would not be a
bad place to relocate to in the event that the errant ANC youth league was allowed to wreck
the country.
The crystal museum was stunning in its display of what has been found in Namibia form the
world’s largest calcium crystal to an impressive range of semi-precious stones and jewelry.
An evening with our guest Andreas went on quite late.
24th April
Saturday
Swakopmund and Walvis Bay
The party split for the day, the young ones to do quadbikes and sandboarding, Glen and
Gail off together and Fearless and I to do some birding at Walvis Bay. Peter sought out the
brick walls that he in his Corobrick days observed with special attention to crumbling of the
Bloemfontein bricks in this waterlogged salty environment. Past the salt pans with their
huge mountains of white salt to Pelican Point to list sixteen species of birds the most in one
outing to date. At Langstrand I looked for the holiday club facility (unsuccessfully) and after a
photo shoot in front of dunes we settled at a Wimpy for a stabilizing meal.
After lunch Fearless settled down to some computer work while I visited the local Aquarium
built in 1997, a nicely done small aquarium at the Ministry of Fish Resources. With a tunnel
through the central tank and a model of the Namibian coastline, the R5,00 for pensioners
was a gift. The exhibit space was probably less than 10 percent of the space at our uShaka
aquarium that I was privileged to have had a role in establishing and there were no retail
outlets. It highlighted the pure grandeur of our Durban facility that is probably not adequately
appreciated by the locals.
A walk onto the pier under refurbishment under pleasant weather gave a view over town
from over the waters of the Atlantic. The pier had been an attempt by the german
government at the time to attract ships as Walvis Bay was under South African control. Due
to sanding up and the loss of draught the bridge never became successful and is now of
tourist benefit. A walk through town revealed that the Europa Hotel of previous visits was in
good nick however the Hansa Brauerei was boarded up. The area boasted schools and old
age homes as well as WB the Woermann/Brockman shops. Most of the South African
franchised outlets were there.
A lazy afternoon with the Sharks beating the Blues 23 – 10 at home at a super 14 contest
ended with a walk to Kueckie’s Bar for our “Henkersmahlzeit” at which the fines collected
were to be spent. Traditional meals like Eisbein and Schweinebraten with Bratkartoffel and
Rotkohl were supplemented with Bloody Maries, Beer and Jaegermeister. Unfortunately
Glen and Gail had already left for home and we were now a reduced team. The hostess
enlightened us to a possible border closure due to striking border officials commencing
Monday. It was thus important that we crossed the border into Botswana before then
meaning an early start tomorrow.
Walking home through the wide streets of the town were others doing the same thing. The
town appeared safe and not owned by the criminals as we are used to at home.
25th April
Sunday
Swakopmund to Botswana
Because of the impending strike action, Bill and Lisa managed to get their Monday flight
booking changed to Sunday and with an early departure we drove in thick morning mist
before the sun popped out. Spitskoppe glowed in the morning sun and Usakos, Karibib and
Okahandja and Windhoek passed before we reached Hosea Kutako Airport without incident.
We bid Bill and Lisa farewell after Bill had donated his Crocs to Richard and we had bought
some cheese and tomato sandwiches. By evening they would be with their relatives in
Johannesburg before flying back to their respective homes. It was very good to have met
and befriended them.
Being Sunday all Biltong sales houses were closed so we missed out. At Gobabis (the
center of cattle country) Fearless had to photograph the statue of a cow at the entrance to
the town. This was to be added to the T4A information site.
The border was crossed safely between 15h30 and 16h00 and we were back in Botswana.
In the Charles hill area we waited for an unfenced section of the road and selected a site in
the Wag-n-bietjie bush.
The camp fire lit and the evening meal complete a planning meeting was held. Peter and I
needed/wanted to get back soonest while Duckie and Cruiser wished the slow boat home.
Provisions and kit were thus packed accordingly in the vehicles before lousy weather put us
to bed.
26th April
Monday
Botswana to Home
Early rising meant me packing up and dressing in the small tent with rain pelting down. A
respite in the downpour permitted the striking of the tent, packing all and after a cup of
coffee and good byes we were on the road at 7h20. Because of lousy weather we agreed to
alternate driving with minimal stops and we made good time. We came across a large bunch
of cyclists with a support bus that obviously intended cycling across Bots – what would you
want to do that for?
We crossed the Bots/RSA border without mishap and wound our way south. We stayed in
touch with the slow-boaters who in the end only managed to get as far as Lichtenburg
before clocking in at a Bed and Breakfast in the town.
Our going was good and we decided to drive straight through to home – Lichtenburg,
Klerksdorp and Coligny before we managed to find a Wimpy in Kroonstad just before closing
time. Two cheese and tomato sandwiches and a mega coffee each saw us recharged and
with advice from the manager to drive to Bethlehem via Senekal. Up to now we had rain all
the way but this had now cleared and Senekal (good looking town) and Bethlehem passed
before we stopped for fuel at Harrismith truck stop. Here Peter hauled out a Red Bull for
each of us and we departed recharged. Even the large volume of long haul vehicles down
van Reenens was not a problem and a call was made home at 10h00 advising of our arrival.
At 14h00 Peter drove the Landie through our gates and after a quick pleased to meet you
and unpacking he was on his way. I was fresh as a daisy and could not get to bed for sleep
before four o clock. Whew – what a trip. The trip certainly was a once in a lifetime
experience and what a privilege.
Our slow boaters had played with the idea of travelling back via Lesotho but with the
weather conditions not being favourable they gave this one a miss and slow boated it back
to home arriving in the afternoon.
By the time of their arrival my gear was unpacked and washed. My physical appearance had
changed by the addition of a scruffy beard and a leaner body and the change back into
normal routine took some time. Especially at night the mind still wandered back into the
bush.
Post script
The comments by the team leaders that this was the best trip for them so far and that the
team spirit was exceptional was good to hear. The team had really come together without
any pre-selection and the bonding has resulted in what I believe will be long lasting
friendships and possibly even further adventures together.
As an adventure this one must be extremely hard to beat and a deep sense of gratitude to
organizers and hosts will prevail forever. The trip gave a different perspective on values of
life and comments by other overlanders about the “dying cities” gave new meaning about
the value of wilderness as well as the dependence on each other as team members in such
an environment.