Usakos

We picked up our visas this morning, grateful they took only one day to process instead of the usual three and after waiting around until 4pm to pick up the Ezi Awn panels from their Windhoek distributor we headed towards Swakopmund.   Because of the late start out of town and a long long run of roadworks we had no hope of making it to Swakopmund before dark so we've stopped at a town called Usakos where the local policeman told us off for not having Namibian plates on the Landy and told us we should head straight for Windhoek to get some.  He hadnt heard of the concept of a carnet de passage but seemed happy to take our word for it when we said we had a permit to drive in Namibia without Namibian plates.  I think he was just bored.

Windhoek

We returned to the main road north and after re-inflating the tyres hightailed it to Windhoek so we could apply for our Zambian visas first thing Monday morning.  This will save us from driving all the way south to Gabarone, the capital of Botswana, to get them.

We decided it best to stay at a hostel in town for ease of access as the nearest camp-site was on the outskirts.  Ever since the Landy was broken into in Cape Town, Duncan and I have taken turns going in to check in at places to stay while the other one of us waits with the Landy and all our stuff (I'm the paranoid one).  The first two hostels we tried were full and we ended up at a sweet guesthouse complete with secure parking about 10 minutes walk from the Zambian consulate.   Just after we checked in the local police arrived to take a statement from a Dutch couple who arrived just after us, and had the backseat window of their rental vehical smashed and a bag stolen while the car was parked on the road outside for the five minutes they took to check in!  A sign in the room warned that Windhoek was like any other big city (although its not that big) except with 45% unemployment.

Its a nice city though, clean and compact.  People are friendly.  We're enjoying a day lazing around the guest house garden reading while we wait for the visas to be processed.  Tonight we're going out for a restaurant dinner.

Brukkaros Extinct Volcano

After a relaxed tour of the castle, we made our way further south and east along more pink roads.  Not much in the way of fences in this region, although a number of cattle grids.  We encountered crossing the road as we travelled a couple of herds of brown goats with floppy ears, horned cows, ostrich and several hopping mules, hobbled by a cloth which tied their front legs together to prevent them from wandering too far with their young.

In the distance, rising dramatically from the otherwise flat plateau lay Brukkaros, an extinct volcano with a crater 2km in diameter.  We paid the fee for the community campsite and the Landy climbed up the side to a windy plateau about half way up the outside of the crater wall.  From here we hiked a rocky track down into the crater floor.  Looking up to the highest part of the crater wall what did I see?  A flambe cell phone tower!  The views from the volcano were amazing though, you could see the surrounding plains for miles in every direction, the horizon curving right around.

The track wound up the inside of the crater wall another kilometer or so to the ruins of an observatory which, according to the Lonely Planet guidebook was used by scientists from the Smithsonian to study sun spots in the 1930s.  We made it back to set up camp just as it was getting dark and enjoyed a peaceful evening as the only people for miles around.

Sossusvlei

To avoid the heat, we headed off early towards Sossusvlei, driving down a narrow corridor with huge red sloping and curving sand dunes on either side, framed against a deep blue sky. The dunes on the west side stretch all the way to the Atlantic. Its difficult to describe, them, so a picture is worth a thousand words...

We stopped at the 2WD car park to deflate the tyres a little and then skidded and bounced another 5km down the sand (4WD only) track to reach the dry clay pan at the end of the equally dry Tserib riverbed. The red sand of the dunes is incredibly fine and soft. Hot to touch in the sun, but surprisingly cool in the shade. A lone oryx was skulking under the trees in the picnic area, avoiding the sun's burning rays.


We wanted to go up through the Namib Naukluft Park to Swakopmund, but with the precision Germans are famous for, the capital city of Windhoek is situated right in the middle of the country so there would be too much backtracking if we went up through the park.

So we headed out of the desert park and up the Tsarishoogte pass to the Nanania Plateau where the pink dust roads were framed by pale yellow dry grass.  We'd been crossing dozens of dry creekbeds that we would have had to ford in the wet season and had to slow down quickly to actually ford a wet one!  The Landy now has some small mud splashes the colour of calamine lotion on her body.   On to Castle Duwisib which was built in 1909 by a German ex pat in an ardent display of nationalism.  We arrived just as the castle was closing but told we were welcome to enjoy the empty campsite and settle up in the morning.  The sun is just starting to get low in the sky and I need to think about what to make for dinner.

We took a wander through Luderitz which is a funny little German town sandwiched between the sea and the desert. All the buildings reminded me of picture books when I was a child. We enjoyed a solidly greasy breakfast at a local cafe before heading out of town. We stopped briefly to take a look at Kolmanskop, an ex mining town abandoned in the fifties being slowly swallowed by the surrounding dunes. They sell tickets for entry and tours at the information centre in Luderitz, but we decided against it. The wind had died down considerably compared to yesterday, but the dunes still rippled in the breeze. Although we didnt expect to be able to see them, we took a side road off the highway to the Wild Horses lookout. Over 100 horses were milling around the water trough there. No one seems to know the origin of the horses, among the theories are they are decendents of horses from shipwrecks on the way to Australia, or WWI soldiers.

It seemed every road we took heading up to Sossusvlei wound through another park or nature reserve. So far I am in awe of the arid beauty of Namibia.

Luderitz

After another 'quick' dip in the hot pools to soak our 'aching' muscles, we managed to leave Ais Ais by 11.00 am heading north up the west side of the canyon. We detoured for some great views and then hightailed it though arid farmland to the B4 where we stopped for a quick sandwich where the road crossed the Fish River. Just past Aus ( a WWI historical site) and heading west, we had forbidden diamond-land on the south side of the road and Namib-Naklauft Park on the the north. Despite several road signs warning of crossing foxes, oryx and wild horses we drove without incident for a further 90km where the roadsigns warned of wind and sand... and deservedly. I was driving and slowed considerably for the rivers of sand not only crossing the road but sandblasting the landrover! Windows up, when we stopped there was a thin layer of fine sand coating all surfaces in both the front and back.

Tonights campsite is Shark Island in Luderitz, which used to be an island connected to the mainland by a causeway, but they're filling in part of the harbour to increase the landmass. The road we took started as gravel but half way up turned into a paved beauty. This is the most windy place we've stayed in, but has amazing views of the harbour and desert. We're the only ones here.

Ais Ais, Fish River Canyon National Park, Namibia

After nearly an hour driving from Marizanne's we reached the SA border and the only thing that took our time there was the tax claim on a dive watch Duncan bought in Sodwana Bay. We finally crossed the bridge to Namibia, cruised through into the border post there simply stopping for passport formalities and to pay a N180.00 road user tax. The Orange River creates much of the border between South Africa and Namibia and I was shocked at the difference in landscape between the south and north sides of the river. It seemed all of a sudden that we were transported to a dark sandy desert moonscape, with the odd volcanic cone rising up on the horizon. To be fair, that sight only lasted for half an hour of driving or so, then the terrain returned to the familiar rubbley hillscape of the road north of Springbok. The road was gravel and plumes of dust rose from the tyres. Our campsite for the night is at the Ais Ais (scalding) Springs at the southern end of and inside the Fish River Canyon.

Over dinner, after relaxing in the heat of the natural hot springs, Duncan mentioned how twinkly the stars were. I was sceptical when I looked up, but he was right! Apparantly something about the heat rising from the desert makes the stars appear to twinkle. Not as magical as the milky way at Praia Mar e Sol, but impressive still.