NAMIBIA

UPDATE 26 OCT

The Sun Raises on Namibia

What a difference a bridge makes.

We did a little shopping before we left Kasane, Vicki for a shirt and groceries and me for a tow rope. Yesterday we got stuck for the first time. I had the shovel and the boards but had procrastinated about the tow rope. Several vehicles could have helped but I had to wait until someone with a tow rope came by.

We headed east on the main highway and it goes through Chobe National Park so we had to stop at the gate and sign a ledger with Son of Bob's info and our name. No one looked at the entry and there were stacks of these ledgers in the little outhouse sized building. The process was repeated 65 km at the other end of the park. From there we headed for the Chobe bridge and the border. First up was the Botswana customs and immigration in a room with a waiting area of about 5x5 and it was full as a mini-bus had got there first. There were three windows, “customs”, and two “immigration” windows. No one was at the customs window and at the second immigration window there was a lady in worker like uniform and she took the passports. At the same time she was selling snacks and cold drinks to the bus people through the caged window. The lady at the next window looked very official, uniform and all. She took our passports, that stood on end in line, scanned and stamped them and said “Bye bye”. From there we drove across the bridge to Namibia side with a much more official and larger building. I stood in the immigration line and when it was my turn the officer said “you have to fill out the form”. What form? “The one around on the other side of the wall”...that is hidden. Filled out the form and got back in line while Vicki went to the road tax window and took care of all of that. Once finished we took a little strip of paper to the customs window they stamped it and away we went....almost. There is always another gate. So we pull up to the gate and Vicki goes in to fill out another ledger, complete with engine number.

About half a kilometer from the border we turned right down yet another dusty road that was to lead us to our little paradise. Not sure how I came on the Chobe Camp, but when I had made a inquiry I really liked their reply as Tanya said “if you like quiet come this time and if you don't mind noise come this time when we have tour groups”. Our schedule fit into the tour group time frame but Tanya gave us a 20% discount to compensate for the “noise”. I had a good feeling about this place all along and I was right. It sets right on the river with 12 luxury tents. The staff is the best we have seen and it is quiet and the tour group small. And on the other side of the river this is a $500 ppn and up and here with meals it is $122. We have extended our stay.

 

 my front view. less water than the aerial view. it is the dry season

 



all solar

 

 my $2.50 watch

Reflecting on Botswana, I think I have met a country I will not return to. This is a first. The country is beautiful, the people are some of the friendliest in the world and always quick with a smile. And though we found reasonable accommodation, the fact that the prime areas are restricted by economic terms does not set well with me. Only those who have or are willing to spend large amounts of money can get into the prime areas. That, coupled with the fact that most of the prime areas you can get into, require long arduous drives or a airplane to get to, does not, not make it easy to see. By far the best way to travel Botswana is with a lot of money or 4x4 camper that are readily available.

The Chobe Camp Lodge levy’s a $30N/$2US +/- for a local school project. I find this idea very admirable and encourage others to do so. It gets the business and the tourist who care involved. We cared and set up a tour of the school. It is a government school and seems to be a fair school for the country. But like most countries, including my own, education is very important, funding education is not. It has over three hundred students in grade one to six. Today they are having a reading day under the big tree outside. They did some dances and then individual students would come up a read a short passage.

 

 

From there we went in search of one of those little boxes that spit money out. There was a gas station about 30 km away that had three machines, none of which worked. Gas stations are interesting. They are the only modern looking thing on the landscapes. At this one, it was the only thing on the landscape. So we pressed on to Katima Mulilo and the first three ATM,s knew Vicki's name but not her bank account. So we went into the town and found a bank that was glad to give us our first Namibian dollars. From there we went in search of a good map. Several negatives and I walked up to a “hunting safari” truck and asked them. “Towbabi, right down there on the right.” Off we go and pull in and yes they have a map. The main business is a travel agency but they have a little restaurant and coffee shop and Vicki ordered a latte and me a ham and cheese and tomato sandwich. They were both good and while enjoying them Chris from the Peace Corp joined us. He is from San Francisco and is assigned to Katima but was on his way to Windhoek the capital a fifteen hour overnight bus ride. We had a nice visit and then we were off to find a sim card for the cellphone. There is only one provider for the country and their office was closed from 13:00 to 14:00. Fortunately the security guard told me the now very familiar statement in Africa, “finished, sim cards finished”. But, he says, you can get one over there indicating across the parking lot, so off we go. We ask in the store, but they say no, but again a security guard comes to the rescue and sends us to the street vendors. I guy comes up and sells us a card for $3.00 US and another guy sells some scratch off cards for air time. The whole group tried to get the airtime into the phone with no success, so back to the official office to wait until it opens. Again the security guard, a minor wizard with cellphones, fixes my problem while we are setting on the curb and puts the minutes in but he does not know how to convert the airtime to data time. So, we wait for 14:00 and the lady in the official office does some magic numbers on the phone and I now have data. That only took three hours, so off we go back to our little paradise tent camp.

 we know your name bet we ain't giving you any money

 

 chirs and the Mexican burger

 

the maker of the Mexican burger

 

We may never leave this place. We came for two nights and just finished our fourth. There have been two no drive days that were great. We went for short walks and a canoe trip with a self-powered out board.

 

sun rise

 

Last night I was sound asleep having sweet dreams when I felt warm breath on my ear and a sweet whisper. It all fit into my dreams until I heard "want to see about a thousand water buffalo/". What? That is not in my dream.  Out under the almost full moon where not "thousands" but at least a hundred water buffalo.  The amazing thing is how noisy they were eating the grass.



Vicki took the camera and went on a big came hunt. This is what she came back with these pictures.

She is infatuated with these cows for some reason.  They are a special local bred, ngumi. (The bird pictures are mine)

 

“When you do less, you do less” John Wayne or Vicki Wilson. So, we decided to drive to see the mighty Zambezi river. That meant going back up the lone highway to Katima in Son of BOB. Nice drive considering SOB still wants to turn right all the time. You can not just drive up to the river you have to find access. It was recommended that we try the Caprivi River Lodge and that is were we headed. This is a very nice landscaped lodge with lots of big trees and flowers. Very “colonial” looking, so we were not surprised to meet Granny, the 84 year old of mother of the owner, setting at her laptop on the patio typing away. She was born and raised in Kenya and has a story to tell that she is putting on her web page xxxxxxx. Not really sure when or if it will ever be up, but she has paid for it. “Some of it will not be pretty” she says. Very lovely women, but I believe she is a true “colonial” and her web page is going to be a way for her to vent her frustrations of the changes that have come to Africa. We had a nice cold drink on the Zambezi river looking for Mr. Allcut and the African Queen. I last saw it in Key Largo, Florida. The river is not mighty at the moment. It is wide here, for a African river, but due to the worst drought in sixty years, it too is very low and we are unable to take a boat ride on the river.

 

 Granny working on her web page

 

 The mighty Zambezi river

 

 Caprivi Lodge

 

 If the politicians don't kill us the plastic will.  this is not a unusual scene

 

 This is Margret our new best friend.  She is third generation Namibian and is a guide and owns a hunting ranch.  She has helped us a lot with info and suggestions.

 

 

Back at the Chobe Camp a plan my attack on the eclipse of the moon. Alarms are set, cameras prepared and off to bed we go. The alarm sounds at 03:15. It is cold. We go out side take a few pictures and head back in. The plan is to come back out at 4:15, but I get back up, put on more clothes and go outside in set in a chair and start taking photos. The night watchman comes through the field and says there are elephants in the camp area. Photos of more elephants or continue with the eclipse? Elephants I have seen and I am sure I will see many, many more. Eclipse of this magnitude will not be back around to 2033. Not sure I will be around in 2033, so I stick with the eclipse. By 4:45 the full is eclipse is over the moon is starting to uncover again and I am frozen and head for the covers. I drift off to sleep but my feet did not warm up until 09:00.

 

 

Sept 28

We could easily spend the rest of our vacation here. The staff has started a bet as to if we will leave, but we got to go. So we load SOB, say goodbye to all of those that have made our stay so great and we head west. First stop is back in Katima again for money, ice (finished) and gas. At the gas station we saw about a dozen women and a few men dancing and blowing whistles. The women all decked out in fancy dress's and head gear. As ask the guy pumping the gas what it is all about. “It is a celebration”. Yes, but for what? “Getting out of prison”. What is this fifty questions? I drag out of him some man is getting out of prison today after 16 years and these people are going to get him. I forgot to ask if they were all his wifes. What is speculated later by Margret is that it is probably a political prisoner as around 1999 there were a lot of people thrown into prison for political reasons and they have been letting them out of late.



road crew camp to build this......

 

....picnic table

I thought this would be a good time to get the political statement of this blog out of the way. I was going to explain to Guber in Dumbass County what foreign aid does for our country and our world. You know the ones, and the pundits also, that are always yelling about foreign “welfare” but are first to call to send troops, spend billions of dollars, kill tens of thousands of Americans and accomplish nothing. But, I realize he probably can't read and surely is not reading this. Every major project we have seen in Africa, and many other places, is Chinese. Building airports, roads, sewer systems, water systems, etc. These things are not free, they come at a political cost. The pay back may not be required today or tomorrow, but at some time the Chinese will get their pay back and it will be at a cost to us.

For a current explanation. The Chinese are using Chinese equipment. The Chinese will leave Chinese equipment. Chinese dealerships and stores are being built everywhere. The locals will be buying Chinese. Foreign aid, non-military, is less than one percent of the U.S budget. The returns in the past have be excellent. Caterpillar is laying off 5,000. You decide.

Oh yea, contrary to popular belief, China is not the largest holder of our debt. I will let you research who is.

not a American piece of equipment in site

We have spent five days making our way across the Caprivi Strip and down and across to our big destination in Namibia the Etosha Park. We made several great stops along the way where for the first time I did not carry a camera on a expedition on a boat and of course that was the one with the greatest hippo shots. We came upon a pod of hippos with a baby and they were not pleased with us being there. They yawned a lot. The yawn is a warning signal, as cute as it is, showing the teeth and say back off. There were a lot of those. Then there was the male “helicopter” warning. He spins his tail like a helicopter and throws feces all around. We had a great breakfast cruise with Margret and her clients Michael and Julia at the Mahguna Lodge. We saw lots and lots of elephants and a lot of butts of other animals. Sadly we came across three dead elephants that had died of natural causes. There were more we were sure of back in the bush. Phillip, our guided, said that they were dieing of starvation because of deforest station that they themselves were causing due to over population. We experienced a lot of lightening and thunder for hours in the afternoon and evening, but not enough rain to dampen the soil, but enough lightening to knock out the electricity. We spent a evening at a great little lodge on the river outside of Rundo. I could not negotiate a discount but Yvonne gave us a two story villa for the price of a regular. I did not even go on the second floor but Vicki did to look at her favorite cow spread on the floor. From our porch we looked across the river at Angola where the spirits of three of my friends live that were killed in a plane crash.

 we pulled into the "foot in the mouth" check point and who gets out of the truck in front...Margaret!!!

 

 I have a moral dilemma with these pictures. Not the subject matter but all the rural people have learned to ask for money from the tourist for a picture. I have compromised and give them fruit that I get off the breakfast at the lodges.  It works

 count them.....18 babies

 

 the forgot the butter, so they sent a emergency delivery

 

 is that Margaret in the picture again

 elephant

 Vicki was a little nervous. On the water, in a metal boat, with winds and lightening. damn the hippos full speed ahead.

OCT 3

Baobab Game Ranch

http://baobab-namibia.com/

Margaret invited us to come visit her and Helmuth on their game ranch. I think she invited us because we had been following her for four days and figured we would just follow her anyway. We can not help it, she is so much fun.  Always smiling and quick with the laugh, we just enjoy her company. The Baobab Ranch is not somewhere you just drop in. It is 50 km down a dirt road and then about one km to the house. Helmuth and Margret met us with open arms. The have a variety of game from giraffe to zebra on the farm. The game are for sale and to hunt. We spent the evening drinking and telling stories. They are both third generation Africans and had lots of good stories to tell. Helmuts family has always been in ranching. He and Margaret had a cattle ranch for years, but Margaret wanted more interaction with people and so they bought this game ranch and started hosting to hunters, mainly from Germany. She got into the tour guide business and if her current schedule is any indication, she is very busy. She told some great stories. They lived during the bush wars, when the war for independence from South Africa was fought. Several stories where of driving home in the dark and the car quitting and having to lock her young children in the car and walking home for help, 6 km. Every time the bushes rattled she was sure that there was lion or a bush warrior. They lived through a time that you had to black out your windows at night and sleep with a gun. Helmuth said several times during the evening and the next day when he and I rode around the farm how glad he was that he lived in peace now, fifteen years later.  They gave a great insight to the past of Namibia. Michael and Julia, who we also stalked the last for days, where there for their last night in Namibia. Michael is emergency room doctor in Germany. We talked about the difference between U.S. medicine and German medicine. He works twelve hours a day six days a week and gets thirty six hours off at the end of the rotation. He works the overnight shift which is the busiest. Many of his patients, like the U.S., are in for colds or other trivial matters but there are lots of serious cases also. They do have one of the best social medicine systems in the world. At system we should aspire too. Julia teaches on line courses to re-educate people who, for medical reasons, cannot do the job they did in the past. This is combined with on hands training.

Dinner was what we would call a Korean BBQ. The minced meat was combined with other ingredients like onions, vegetables, and spices and cooked on a wok over a open fire. Michael showed us how to do it and Helmuth supervised Vicki cooking for the two of us. It was excellent!!!!

The next day we said goodbye to Margaret, Dr. Michael and Julia. They were headed to Windhoek, a seven hour drive, as Julia and Dr. Michael were flying back to Germany and the next day Margaret was picking up her next return tourist. Helmuth took me on a ride around the ranch. Helmut said the severe drought is really hurting the animals. I have heard this many times over the last several weeks and I could tell the that Helmut really cared for his animals. He was having to cull some of his animals to keep the others alive. Yesterday he had shot a Zebra as they are one of the largest eaters. There is plenty of water from the wells, the problem is vegetation, especially for the shorter animals as all the lower green has been eaten. He cannot feed them for economic reasons and once you start putting feed out for the animals they will not seek food for themselves any more.

After the tour we said our goodbyes and headed west. I had hoped that any rain would hold off for a week until we were out of Etosha National Park. With hot weather and no rain all the animals come to the watering hole and it is fantastic and easy viewing. But after my ride with Helmuth, I am ready to fore go my animal watching and hope that it rains soon on the Baobab Game Ranch. I would like to thank Helmut and Margaret for their kindness and for Margarets advice on our trip. I sincerely hope I get to see them again. If you are going to Namibia and need a tour guide I do not think there is anyone better than Margaret to take you around.  Hire her.

 

 Dr. Michael and Julia prepare the ingredients.

 

 the master chef

 

 I can not sleep with him staring at me.

 

 Josehpine is 25 years old. Margaret bought it for there daughter when Helmut would not let her have a horse.

 

 note that every thing is brown

 

 Under that pile of salt is the zebra skin that was shot yesterday. The meat will be sold for food. Everything is used.

 

 This Johnny. He is taking Nero the 8 month old dog to tracking school. In his hand is a impala pelt and the other is a stick with a hove. These are the training tools.

 

 Margret, Helmut, Vicki

 

 Nero ready to ride

 

 Helmut is happiest on his farm

 

 there are several working windmills on the farm. this well however is run by a old one lung lester

 

 a man and his friends

 

 leaving the farm

Enroute to Etosha Park we encountered one of the rarest animals in Africa

 there warnings along it's path

 

 this indicated a area that it might be seen

 

as we stopped to watch the station, see it there?  We caught a glimpse of it's eye in the distance.

 

 and there it came. puffing and tooting it's way along

 

 

OCT 3-6

ETOSHA DAY 1

We arrived at our hotel, the Mokuti, mid-afternoon, stored the bags and hit the park. It was a fabulous time. Every water hole had animals. We came back to the water hole on Dic-Dic drive, Dic-Dic being the smallest of the antelopes, and it was a grand show. There were giraffes, rhino, jackals, hyena, lots of bacs and lots of elephants. The best show was two young elephants playing in the water. It was amazing to watch. I have a video and whenever I get internet to support the upload, probably not until Paris, I will share them with you.

 

 note the two kneeling styles

 

 dic dic

 

ETOSHA DAY 2

The day started cloudy and cool and there had been a few drops of rain last night. As the morning progressed the rain came. Not a lot but enough with the cool weather to keep the animals in the bush. By afternoon the sun was out but not hot enough to bring the animals to water. We spent over two hours at the Dic-Dic waterhole and it was a bust. Just a couple of animals. The big entertainment was trying to get a good picture of the butts of the six small ducks in the water. This can be a challenge as your are not allowed to get out of your car.

ETOSHA DAY 3

It dawned clear and cool but promised to be hot today. We packed up and where moving to the central part of the park were we had toured before. As temperatures soared over 100 F we were not disappointed. Cats are the diamond animal that everyone wants to see. Why, I have no idea. They just lay there 80 percent of their day. First lion spotting was just after we came into the park and you could tell where they were by the half a dozen vehicles scattered around the location. We could not see them and I had seen the same group laying around on day one so I continued on not wanting to wait and jokey for a position to get a glimpse. The next spotting was further in park. There were four vehicles looking a very small bush under a tree. All you could see was some brown fur. We moved on. We went up to a watering hole that had no cars and no animals. As we sat Vicki spotted four lions, three females and a male, lying under a tree on the other side of the water. One was laying on her back with her paw up in the tree. The male eventually got up and moved giving us a great view. Mean while all the other animals were gathering at the other water holes. Lots of elephants frolicking in the water. Again I have a fair video that I can not share due to internet slowness. And almost every other animal in the park.

We spent seven hours of driving and looking and finally called it a day and went in search of out our hotel just outside the park. Almost all hotel have a security gate and you ain't getting in if your name is not on the list. Michael, after riding all day across the desert of Egypt could not get into the resort he wanted to stay no matter what he did with the guard. After a long wait the guard walked away and Michael took off around the gate and got to the front desk and got a room. So, when my name was not on the list at Etosha Village, after reviewing it three times, I told the guard to call the front desk. This must be a sign of Namibian male weakness because I had to demand that he do so. Once calling the problem was resolved and away I went. This is another tent camp where the adulation’s are open to the wind, so you get to share your bowel movements sounds anyway, with all of nature and your neighbor.

ETOSHA DAY 4

We enter the park around 9 am. Our pass had expired and we had to get a new one day pass. Unlike a few short years ago and in most other parks, there was no paper work or ledgers to fill out. At the gate they entered your car tag number and number people in the computer, printed it out and sent you on your way. At the main building you went in and paid your park fee with a credit card. Unheard of in recent history. I knew it was going to be a good cat day when I saw a big one setting in the middle of the road as we headed to the northern water hole. At the hole there were lions hidden in the bushes but you could not really see them. At the water where hundreds of animals, bac, wildebeest, elan and more . A few giraffes wondered in as we were leaving. We drove the sixty km back to my favorite hole as it always has animals and usually elephants. Jackpot. Laying next to the water was a male lion. He drank awhile and then made his way, with his entourage of vehicles behind, about 600 meters over to the culvert under the road and climbed in. Meanwhile, back at the hole a male and female were entertaining with a little sex show. When they were done, all of thirty seconds, she rolled on her back and had a cigarette. Then they were on the move. The would move about 100 meters and fall down. They roamed around for about a hour, with a entourage of vehicles, and finally fell down under a little tiny tree with almost no shade and there they would stay for hours. I had turned my attention back to the water as I knew very shortly the elephants would come. They came in waves, two here, four there and no really large groups today. By mid-afternoon, in plus 100 heat, we called it. We had had all the animals we needed to see. I had no desire to take one more elephant photo. I think I have about 2,000. As we left Okaukuejo headed for the main gate we had one last experience. About twenty elephants crossed the road just to say goodbye and test my will not take another photo. They won.

 lions

 

 where is my cigarette?

 

 

OCT 7

Etosha to Grootberg Pass.

Two hundred plus miles of dust. Fifty percent excellent, twenty five percent ok, ten percent river rock, ten percent bad, and five percent goat track. Well, I thought goat track until we got to the entrance to Grootberg lodge. http://grootberg.com/ The entrance road was a narrow, one lane rock road, with some parts more the a forty five angle. The guy at the gate said, “4x4 low and first gear only”. He was right, but it was worth the risk.

dust proofing the luggage

 

 a little tar...

 

 and a lot of this.

 

 I kept seeing what looked like leaves but not so we stopped and looked at them. They are seed pod

 

 For the last four days I could not get out of the car and do this.

 

 the local cross roads everything gas station

 

 what the hell???  Here in the middle of nowhere????  The staples, water, tonic for the gin, bread and starbucks

 

 well that was a nice 8 km of tar

 

 this means cattle in the road.

 

 this picture does not show as well as it should that this tree is all white. Vicki became enthralled with them almost as much as she did with the cows.

 

 on the top of the hill on the left is our destination

 

 this guy flagged us down in the middle of nowhere, basically giving us what sounded like safety information but I knew was bullshit when he said there was water in the road ahead and we should take the right side of the road.  He got a apple anyway.

 

 offloading a weeks worth of supplies for the lodge from the big truck to the 4x4

 

 slipping and sliding on the rocks SOB drags us up the mountain

 

The lodge is owned by the conservancy or tribe of the area and all the employees come from the conservancy and they are all great fun people. The lodge is managed by a hotel managing company. All the profits go to the conversancy and the funds are used for various projects like sending people to higher education and animal-human intervention. If the wild animals kills a farmers animal the conversancy will buy him a new animal as they know keeping these wild animals alive is important to their only business tourism.

Oct 8

Grootberg to Cape Cross.

We made our way back down the goat track to the highway. Vicki said it was not as scary as yesterday.

Pointed the SOB west and took off. The same as yesterday except less. No tar road, less people, less cars. We saw fifteen cars yesterday, I know I counted them, in five hours. Of those fifteen, eleven of those were known tourist. I know this because they were campers with the big rental sign on the side.

When we hit the ocean we turned left and headed south. At Cape Cross we pulled into the only lodging we had seen in the last five hours, the Cape Cross Lodge. It sets by itself on the beach. Great to see the ocean again!!!! Temperatures where we started had a high of 102 F today. The temperatures were we stopped had a high of 61 F.

 we saw this...

 

 and this...

 So, two and half hours into the trip we see this sign.  Knew there was a park here but I thought the entrance was on the beach on the road north.  I missed the little tiny x on the map. Thinking I may have to go back and all the away around, I went into the office at the gate.  I very nice lady said no problem, gave us a transit pass, and said be out of the other gate by 7 pm. Whew!!

 

 and this

 

 that is the ocean so I guess we turn left

 

 Cape Cross lodge on the beach

OCT 09

We left Cape Cross headed to Swakpodmund at 9:30. That was 30 minutes to early to get in to see the seals, so we went shopping. Along the roads you see let stands selling rocks, crafts and here salt. Now, how hard is to buy a piece of salt? There are several stands, unattended, so Vicki choses the one with prices. The others you pay what you want. She has to have the “right one” and it drives me crazy so I go back to SOB to wait. A piece of salt is a piece of a salt and there is a 99% chance it is not making it home in one piece anyway. That done, we are off to see flamigos. Doreen, the manager of the Cape Cross, said to go to you see the tires, disregard the private sign and drive until you see the flamingos. We drove until we tried to get stuck at the beach and saw no flamingos and gently turned around and headed out. We did see flamingos down the road and we know where there are many more. Whenever you see a picture relating to the Skeleton Coast you see the picture of the beach fishing trawler, leading to believe that it is named after the sunken ships. It is not, and in fact, there are only a few sunken ships on the beach, as there is on any long stretch of deserted beach. Heck, when we lived in Miami beach there were two or three freighters a year that would drag from the anchorage on to the beach. We turned a one hour thirty minute ride into three hours and rolled up to #16 River Dr. at 12:30. Trudi showed us our home for the next five days. This is a rest from our travels. A very spacious one bedroom looking out of the cemetery at the sand dunes. There is a river there but right now it is all sand. We have put the car in the coral and plan to leave there for most of five days. Almost everywhere we have stayed and a buffet breakfast and a buffet dinner or fixed menu. I am eating what the hell I want for the next five days and started with carrots and a ham sandwich. Next is salad, and salad, and salad

 Every lodge has a camp ground. Must be a law. These are the rental campers. There is a strap and you just pull it and the tent opens on top of the vehicle. It is fully equipped with cooking and refrigeration.

 

 nice fire pit idea

 

 we wanted to see the seals but they don't come to work until 10

 

the salt stands

 never mind the do not enter signs Doreen said

 

 a big pile of those things Vicki paid money for.  We could have had them for free, though technically I guess it would be stealing.

 

 lichen fields, whatever that is

 

 this is a neat little fishing village of Wlotzhasbaken. Just knocked together shacks.  The only requirements seem to be nice paint and a water tower.

 

 

Namibia was under German rule until WWI when the South African/British invaded and took it over. In the 90's the was a conflict with Namibia wanting it's independence which it got in 1999. The fight for independence was supported by the Chinese, Cubans and Russians. Part of the pay back, remember mentioning in that, was this Chinese tracking station that was set up in 2000.

 nice combinations of food.

 

Oct 9-13

Swakpodmund is a resort town of about 44,000 on the Atlantic surrounded by desert. It feels more like 20,000 since most of the homes set empty most of the year. It is very upscale with coffee shops and restaurants. It is also the central supply point for the whole coast of Namibia. After seven o'clock the streets, half paved, half dirt are abandoned. The shops close and everyone goes home except for the few restaurants and they are all closed up tight by 10:00.

A better description from the blog the The Solo Scooterist and our friend Michael who is better with words:
"Swakopmund oozes  seaside charm and she lures her travellers from far and wide. Words from around the globe brush past you as you stroll her streets. She does not discriminate, she accepts all who arrive to be touched by her charms . From the weathered  overlander with her scruffy boots and hair,  to the lens- laden ” Kaiser  ” in his well-pressed  lightly travelled safari garb…we all flock to enjoy  what she offers."

 

Travel notes

Traveling with money is a challenge. Not like days past when you had travelers cheques or large wads of money, but a balancing act of just how much to have. In over 66 years of roaming the world, I have only been robbed once, but that was my own fault and a story for another day. With credit card access and ATM's expanding on a daily basis, money is readily available. But what happens if the electricity goes out for a day or two, or the internet is down for over a week and the nearest working ATM is over one hundred miles away and you need cash for hotel bill and cash for gas to get to the ATM. Or your bank decides your card must be in the hands of some Nigerian internet scamer. So far it has not been a problem and in fact was a advantage at the Mahgana lodge when the electricity went out and the CC machine was not working. I had to come up with cash. Ralph said he would take U.S., Euro's, or Rand, all of which I had and enough to pay the bill. I also had enough in local currency but was guarding it as nobody knew how wide spread the electricity outage was. However, poor planning on my part had left me with about three hundred dollars worth of Botswana Paula (yea, I know it is Pula, but is my damn story and I will write it the way I want). So Ralph took the Paula that I had been wondering what I would do with and we were on our way.

Petrol is another concern that modern times has relieved a lot of worry as they are in more and more places. Just a few years ago I would be carrying extra gas on this trip but not now. In fact Michael only needed his extra gas one time between Cape Town and Lyon, France due to no gas stations. No gas at the station, that was a different story. No extra gas now, but you do not pass up a gas station with less than a half tank. Locals say a quarter of tank, but I am a pessimist, that next station maybe out of gas or electricity.

Sim cards here for your cellphone cost $2.50US and $20US will let you talk, data, and text your heart out for a month. So why does Verizon get that much just to let you talk 10 minutes.

The few hotels we have stayed in have a movie channel. The censorship is interesting. You can not hear all the usual four letter words. But, they add god, jesus, ass and others to the list. However, unlike the USA sensors, it is OK to watch women massage her bare breastees. Did not get to see, but they probably would not allow us to see a man do the same action to his breastees (yea, I know it ain't a word, get over it, I like it). 

 

 Out walking around town on Saturday and about a twenty person choral group walked into a little court yard of shops, scattered about the place and started singing. It was amazing how great they were and what a great experience.

Over four days we watched them dig the grave by hand and then bury Eberhard. I hope he had a great life.

I took Son of Bob to get a bath as he was filthy. But we had to wait while the BMW desert experience cars got cleaned first. You pay BMW, or Porsche for that mater, wads of cash to come here and drive around the desert with other BMW or Porsche drivers. Interesting the recovery vehicle is a Land Rover Defender.

We rode down to Walvis Bay to see the Flamingos and lunch. The amazing thing on this 30 km stretch of road was the traffic and how anxious everyone one was to get off it as they all drove like crazy people. They just killed a couple last week when they decided to pass on the only curve.

the tenderest calamari I have ever had!!

 Son of Bob in a box

 

 our home upstairs

 

So, being a real german town, I need a schnitzel. There were several places to go but we chose the old Hansa hotel.  Beautiful little hotel with a formal dinning room. Vicki had ribbed me for not trying warthog at one of the buffet dinners. So, here it is. Warthog Schnitzel.  Very tasty and tender. Went well with the snails

 



 the main road through town at 8am

 

 the raw meat bar.  Americas would puke if they saw this in their store.  Honest you want die.

 

 

Oct 14

We enjoyed our time in Swakpodmund but by seven I was pacing the floor ready to go. I wanted warmer weather and a different view. We were on the road before ten and headed south to Walvis Bay, the road was not to crazy, turned left and headed inland. Soon the the tar ended and we were on the old familiar dirt for the rest of the day. The temperatures were perfect, in the eighties I am guessing. We had some interesting happenings today and they are listed below.

 clearing the blowing sand from the RR tracks

 

Road rage in the desert. See that car in the picture that is miles away? The road rager had the same few from the other direction. Well, when he came by he slammed on brakes, did a u-turn, drove off the road to tell me that I was a asshole for parking on the road, but never stoping. Now mind you this road is wide enough for 5 cars and I had pulled all the way to the left, turned my left blinker on as is custom here to say you are stopped and to go around. They are everywhere, even in the desert.

 We came across some zebra in the desert and Vicki wanted a picture. I did not need any more pictures of zebra buts, but a bulldozer is much rarer than a zebra.  So I took this picture and if you look real hard between the car and the machine you can see the zebra

 

We were roaring along when we came to this helicopter parked in the middle of the road and several cars pulled over. There had been a accident, a pickup had rolled over. After a hour a ambulance rolled up. It had come from over three hours away. There was a pow-wow in the road, the victim was put in the helicopter and everybody departed. Not sure how long the helicopter had been there but we sat there for over a hour. The Desert Catering truck was there from Walvis Bay and he said it took that long for someone to make a decision. Figuring the ambulance had been on the road for over three hours, the wreck probably happened close to four hours ago. The catering truck was headed to a Porsche desert event that they were catering. Over 20 Porsches, like the BMW deal, were overnighting somewhere in the desert. They were using a Toyota as their recovery vehicle.

 

Carl had said to stop in Solitare and get gas and a apple cake and coffee. After the helicopter left we did just that along with everyone else. The apple cake was excellent and we picked up a couple of other bakery items. Tell you something about the place when you find a bakery in a town of fifteen in the middle of nowhere. Granted they have a restaurant and small hotel, but most of the business comes I guess from the road people.

About three thirty we turned into Desert Quiver Camp and heard a thumping sound. It was a flat tire on Vicki's side so she has to change it. I but a can of fix a flat in it and it got us to our abode, barely. I had almost finished the job when a gentleman from the front desk showed up to help. I felt these were shit tires from day one and I am right. Flat tires are common here, but this one looks like it just roated away. The spare, which took a two people and a engineering degree to get out, has a big poorly done plug in it. Fortunately, four k down the road is a station and tire repair.


Oct 14-19

We spent five days wandering the desert staying in such well named places as Desert Quiver Camp, Desert Camp and Namtib Biosphere. The weather was warm and grew to be hot by the end of the third day. At the two camp's in the cool of the morning I would set on the patio under the stars and watch the sun come up. Right before dawn vehicles would come running down the distant dirt road like little airplanes with contrails of dust, lite by the stars and the early sun. I would watch them come for ten minutes before they passed into the dark as the land is so flat and the headlights are like a beacons. They would come racing to get into the park in time to see the sunrise with their load of tourist. By 7:00 it was all over and the road returned to the normal three or four cars a hour. In the early morning still air the dust would linger like low fog over a river or creek.

 

Vicki is thrilled that this tent camp has bathroom doors.  Most do not. 

 cooking al fresco

 

We went into the park ourselves a couple times but of course Miss Daisy was not going to make a sunrise but we did make the sunsets. In the park you pay thirty dollars for the privilege to drive on 64 km of roads, sixty of which is paved. The last four are only for 4x4. The first day we tested it late in the evening but aborted thinking SOB was not up to it, it was late meaning there may be no rescue if necessary, so we turned and went back. Unfortunately, Miss Daisy read that the largest dune in the world, Big Daddy, is at the end of the four km and insisted we go. We made it in OK it was the coming out that did not work. We were not alone and even had a park vehicle getting defeated by the sand. We had just started on extracting SOB when a park driver came by, got in and tried and made a little progress, then got out, lowered the tire pressure and with great effort SOB pulled himself out and we were on our way again.

Big Daddy, the cause my problem

 



that is my blood that I gave up to get SOB out of the sand 

I have pictures of the desert but they do not do it justice. It is so vast the colors change by the minute as you drive and the sun angle changes. So you may have to go online to a better photographer than I to get the full appreciation of this desert. A amazing thing about the desert is how quiet it can be. Around the camps there are always birds, but out in the desert there is no sound. Maybe the wind, but that is it. It is nice.

 

 

Since we travel “willy-nilly”, as Vicki calls it, with only a general direction in mind and no fixed places to stay more than a few days in advance the procedure for picking lodging I think is scientific but actually it is just throwing darts at the computer screen. So, when a gem comes out it is great. Camp Chobe was one of the gems and the Namtib Desert Biosphere Ranch is also one of those. Far, far off the beaten track nestled in the rocks as the base of the Tiras mountains is what has tried to be a farm for over one hundred years but nature has defeated again and again. Originally the sixteen thousand hectors , that is sixty one square miles, was awarded to a soldier from South Africa by the British for helping take the land from the Germans in WWI. It passed through several people, never making it as a farm. Until in 1985 Walter and Renate Theile bought it. Walter had been born in Namibia but moved back to Germany with his parents. All his life he consider Namibia as his home, so it was no surprise to anyone when he moved back and bought the farm. From the beginning he added tourism to his ranch program. They raised oryx, springbac, cattle and sheep and allowed tourist to come, some to hunt. The wild game are raised for the meat just as the cows and the sheep are and as much as I do not like it, it is a way of life I chose not judge the farmer, hunting the exotic animals that are going to be shot anyway is a way to make a living in the harsh harsh environment. So what if some person images himself as the great white bawana staking wild game across the desert and wants to pay the ranch thousands of dollars to do it. They are not allowed to kill randomly as the animal has to meet certain criteria to be shot. In fact is is just culling the herd.

 

The lodge is in a fantastic location at the foot of the mountain and buildings, including the five chalets, circling what has been the main house for centuries. For the first time the lodge has been passed down in the family to Thorsten their son and his wife Linn. The biosphere comes from a UNESCO plan that they embrace of harmonizing the land, the animals, the people and the community into a environmental balance which can be a challenge but they do as much as they can and at the moment are doing it.

The last five years have been hard on the ranch as they have received about one inch a year of the eight inches of normal. They have sold off all the domestic animals, eighty cows and sixteen hundred sheep.If the drought persists they will start thinning the wild herd. The drought causes a vicious cycle as the animals eat the most nutritious grass's down to the nub and when and if the rains come the less nutritious grass's that have not been eaten as far down while thrive better and steal the water from the nutritious grass's.

 

 

IINTERNET TECHNICAL PROBLEMS....PLEASE STANDBY

 

Sorry for all the scrolling.  I guess I should have broken this into two pages. Oh well, your finger needs the exercise

 

We left the Namtib Farm and hit the road again for Luderitz on the coast. We actually, for the first time in weeks drove a substantial distance on real tar road. Over one hundred kilometers. A lot of desert still and I have just about given up taking pictures as it just does not capture it well, it is so vast. There has always been a train track from Luderitz as it is a small port and mining town, but the track parraleling the road seemed to be new. I was having high expectations of getting a picture of the train until we came to a area where the track was covered in sand. Not a little sand like outside of Walvis Bay but lots and lots of desert over the tracks. I found later that it new track and the train will come next year or “maybe the year after”. Luderitz is a very cute little town and our regret is we are not staying but one night, but the end is coming and we have to move on. It has the feel of a old wild west town and most of the buildings are from the around 1906 and a lot are old grand buildings built in the German style.

 

??????????? 

 Finally, a tar road!!

 

 Outside of Luderitz is a abandoned diamond mine and access to the coast were diamonds are being mined. This is one of the few areas that allow you into the diamond area, but note all the warnings.

 To go up the coast you pass through the inspection building on the right. On the way back they may just disassemble your car.

 

 Our view from the B&B.  It is one of the windest places in the world and they were trying to set a kite board speed record while we were there.

 

 

At the Kairos B&B we met Martin H. A extremely interesting and giving guy. He has a 1987 Nissan car with a 50 HP engine that he drove from Germany with another identical car. He paid less than $200 US for this car and has had no real problem with it. The other car was overhauled several times on the two and half month journey. This was a semi-sponsored event with a German TV station. The mission was they recorded questions from students in Germany for the African students and as they traveled the taped the answers from the African school children and the Africans in turn asked questions of the German students. This happened last year and now he flies back and forth and takes his little car around southern Africa for fun.

As we were having breakfast listening to live show tunes he mentioned casually that he had also driven from Germany to Vladivostok, on the very eastern edge of Russia on the Pacific ocean, as if he had just went to the store for bread. They took the southern route through Turkey and all the “-stans” and back up and hit the Trans-siberian road for the last six thousand kilometers. They had failed to do proper research. They believed Mr. Putan when he said over and over on TV and in other public forums that the road was finished. The had views the title of a German/French documentary that said in German “Traveling the 10,000 km Trans-Siberian highway” and failed to translate the title in French, right below the German one, that said something like “The 10,000 km road that isn't”. This trip was also in the 1987 Nissan and when they hit the trans-Siberian they found out there were places it does not exist, but they made. He went out and back in this car. We talked about how a lot of true adventure opportunities are disappearing what with internet and cellphone everywhere and more and more tar being laid like the trans-Siberian road that is now completed.I know that he is giving person because he gave us a small bottle of beer and a grappa both from his home town. We hit the jackpot as he going home in a few days and though he normally only gives one item.

www.tapetourafrica.com

A interesting note. He like, Michael, had a extremely hard time getting into and out of Israel and is not sure he would go back to visit it again. It is the only country he and Michael said the would think twice before they went back, not only for their customs hassles, but for the attitude in general of the people.We could have stayed in Luderitz at the Kairos for a couple of more nights but there is more adventure to do before we leave. It was a four our drive to our destination. Two hundred kilometers on asphalte took about two hours, one hundred kilometers on dirt took about one hour and forty five minutes, and ninteen on goat track took about forty five minutes, not counting tire change.

On the way to Luderitz we went into the town of Auz(maybe 20 buildings) to get gas. At the bottom of a steep street we came to a RR track with a warning about a high accident area.  Since there were no cars in Auz to speak of, I took it as a sign that there must be more than one train a month. As we headed west the new train track followed us along.  I stopped and took pictures of some the train stations that still stood from back in the 1920's.  We even saw them working on the track, so I was eager to see a train. Until we came to a area where the track was covered in sand in numerous places. I was then pretty sure there would be no train.  I talked to some of the workers  on the rails in town and one said the train would come "next year", one said "maybe 2017" and one said "probably never".

 

Oct 20-22

http://www.fishriverlodge-namibia.com/

The Fish River Lodge is a great website with all kinds of great pictures and views. However, you have to dig deep in the site to find this:

Driving from Keetmanshoop or Luderitz direction on the B4: This is the route we recommend. Take the D463, a gravel road to the turn off to Fish River Lodge. There are signs along the way and this section will take about 2 hours.The access road to the lodge just off the D463 is an adventurous 19km path through river beds and across open plains edged with mountains, where you may glimpse Kudu and Ostrich in the dry river beds. The road is best traversed using vehicles with high clearance or 4 x 4. We recommend that you drive this section slowly and carefully.

The lodge sets right on the edge of the cannon, has great facilities and staff, and we enjoyed it. But...because of the remoteness of it, the limited activities, e chiking or a trip into the cannon, neither of which was appealing in 105f temperatures, though we did hike for a few hours, if you have seen a cannon, we would not recommend it. It is just to far off, unless you are going that way, to make it worth the time.

 

the room view

 the lodge manager

 

We made our way back out of the Fish Lodge, down the goat track with no flat tires and headed for South Africa. We popped into the famous Fish Cannon Road House for gas and a huge burger and continued on our way south. Our last night in Namibia was on the Orange River. A real river with real water with citrus and grape farms along the valley. A nice place to end the Namibia adventure.

in the middle of the desert we came across this water. here they were growing mainly grapes just like we would later see them doing on the Orange River on the border.

 



 The road house fuel pump...

 

 Michael was here for gas

 

 I completed step one and had to guit

 that is south Africa on the other side of the river

 

 

The Sun has Set on Namibia