Our route up to Namibia, took us beside the Cedarberg Mountains, which led us over a few montain passes and allowed us to experience some of the vistas. We overnighted in Clanwilliam, in a camp resort at the dam, beside the lake. The resort was full with many Cape Town locals enjoying the end of the Easter weekend, with their boats rigged out for water sports such as waterskiing, tubing, fishing. Given our abundance of beautiful Canadian lakes, it was not so impressive to us, but to the locals, this fresh, clear, blue water was paradise. We rolled out of the campsite relatively early (any transition seems to take us longer than we would like, but were starting to get a bit more efficient!) to start our trek to the Namibian border. We stopped off in Springbok for a late lunch and to learn a bit of the history of copper and diamond mining of the region. Diamonds were first discovered by South African labourer in 1890, at the surface of the land. The first diamond finds in this area were reported to be at the surface and washed into the shoreline by the Bengula currents. In 1910, the Germans (who declared the area as part of the German empire - German West South Africa) branded the entire area between Luderitz and the Orange River Sperrgebiet (closed). Germany, however never benefitted from diamond find, because WW1 in 1914 ended the colonial rule of German South West Africa. Currently it is reported that there exists billions of carats of diamonds in the area, which is controlled by South Africa. No one really knows, since there is no admittance to the region, so accurate estimates do not exist. We spent some time rummaging through some semi-precious stones that were purchased by the kilo, and left Springbok with a little more understanding of the industry. On our drive north, we passed several herds of Springbok, Gemsbok, and in a small flooded area of the road, we encountered our first BIG African snake. We drove slowly along side and all decided we certainly would not want to accidently encounter one of these reptiles. The boys have been fascinated with the deadly and dangerous snakes found in the region. We picked up a snake field guide and they have been practising their identification skills. Let’s hope we do not need to put this skill into action.
We arrived at the border late afternoon, and were greeted by a customs officer at the van, who handed us a slip of white paper, and told us to gather our documents and proceed to “Door #1, then Door #3 and then Door #4”. We left the vehicle and started the long-line and wait of customs. Of course, like with many hot countries, a lot of buildings are outdoors, and in the heat of the day – a long line, with many people can be exhausting and overwhelming. We completed the 3 different “doors”, where at each step we were asked a series of questions, filled out some customs forms, and then paid a road tax – and at the end we were told to place the white slip in an outdoor small white ballot box. I am not still sure what the point of the exercise was, and I wonder who reviews the slips, but we crossed the border successfully and we were in Namibia.
We overnighted at Fish River Canyon Roadhouse and arrived about an hour after dark, after a series of gravels roads. The last hour of driving after sunset was not the best of trips, since the gravel roads at night can be taxing and the caravan is a bit of a boat to manoeuvre. We decided to stay in the lodge (in two proper hotel rooms) and treated ourselves to a nice dinner at the restaurant. The Roadhouse Lodge is a crazy bit of automobile nostalgia, attempting to recreate the famous Route 66 (Cars movie?). In the morning we headed straight out to Fish River Canyon. Second to the Grand Canyon, this is an immense gorge (Fish River) which joins Orange River to the south. The canyon measures 160 km in length and is 27 km in width with a depth of 550 m. There is a road which runs along the side of the canyon, and several viewing spots, so it is easy to get different perspectives of its immensity. Other than looking over the side, there is little to do, since hiking into the canyon for a day basis has been stopped. Five day hikes and excursions into the canyon, from Ais-Ai (the south point of the canyon where the hotsprings are located) to Hobas (an 85 km route) are Namibia’s most popular hiking trip (note for my fellow hiker friends!).
We left at lunch and routed North attempting to reach Sesriem. At dusk, we decided that our ambitious plan would involve several hours of night driving, so we overnighted at a camp spot in Bette. We have discovered that Namibia is a campers heaven, practically everywhere you go there is a campspot available, and all of them to date have been well-set up and with very clean and modern showers, bathrooms, hot and cold water, cooking facilities, and washing areas. Some are run by the Namibia Wildlife Resorts (similar to our BC Parks) and other by private individuals with large farm areas, who supplement their income with camp sites. On average the price is $15/night and some offer dinners and “packed lunches” for nominal costs too. With the weather dry, days warm and nights cool, let’s just say it is not to hard to camp here. The caravan is fully set up, and it is saving us some precious time on unpacking/packing and the sleeping arrangements are reasonable. The kids have enjoyed the freedom of movement during our travel, and have occupied themselves during the long road stretches with roadside viewing, DVD movies and games. We have a bathroom on board, which we tend not to use unless an emergency (which of course with four young kids does happen), but the kitchen with fridge, freezer, plug-ins, and stove has been a life-saver. We tend to try and travel with our cupboards and fridge full, so everyone can help their selves along the way. Needless to say, this is the only travel vehicle that could accommodate our family, so we could not comment on the tent/vehicle set ups that are seen throughout the area. As far as off-roading, the vehicle has been fine on all the roads travelled thus far (most gravel and potted), however everything is relatively dry and we have certainly noticed large flood plains on many of the roads, which would lead us to believe that if this was the rainy season we would be in trouble.
We arrived at Sesriem mid-afternoon. Sesriem, is the gateway to Sossusvlei, home to one of the world’s oldest and driest dune ecosystem. Staying at the NWR park, which is inside of the gates, allows you first access to see the sunrise over the dunes, so without a reservation, we were happy to book two nights at the camping resort. We arrived at high afternoon and immediately noticed the intensity of the heat, the resort workers reported that it was 40C, and was so hot and dry that even with the wind it feels like a blow-dryer set at high heat. We parked under a large tree and proceeded to the swimming pool, where we all cooled off and took shelter in the shade.
We ended the night with a campfire, built by Ben who has taken lead charge in setting up anything related to camping, and sat under the African starry sky to watch for shooting stars . The stars in the sky are unlike any night ski we have witnessed, the Milky Way (and its thumbprint Mesna) is clearly visible, and the billions of stars, planets, comets and other cosmic features stretch from horizon to horizon. The stars spread out so low in the horizon, that the kids think they are lights from some distance towns. It is has been rewarding to enjoy some of the simple, natural things together and it certainly is reinforcing our respect for the ‘wonders of nature’.
We left our campsite at 5 am to trek the 50 km (by road) to Sossusvlei to witness the sunrise over the sand dunes. The kids slept soundly in their beds during our drive, and did not stir when we arrived at Dune 45. John proceeded to hike the dune (he won the coin toss), while the kids slept and I made coffee. Within 5 minutes of his departure, everyone was up and racing to catch up to Dad. We bounded down the dunes (David turning his 360’s and front flips along the way). We all enjoyed a wonderful (cool) morning on the dunes and watched the desert come to life. These Namib Dunes are classified as parabolic and dynamic, shifting constantly with the wind allowing them to be continuously sculpted into new shapes. The top portion of the dune is formed by the fine sand blown over the crest and slipping down the other side, which continuously shifts the crest and shape of the dune. In the morning light, the sun facing dune slope lights up slowly to a deep orange-red colour, with the shade side in the dark. The experience of watching the sunrise on the dune is one we will not soon forgot. We were back at camp by 10 am, swam, drank, ate, rested then headed for a Sundowner on the dunes. We arrived at the top just in time to see the sun set behind of ever changing, orange sand, dunes. The sky turned a burnt orange as the sun sank behind the horizon, and Venus appeared low in the sky. We returned back to our camp for a braai dinner (local game sausages) and chicken kebobs then showered in an attempt to get some of the sand out from all the crevasses of our bodies! I think we will be travelling for the rest of the trip with a bit of the Soussusvlei dunes.
Posts
