The pace on the truck has, thus far, been quite relaxed although there will be times when we have to do a full day (about 13 hours) of driving. It’s a long long way down the Skeleton Coast of Namibia!
We left the Maasai behind as we travelled to ??, a journey that was short in distance but took most of the day due to the roads. Every now and then the truck is almost forced off the road by other trucks and its quite scary as the tarp that covers one side of the open truck is sucked out by the vehicle coming in the other direction, then once its passed, slams back into the truck with an incredible bang. The road-side tarp is always left down while we’re on the road but the tarp facing the scenery is always up. As you can imagine, the wind whistles through.
There were periods of nothing but green, then we’d come across villages and many roadside stalls selling bananas, tomatoes, vegetables and also makeshift bike workshops. These were set up under trees and the branches were used to hang tyres, as bike stands and inner tubes.
There is a big open area at the front of the truck, almost above the cab and its great to spend a journey up there as you can see so much and its great for photos. You do have to be ultra careful about low branches though as a few of us have nearly been taken out.
We made the most of being in one place for two nights and went for a short hike up into the hills around the camp. We got very lost and ended up in peoples backyards, we didn’t think they got many visitors…! The huts were in small fields of maize and were made of wood and mud (mixed with cow dung). Goats lay in the sun and chickens scratched around in the dirt – it seemed incredibly peaceful and it didn’t seem right to pull out a camera, so there are no pics aside from the one below unfortunately.
A bunch of locals were laughing at me and pointing. Those of you who know how red my face goes if I’ve been running (or even walking up hill!) and I suspect they were laughing at my red face. Some of the kids ran after us and gave me a huge stick of sugar cane that came in useful as a walking stick.
You can imagine what the locals thought when we appeared. We stuck out like sore thumbs!
Euan had had enough of me giving him stick so had me by the nose.
A couple of the guys did a six hour hike up to the top of the mountain (only 1800m) and by all accounts it was a tough walk and very steep. It would have taken them 1 ½ hours to walk down but they persuaded the guide to let them jump on these wee trays that carry logs down from the top of the mountain. Sort of like a primitive ski lift but with no safety bars and definitely not meant for carrying people. They were truly scared. They sat on a pile of logs, hung onto a bar and set off into the mist. They couldn’t see how high it was and when the car dropped down into the valley, they thought it wasn’t so bad. Then they went over the next ridge and the cliff face dropped a sheer 600m. They were terrified and one of them said he’d never been so scared in his entire life.
It was another long drive before we hit Dar es Salam on the Tanzanian coast and we camped there for one night. It was mozzie city and we had a mozzie war in our tent before we slept. The malaria is really bad in this area and the mozzies settle on bare skin very quickly. It was wonderful being back by the sea and the sound of waves made me feel right at home. It’s the sound that put me to sleep at night for the first 12 years of my life and when we moved away, I had trouble sleeping without the sound of the waves. Being back by the sea (any sea, I'm not fussy) is like truly going home.
We left the Maasai behind as we travelled to ??, a journey that was short in distance but took most of the day due to the roads. Every now and then the truck is almost forced off the road by other trucks and its quite scary as the tarp that covers one side of the open truck is sucked out by the vehicle coming in the other direction, then once its passed, slams back into the truck with an incredible bang. The road-side tarp is always left down while we’re on the road but the tarp facing the scenery is always up. As you can imagine, the wind whistles through.
There were periods of nothing but green, then we’d come across villages and many roadside stalls selling bananas, tomatoes, vegetables and also makeshift bike workshops. These were set up under trees and the branches were used to hang tyres, as bike stands and inner tubes.
There is a big open area at the front of the truck, almost above the cab and its great to spend a journey up there as you can see so much and its great for photos. You do have to be ultra careful about low branches though as a few of us have nearly been taken out.
We made the most of being in one place for two nights and went for a short hike up into the hills around the camp. We got very lost and ended up in peoples backyards, we didn’t think they got many visitors…! The huts were in small fields of maize and were made of wood and mud (mixed with cow dung). Goats lay in the sun and chickens scratched around in the dirt – it seemed incredibly peaceful and it didn’t seem right to pull out a camera, so there are no pics aside from the one below unfortunately.
A bunch of locals were laughing at me and pointing. Those of you who know how red my face goes if I’ve been running (or even walking up hill!) and I suspect they were laughing at my red face. Some of the kids ran after us and gave me a huge stick of sugar cane that came in useful as a walking stick.
You can imagine what the locals thought when we appeared. We stuck out like sore thumbs!
Euan had had enough of me giving him stick so had me by the nose.
A couple of the guys did a six hour hike up to the top of the mountain (only 1800m) and by all accounts it was a tough walk and very steep. It would have taken them 1 ½ hours to walk down but they persuaded the guide to let them jump on these wee trays that carry logs down from the top of the mountain. Sort of like a primitive ski lift but with no safety bars and definitely not meant for carrying people. They were truly scared. They sat on a pile of logs, hung onto a bar and set off into the mist. They couldn’t see how high it was and when the car dropped down into the valley, they thought it wasn’t so bad. Then they went over the next ridge and the cliff face dropped a sheer 600m. They were terrified and one of them said he’d never been so scared in his entire life.
It was another long drive before we hit Dar es Salam on the Tanzanian coast and we camped there for one night. It was mozzie city and we had a mozzie war in our tent before we slept. The malaria is really bad in this area and the mozzies settle on bare skin very quickly. It was wonderful being back by the sea and the sound of waves made me feel right at home. It’s the sound that put me to sleep at night for the first 12 years of my life and when we moved away, I had trouble sleeping without the sound of the waves. Being back by the sea (any sea, I'm not fussy) is like truly going home.
1 comment:
where have your maps disappeared to..... :(
I'm lost with all this mention of to and fro
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