I’m fast thinking that Namibia might overtake Tanzania as my favourite country for a number of reasons but mainly the dramatic and diverse scenery. We had a big drive day heading into the Brandburg Mountains across some fairly desolate desert roads that were a bit hairy in places. We had to ford a stream and the drop off on the left hand side of the truck (out of the sight of the driver) was rather high, higher than our driver realised I think. Myself and the other two kiwi girls were kneeling on the seats at the back looking out the open tarp and Jen said “s*it, that’s a big drop” then BANG, the truck slammed down the drop then Pat accelerated to get out of the dip and sand. All our legs took a massive crack on the hard wood edge of the seat and Jen thought she’d done some serious damage to her kneecap which had been slammed upwards. My shins copped it but while bone on wood is awfully painful there was minimal bruising to show for it. As it turned out, we continued driving to the Tsisab Ravine (about an hour away) only to find that the grid used for cooking and is stored in brackets under the rear of the truck, had been ripped from the back when we went down the bank.
The Brandberg mountains reminded us a bit of some of the mountains in Jordan. Red red rocks (they are really, even if they don't look red in the pic below) of immense size and great slabs of granite and dolerite.
Some of us hiked up into the ravine to see the White Lady painting underneath this rock and others went back in the truck to retrieve the lost grill.
We were held up that afternoon by a missing truck and spent a few hours lying round in the sun (and man, was it hot! I can’t believe this is winter). The truck had disappeared in search of the missing grill and it turned out that they well stuck in a river bed and had a bit of trouble digging the truck out.
The desert roads around the Brandburg mountains were just straight and flat and went on for hours and hours….. and hours…
We could smell the sea miles before we hit the Skeleton Coast and, when we got off the truck we could hear the roaring but I’m not sure now if it was the sea or the wind in the dunes. It really was in the middle of nowhere, incredibly barren and the wind was pretty gusty. We lost our tent (we weren’t in it obviously) but thankfully someone next door to us grabbed it but the person on the end of the line lost theirs and had to run like mad to catch it. The photo below makes it all look quite peaceful but it wasn't. The wind was blowing, tempers in the truck were flaring and some were getting a bit sick of others so not all was harmonious! I'll never forget friends of ours saying "be prepared for high school all over again". They weren't wrong there!!
The tents are pretty basic to put up and are usually quite stable and stationary so this was the first time we had needed to use pegs
While we actually weren’t that far from the coast I think the roaring I’d heard was the dunes and the wind. We headed to Cape Cross seal colony after an incredibly windy night where out tent was blown inwards and shifted sideways, forwards etc until the only part on the ground was that we were lying on. On the way to the seal colony we were flying along in the truck and all of a sudden we went through this kind of temperature barrier where, within a second (no exaggeration), the temperature went from really warm and almost humid, to chilly ice cold wind. I’ve never experienced anything like it and the look on all of our faces was priceless – absolute surprise before we scurried for our jackets and fleeces. Cape Cross colony was, as are all seal colonies I’ve experienced, very noisy and pongy. What made this one different to others I’d seen were the jackals that were sleeping and wandering among the seals, clearly waiting to get their teeth around some new pups.
We headed a bit further up the coast and a brave few swam, rather unintentionally (got bowled fully clothed by the huge waves), in the Atlantic. Neither Euan or I swam (might have considered it were we not bush camping again that night) but were entertained hugely by those who did.
Strangely enough (we suspect there may have been a navigation c*ck up?) we headed inland from the coast to our next bush camp which was well over 100km into the desert. It was a spectacular setting and well worth the drive inland down the long dusty bumpy roads to Spitzkoppe which is a massive cluster of rocks that rise in the middle of the Namib desert.
It was a brilliant place to camp and, like all mountains or clusters of rock, they’re deceptively high! I got stuck taking what I thought was a shortcut and I can safely say that crocs (footwear not the reptile) might rock but they’re next to useless when you’re stuck hanging over a ledge with sweaty feet. I was rather worried to say the least but made it up after holding still for a while. These are the views (you can just see the truck down the middle bottom of the photo).
The Brandberg mountains reminded us a bit of some of the mountains in Jordan. Red red rocks (they are really, even if they don't look red in the pic below) of immense size and great slabs of granite and dolerite.
Some of us hiked up into the ravine to see the White Lady painting underneath this rock and others went back in the truck to retrieve the lost grill.
We were held up that afternoon by a missing truck and spent a few hours lying round in the sun (and man, was it hot! I can’t believe this is winter). The truck had disappeared in search of the missing grill and it turned out that they well stuck in a river bed and had a bit of trouble digging the truck out.
The desert roads around the Brandburg mountains were just straight and flat and went on for hours and hours….. and hours…
We could smell the sea miles before we hit the Skeleton Coast and, when we got off the truck we could hear the roaring but I’m not sure now if it was the sea or the wind in the dunes. It really was in the middle of nowhere, incredibly barren and the wind was pretty gusty. We lost our tent (we weren’t in it obviously) but thankfully someone next door to us grabbed it but the person on the end of the line lost theirs and had to run like mad to catch it. The photo below makes it all look quite peaceful but it wasn't. The wind was blowing, tempers in the truck were flaring and some were getting a bit sick of others so not all was harmonious! I'll never forget friends of ours saying "be prepared for high school all over again". They weren't wrong there!!
The tents are pretty basic to put up and are usually quite stable and stationary so this was the first time we had needed to use pegs
While we actually weren’t that far from the coast I think the roaring I’d heard was the dunes and the wind. We headed to Cape Cross seal colony after an incredibly windy night where out tent was blown inwards and shifted sideways, forwards etc until the only part on the ground was that we were lying on. On the way to the seal colony we were flying along in the truck and all of a sudden we went through this kind of temperature barrier where, within a second (no exaggeration), the temperature went from really warm and almost humid, to chilly ice cold wind. I’ve never experienced anything like it and the look on all of our faces was priceless – absolute surprise before we scurried for our jackets and fleeces. Cape Cross colony was, as are all seal colonies I’ve experienced, very noisy and pongy. What made this one different to others I’d seen were the jackals that were sleeping and wandering among the seals, clearly waiting to get their teeth around some new pups.
We headed a bit further up the coast and a brave few swam, rather unintentionally (got bowled fully clothed by the huge waves), in the Atlantic. Neither Euan or I swam (might have considered it were we not bush camping again that night) but were entertained hugely by those who did.
Strangely enough (we suspect there may have been a navigation c*ck up?) we headed inland from the coast to our next bush camp which was well over 100km into the desert. It was a spectacular setting and well worth the drive inland down the long dusty bumpy roads to Spitzkoppe which is a massive cluster of rocks that rise in the middle of the Namib desert.
It was a brilliant place to camp and, like all mountains or clusters of rock, they’re deceptively high! I got stuck taking what I thought was a shortcut and I can safely say that crocs (footwear not the reptile) might rock but they’re next to useless when you’re stuck hanging over a ledge with sweaty feet. I was rather worried to say the least but made it up after holding still for a while. These are the views (you can just see the truck down the middle bottom of the photo).
Watching the sun go down in a wonderful setting
Getting bored with watching the sun go down (two Kiwi girls being a bit silly on one leg too near the edge for comfort on hindsight)
Some of the guys set out to climb as high as they could up this rock pile and returned hours and hours later and hadn’t reached the top.
There is something about camping in the middle of nowhere. The stars are so bright and the air is so clear here. Having said that, I’ve not slept out under the stars yet. Partly because its too cold and partly because of the animals that are around. A chap we spoke to had been sleeping out by the fire and had an old hyena grab his head and try to drag him away. He fought it off and was OK but had it been a younger stronger hyena they reckoned he wouldn’t have had much chance. We had another incredibly windy night by the rocks and thought we’d made a mistake by not pitching our tent up against the rock. One glance at tents up against the rock the next morning indicated otherwise as they were just as crushed by the wind as ours was.
1 comment:
MY GOD Look a t the size of that rock, it is HUGE!!!!
Great views, Great sunset posed pictures :)
Ladi
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