Day 17: Okahironga to Opuwa

We woke early and watched the sun rise. Sunrises and sets are spectacular in Africa

We pass the Himba Holy Mountain from the other side before retracing our steps to Rooidrom. It seem hard to believe that this remote, tranquil area was a base for the border war. A stark reminder is the wreck of a car that had been blown up by a land mine.

We want to travel east along the most Northern part of Namibia. It was however not possible as due to the mountainous terrain there is no pass through. So today we headed south to the town of Opuwa.

We went over the Rooidrom Pass and onto the Joubert Pass. Omg, we have done passes in Africa but no pic can capture the drive up this rocky path. All credit to Gray and his Discovery we made it.

We fond another two Stone Men today. One labelled ‘Making time to rest’ and the other ‘Hoping to meet’.

Today’s 260km took us 8 hours over terrible, mainly mountainous paths. Along the way we saw amazing flora and very different trees and plants, including my favourite Boabab.

The only people we saw were Himbas, I have been very respectful about not snapping pics of the people, only their huts and villages. However, in one of the mountains we came across a Himba lady and stopped to chat – the communication was through signs and she was happy for me to take a pic.

The estimated 50 000 Himbas are indigenous to this north west Kunene Region. They are traditional pastoralists, known for their red clay skin and hair. The red otijze is made by mixing animal fat, ash and ground ochre and smeared on their bodies and braided into their hair.

In the last few days we have seen less than a handful of cars and Europeans. The areas are so remote that you have to be self reliant and there no chance of picking up any communication, we have no idea of what has be going on at home or in the world. We realised during this time how reliant we have become on technology; a Google answer, a message to overseas friends, face book, news, Google maps for directions, none of that was possible. Nearing the small town of Etanga, close to Opuwa, however we got signal and 170 WhatsApp messages flooded my phone and then there were still emails and messages.

Travel weary we booked into the Opuwa Country Hotel for a bed, shower, drink in the bar and dinner at the restaurant, not the best lodge but it had stunning views.

Day 16: Pūros to Okahironga

We had a really pleasant stay at the Community camp site, we like to support local when we can. An added bonus was finding leopard spoor next to the car this morning, always exciting.

For the first 100km I was beginning to think today was about the destination, not the journey. We drove along a good wide road and the desert scenery was fairly monotonous.

I should know my dear husband better. At the Witdrom (literally a white drum), we left the ‘Highway’ and went exploring along what, at a stretch, can be called a track, at times that was non-existent. We were then at the mercy of Gray’s precious Doris, the GPS, I’m sure she was stuffing us around today with some of her roads, or lack of them.

I will give them both the benefit though, travelling through the Namibian ‘outback’, we came across Himba villages, and beautiful scenery. If we had broken down or got stuck, it would have taken another wannabe ‘Camel man’ adventurer months to find us.

Also in this area we visited ‘The House on the Hill’, probably the most sign posted place in the area. It was literally 3 self-catering houses on a hill. There was also another abandoned marble mine close by

After travelling through the Otjiha Plains we came to the next intersection of the Rooidrom (Red drum).

Then onto the beautiful plains leading to the Kunene, past the Ondau Mountain (Holy site of the Himba) and onto Marienfluss.

The most exciting part of today’s journey was trying to find the elusive ‘Lonely Stone Men’. There are apparently 27 in total, maybe more, scattered around the Kaokoland. They are stone and metal sculptures of men in various poses, scattered around the landscape. We came across 5 today, interestingly one on the patio of The House on the Hill. The artist is elusive and unknown.

Our destination was awesome, and worth the drive in. We arrived at Camp Syncro, early afternoon. It is a beautiful camp site on the banks of the Kunene River, overlooking Angola on the far bank.

The day did not come without it’s casualties, the rough roads broke the spare wheel latch, so that needs to be tied with a ratchet each time we travel. Also somewhere along the way, our table mounting broke so we arrived with no table. I hope some Himbas find a good use for it.

The camp has hot water, but it was so hot here, we rather had a cold one. A dog befriended us at braai time and shared dinner with us, I’m missing mine at home. We also saw some nice birds and had very noisy frogs not lulling us to sleep but it was lovely to hear the sound of the river flowing by.

Day 11: Brandberg to Uis

The sunsets around 7:30 pm and darkness descends quickly in the Namib. We usually head into the roof top tent early and read by head light for a while. The night sounds that lull us to sleep are those of the local people singing in the distance, the barking geckos and the last crackling of the fire.

The sun rises just as quickly, around 6am. This morning after our favourite hit of condensed milk coffee, it was time to pack up and move on. We bid farewell to the friendly people of Brandberg and their cute pets.

This was not after some confusion about the time, Gray said we were leaving early as it was only 8am, I differed saying it was 9am. Upon investigation we discovered some of our watches and clocks differed by an hour. The only logical conclusion was day light saving – an initial Google investigation said they stopped DLS in 2017 but it appears they reinstated it in September this year, so problem solved.

We retraced our path back along the foothills of the Brandberg, which is Namibia’s highest mountain, for about 40km to the mining settlement of Uis. We are staying at the Uis Elephant Guesthouse for 2 nights.

Not planning or booking accommodation has had it’s challenges, we thought European tourist season was over, it appears the Italians have left but the Germans do September, so Southern Namibia was certainly busier than expected.

We also had not planned to spend so long in this area and thought we would be further north by now. The reason is two fold, firstly Uis would normally be a drive past town, but Kirsty works for a mining company, Afritin, and they own the tin mine here. She travels to Uis regularly on business and had always said if we are in the area we have to visit, so here we are. The second reason for our lengthy stay, we arrived on a Friday afternoon and so have to wait for Monday to visit the mine.

As it turns out the town is bigger than expected, clean and boasts a wonderful restaurant, called the Cactus and Coffee, we had a great brunch and admired our quirky surroundings of cacti and succulents.

Being Sunday, there wasn’t much happening in the town. Also it is unseasonally windy and overcast, I decided rather a swim and chill around the pool to read my book and watch the birds in the garden.

The guesthouse was surprisingly busy with a German tourist group. We chatted to a nice couple around the boma fire before a delicious dinner of gemsbok casserole and some nice red wine.

When road tripping, it’s good to have a super chilled day every so often.

Day 9: Swakopmund to Brandburg

We left an overcast and chilly Swakop after breakfast at the hotel. I was sad to leave Swakop, I love the town but we had fully explored it and most of Walvis.

We headed north along the coast to Henties Bay. There are lots of gravel roads leading down to the sea, with really creative names like; Mile 9, Mile 11 and so on – we decided to try Mile 17. The beach was stoney, the sea looked cold and miserable but appears to be a paradise for fishermen because that’s all you see along the stretch of sea. We did come across a few other names like – Tolle se Gat, think they should stick to the miles.

Along the way we passed the small holiday town of Wlotzbaken and the Zoila wreck, that was stranded in 2008 south of Henties. At the Jakkalsputz camp site, miles of camp demarcations, with no campers, we took the beach road into Henties Bay.

We normally drive past Henties, fobbing it off as a sleepy holiday town, but we’re surprised to find it was much larger than expected with some large houses, a shopping centre, a university campus, a golf course and of course fishermen. Ju

Travelling north from Henties, on a great salt road, we came across more salt mines. our destination was the Cape Cross Seal Reserve. This is a remote headland along the Skeleton Coast and is home to one of the largest Cape fur seal colonies in the world, possibly also the smelliest.

I remember the stench from a previous visit but I don’t remember it being this bad. It was also particularly noisy with the woeful and plaintive cries of the seals, possibly because they will be going into breeding season. These monsters were all over the place, they had even taken over the picnic site, not that anyone could consider eating with the smell there. It was awesome to see the swarms of terns in the sky.

It is thought that the first Europeans arrived at this site in the 15 century, attracted to land because of the seal activity, I’m surprised the smell didn’t send them straight back to Portugal.

It was the Portuguese explorer, Diogo Cão who landed in 1486, his expedition was to find a sea route around Africa to India. Cão staked his claim for Portugal with the construction of a stone cross. This was removed by the Germans in 1893 but replicas have been erected at the site.

As we headed inland towards Brandberg, our destination for the night, the sun came out, and moving away from the Atlantic, the temperature began to soar. Today we started at a chilly 8 degrees and by mid afternoon we were experiencing a dry heat of 33 degrees.

We was lots of roadworks along the way, salt crystals for sale (we bought one, leaving money in an honesty box), the first Himba villages and the beautiful Brandberg Mountain range in the distance.

We set up camp at the White Lady Lodge and camp site. Fortunately, they had a pool and I went for a swim to cool off. Gray promised me a lodge on my birthday today, I got tent lodgings, it wasn’t exactly the spoil of last year’s Londolozi trip but the sunset was spectacular and made for a special birthday braai.

Day 8: Swakopmund

Admin Day – Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

We wondered around the corner for breakfast at Bojos Cafe. We are yet to have a bad meal in Swakop and the service everywhere is first class.

Then we set off on an expedition around town to do our chores. A hardware store for some screws for the roof top, butchery for meat and yah, a Woolies for fresh produce.

On our meanderings a silent protest of around 30 people followed a police vehicle. It was amazing to witness, not a word was uttered except in sign language, it turned out to be a protest to increase awareness for deaf people. There was no looting and trashing of property, just an atmosphere of awareness. An awesome way to get a message across.

Then back to the hotel to pack and repack for the road ahead.

And so for the differences between Gray and I. The night before we left, I watched him throw a few T-shirts and pairs of pants, those on the top of the pile in his cupboard, into a tog bag and he was good to go. A few days into the trip, while looking for a jersey, he bewilderedly said to me, I have no idea what I have packed.

I, on the other hand, had spent the best part of the morning before leaving, deciding which clothes to take for all occasions, colour coordinating them and putting them into plastic bags for each day. Come rain or sand storms, my clothes were protected. Great tip from my friend Al.

In addition, I had enough toiletries, medicines for any ache or emergency, device charges and even a small sewing kit. All packed in their own bags. OMG, I have turned into my mother-in-law, God rest her soul.

Another case in point, while shopping this morning:

Butcher Shop: Gray chose rump, T-bones, sirloins, venison steaks – steaks, steaks, steaks. I chose chicken sosaties, wiener snitzels and pork chops.

Woolies shop: Me – we now need to go to Woolies; Gray – why???; Me – we need salad and fruit; Gray – what’s wrong with just beer and meat???

Packing the groceries into the fridge in the Main Street was another challenge, one of cold beer vs lettuce.

Actually we do compromise and travel really well together. Meat some nights, chicken others. He has his cold beer and I have a salad.

This is our first long trip in our new white Discovery, mainly due to Covid. It’s Gray’s baby and he has lovingly transformed a normal 4 X 4 into most men’s dream vehicle – it has double fuel tanks, a triple battery system, plugs and shelves, his and hers draws and also for me, a fridge that sides down to my height, so the lettuce is easily accessible.

Packing done, we wondered down to the beach for an ice cream. Side bar: a family joke about the t-shirt I’m wearing – the first time I wore it I was off to guide dogs for dog training, Gareth who is normally very polite, asked if the dogs had run around looking for Wally. Gray sent this pic to the family telling them the the whole of Swakop was looking for Wally today.

We then went for a drive, the main reason was to charge the batteries so the fridge / freezer would keep our provisions cold. Taking a different direction, we came across kids going home from school, the main water line into Swakop, the township and something rather unexpected in the desert, a golf course. Actually it was a whole fancy golf estate and the Rossmund Golf Club.

We walked down the road for an early pizza at Gabriella’s. They make a bomb pizza. Back for coffee in the pub and an early night.

Day 7: Swakopmund and Walvis Bay

The Hansa Hotel, with its beautiful garden, is ideally situated in old town Swakop.

We spent a pleasant morning out and about the town. Firstly, doing a few chores like laundry and sorting out permits, both were pretty painless.

We then wandered around the towns and markets, finding a wonderful book store, with old edition books. Feeling peckish, as we had not eaten breakfast, we had a great snack at Cafe Anton at the Hotel Schweizerhaus. I’m sure this town is more German than Munich.

We then headed off to explore Walvis Bay. We drove through the holiday resort area of Long Strand and went down to the beach, the water was far too cold for a swim.

In Walvis we headed to the flamingo colony and into Dorob National Park. A strange area as it is clearly protected and appears to be a type of natural bird sanctuary but also a salt mine.

We spent a couple of happy hours birding, finding lots of water birds that we don’t see in the South African bush.

We then explored the harbour area and had a delicious lunch of oysters and cheesy prawns.

After chilling for a bit this afternoon, it was time to head off to dinner. All we seemed to do today was eat. Our restaurant of choice was Jetty Restaurant 1905. The wooden jetty was originally constructed in the early 1900’s, with the purpose of offloading cargo from ships. Over the years it fell into disrepair and was reopened in 2006. It is now a tourist attraction, used by fisherman and boasts a restaurant with icon views of the sunset. We enjoyed our meals of seafood and white wine, while the restaurant gently swayed with the crashing waves.

Not wanting a perfect day to end we had a night cap in the old pub at the hotel.

Day 6: Sossusvlei to Swakopmund

While braaing last night we were blessed with the most beautiful sunset. The sun sets at around 7:30, later than what we are used to for this time of the year.

During the night a howling wind blew up, I’m pretty relieved we weren’t camping last night. The wind was still in full gale force this morning, forcing us to have our coffee and rusks indoors. Again we were fortunate to have visited the dunes yesterday. Hiking to Deadvlei would have been miserable with the wind blasting sand into out faces.

As we were about to set off Gray heard a hissing in the engine. Upon investigation he discovered that a mouse or some such rodent had been nibbling on some of the pipes. Fortunately he is very handy with fixing things and soon had us on the road, sad to leave this beautiful area.

Today’s journey was 340km to Swakopmund, along gravel roads. The wide road started off bumpy and rutted. This is unusual as the roads are usually really well maintained. No sooner had we voiced this, when we came across a familiar site on the roads of Namibia, a big yellow grader. The grader drivers spend weeks out on the gravel roads, grading them. They take their accommodation and provisions with them in a yellow caravan.

From then on it was an easy drive to Solitaire. Solitaire is a tiny settlement that features the only gas station, restaurant, bakery and general dealer between Sossusvlei and Walvis Bay. It is a quirky place with old car wrecks strategically littering the area. Seeing the old cars always reminds me of my dad and his love of vintage cars. It is worth a stop if you are in the area, the treats from the bakery are fresh and delicious.

The road, which passes over the Tropic of Capricorn and goes through the Gaub Pass, was particularly busy. No doubt because it is the main route to Sossus from Windhoek and Swakopmund. The terrain was again varied, ranging from wheaten grass to mountains and white desert sands.

The drive into Walvis Bay and along the coastal road to Swakopmund is not particularly pretty. It’s is, however, always a pleasure to see the flamingoes in the pans upon entering Walvis. We were surprised or see that a huge mall had been built and obviously we saw the oil rigs just off shore.

We are staying at the Hansa Hotel for the next 3 nights, while we explore and prepare for the next leg of our journey north.

This coastal city was established by German colonists in 1892 and still, like most old southern Namibia, has a very German influence, as is evident in the language and architecture.

Obviously no trip to Swakop is complete without a visit to the Brauhaus to explore the delicious tastes of Germany.

Day 5: Sossusvlei and Sesriem

On reflection, the photos blogged do not in any way do justice to the beautiful desolation of the landscapes around us. I may, in some way be forgiven, as the pics are snapped on an iPhone from a car, going 100km/h on a dusty road. It’s also more than that, not even a fancy expensive camera could capture the enormity and vastness of Namibia, it’s an indescribable feeling.

This was even more evident today, visiting one of my favourite spots, the gigantic red dunes of Sossusvlei. Gray recalled that on his first visit to the dunes, he was 14 years old and they were the only people there. Over the years it has become a massive tourist attraction and we were dismayed to see so many tourists and vehicles when we arrived at Deadvlei. Fortunately, due to the vastness of the area it didn’t prove to be a problem and the 65 km drive and 1.5km walk over the dunes was definitely worth it.

Sossusvlei is situated in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, it literally translates to ‘Dead-end marsh’.The majestic red dunes surround a large white salt and clay pan. The dunes, some reaching 400m are amongst the highest in the world.

From Sossus we headed off to another spectacular area, the Sesriem Canyon. It is a natural canyon carved by the Tsauchab river in sedimentary rock. It is about 1km long, 30m deep and in places only 2m wide.

Day 4: Luderitz to Sossusvlei

While South Africa goes into Stage 6 load shedding, we remain blissfully unaffected in Namibia.

Due to a foot and mouth outbreak in S.A. We were not allowed to bring meat and fresh produce across the border, so our first chore of the day was a food shop. We found a Small Spar, it’s not Sandton Woolies, but we managed to get meat and salad makings for the next few days.

We then took a short drive around Luderitz, the German influence is obvious by the architecture of the old buildings.

We then set off for our 500km trip to Sossusvlei. The first 100km was retracing yesterdays route to Aus. The wind in this part of the world is insane and sweeps across the road. For most of the drive one would be forgiven for not thinking we were driving on the moon.

Shortly after Aus we turned on the Helmeringhausen gravel road and eventually on to the Sesriem and Sossusvlei road.

We travelled through different biomes throughout the day; from stark grey desert, to wheat coloured grasslands, beautiful mountains and camel thorn trees and eventually the red sands of Sossusvlei littering the landscape, giving us a small glimpse of the mighty dunes we will be experiencing tomorrow. Dotted along the way was the odd farmhouse, with varying types of livestock.

We saw gemsbok, zebra, baboons, springbok and a number birds, ranging from sociable weavers, with their impressive nests, to raptorsu and ostriches.

They say a picture paints a thousand words and as I’m sure you don’t want a thousand words, here are some pics of the day.

Not sure where we were going to lay our head each night is a case in point today. Our plan was to camp at the Oasis Camp site, having stayed there before, we were excited to be back. However, it was fully booked (highly unusual for a campsite). So instead of a bed in our rooftop tent we are spending the next two nights at Desert Quiver Camp, a self catering hut, with a great view. We have also stayed here before and are looking forward to exploring the area tomorrow.

Day 3: Port Nolloth to Luderitz

Our room at the Beach Shack was rustic but cosy, due to load shedding we had an early night and hence woke up early to a misty view of the sea. Fortunately this soon burned off and the sun came out but it was still a chilly 10 degrees.

The scenery along the 80km stretch to the border post was arid, with the stark beauty of the desert mountains of the area. There is also remnants of the old diamond mines.

Our usual route into Southern Namibia is through the Richtersvelt, taking the pont at the border crossing at Sendelingsdrift. However, in 2017 the Alexander Bay Border post no longer required a permit to enter, so we decided to try a new route. The border post was super quite, the staff friendly and the entry driving over the Orange River into Namibia was painless.

This was the first time we have had the opportunity to visit Oranjemund, a diamond mining town in the extreme southwest of Namibia, on the northern bank of the Orange River Mouth. We drove to the area where the Orange River enters the sea before visiting the town. Unfortunately the visibility wasn’t great but we got a sense of how vast this great river is.

Oranjemund is a typical mining town, neat and tidy, with nice parks. There are grass verges on the side of the road and desert sand behind this.

We travelled on through the Sperrgebiet, through Auchas Pass. The road through the mountains meanders down to the banks of the Orange River at places, and takes us into the town of Rosh Pinah.

Our travels then took us to Aus, where we were fortunate to see the Wild Namib horses and the old station ruins.

The last stretch of today’s journey was a sandy stretch into Luderitz, passing the ghost town of Kohlmanskop.

We are staying in a lovely B&B on Shark Island, with stunning views of the sea.

At the end of Shark peninsula is a memorial to the Nama prisoners who lost their lives in the German concentration camp at this site, now a campsite and home to a lighthouse. I’m glad we are not camping there tonight as cold Atlantic gale force winds are pounding the end of Shark Island.

When in Luderitz oysters and seafood are compulsory. Dinner at the Portuguese Fisherman didn’t disappoint.