|
Updated Information
Witt & Jen
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
187km |
Meals
grilled pork chops with baked potatoes |
Weather |
|
Brandberg Mountain, Namibia |
23 May, 2004 |
BushCamp |
21°05.523’S
14°41.247’E |
Odometer: 22625km |
Sunny, 93(F) degrees |
|
This morning we drove to the town of /Uis to
buy fuel, food, and refill our water tanks. The “/” is to indicate a
“click” in the local Khosian (in this case Damara) language. This sound
(there are a few) is made by pulling the tongue quickly away from the
front teeth. The roads we’ve been on are excellent gravel roads that
apparently see regular maintenance. It’s easy to drive 50-55 mph, allowing
us to cover distances easily. This is a welcome change from other parts of
Africa. Uis is (or was) a tin mining town. The mine has shut down, and the
few remaining people try to eke out a living on the tourist trade. We
bought some groceries and fuel and found a water tap outside the grocery
store. Vicky phoned Slady and Krissy, who are still planning to meet us on
Tuesday in Swakopmund. We received an email from Graham and Connie who are
still planning to meet us on Tuesday as well. We drove to another local
rock art site hoping to do some hiking at Brandberg (the highest mountain
in Namibia) tomorrow. We found an excellent site and arrived minutes ahead
of a minibus filled with backpackers. They decided to stay and share the
site with us. Another issue we didn’t encounter in Angola. As we made
dinner we listened to an American girl from the minibus who very much
likes to talk. Her voice went up and down? And everything she said sounded
like a question? And this one time? At band camp? … |
If your're not living on the edge
|
|
Updated Information
Graham & Connie |
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
32km |
Meals
Rusks, Chicken & Gemsbok steak on the
braai |
Weather |
|
Windhoek, Namibia |
23 May, 2004 |
The Cardboard Box |
22°33.764’S
17°04.521’E |
Odometer: km |
Cool in the Am, Hot by
mid-day, 85(F) degrees |
|
In the morning we walked into town, checked on
email and went grocery shopping. At noon John from Roverland turned up at
the Cardboard Box and we headed out for some trail driving with the local
Land Rover club. There was a good turn out and we went off into the hills
with a Range Rover, a Series IIB forward control, a Discovery and three
110’s including ours. Windhoek is surrounded by low hills, and all the
wheeling we did was actually within the city limits. The trail was not
really difficult, but was not ideal for a fully laden overland vehicle.
Still, we held our own and had fun and saw some baboons. The suspension
worked well given that this is what it was designed for. The trail ended
at an old German fort, and we spent some time exploring it.
Back at the Cardboard Box it was braai and
movie evening. We cooked the last of our chicken and supplemented it with
some Gemsbok steaks from the bar. The evenings entertainment started
before the movie when the chip fryer caught fire. Graham grabbed the fire
extinguisher and put the fire out, emptying the bar in the process. Back
at the braai pit it was a comedy of errors watching a bunch of European
backpackers trying to cook South African style. We bought Simon a beer,
chatted for a long time with Alex, a Canadian backpacker and then had to
chase down Flo, a Belgian who had off with our silverware.
Before going to bed we discovered that we
had picked up a thorn in one of the tires, and the truck was leaning at an
odd angle. Not the best for sleeping in the rooftop tent, but we managed. |
|
Updated Information
Witt & Jen
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
201km |
Meals
braai’d boerewors, potatoes,
chocolate-rum-bananas |
Weather |
|
Near mile 100, skeleton
coast, Namibia |
24 May, 2004 |
Beach Camp |
21°33.897’S
13°52.510’E |
Odometer: 22826km |
Sunny, 93(F) degrees |
|
After a brief stop in Uis, we headed out a
piste recommended by the tourist information guy in Outjo. The road was
maintained, but not as often as the others and was corrugated. It started
south of Brandberg and headed northwest through an other-worldly landscape
of volcanic remains and uplifted plates. Very little grows here, the land
was mostly just strewn with rocks. Just south of the Ugab river we turned
southwest toward the coast and continued to drive through a barren
wilderness of red rock. We discussed the possibility that the mars rovers
had actually landed in Namibia and sent back pictures from here. We
reached the coast in the afternoon and found a rather exposed camp site on
the beach. We lit a fire and grilled some meat for dinner. |
|
The barren landscape west of
Brandberg |
Beach Camp |
|
Updated Information
Graham & Connie |
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
0km |
Meals
Rusks, Kudu Burgers |
Weather |
|
Windhoek, Namibia |
24 May, 2004 |
The Cardboard Box |
22°33.764’S
17°04.521’E |
Odometer: km |
Cool in the Am, Hot by
mid-day, 85(F) degrees |
|
Had a lazy day preparing to head out into the
bush again. Connie did some washing while Graham repaired the flat from
the trail driving the day before. We also went into Windhoek to do some
shopping and bought a blanket to supplement the bedclothes in our tent.
The night time temperatures are getting quite low! |
|
Updated Information
Witt & Jen
|
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
165km |
Meals
Restaurant |
Weather |
|
Swakopmund, Namibia |
25 May, 2004 |
Gull's Cry campground |
22°41.197’S
14°31.390’E |
Odometer: 22991km |
Sunny, 91(F) degrees |
|
We spent a lazy morning on the beach reading
and going for a walk. After we packed up we drove the 20 km south to the
Cape Cross seal colony. The peninsula here is home to about 100,000 cape
fur seals. We could smell them and hear them before we saw them. The rocks
were absolutely thick with seals, sleeping, clambering over one another in
a clumsy search for a spot to lie in the sun, and complaining loudly when
one got his (or more likely her) head stepped on. We stayed for about an
hour, then drove south toward Swakopmund, stopping for lunch at Hentie’s
Bay. Swakopmund is Namibia’s primary tourist/resort town and doesn’t
really feel like Africa at all. We didn’t see the rest of our group (today
is our agreed-upon meeting time) so we went to a Laundromat which
conveniently has an internet café inside. Krissy and Slade showed up after
about an hour, and eventually we located Graham and Connie as well. We
went out to dinner and spent the evening catching up on each other’s
activities. Urs’ part still hasn’t arrived and isn’t expected for another
week or so. Swakopmund (or “Swakop” as the locals call it) is a rather
picturesque seaside town with lots of sidewalk cafes and tourist shops. It
has a very German feel to it. |
|
|
|
Updated Information
Graham & Connie |
Date |
Camp Site or Accommodations |
GPS |
Distance Today:
0km |
Meals
Rusks, Lamb chops, calamari, asparagus
soup (dinner at restaurant) |
Weather |
|
Windhoek, Namibia |
25 May, 2004 |
Gruner Kranz Guest House |
22°40.758’S
14°31.708’E |
Odometer: km |
Cool in the Am, Hot by
mid-day, 85(F) degrees |
|
Got up early and had breakfast
at the Cardboard Box bar before hitting the road. We had planned to meet
the others in Swakopmund by evening. On the advice of John from the Land
Rover club, we took the C28 out of town. It is a very scenic drive on a
well groomed dirt road. We saw very few other cars, and had a leisurely
day. Close to Swakopmund, the road passes through the top of the
Namib-Naukluft park and we saw ostrich, gemsbok and springbok. Coming down
from the mountains into the desert was fantastic, and only marred when the
left rear wheel tried to leave the car at speed. The wheel managed to
destroy most of the threads on the wheel lugs, so Graham could only
tighten it up with 2 nuts instead of 5. So progress into Swakopmund was a
bit slower after that.
On arrival in the town we went
to the Gulls Cry camp, the designated meeting point, but no one was there.
Thinking it was a bit of a dive we checked in at a hotel called Gruner
Kranz which had 3 overland trucks in the parking lot. Checking our email
we discovered that the rest had arrived, so we met up with them and went
out for dinner, trading stories of our travels. |
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Namibia, Page 7 |
