We had a very early start in Cape Town for our 7:00 am flight to Windhoek. It was just a short 90 minute flight on board the AirLink flight (AirLink is South Africa’s budget airline). The entry through customs in Windhoek was pretty straightforward though it did cost us US$100 each for our visas.
After wandering around the airport arrivals area for a while we finally found the representative from our rental car company, Namibia2Go. They took us to their office a little way from the airport. There they had our vehicle ready for us, a nice Toyota Fortuner. We were shown all the basics - how to operate the 4 wheel drive system, the location of the spare tires, the recommended tire pressures and the usage of the air compressor. Then we were off on our way.
We made a few mistakes on our first day in Namibia. We didn’t get a eSIM for our phones at the airport but went into the city to get one where the shop was hard to find and, when we did find it, it had such a huge line that we gave up on that idea. We also got a permit for the drive along the Skeleton Coast which cost us both money and time and wasn’t really necessary (misinformation from the Internet). We then had a bite to eat at a restaurant that had the slowest ever service. This all resulted in a late departure from Windhoek, meaning that it would be dark when we got to our destination near Etosha National Park.
The road to the north from Windhoek was a good surfaced road and we made good time. We filled up with diesel a couple of times along the way as we were paranoid about fuel shortages. We felt it was wise to fill up whenever we came upon a petrol station with diesel.
In Outjo, our last fill up before our destination, we were approached by a Polish guy, Artur, who wanted a ride north. He said he was stuck in Outjo and needed to go towards Etosha. We couldn’t leave him stranded in Outjo so he joined us.
We were staying at the Etosha Village Lodge where there was an adjacent camp site. Artur said he would camp there. It was dark when we pulled into the Etosha Village Lodge and the guard at the gate let us in. We went to check in and Artur disappeared towards the campsites.
We had dinner at the camp - nothing too special but I did try the eland and oryx - a little tough I thought. Later on we were in the reception area of the lodge using the WiFi when Artur and another guest came in. Artur had gone off and camped in someone else’s spot and now when that guy arrived there was a problem. The reception folk were questioning Artur on how he got into the camp and what was he doing taking someone’s campsite. When he said he came with his two American friends we thought it prudent to leave and stay out of the conversation.
The next morning after breakfast in the lodge we checked out and before we could leave they wanted us to talk to the manager. The manager wanted to know if we brought a Polish man into the camp the previous night. How did we get him past the gate guard? Apparently Artur had said that he had traveled from Windhoek with us and was traveling further with us into the game park. They said that he caused them many problems and they were not very happy.
We drove the short way to Etosha National Park and entered through the gate at Okakuejo. At the gate we saw Artur again, he didn’t acknowledge us. He looked like he had found another ride. That was the last we saw of him. It is not easy to be a true backpacker traveler in Namibia.
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| Zebras in the road, Etosha |
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| Springboks in the road, Etosha |
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| Large numbers of Zebras, Wildebeest and Springboks |
We drove into the park and headed north to Okondeka where we had heard lions had been seen that morning. We didn’t see lions but we did see large herds of zebras, springboks and wildebeest.
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| Wildebeest, Etosha |
After exploring more of the north west side of the park we drove back to Okajuejo and headed east to our accommodation for the next two nights, the Halali Lodge. The lodge was run by the National Park Service and it was adequate but it was certainly showing its age. Facility maintenance is not a strong point in Namibia.
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| The Halali Water Hole at Sunset |
The nice thing about the Halali Lodge is that it is adjacent to a waterhole and at night they light up the waterhole so you can see all the animals. Being novices we were at the waterhole before sunset and we sat there waiting for something to happen. Nothing happened for over an hour. Finally a couple of zebras arrived and gingerly took a drink of water and left. We had seen dozens of zebras during the day so I wasn’t too impressed.
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| Rhinos at the Halali Water Hole, Etosha |
I was getting bitten by the insects and was ready to call it a night when along came three rhinos. They were certainly worth staying for and we watched for over an hour as the mother and her youngster and another rhinoceros that we took for a male entertained us at the waterhole. The two adults kept interacting - grunting at eachother, sometimes butting heads, the female would sometimes charge the male to push him away from the youngster. The young one was quite large, over half the size of the mother, and yet it was still suckling.
Two or three spotted hyenas also showed up and one small cat, perhaps a genel but I couldn’t be sure. The evening’s show was quite impressive.
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| The distant Cheetah |
The next day we had breakfast at the lodge and then set off to explore the east side of the park. We drove over to the Etosha Pan, the large salt lake bed that occupies the center of the park. We didn’t see anything at all out on the Pan but coming back we parked next to three other vehicles. When we enquired what they were looking at they pointed out a cheetah some distance away. A beautiful animal. We would never have spotted it on our own, it was only the group of vehicles that made us stop. When we got to the hotel that night we looked at the very distant iPhone photos of the cheetah and found that there was a young cub with her as well. What a wonderful sight.
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| Oryx |
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| Distant Elephants |
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| Giraffe at Etosha |
Driving on we saw a group of elephants. These too were quite a long way away. We saw a few other antelopes - a red hartebeest, a black faced impala, oryx - as well as the ones we saw the previous day (zebras, springbok and wildebeest). We drove as far as Okerfontein and then turned back towards the west and our lodge. On the way back we saw a group of giraffes grazing on the trees - they are the most elegant and graceful of animals.
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| Elephant and Rhino Halali Water Hole |
That night at the lodge we were not so early to go to the waterhole. We waited until an hour or so after sunset. As we arrived we were surprised to see the show had already started. There was an elephant and a couple of rhinos already there. The elephant didn’t stay long but while he was there it was clear he was in charge. The rhinos were backing away from him.
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| Rhinos at the Halali Water Hole |
After the elephant left there were more rhinos. At one point there were 9 of them in the area. They all continued the same interactions - a lot of grunting, butting noses and charging towards each other. At one point a couple of rhinos seemed to be mating. I am not sure if it was successful, it was all over quite quickly.
As before, spotted hyenas came down to the water. At one point the hyenas seemed to be chasing after the rhinos. Surely they couldn’t take down a rhino?
The next morning, after breakfast at the lodge, we set off out of the park for our drive towards the coast. We headed south first towards Outjo where we filled up with diesel, bought some food supplies and stopped for coffee and cake. Then we headed east towards Khorixas and the coast.
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| Between Outjo and Palmwag |
After Outjo the tarmac road ended and we were on dirt roads. For the most part the roads were well graded and apart from a few corrugations every now and again we could maintain good speeds - 100 km/hr or more.
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| Mountains and Grassy Plains, Twyfelfontein |
The scenery was wonderful - beautiful mountains and lovely silvery grasses and flowers everywhere. We wanted to see the petroglyphs at Twyfelfontein which was a bit of a diversion off our route and we were a little pressed for time if we wanted to arrive before dark. It became a bit of a high speed run to get to Twyfelfontein and view the petroglyphs. I had been debating airing down the tires all day but the dirt roads were so good that it was really not necessary, but in Twyfelfontein I finally took the time to do it. At least it then made for a smoother ride.
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| Petroglyphs at Twyfelfontein |
Twfelfointein is a UNESCO site where there were 6,000 year old rock paintings. It wasn’t the most spectacular of sites but it was most interesting to think that people were wandering around that valley some 6,000 years ago.
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| The tent in Palmwag |
Our accomodation for the night was in Palmwag. We had a tent camping site. The sun was setting as we rolled into Palmwag, a very small village some 40 km off the main road. The road had a chain across it and a guard. The guard registered our car in her log book as we entered. There wasn’t much to Palmwag besides tourist accomodations - there was a lodge, a few basic camp sites and our more permanent tent sites with serious tents with toilets and showers. They call that glamping. It was pizza and a salad for dinner at the lodge’s restaurant then we were off to bed in our luxurious tent.
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| Giraffe outside of Palmwag |
The next morning we had breakfast in the lodge and we set off for our journey down the Skeleton Coast. This was to be our most ambitious day of the trip, or so we thought. The Skeleton Coast, just by its name sounds ominous and dark. The park’s logo was the skull and crossbones. We had been advised to get a permit for access before we left Windhoek so that made it sound even more significant. There was the 440 km of dirt road a good amount of which was on the beach next to the Atlantic - the internet had warned us about treacherous road conditions at times. We were ready for it.
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| The road to the coast |
As we left Palmwag there was a checkpoint and they wanted to know if we had any meat products. Apparently you cannot take meat of any kind from the north of Namibia into the south. There is a higher risk of foot and mouth disease in the north and they need to protect their cattle on farms in the south.
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| Entrance to the Skeleton Coast |
The road out to the coast was good and we made good progress though we certainly kicked up a huge cloud of dust in our wake. At the entrance gate to the Skeleton Coast we presented our permit that we had obtained in Windhoek only to be told that we didn’t really need it - an internet travel blog had advised us to get it ahead of time. We bought some expensive diesel just to top up in case we had any problems then we set off.
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| Arrival at the Atlantic Coast |
The land near the coast was fairly barren - not much vegetation, just sand with the occasional large succulents. When we reached the coast road we turned south on what turned out to be an excellent dirt road - dry and very compacted and no dust cloud in our wake - much better than we expected.
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| Toscanini Diamond Mine |
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| Toscanini Diamond Mine |
Our first stop on the coast road was the remains of the Toscanini diamond mine. There is not a lot to see at the site - the remains of two concrete piers jutting out into the Atlantic, a concrete loading tower of some sort and old concrete lined tanks. Apparently the site was opened in the 1960’s but was never really profitable. As late as 2008 two US investors in the operation were charged with running a Ponzi scheme. There is no activity there now.
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| Abandoned Oil Rig |
A short distance further south we came across the remains of an oil rig. In the 1960’s there were some exploratory wells drilled but nothing meaningful was found. The rig was just left there and is now a rusting pile of metal. Incidentally there have recently been significant oil discoveries offshore Namibia so that may bring some much needed revenue to the country.
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| Remains of a Ship Wreck |
Next there was an old shipwreck lying on the beach. Very little remained of the wreck now, only the skeletal remains. It is from the skeletons of wrecks like this that the Skeleton Coast got its name.
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| Cape Cross Fur Seal Colony |
We made a short diversion off the road to the Cape Cross fur seal colony. This is the largest single colony of Cape Fur Seals numbering over 100,000 animals at the time of our visit (200,000 in the breeding and pupping season of December). It is a controlled site and we paid an entry fee and drove in. We walked along the fenced boardwalk that surrounds the area. The sheer number of animals was impressive. They covered a huge area and they made a huge racket. However, what was really impressive was the smell. It was so overbearingly nauseating.
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| Youngster and Mother, Cape Cross |
There were many young seals around, some nursing on their mothers breasts. As with most animals the young ones were kind of cute, the older ones - not so much.
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| Fur from the seals on the beach, Cape Cross |
Fut seals molt. In fact they have what is known as a catastrophic molt; that is they lose all their fur pretty much at once. New fur does grow back but the seals have to remain on land while their new coat grows. The ground around the colony was littered with clumps of seal fur. It was covering the ground and building up around any fences or restrictions.
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| Ship Wreck, near Swakopmund |
Further south we passed the small town of Henties Bay and then we drove further on to Swakopmund. Just before Swakopmund we came across a more impressive ship wreck. This one was being towed away to be scrapped in 2004 when it broke loose from the towing vessel and it ran aground. It remains there getting beaten by the Atlantic surf. Soon it will be a skeleton.
Arriving in Swakopmund we filled up with gas and aired up our tires to the required pressure for the next sections of tarmac road. All our concerns about the difficulty of the Skeleton Coast road were unfounded. There was nothing particularly difficult or challenging about it.
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| The beach and harbor, Swakopmund |
We had a hotel in Swakopmund, the Sea Boutique Guest House, on the sea front. It had a nice view over the beach and down to the Swakopmund harbor.
After the visit to the seal colony, our clothes and our bodies were infused with the noxious smell of the seals. The first thing we did when we got to the hotel was to shower and wash our clothes. In the evening we didn’t go out, we just relaxed and watched a beautiful sunset over the Atlantic Ocean from our room.
The next day we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then set off to explore Swakopmund. Swakopmund is a coastal town with a rich German heritage. The harbor was created by building a protective bund out into the bay. The Germans did this after the British took control over the only natural port in South West Africa in Walvis Bay, just to the south. The bund served its purpose in the early 1900’s but today Swakopmund is not a significant port. Nowadays Swakopmund derives most of its income from tourism.
We went inside the small Museum of Swakopmund. There were some interesting displays of what life was like for the early settlers of the area - basically it was pretty hard.
There was an exhibit about the first use of concentration camps by the German government in what was then South West Africa. In 1904 after continued fighting between the Germans and the local Ovahero tribe, the Governor of South West Africa, a Lothar von Trotha, declared extermination of the Ovahero as an official policy. This therefore became the first genocide of the 20th century.
However, when labor was needed for construction and railways the extermination policy was changed to incarceration and they placed the Ovahero into concentration camps where they could used as forced labor. The camps were set up throughout the country and conditions were atrocious. Out of a total of 17,000 prisoners some 7,600 died in captivity.
As well as learning about these atrocities, the museum did have other less depressing exhibits on diamond mining, the local wildlife and the more benign aspects of settler life.
In the center of town there was a statue commemorating the Germans killed during the war between the local tribes and colonists. I didn’t see a memorial to the losses on the other side. Maybe there was one somewhere - there should be.
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Around lunchtime we set off to drive to a nearby mountain range, Spitzkoppe. This group of mountains protruding into the plain is quite a landmark in the area and Spitzkoppe is the tallest and most angular mountain in the group.
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| Spitzkoppe |
Besides the dramatic appearance of this group of mountains, it is also the site of some early petroglyphs. These were some 4,000 to 6,000 years old and while not spectacular it is not everyday you see something that old created by human hands.
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| Petroglyph of a snake |
We drove around the rather small park area until we were stopped by a boundary gate to an upscale lodge. The gate was locked but while we were there a guide with a group of tourists came along with the keys. The guide let us tag along with the group for a tip of a few Rand. We then got to see around the other side of Spitzkoppe (the more dramatic side) and we saw more petroglyphs.
Back in Swakopmund, we watched the sun go down again from the balcony of our hotel. Then we walked into town and had a nice meal in one of the finer restaurants by the harbour - tablecloths in this one.
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| Foggy and Cool in Swakopmund |
Wednesday was a quieter day. All we had to do was get to our next destination of Walvis Bay. So after breakfast at the hotel we checked out and went to explore the town of Swakopmund some more. The day was quite foggy and cold - a common feature of the Atlantic coastal weather in Swakopmund.
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| The Very Large Quartz Crystal |
We visited the Crystal Gallery - a museum displaying a fine collection of minerals and gem stones. The gallery houses the largest cluster of quartz crystals in the world - a whopping 14,100 kilos. There were many other fine crystals in the gallery, most of them sourced from Namibia itself with a few foreign specimens. It was another earring buying opportunity for Diana.
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| The Hohenzollern Building, Swakopmund |
We walked further through the town on this dreary misty morning admiring some of the colonial German architecture. The most impressive was the Hohenzollern Building - a beautiful baroque building dating from 1906 with a statue of Atlas holding up the world on top.
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| The Woemanhaus Building, Swakopmund |
The Woermanhaus building was also impressive. Dating from the late 1800’s it has a tower where residents could watch for arriving ships. There was nice tile work in the interior courtyard.
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| The Boat from Hamburg to Swakopmund |
As a reminder of very different times there was an old sign on a building advertising the German South West Africa Line voyage from Hamburg to Swakopmund, We finished our explorations with a coffee and apple pie at the Cafe Arden before going back to the car and beginning our drive to Walvis Bay.
The road to Walvis Bay followed the coast with sand dunes on one side and the ocean on the other. I believe sand boarding down the dunes has become a popular activity for the tourists now. We left Swakopmund in the fog and arrived to a sunny blue sky in Walvis Bay.
We were staying at the Langholm Hotel - a nice little place over by the docks. The hotel displays a motto above the entrance - “the Langholm Hotel - more a legend than a hotel”. I am not sure what that means. I think it was more a business hotel for the port rather than a tourist hotel but it was actuallly quite good.
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| Flamingos in Walvis Bay |
After checking in we drove over to the nearby lagoon where we found a few pink and white flamingos and some white pelicans - the lagoon is famous for them.
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| Walvis Bay Salt Works |
Further out on the lagoon was the salt works - Namibia’s second largest salt producer. Sea water is pumped into large ponds and allowed to evaporate - the resulting salt crystals are then harvested. The pink color of the water in some ponds was due to the algae in the water becoming stressed by the high salt concentration and changing their color from green to pink.
Walvis Bay has a very long Main Street running through the town center. There is nothing remarkable about the town, it is in fact rather shabby. We dined at the hotel and it was quite adequate, quite good almost.
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| Ouch |
The next morning while leaving I managed to trap my hand in the hotel entry door and did a number on my index finger. A bit of blood and some serious pain for a while - a drama I didn’t want. The lady in the reception at the hotel disinfected it and bandaged it and we were on the way with a throbbing and painful finger.
We headed east towards Sesriem, our destination for the night. The road east out of Walvis is unremarkable. It travels across a desert plain with nothing at all worth mentioning other than the adjacent water pipeline that supplies water to Walvis Bay.
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| Quiver Tree |
At some point the topography changed and we headed into some low mountains and the land got much more interesting. There were flowers and trees and the road now had a few twists and turns. We stopped at the top of a rise and found a beautiful little scene - old and interesting Quiver trees, one with flowers, lots of flowers on the ground and some interesting metamorphic rocks - schists as I recall.
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| The road east from Walvis Bay |
Further on the road got even more interesting as it passed through hilly countryside with a myriad of small hills separated by intersecting valleys - very strange topography.
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| The Tropic of Capricorn |
We passed a sign marking the Tropic of Capricorn so we had to stop and take the mandatory photograph next to the sign. We were now back in the tropics.
We arrived in Solitaire, the only real town on our way east, and stopped to fill up with diesel. Solitaire is a weird little town. A gas station, a couple of restaurants, a bar, and a campsite.
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| Apple Pie Shop, Solitaire |
One of the cafes has become famous for apple pie. I am not sure how the apple pie thing happened but it is quite a big deal on the internet and it is even referenced in guide books. Of course we partook of the pie too. It was quite good and they made a decent flat white too.
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| The Desert Hills Lodge |
From Solitaire we turned south to Sesriem. We were staying in the Desert Hills Lodge just outside Sesriem. What a luxury lodge - some 20 small cabins perched on the hillside - part stone, part wood, part thatch with a restaurant, bar and swimming pool. Quite luxurious indeed.
The lodge was so far away from any civilization that popping into town for dinner was out of the question. The accommodation provided breakfast and an evening meal.
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| The grassy plains at sunset |
We sat on the balcony of our room, watching the sun go down with the warm breeze sending waves through the grass on the valley floor. Quite beautiful.
The next morning we were off to visit Sossusvlei, an area of beautiful sand dunes and salt flats and desert. The best time to visit the area is at sunrise or sunset so we were up at 5:00 am and, after collecting a box breakfast from the hotel, we drove in the dark to the entrance to Sossusvlei park. We arrived at the park gate around 6:15 but were not allowed into the park until 7:15. By the time the gates opened there were 50 or so cars waiting in line to enter - we were number 2 in the line.
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| Air down and engage 4 wheel drive |
It is a 65 km drive to Sossusvlei from the park gate, with the last 4 being through deep sand. We were finally able to make use of the 4x4 drive and we really needed to air down our tires. It was a bit challenging making our way through the deep sand but we made it. A lot of people take a commercial ride through that section.
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| Deadvlei |
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| Deadvlei |
Sossusvlei’s main attraction is a small playa with numerous dead trees scattered through the plain. It is called Deadvliet. It is in all the tourist photos of Namibia and it is the number one tourist spot in the country.
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| The Big Daddy Dune |
The playa is surrounded by huge red sand dunes and climbing to the top is the other attraction. Climbing up a huge sand dune is not easy and after 9:00 am it is uncomfortably hot. The tallest dune is called Big Daddy and it is some 1,200 ft above the surrounding desert floor. We made it to a summit of one of the adjacent dunes but we did not continue up Big Daddy.
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| Sossusvlei |
We cut a path down the dunes to an adjacent playa - this one was filled with water after the recent rains. It was remarkable to see one area dry as a bone and the next one a lake.
As we were leaving the park, I was pulling through the park gates having just got in the car and I didn’t have my seatbelt on. This caused the policeman checking people leaving the park to pull me aside and take me into his office. He wanted to fine me 1000 Namibian $ for driving without a seatbelt. How ridiculous, I was pulling through a gate at about 5 mph and was expecting to have to get out and show my papers. I protested and protested until he finally gave up and let me go. This was just a scam he was pulling. We had read earlier that there are no on-the-spot fines in Namibia so all he was looking for was some cash in his pocket.
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| Sesriem Canyon |
Outside the park we went to another tourist location - Sesriem Canyon. From the surface driving along you have no idea that there is a canyon in the vicinity. You walk off the road a few hundred yards and there is this great big gash in the earth. We walked into the canyon for a short while admiring the nice examples of conglomerate sediments. We heard baboons calling in the canyon but didn’t see any of them.
We made our way back to our lodge and were completely exhausted. We dusted off the sand from our clothing and boots and showered and then we were done. We had dinner at the lodge and an early night.
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| The Desert Hills Lodge |
The Desert Hills Lodge was quite a special place. The cabins were wonderful and the whole complex looked like something from a Star Wars movie set. We didn’t want to leave but alas we had to.
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| The road south from Sesriem |
We had a long drive from Sesriem to Luderitz. It was a most beautiful drive however. Mountains, one after another, grassy plains, flowers all along the way, occasional animals (Oryx and Springbok).
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| Duwisib Castle |
We reached Betta where there was fuel but before fueling we made a detour to visit Duwisib Castle. This is a most interesting place. In 1908, in the middle of Namibia, miles from anywhere, a German and his American wife decided to build a castle to live in. They built it from local stone with local labour and had furniture and household goods shipped out from Germany. On a trip back to Europe in 1914 they had their trip interrupted by World War I. They were diverted to South America but eventually made it back to Germany where the husband joined the Army and was promptly killed in the Somme. The wife never returned to Namibia and never laid claim to the castle. It passed through several hands before being taken over by the Namibian Government. It is now a rarely visited sight off the beaten track in the backwaters of Namibia.
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| The road Betta to Aus |
Moving further south we passed into more agricultural land and by agriculture I mean livestock farming, we didn’t see any signs of crops growing. We reached the main east west road at Aus and from there the road was paved into Luderitz.
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| South African and German War Graves |
In Aus we passed a Commonwealth War Graves sign. On exploring the Cemetery, we found it full of both German and South African graves. Nearly all the deaths were from October and November 1918, the end of the war. The conflict, in what was then German South West Africa, was all over by 1915 so what was going on. It turns out the deaths were in the nearby prisoner of war camp and were all from the Spanish Flu epidemic. Apparently it swept through the camp and killed large numbers of both prisoners and their guards.
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| The road encroaching sand dunes, Luderitz |
As we approached Luderitz we crossed an area of barchan sand dunes. These dunes migrate and obviously it is a problem for maintenance of the road. The dunes came up to the edge of the road and there were signs of heavy equipment that was used to push them back off the road. A constant task I would imaging.
In Luderitz our hotel was the Alta Villa Guest House - an interesting place with many levels. We had a nice room at the back of the hotel and on the top floor with great views out to the harbor and beyond.
After cleaning up from our drive, we walked into the town and the waterfront and had an ok but not great meal at a German restaurant, Essenzeitz.
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| Kolmanskop |
The next morning, after a leisurely start, we decided to visit the old diamond mining town of Kolmanskop. Kolmanskop has a most interesting story. It was the area where in 1908, just by chance, a local railroad worker found a diamond on the ground and gave it to his supervisor. The supervisor recognised the significance of the find and this set off a diamond mining boom. Initially they did not have to dig to find diamonds, they just crawled over the surface of the ground and picked them up.
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| Early Diamond Mining, Kolmanskop |
The boom made Kolmanskop one of the richest towns in the world in the early 20th century. Miners and their families moved there and built fine homes. The area is quite desolate but they created a good life for themselves there - fine homes, an ice plant, shops, a bakery, butchers, entertainment, a bowling alley, etc. They even had a small tram way that ran around the streets delivering ice and produce to the homes.
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| Kolmanskop |
That all went very well until all the easy diamonds had been found and other areas to the south in Oranjemund proved to be more productive and people left the town. The last occupant left in1953 and the town was left to the elements (mainly blowing sand).
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| The sand is taking over |
We wandered around the buildings and fine homes, now all empty and filling up with sand. A great photo opportunity.
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| Agate Beach, Luderitz |
On our way back to town we drove north to a beach area, Agate Beach, where agates were once found in abundance. Not so much now though I am not sure quite what they look like.
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| Luderitz Lutheran Church |
Luderitz old Railway Station
In the afternoon I took a walk around the town to admire the old German buildings. It is amazing that the Germans only moved there in numbers during the Diamond Mining boom and then were on the losing side in the First World War so the British or rather South African colonists took charge. In that short time the Germans built some fine buildings and stamped their character on the place that is still evident today. The British impact is not so obvious.
For the evening meal we went to the other recommended restaurant in town (there weren’t many restaurants in town), the Portuguese Fisherman. We shared a lobster and some giant prawns and it was very good.
The next morning we left Luderitz after breakfast and headed east towards Aus and beyond. It was a very good paved road, partly due, I am sure, to the fact that a large number of trucks carrying manganese ore from South Africa travel that route. The route from central South Africa to Luderitz offers another option for exporting the ore as South African ports cannot handle the volume.
Wild Horses in Garub
In Garub, just before we reached Aus, we stopped to look at the wild horses. There is a water hole there and horses gather around it. The horses are descendants from the horses that were left over after the South African defeat of the German forces in World War I. Friendly enough animals, all the same brown color, all looking a bit lethargic in the heat of the day.
In Aus we filled up with diesel and continued east towards Seeheim where we turned south to the Fish River Canyon. There was a little ford over the outflow from the Naute Dam that required driving through water. Diana was a little anxious.
The cottage at Canyon Lodge
We drove on to our lodge for the night, the Canyon Lodge. This was a beautiful group of cottages, maybe 20 or 30, built into the landscape of huge granite boulders. The lodge gardens were beautiful and there were lots of dassies running around.
The Fish River Canyon at sunset
In the late afternoon we drove over to the Fish River Canyon park and along to the viewing area on the edge of the canyon. It is a spectacular canyon and you can get right to the edge to look down into the interior and see the bottom. We took far too many photos of the canyon and the different stages of the sunset.
Back at the lodge I had eland for dinner. Very nice and much more tender than the oryx of a few days prior.
Fish River Canyon in the morning
The next morning we drove once more to the canyon rim and explored a few other view points into the canyon. All very spectacular and awe inspiring.
After our fill of the canyon we made our way out of the canyon area and back up to the main paved road at Seeheim. Once on the road it was a short 60 km to Keetmanshoop, our next stop.
In Keetmanshoop we were staying at the Birds Mansion Hotel. It is a very un-mansion-like hotel in the center of this relatively unremarkable town. It might have been the best hotel in town, but the bar in Keetmanshoop is very low.
In the late afternoon we drove out to take a look at the Giant’s Playground and the Quiver Tree Forest. Both these are located on farmland about 40 km east of Keetmanshoop. To gain entry you visit the farmer and pay him a few dollars and he shows you where to go on his land.
Giant’s Playground
The Giant’s Playground is a series of exposed diorite boulders jumbled on top of one another in one small area of the farm. It is an interesting walk through the maze of boulders and it is quite easy to get lost. The farmer’s advice if that happens is to climb up to the top of a mound of boulders and wait for someone to come and find you.
Quiver Tree Forest
The Quiver Tree is a type of aloe plant that has wonderful spiky branches and a smooth bark. We had seen one or two quiver trees in other parts of Namibia but here outside Keetmanshoop this area has the largest concentration of them. It is a beautiful sight, particularly at sunset.
The farmer had an interesting story to tell. He was white and and he was born in Namibia and after independence he bought this farm outside Keetmanshoop. It just happened that the land had this interesting area of rock formations, the Giant’s Playground, and a large number of Quiver Trees. Both these two sites were not viable farming land but now tourism has increased and they both became destinations. This gave him a nice supplement to his farming income.
The shepherd and the Karakol Lamb, Keetmanshoop
Keetmanshoop is not a big town and it has little to offer the tourist. There is a statue in the middle of town of a shepherd with a lamb and a ram. This commemorates the introduction of the Karakol sheep from Tajikistan into Namibia. The breed was very tolerant of the Namibian climate and environment and it became quite the commercial success.
In the evening we had a nice meal at a German restaurant and then it was off to bed.
The next morning we filled up with diesel and headed north on the long 500 km drive to Windhoek - our last day of driving and the road was paved all the way. There was little to see on the way, it was just more of the landscapes we had seen already.
The cemetery and the station at Gibeon
We did stop at the Commonwealth Graves site in Gibeon. There is nothing in Gibeon, no homes, no residents, just an old abandoned railway station and a cemetery in the middle of a vast plain. In 1915 it was the site of a battle between the local German cavalry and the South African cavalry. Soldiers were killed on both sides and the South Africans defeated the Germans but both war dead are in the same cemetery.
The drive further north to Windhoek was unremarkable. The landscape around Windhoek got a little more interesting as the city is surrounded by mountains and is higher in elevation. We drove into town in the late afternoon and checked into our hotel, a Hilton. We figured we would have some creature comforts on what would be our last two nights in Namibia.
The next day, our last full day in Namibia, started with a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. Afterwards we walked over to the local crafts market where all manner of Namibian crafts were for sale. The market advertised that the money from sales goes back to the artist. We did make a few purchases to take back with us.
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Windhoek Lutheran Church
After the market we walked up Fidel Castro Street (he is honored for the assistance he gave to the Namibian Independence Movement) to the Christuskirche, the Lutheran church that has become the most identifiable building in Windhoek. Unfortunately the church was closed but it looks well at the top of the hill looking down on the city.
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| The Namibian Independence Memorial |
Adjacent to the church is the modern edifice of the National Independence Museum. In front of the museum there is a statue of San Njuma, the leader of SWAPO, the group that led the independence movement in the 1980’s. He is a revered character and his portraits are all over Namibia.
We went into the Independence Museum and followed the path from Colonial exploitation to the Independence Struggle to present day Namibia. The museum was primarily a series of photographs with no real linking commentary. I left the museum very little wiser than when I went in. Big bronze reliefs of the struggle against colonialism against apartheid etc but very little details of how it all took place.
Windhoek from the top of the Independence Memorial
We walked back to the hotel to prepare for our departure the next day - cleaned the last few things out of the car, figured out how to pack our bags, etc. It was a lazy afternoon. We needed one.
The next morning we had little to do. I took a short walk around town while Diana indulged in a facial in the hotel spa. We finished packing and made our way to the airport. We dropped our car off at the Namibia2Go facility not far from the airport. We never needed the two spare tires we had ordered, we never used the air compressor, we barely used the fridge. Still it was nice to know we had the protection. We had done a total of 4797 km in the two weeks we were in Namibia.
Ethiopian Airlines 787
There were no issues with checking in for the Ethiopian flight to Addis Ababa and security and immigration were straightforward. The Ethiopian flight arrived and within an hour it was ready to return to Addis Ababa. An impressive turnaround for a Boeing 787. No gates so we got to walk up to the massive jet and climb the steps.
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