1 week in Namibia

After the South Africa trip I and 6 other friends from school rented Land Rovers and drove up the South African coast into Namibia. On the way up we stayed mainly on dirt roads and drove as close to the beach as possible. It was an amazing trip. The Land Rovers came fully equipped with everything you need for camping, dishes, pots, pans, silverware, sleeping bags, pillows, mini-fridge, utensils... complete with 2 tents on top of each truck. The tents folded out pretty easily and had a ladder that slid down so we could crawl up.
The first day we made it as far as Lambert's Bay from Cape Town. Originally we had planned to stay at a hotel, but when we arrived the one hotel was full, so it became our first night of camping. We found a beautiful spot, it was right above the beach. That night we found a restaurant to eat at, and then made a campfire and drank wine until midnight or so... Jonathan woke up first in the morning and made our first 'camp' meal on the propane stove; toast and instant coffee. There was a bathroom with a shower that came with the site, but it was entirely too cold to shower, so we skipped it for the day.
We left around 11 am and began our way to Namibia. We stopped in Springbok for lunch, were we managed to check our email for the last time that week (little did we know... yes we are a bit addicted to electronic connections to the outside world, we discovered). We also went grocery shopping, because this night we planned on camping out. We made reservations at Ai-Ais, near Fish River Canyon.

Around 6pm, just after sunset, we crossed the border into Namibia with little trouble. We drove into the evening, maybe 10pm... It was an amazing drive, mostly on dirt roads. Every night in Namibia we could see the Milky Way and millions of stars. The drive to the campsite was impressive, we could see little other than the dust kicked up from the 2 trucks. In either direction we could see stars, and the shadow of land that seemed to be desert. As we made are way to the campsite we saw a gate and then beyond the campsite, with what seemed to be a least 200 other camp vehicles... I wasn't surprised because online, it seemed that this was a pretty popular spot, but it was a large congregation of people for the middle of the desert.

We couldn't see too much around us, but settled in to set up camp and make dinner. Jonathan became the chef, while Tom, OJ and I sent up tents. Everyone else helped start dinner. We didn't have too much wood, so Gloria, Jeroen and I went searching for wood.... We managed to find a branch close to the entrance of the camp and were quite proud of it, as we carried it back. The truck came equipped with an axe, and OJ promptly got to work trying to chop it, in his blazer I might add (I of course have a picture of this). He had little success... so Jeroen tried, in his scarf (another good picture). In the end the thing proved un-choppable, we just put it in the fire, it turned a little black, and then tried to gather some smaller things that would burn.

The next morning we woke up to discover the desert. Ai-Ais also has hot mineral springs that also supplied water to the pool. So a few of us went swimming after breakfast. Then we did our laundry, it was a funny sight, with socks hanging off windshield wipers and clothes hanging up everywhere. But everything in the desert dries quickly, even my jeans were dry in less than a half an hour. We took off around 11am. On the way out we managed to see some baboons playing in the mountains. It was about an hour's drive, and maybe 30km to the Fish River Canyon, the second largest canyon in the world.

Fish River Canyon was quite impressive. It is hard to imagine what it is like here when it does rain. The ground throughout Namibia is quite sandy and rocky, so the entire area must flood, but the majority of the time everywhere looks completely parched.

We drove a bit further to go to eat lunch at the Fish River Canyon lodge, and then made our way to Seeheim. I think it was here, were the torturing of random insects began, at lunch that is. A bee was attracted to the soda OJ was drinking and became quite bothersome... Serena is very against the hurting of insects... At this point we weren't too bad, and just shut the bee off in a cup and poured some more coke inside... later on we were a bit meaner (in Keetmanshoop) and mustard was poured on him...

So Seeheim... we arrived in Seeheim in time to watch the sunset, something Tom had been trying to do the entire trip. Seeheim makes the map in Namibia, but it is little more than the hotel we stayed at (5? buildings), and a train station across from the buildings. The hotel was basic but nice, and in the middle of nowhere. While we were waiting for them to make us dinner, we hung out outside, OJ started to teach me how to waltz, and at one point we tried to start a band and make music with the bottles and containers we had... not so nice sounding, but fun none the less. The veggie meal was okay, but the meat has remained unidentified. The hotel had a bar which was decorated with all sorts of animals, mounted of course. There was a zebra, a springbok, and antelope... and a bunch of others. There was a stuffed baboon drinking a bear in the corner. The women said her husband hunted near there and shot all of them. Most interesting was the beer that could be on tap; there were two taps, the outlet for the beer... I am not sure how to say this nicely... were the two hind ends of two antelope... male and female. It was funny.

The next morning we left as usual around 11 and headed towards the red sand dunes. The farm (Farm Namtib) we decided to stay at the edge of the dunes was amazing. It had the nicest bathroom we had seen since we had left Cape Town. The people running it raised sheep and goats, and supplemented their income with the hotel and campsite. The picture is dusk at this farm. We camped out here for the night, and made our best campfire meal. I made a veggie stew, and there were baked potatoes and meat and chicken of course.

Unfortunately as we arrived that evening the brakes went on one of the trucks, so our next day's trip was to Keetmanshoop to get them fixed, instead of going further into the red dunes (so now I have a reason to go back). We got the break line fixed and bled (2x) for 18 euro!!! while we ate lunch. Then we started to head back to toward the South African border.

We made it to the border and camped out about 10km at campsite that night. Gloria had been wanting to sleep in the truck since we started out, so this night she did... She used the alarm on the keys to lock the door... and the alarm went off twice, once for about 5 minutes while she searched for them. The other campers hated us I am sure. So at 6am they blew their horns.

The next day we finished the trip off, driving straight through to Cape Town. We stayed the next 2 nights in a nice little boutique hotel on the water in Camps Bay. Tom spoke to the owner and managed to get us the suite, which had a huge balcony and a jacuzzi outside. Tom, Jeroen and I stayed until Monday, while the others went home on Sunday morning. We went out that night for my birthday dinner, which was really cool. It was nice to spend my 29th birthday in Cape Town. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.

The next day Tom, Jeroen and I woke up to do so some sightseeing. As it was my birthday Tom said we would do whatever I wanted. So to complete the desert safari, we went to the Cape of Good Hope, and stopped on the way back to see some penguins on the coast. That night we met up with Sophie, Joelle and Mark to here up their road trip through South Africa, and eat dinner at a seafood restaurant by the docks of Cape Town.

Monday morning we woke up at 3:30/4 to get in the taxi for our flight back to Switzerland... we were delayed taking off, as the incoming flight was late, and they tried to fix the entertainment system (which they ended up fixing while we were in the air). Because of the delay however, we stayed the night in Frankfurt, and got home on Tuesday morning.

Wednesday I was in Lausanne. Thursday I left for a week in Bulgaria, with a day in Greece. The following Saturday I went to Egypt (Sharm El Sheik). I will write more of this later...