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June 21, 2002 - Namibia On Wheels
We rented a car in Windhoek and set off on a mission to see almost every notable destination in Namibia in our allotted three weeks. Namibia did not disappoint. A geologist�s dream, the country is home to myriad things rock-related (salt pans, sand dunes, rolling hills, desert, canyons, petroglyphs, meteorites, kopjies (rocky outcrops), volcanic mountains, eroded plateaus, petrified forests, diamond and uranium mines, and huge crystal and mineral deposits) as well as a fascinating culture and great wildlife viewing opportunities.
First stop, Okonjima, about 2 hours north of Windhoek. Okonjima is an exclusive bush camp established in relation with the AfriCat Foundation which is primarily a cheetah rehabilitation centre. Staying here was an extravagant treat for us and we felt like royalty in our luxurious isolated rondavel in the scrubby desert. Canvas walls around half of the hut rolled up for a view of our own little private watering hole designed to attract the resident wildlife in the area. We ate fabulous food around a schedule jam-packed with exciting adventures. In the afternoon, we entered the 4000 hectare pen into which rehabilitated cheetah are first released � an environment with real prey and real competition in the form of leopards. The leopards are radio collared for research and tracking purposes and we had a little chuckle as our guide climbed up on to the hood of the truck and held up his antenna to locate the leopards. He punched a different number into the unit for each of the 4 leopards and we all listened for the beeping signal. It took us a few tries but we eventually found TJ, the 18-month old male. Although legitimately wild, TJ was (wearily) accustomed to humans and tolerated us having a look at him from the truck. He even put on a show for the cameras by doing a little walkabout and jumping up into a tree for a short nap. We got to see TJ again later in the evening - we just happened to be there for the event of TJ's radio collar refitting, and got to witness the event after he was trapped and tranquilized. It was extremely strange to be able to stroke and touch the magnificent spotted coat of this huge wild leopard while he was very much alive. His open eyes and the heaving of his stomach as he breathed didn't do much to assure us that he was asleep. Also exciting was seeing a caracal come up on the lawn during dinner. He seemed familiar with people although can be quite dangerous. One of the smaller of Africa's feline population, caracals are the beautiful cats with the long tufts of hair growing from their ears. In the morning, we visited the AfriCat veterinary facilities and the large pens of some of the 'welfare' cheetahs who are too old or too badly injured to be rehabilitated and re-released into the wild. Considered permanent 'guests' of AfriCat, these cheetahs are fed daily and live in a relatively large pen. They know that the sound of the truck approaching early in the morning means food and they greeted us at the gate. They were quite friendly in a still-wild way, and jumped right up onto the hood of the truck to collect their raw ex-donkey for breakfast. Hearing them purr their deep low-frequency purr was a highlight. We headed north from Okonjima first for a night at the picturesque Waterberg Plateau (an absolute textbook example of a plateau), then on to a sleepy little town called Tsumeb. From here we took a trip to visit a village of San people. Locally referred to as 'bushmen' (of The Gods Must Be Crazy fame), this tribe comprises some of the first indigenous people of southern Africa. Most fascinating was their language consisting of five or six different clicking sounds together with many sounds similar to those used in the English language. Attempting to learn some words, we found making the clicking noises easy enough but it was next to impossible for us to integrate the sounds into regular speech! The children were beautiful, and very excited to see strange white people visiting their village. Timid at first, they allowed us to take photos and when Oliver showed them their pictures on his digital camera, he was mobbed by a frenzy of fear, excitement and utter amazement! From that point on, they fought (physically!) to be the ones in front of the camera and tried doing things unusual to get us to take their pictures. Fuzzy hiphop music blaring loudly from a radio got them dancing and jumping around. Dancing and making their click sounds, they seemed just like popcorn! Etosha National Park was our next stop. We spent two nights here and were impressed by the variety of wildlife and scenery in the park. The huge Etosha salt pan was impressive by its shear size alone and the fact that it seemed like miles of absolutely nothing lain out in front of us. Midday heat emanating from the pans created mirages of lakes and floating islands in the distance. The pan was dead flat and felt eerie to walk upon. In Etosha we added the beautiful Gemsbok (or Oryx) to our list of sightings. With long, straight, evil-looking horns, this large antelope has a geometrically patterned coat, making him look a little like he is wearing a dinner jacket! We felt a little guilty for having previously tasted 'Gemsbokschnitzel' during our stay in Windhoek, and vowed not to do so again. From Etosha, we headed southwest into Damaraland. We first visited the petrified forest - trees approximately 280 million years old that were washed into the area from Angola in large floods. Water soaked and under anoxic conditions, they turned to stone rather than decomposing. Today, full tree trunks up to 30m long can be seen lying on the ground. Bark, knotholes and age rings in tact, they are hard as rock. We also visited the renowned rock paintings and petroglyphs at Twyfelfontein. Around 6000 years ago, a San tribe lived here and created this impressive gallery of rock art. Mostly animals, people and various footprints, some images were carved into the sandstone while others were painted using animal fat and blood. Next, we headed west to the coast traveling through true desert - nothing but immense and flat gravel plains in any direction. The scene was daunting. We paid a quick visit to a protected colony of Cape Fur Seals on the coast of the Atlantic before continuing south along the fast, slick salt roads of the Skeleton Coast (so-called due to the number of ship wrecks along this stretch of barren desert coastline). Once in Swakopmund, we celebrated our crossing of the continent with a big pizza dinner. We relaxed in Swakopmund, visiting the aquarium, some great coffee shops and trying our luck at sandboarding on the vast sand dune fields that begin just to the south of Swakopmund, Namibia's second largest town. But for the trying slogs up soft sandy slopes, the sandboarding was awesome. It felt funny at first but once we got the hang of it, it was just like snowboarding. The boards were actually snowboards with additional slabs of waxed formica attached to their undersides. We also tried Namibia's own 'lie down' version of sandboarding where you lie face down on a slab of treated, waxed fibreboard and hurtle head first down the slopes reaching adrenalin-pumping speeds of 80 km/h. Number one piece of advice? Keep your eyes and mouth closed when you wipe out! Continuing south from Swakopmund, we drove around the aptly named 'Moon Landscape' area (pod racing territory), past fields of strange and unique desert-adapted lichen (part vegetation, part fungus) and both small and huge versions of the fascinating Welwitschia plant. This plant, unusually able to survive in this very arid environment, consists of two large green leaves that, over time and with the forces of the wind, separate into scraggly strands. The oldest we saw was around 1500 years old and measured about 3m across. Next stop was Sesriem where we completed our desert experience with a trip to the incredible sand dunes at the famous Sossuvlei. We hiked into the dunes to watch the sun rise over these gigantic, geometrically perfect, smooth red dunes, and explored the area. My favourite was Deadvlei. 'Vlei' is Afrikaans for salt pan and Deadvlei was a great example with its dry, cracked white floor. It earns its name from the sparse forest of dead trees standing on it. They eerily appear to have been frozen in time. We rounded out our tour of Namibia with visits to the beautiful Naukluft Mountain range for some hiking, then on to the stunning Fish River Canyon in the far south. Hiking in narrow canyons with cliff walls on either side measuring up to 100m high makes you feel very small, while traversing vertical rock walls over deep murky pools of water with the aid of fixed chains makes you feel very mortal! We also visited a forest of indigenous Quiver Trees (used by ancient San to make the quivers for their arrows) and the so-called 'Giant's Playground', a bizarre natural garden of rock towers and piles. A giant's version of Lego? Our last nights in the Canyon were spent at Ai-Ais Hot Springs Resort. Hot Springs Resort indeed!! I have never seen a hot tub so big! Four more sleeps until we head home and only 5 days to see as much of South Africa as we can! > See photos from the whole Africa trip. > See photos from Namibia. > See other Africa journal entries. Back to top |
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