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| Spreethoogte Pass |
Before I left for my own small trip to southern Namibia, I had
organized the booking of the campsites and bought the permits for the
parks.
Now, I was waiting for my parents to arrive. We were probably excited
all three of us, when they landed the 18th of november in Windhoek. Of
course the reunion after more than 6 months was something quite special.
Quite tired after 9 hours of flight I took them to Chameleon
Backpackers. Still, I did not give them a lot of time for resting at
daytime to avoid them sleeping the wrong way. So, already on the first
day, in the late morning we explored Windhoek by ourselves, in the
afternoon we took an organized sightseeing tour by bus. In the evening,
there was a small welcome party at the hostel with very nice Moroccan
food, cooked by our chef Mohsine from Tangier.
For sure, everything was new for my parents, foreign and on top it was quite warm for the newcomers from cold old Germany.
Quite spontaneously, my parents decided in the evening to see the
soupkitchen in Katutura the next day, before we fetched our car in
nearby industrial area north. In this soupkitchen I was working the last
few days before the parents arrived.
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| Home of Good Hope, Katutura |
Katutura is that part of Windhoek, where underprivileged black people
live. In former times, this was the township, the white have
established, when the black population was excluded from the city
center. Monica, an active local, has brought to life a soup kitchen for
children about 2 years ago. With the support of 3 ladies from Sweden and
3 young men from Germany, a house for the children was established in
october this year, so that the children must not sit anymore with their
food outside in the hot sun.
Now, about 200 children come here every day to get their maize mash
with beans. They are fed in two sessions. This is often the only meal of
the day. Volunteers can come and help for a day or more, also donations
of food, clothes, and cosmetics, just anything are welcome.
So, first, there is singing and praying together with the children,
then the volunteers distribute the food. After the dishes are done,
there is always time to play with the children.
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| Streethoogte Pass |
For sure, especially for my Mum, it was an overpowering experience to
see these children here. They are absolutely happy, all charming and it
is unbelievable to see, how calm they wait till it is their turn to get
their share and put it slowly with fingers in their mouth. All children
are quite crazy to be carried around. My Mum was about to take all 200
children back home….
The whole project is currently financed by one single donator who
comes from Canada and transfers every month 300 US on Monicas account.
The money is enough to buy food for 200 children once a day during the
week.
Of course 2 meals a day would be better, moreover, Monica would like
to install a kindergarden with nursery school for the smallest children.
There is still a lot to do. The optimism of Monica and the will to work
very hard, allow to hope that these aims can be realized!
From Katutura, we went with a local taxi to the rental station –
exactly that kind of taxi, white locals and hotel staff keep warning
tourists over and over not to take. There were recently incidents of
kidnapping, or that passengers are driven completely somewhere else and
robbed. On the other side, no call taxi would go to Katutura to pick up
someone there…..
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| Sesriem Canyon |
At the car rental, we had to go through a lot of paperwork. After
that, it took us quite a long time to get the car explained. Why that
took so long? Well, this was a 4×4 car, which I drove 30 minutes before
in my whole life and Dad not at all before. There was quite some
equipment, we do not need in daily life in Germany like carriage siphon,
tube to the indulgence of the air or for inflating of the tires, the
fridge and the stove, and then of course our roof tents!
Yes, my parents wanted to travel in Namibia not from lodge to lodge,
but they wanted the real adventure with a 4×4 and tents on top. Well,
they got their big adventure!
Then, finally, after two hours, we left the rental station. I drove
the car to the next supermarket close to the town border, and then my
father discovered his passion for a 4×4 and for driving on the wrong,
left hand side and drove all the remaining 4300 (!) kilometers himself.
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| Dead Vlei |
The first night, we spent at Spreethoogte Pass, where we had a
brilliant view of the mountains and the namibian desert. Above all the
sunset was spectacular. Building up the tents was a major issue, as it
was quite windy on this pass. Finally, after something like 1.5 hours
both tents were ready, mum had a fight with the gas stove in these
stormy conditions, but managed to create some nice dinner.
After the first night in our roof tents, we knew that this was the
kind of travelling fitting to us. All three of us slept well, no one
fell down the ladder. It took us rather long to build up our tents, but
we just needed more practice and some more tactics, and then it would
become better and faster also.
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| Hidden Vlei |
Our next destination was Sesriem, where we had booked two nights a
state campsite. Already on the campsite we had to use 4×4, as we got
stuck in deep and very soft sand there!
The afternoon, we did a hike in Sesriem Canyon, a deep gorge dug by a
river. There must be a lot of water at times to create a canyon like
this, but for sure, this is not too often the case.
In the afternoon light, the canyon has beautiful colours like yellow,
sienna and orange and offers new great photo motives with every turn.
In the late afternoon, we went to Elim Dune, which is just 3
kilometers from the camp. Here one can observe very well the change of
colours on the facing Naukluft Mountains in the fading sun. And of
course, finally, there was a lot of sand. Lot of people do not fancy
sand between the toes, I just love it!
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| Hidden Vlei |
As we wanted to experience sunrise on top of a dune, we had to get up
very early the next day. So, I decided not to build up my roof tent
this time because of saving time early in the morning and to sleep
rather on the mattress in the sand. My parents, not at all cowardly,
decided to do the same and so all three of us spent the night outside.
At that time, I could not yet anticipate, that this idea would become
one of the highlights of the whole trip for my parents! Well, staying
overnight in the 1000 stars hotel is definitely something special,
above all in the desert where one has the feeling that the stars are a
lot closer to the earth than anywhere else.
The next morning, we were among the first to enter the national park
and the first at the big dunes. It was quite foggy at the beginning, so
the sunrise was not as expected with a lot of shining colours, but there
was this very interesting phenomenon, when sun and fog met with the
sand dunes. Though the colours were not a brilliant yellow or orange,
but, however, the scenery with fog had definitely its own charms.
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| Namib |
Next, we went to Dead Vlei. Right next to gigantic sand dunes, there
is a very shiny, white area, which is sometimes flooded with water. It
does not rain very often here, but when it does, the water cannot be
soaked easily by the sand, so it creates a lake. The water evaporates of
course very fast in this hot sun. The remains are a very bright, almost
white layer which is very hard and breaks later in cracked pieces. On
top of that, the sun burns relentlessly, and there is besides a few
gnarled, mostly dead trees no shade and of course also no animals. An
extremely inhospitable, but spectacular scenery! One has here the
feeling to be on another, extremely inhospitable planet.
The highest dunes with up to 325 metres are in Sossusvlei itself.
Here the views from top of the dunes are definitively spectacular and
the sand sea is simply overpowering to all sides.
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| Swakopmud |
As Dad and me love playing in the sand, both of us went back in the
afternoon. Thus we drove again 65 kilometres one-way to the big dunes,
this time to see Hidden Vlei. Photo technically seen, this was one of
the highlights, as the time, light as well as the forms of the dunes
were fantastic.
As my parents have carried along my laptop for downloading my photos,
there was a lot of space for new ones. Including Namibia, there are
already 9000 photos! I will definitely not be bored when I will be back
once, as it will take a lot of time to go through them!
After our sand adventures, we went to Swakopmund. The drive there is
rather monotonous from Solitaire, as there is not an awful lot more than
stones and grey stony desert for a distance of approx. 200 kilometres.
The biggest highlight on the road was two cyclists going the other way,
who also did not seem to be very happy there. No wonder, as it was very
hot, very monotonous, and there was a light gradient for the whole
distance.
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| Swakopmund |
Swakopmund is very German, very foggy and very sleepy on a sunday
afternoon. As it was also rather cold, we rented a room at Desert Sky
Lodge. This was not an awful lot more expensive than to camp there. Lots
of people rave about Swakopmund with its german architecture and all
the German traditions, but all three of us, we were not too impressed.
We did a very nice trip by boat to WalfishBay for the pelicans, fur
seals and dolphins. For sure, it was quite cold on this boat, but it was
worth the excursion.
This evening, we had an appointment with a very special person. The
mother of a friend of my parents lives since 22 years in a home for
elderly people in Swakop. Of course we paid the lady a visit. We thought
rather of coffee, but she greeted us with champagne and white wine, so
we all had a very interesting and amusing evening.
Close to Swakopmund, there is an area in which many Welwitchias grow.
These plants can store water very long and can become up to 2000 years
old. These plants are very rare and grow only in Namibia. We drove the
so called Welwichia drive, which is designed like a natural trail.
Besides the Welwitchias, they explain also other plants on boards, e.g.,
the importance of lichens to hold loose sand. Also, in this area, was
the lunar valley. This is a big canyon with spectacular views.
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| Cape Cross Seal Reserve |
After this excursion, we went back to Swakop and continued towards
Skeleton Coast. Here, in former times, lots of ships stranded, the
people could hardly survive in these life-hostile surroundings without
any water or food. Today, a well maintained road runs along the coast,
but it is extremely windy here, virtually always foggy and for Namibia
also very cold. Nevertheless, quite a lot of tourists come here, above
all locals. Here the water is very rich in fish and lots of local men
come here with gigantic fishing gear, which sometimes even does not fit
in their cars, so they transport it tied at the front of the car.
10 degrees outside temperature was a little bit uncomfortable, so went rather early into our nice and relatively warm tents.
The next day, we went back to the warmth, first of all we drove to
the petrified forest. Here, fossilized trunks lie around, they are from
260 to 280 million years old. The biggest ones are up to 30 metres long.
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| Twyfelfontain |
The next highlight was Twyfelfontein with its rock art paintings,
which are something like thousand or more years old. Above all the image
of a lion is well known. Moreover, there are a lot of antelopes,
hippos, rhinos and footprints of animals or people, which were scratched
in here.
On our way to the north shortly before Palmwag, we had our first
breakdown: the protective frame, which should preserve car and
passengers from bigger damage, when there is a collision with an animal,
was broken and was hanging down on one side. What to do now? There was
no way to continue like this. So, we called the rental company. Welding
was not possible as there were no mechanics, putting the whole thing on
the roof or inside the car, was also not possible as too big.
Finally, we left it in Palmwag, and went further on to Sesfontein,
where we spent the night on a rustic camping place. Rustic, because
shower and toilet were open sky and there were also no doors….
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| Epupa Falls |
Our next stop was in Opuwo, the biggest town in northwestern Namibia.
This town attracts people from the whole area, and many come here in
search for a job, which cannot be for so many people at all. Often,
there is no money for the return journey, so lots of people are stuck,
and the number of people begging for just anything was especially big
here. Here, besides, there were a lot of Himba women, and usually very
traditional living tribe of the area. Put out of place in a big city
like this, they suffer a lot from lost traditions, poverty and alcohol.
For us, it was only a stop for stocking up food and petrol. We spent the
night a little bit outside of town and celebrated the birthday of my
mother in a nice restaurant.
The road from Opuwo to Epupa Falls at the border with Angola was in
very good condition, so in the early afternoon we already reached the
waterfalls. These waterfalls are affected by the angolan dam at Ruacana,
but 5 days per week, they open the dam, so the waterfalls look really
great.
The following day, we did a tour to a Himba village with John, who is
Himba himself. First, we bought presents like maize flour, sugar,
coffee and salt.
Here, the Himba still live very traditionally in their huts made out of wood, soil, cow dung and dry sheets from trees.
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| Himba |
The women apply every day a paste from ocher and fat on the whole
body. So, the whole skin has a red brownish shiny colour and a strong
milky smell. This paste is regarded as personal care, however, it helps
also against heat or cold, against mosquitoes and other vermin and, in
addition, is looked as beautiful. They never take a bath or a shower,
this is reserved for men, women apply this cream and taking care of
their body and being even more beautiful takes a lot of time.
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| Himba |
The chief of the village is a very important and rich man. He was
already in Europe, because the Namibian government wanted to establish a
dam in the country of his people. He protested against it perfectly
with the help of a lawyer in front the European court of law. Now, the
money was frozen and probably the dam project is dieing.
These people live a very traditional life, but they happily accept
gifts from the outside world, when they are rated as useful. Like
everywhere with traditional living people, western medicine is always
asked for. Above all, people are usually asking for eye drops, which I
have to carry around for myself in huge amounts anyway, as well as
painkillers. Very good gifts, which are always appreciated, are strong
shopping bags and basically just anything, one can use as a jeweler.
(The funniest ever seen thing was used film rolls in Rasta hair in
western Africa).
We had a beautiful time in this village and it was very funny to see
the children being fascinated by the hairy legs of my father….
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| River Kunene |
The afternoon, we made a nice little hike with John in search for
crocodiles and monkeys along Kunene River. We found some of them, but
only from a far distance. However, the next morning, we discovered a
small crocodile not far from our natural swimming pool in the river….
The road from Epupa to Ruacana was upgraded just recently to
so-called D road, which means, that it is maintained now and then.
Nevertheless, this road had some difficulties like deep mud holes and
precipitous gradients, both not possible to drive with a normal vehicle.
It does not necessarily need a 4×4, but definitely a car with high
ground clearance, so that one does not get stuck. In addition, we were a
bit in fear of another flat tire, as we were already using a spare, as
we could not get a replacement for the other one at Epupa…. But
everything went well and we arrived safely and with an extremely
mud-sprayed car in Ruacana.
Ruacana is a small place, so again, there was no chance for a new
tire. But from here, the roads were tarred, but at the same time it was
very boring to drive, as we all liked the gravel roads a lot more.
Our new tire and some good supermarkets, we found in Oshakati. The
night we spent close to Etosha at a place called Sachsenheimfarm. What
sounds first quite funny, it turned out to be one of the nicest
campsites of the whole trip with great parking lots for the cars with
tents on the roof, a lot of green for table and chairs, electric
connection in all parking lots, big trees, good sanitary arrangements,
swimming-pool, bar….. What does one need more?!
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| Bushman woman |
From here, it was only 200 kilometres via Tsumeb to Tsintsabis. In
Tsumeb we had to repair a tire once more. Tsintsabis was our next
destination, as we wanted to learn more about Bushmen and Treesleepers.
We camped this night near Tsintsabis in a place called Treesleeper Camp.
Here, people can build up their tent also on platforms in trees – of
course not if one has the tent firmly installed on top of the car.
Outdoor sleep on the platform without mosquito net was no option because
there are too many malaria mosquitoes at this time of the year in this
area.
The first day, we visited with Elizabeth, an employee of Treesleeper
Camp, two families in the village. Again we bought food and coffee as
presents. The situation of both ethnic groups (Bushmen and Treesleeper)
is very discouraging. The people cannot live any more in their
traditional way they used to live, because they have no land, in which
they could go hunting. Nowadays, they live in towns and villages, have
no education, so there is a lot unemployment, so there is no money for
food or clothes, of course also not for medicine. HIV and TB are big
problems in these ethnic groups, alcohol abuse does the rest. A very sad
situation, also linked with the feeling, that by the current lifestyle
and the lack of education of the new generation, the passing on of
skills from the old to the young generation will not work anymore. So,
important skills like track reading, traditional hunting, surviving in
the bush, searching for water, herbal medicine etc. will disappear soon.
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| Bushman woman |
All in all, very interesting, but also very sad experience.
At Treesleeper Camp, they also organize a so called bushwalk. We went
to the bush with a young man from the tribe treesleeper. These people
have their name, because while hunting in former times they used to
sleep in branches of a tree. On this trail, we got quite a view
explanations on very useful plants for traditional medicine, poison
plants for arrows, the construction of traps, different animal tracks,
the collecting of flying termites, when they swarm out, as well as the
life earlier in the village. On one side, it is very positive to keep
the knowledge present, however, it is also a fact, and that these skills
are not used in everyday life any more, but to show to tourists like in
a living museum.
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| Etosha Pan |
Next, we went to one of the highlights of a Namibiatrip, to Etosha
Pan. There are three campsites in the park, in each of them we had
reserved a place for us and our car with the Namibian Wildlife Resort.
It turned out to be a good thing to do it that way, as in each campsite,
there was a water hole, which was visited at dusk and night by other
kinds of animals. We were rather lucky, as we spotted a lot of impalas,
gnus, zebras, the most different big and small antelopes, giraffes,
elephants, rhinos, jackals and lions (from the distance).
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| Etosha Pan |
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| Etos |
The distances between the camps are just 75 kilometres, so there is
plenty of time to crisscross the park in search for animals at various
water holes.. All camps have a pool, but only Namutoni offers grass for
the campers. Both other campsites have the charm of a big sandpit with
electric connection. But well, one comes here not to hang around on the
camp, but to base yourself close to the water hole with a chilled beer
and a ready camera with a lot of space on the memory card….
We spent three really great days in the park and we were lucky to see
many animals. These days, we were on a different time schedule. Getting
out of tent the latest at 6.00 am, sitting at the water hole, breakfast
and breaking down the tents from 9.00 am, then driving towards the next
camp, take it easy in the pool, from 6 to 9 pm at the water hole,
afterwards dinner.
But it was worth the effort!
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| Etosha Pan |
The last days of our trip, we spent at Waterberg Plateau. Here, in
1904 a disastrous battle took place between german troops and the
Hereros. Subsequently many soldiers of both sides and a lot more civil
Hereros died, when the German troops forced the civilians to try to
escape the battle into the desert. Ten thousands of them died of thirst
in the Kalahari desert. Not exactly a chapter in the German history to
be proud of….
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| Etosha Pan |
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| Etosha Pan |
Waterberg Plateau is an about 40 kilometres long hill. Here, there
are many nice walking trails and a viewpoint with beautiful view from
the plateau. In spite of the heat, we climbed up to the viewpoint and
even a spitting cobra could not make us give up the plan.
This cobra rose itself just about 50 centimeters in front of me and
spitted in my direction. So, I moved slowly backwards and after a few
metres in between me and the snake, I picked up some stones and threw
them towards the snake to scare it away. Later, we found out, that these
cobras are very poisonous and if the poison gets into someone’s eyes,
you can easily loose your sight. Well, as only having one good eye left,
this might have been a very bad story. But thank goodness, nothing
really bad happened!
Waterberg was our last destination, before we went back to Windhoek.
After nearly three weeks of travelling we were really good in building
up and breaking down our tents. Instead of 1.5 hours at the beginning of
our trip, it took us now only 20 minutes – for both tents together!
The last night with my parents we spent again at Chameleon
Backpackers. Many of the friends I got to know before we headed off,
were still or again there and so, there was a great reunion with the
new, old friends.
The last evening, we went to an institution which one should not miss
in Windhoek by any means: Joes Beerhouse. Here, they have all kinds of
beer, but also very interesting bush meat like zebra, kudu, ostrich or
crocodile! All that very tasty and a worthy end of our trip!
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| Waterberg |
Well, I had a great time with the parents in Namibia, not always
easy, will say for all of us! Nevertheless an experience for all of us,
we will all remember for a long time. Maybe, I often wanted too much and
they had not enough time for themselves or to recover, but there is
simply so much to see in Namibia! For one or the other rough answer as
well as a certain impatience on my side, I would like to apologize! They
have done very well, and I am proud of them, as it was something they
never did before!
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| Waterberg |
I was very happy, when they decided in may this year rather
spontaneously to visit me in Africa, and I am very glad that this trip
was a successful one. Some of my customers in Germany send me a saying
from Humboldt the other day per mail, which fits perfectly to this:
"Worst of all world views is the world view of the people who have not looked the world."
I think, it is very important to travel, to see the world and to win
new friends and to get new ideas. The world is too big and too nice to
remain at home!
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| My parents and me |
So, I will close this Namibia mail. The next one will still cover
some time in Namibia. This is due to the fact that I wait here for
Shahid from the USA, who will hopefully travel with me to Angola and
presumably to the Congos. Because he is still fighting for his Angolan
visa, I will probably be in Windhoek till Christmas time. Well, there
are worse things in the world than that, particularly, as I have found
quite a few
