South Namibia

Two days later Adam from England found a guy from South Africa, who guided a film crew from Brazil through Botswana and was about to leave for Windhoek in Namibia by jeep. He gave all four of us a lift for nearly 900 kilometers and we paid only for the fuel. Surprisingly, the distance Maun – Windhoek is not served by bus. One can drive 2 parts by bus, in between about 250 kilometers people have to hitch. It takes at least 2 days for this distance! For us in our nice jeep, it was only 10 hours to Windhoek.

Quivertree Campground

For me, there is a lot to organize in Windhoek, the visa for Angola, the permits and camping reservations for Etosha and Sossuvlei. I had to think carefully about dates and distances, because this part I will not do by myself!  In two weeks time, my parents will fly in. This is going to be a completely different kind of travelling – instead of just by myself we will be three people, instead of public transport we will have a jeep with two tents on top. In Namibia camps in national parks must be pre-booked, so it requires an exact planning. Quite unusual after 5 months of life of one day on the other. But well, that is a challenge and I am still a travel agent – and still it is fun organizing things like these! After 5 months on the road, it might be time for a new T-shirt, a hairdresser also does not hurt after all months. Finally, one wants to look nice for the angolan embassy and also for the parents….

Quivertrees

The first few days in Windhoek, I spent more or less with organizing all kinds of things. First, I had to find out, which part of Namibia my parents wanted to travel in, as the country is too big to cover all in a 3 weeks trip. Next, I needed to book the campsites for the national parks ahead, which needed a careful planning with the time, so I placed one at the beginning and the other one at the end of our trip. This gave us the opportunity to be completely free within these set dates. These campgrounds tend to be booked out easily, so this was the first thing to do. Then, I went for the permits to enter the national parks. It needed quite some phone calls in between Germany and Namibia, but after 3 days all that was sorted.

Quivertrees

So, the time came for my own small trip through Namibia. I rented a Toyota Corolla with a local agent for a good price and set off for the southern part of the country. The first few kilometres were a kind of scary. First of all, the company is based in the city centre, so one immediately starts with a lot of traffic while driving off. The whole thing on the wrong, the left, side. For sure, like for everybody else at the beginning, I used more often the wiper than the indicator, when turning left or right! After a few more kilometres and a lot of concentration, this became better, but it never stopped completely…
My first longer stop was in Mariental. Here, there are quite a lot of big supermarkets, where I got some brown bread, salami, veggie and fruit supplies. Yes, it is really a small German country here! From the wheat beer about Sauerkraut up to very german Surhaxen you get everything here! Of course, there are also many German local names and street names. The scenery clearly less typically German – very dry countryside, dry yellow grass, a few dried bushes, a few trees with scanty foliage. The people among you, who know me at least a little bit, can say that is exactly the landscape Andy likes, the more dry, the better it is!

Fish River Canyon

The street to Keetmanskoop was very good, partly with overtaking lanes when uphill. With some more time on the road, I became a little bit more courageous with the speed, and so it was no problem to drive 500 kilometres already on the very first day!
To reach to Quivertree Forest, I had to drive my first piece of untarred gravel road. This was less problematic than I thought (however, it was also due to the fact that especially this gravel road was in a very good shape, but at that time, I did not know!).
I put up my tent directly on the campsite right in front of the quivertree forest. A very well equipped extensive camping place with solar energy and very good sanitary arrangements. The quivertrees are only one attraction of this camp, because here there are also cheetahs. They live in an extensive area near the camp and are fed every late afternoon. Two of the cheetahs live since their birth with people, so they are tame. Particularly courageous visitors can go in the enclosure and touch the cats! This was something quite special, to stroke a cheetah! The fur was quite soft whether by many strokes of the others before me or from nature, I really do not know….
After this impressive experience, I went to the quivertree forest. These trees are aloes and the long branches are hollow inside. In these branches, the trees can store a lot of water, which is absolutely necessary in a dry area like this one. The bushmen of the Kalahari used these branches for the keeping their arrows, hence, the name quivertree. These trees look really surreal in the evening light, just by the by the shape itself, but also because of lots of them have gigantic bird's nests hanging in the branches. The whole area is very dry and it was also extremely windy, so sand and dust just flew around. So, I was happy to leave for my small yellow tent with a good book and a torch.

Orange River

The next day, I went to the Fish River Canyon. This is one of the highlights in southern Namibia. This canyon is the second largest canyon on earth. It has two viewpoints, from which one can look more or less unsecured down the canyon (nothing for weak nerves or people with fear of heights, as it is going down several hundred metres). As it was very cloudy, the light in the afternoon was not very good for photography, but a careful look out of the tent the next morning shortly after 6.00 o'clock confirmed that the morning feels well. The canyon was above all in yellow, orange and sandy tones. I found it rather impressive, the tourists who already visited Grand Canyon in the States, were apparently rather disappointed. Well, apparently, sometimes it is good to leave out things to enjoy others more!
My next destination was Ai Ais, an oasis with hot springs. Already the way there was spectacular, a kind of lunar landscape with lots of big rocks, black sand and uncovered rocky mountains. The street was very winding, so that one had to be very careful with the driving. Ai Ais is basically a hotel, a campground without any green, a restaurant and a swimming-pool with supposedly healthy water. I liked the pool, but not the rest, so after a jump in this healthy water, I continued to the border with South Africa.

Lüderitz

Just when I arrived in Noordoewer, it started to rain with a hefty thunderstorm. Anything else but good conditions for camping.
Hey, it was really pouring down, but I was lucky and could build up my tent under a roof, so I did not sit completely in the wet.
In the evening, there was this very nice South African fellow, who prepared a delicious chicken, which was good for one more desperate hungry person. Travel info for my onward journey was included and thus I came across quite some new ideas, where I could drive after Luederitz.
The night was rainy, but not was too cold. Indeed, I had to remove twice a gigantic frog from inside my tent. This frog was very eager to share the tent with me instead of staying outside in the rain… There is this story with the prince in the body of a frog – should have kissed him maybe?!
The next morning, it stopped raining, but it felt rather chilly (not more than 20 degrees, which felt rather cold). The gravel road from Noordoewer to Rosh Pinah follows partly River Oranje, so there are rather often really nice views of the river, the mountains or vineyards. In spite of or partly also because of the dramatic clouds it was nice weather for photos! In Rosh Pinah the tarred road started again, so it was fast driving to Luederitz. Well, only 300 kilometres more. The feeling for distances in Namibia is a little different from Germany….

Kolmanskop

In Luederitz, I voted against my tent and for a backpacker hostel, because Luederitz tends to be rather stormy and chilly. In the evening, I really needed my thick Fleece against the cold! Luederitz is something special, it is incredibly German. The main street is called Bismarkstrasse, many other street names are also German, there is Surhaxen with herb, wheat beer and apple pie after grannies recipe. Of course one speaks German here! The houses are German style as well, just a little bit more colourful.
Just 15 kilometres away from Luederitz, there is Kolmanskop, a former mine, where they used to dig for diamonds.  Till the fifties, about 4000 Germans lived there. The town was organized very well with a school, there was a hospital, a slaughterhouse, a bakery, and they even had an ice machine for the fridges. The men worked in the mine, and as the terms of employment were so good, there was no lack of manpower. The workers could bring their families with them. There were even club afternoons for the ladies.
Close to Luederitz, there is Luederitz Peninsula. Here meets yellow sand, dark rocks and turquoise sea water. There are many birds and sea lions, which lie around especially at Diaz Point on a small rocky island. There are also very nice sandy beaches. Indeed, the water temperatures, which are suitable for sea lions and penguins, are usually not good for people to swim – unless, one is not afraid of 10 or 12 degrees centigrade…. The cold water comes directly from the Antarctic.
After one more night in Luederitz, I travelled on the tarred road back to Keetmanskoop and then further to Mesaurus Fossils. The son of a farmer has found the fossils 20 years ago just by chance. They have fossiled animals, which must have looked like small crocodiles; however, these were probably herbivores. The fossils are very interesting and the guided tour was very nice, also, there are quivertrees which grow on a very rocky terrain.

Earth Road

As I really enjoyed driving on gravel roads so far and wanted to have more of these beautiful isolated areas, I decided to go further into the Kalahari. This sounds more courageous than it is. This area exists of rather dry river valleys without any water, red sandy dunes with a few bundles of yellow grass and a lot of gigantic farms. Crossing the dunes was definitely lots of fun, of course not on the sand with my Toyota Corolla, but on the normal maintained gravel road. I was told, that these untarred streets in Namibia are maintained all 14 days by bulldozers. However, the roads in this part of Namibia were in a very good shape.
One night, I spent in Red Dunes Camp shortly before Gochas, indeed, not on the dune itself, because there are only two campsites there, and they were booked up. Camping on the dune for sure is something special, as the location is great, the views and the sunset are spectacular. But you definitely have to book ahead.
The camp at the farm was not bad either, as I could pitch my tent on real green grass. This is something extremely rare in this area! Moreover, I got some nice dinner. Well, if someone wants to have a closer look on the Red Dunes Camp, just go online, have a look: www.reddunecamp.weebly.com! Very nice and friendly place!
The next day, I went back on the road towards Windhoek. Actually, I wanted to spend the last night of my tour through Namibia at Arnhem Cave, where they have a very nice campsite. But things change fast in this part of the world and rather often things turn out different than planned.

Fossils

I was travelling with three maps on my Namibia trip. On one of them, the cave was not marked at all, on the second to the west of Dordabis, on the third to the east of Dordabis…. Great, after I had studied the map thoroughly, it was clear that it was not my fault and my abilities of map reading, but that at least one of the maps had to be wrong (if not even both!). So I asked some of the locals, in which direction to drive and was sent after detailed discussion of 6 people to the west. Okay, this was a good tarred road, moreover, towards Windhoek. After 40 kilometres, there was still no cave or at least a sign for the cave, so I asked again in a farm. Well, they send me to the east…. At that time, it was already 5.30 pm, but in the summertime the sunset in Namibia is around 7.20 pm, so there was still time to reach my destination.
Shortly after that, the gravel road started again…. And again no sign for the cave…. At another junction, locals sent me north and short time later I was completely lost. Around 7pm, I finally gave up the thought of the cave completely, above all, after I nearly ran over a warthog and shortly after I had overlooked a sandy woe, which catapulted me almost into a huge thorn tree. In this area, there are not much hotels or even campsites, so I was more than happy about a sign saying Mountain View Lodge 20 km. When I arrived at the fence of the lodge, there was a sign saying: Warning! Private hunting area! Sharp Shooting!
For sure, I would do the hell and enter there at nighttime! So, I continued driving.
6 kilometres further on, there was another, smaller lodge, where I asked for help. Now, I felt completely lost, especially after this nearly clash with the warthog, I wanted a place to stay for the night.

Quivertrees

This lodge was also a hunters place, but the owner recognized immediately the seriousness of the situation and gave me a room, a glass of cold beer and a comfortable chair to relax for a while. After a shower, I felt much better. In this lodge, they had three clients from Bulgaria, who were here for hunting. In the evening, of course, there was bush meat, first a bush meat sausage, then steaks of blue gnu, everything hunted by the Bulgarians. I will not repeat the gossip of the hunters while dinner, as this was something really special and might create one or the other vegetarian among the readers of this mail….
The next morning, they gave me a tasty breakfast, this time without the hunters, because they went out for an early morning drive to shoot some zebras. Then, it came to the question of payment. The night before, I found already out, that this lodge usually charges 150. – US per night and person. Well, still cheaper than a broken car because of an accident in the dark, but also rather expensive for someone long on the road. I was completely surprised when Geraldine, the owner, told me, she would not touch any money from my side, as this was an emergency and she just wanted to help! She wished me a lot of fun in her country combined with the hope, that I will meet only friendly people on the way (Indeed I did) and that I enjoy the beauty of her country!
Wow! This was really nice!
Driving back to Windhoek at daylight was easy, just back along the gravel road, turning right once at the T-junction and then always straight! If only everything was so easy!
All in all, I drove 3002 kilometres during this 8 days trip, half of it on gravel. All that without any technical problem. All twisted tent pegs were bent into shape by Pieter of the Red Dune Camp in his workshop, not to speak of Geraldine of the hunter’s lodge. Also in other respects I had only good experiences with country and people in Namibia so far.
In Windhoek, I based myself in Chameleon Backpackers, for me one of the best hostels in southern Africa. The dormitory is relatively small with 3 bunk beds only and every dormitory has his own shower and toilet. There are also double rooms with private facilities. Included in the price, there is a nice breakfast. There is TV, internet, a small travel agency, a bar and a pool. Of course the inhabitants are international, as usual, in hostels of this type. There are people from Australia, Asia, Northern Africa, Europe, South America and there is quite one or the other interesting character staying there.

Okavangodelta

After nearly one week in Kasane with a lot of interesting insights into the african life, I went with a collective taxi to Nata and then by bus to Maun. Maun is the centre for journeys into Okavangodelta.

Traditional Mokoro in Okavangodekta

Okavango River starts in Angola, flows through Caprivi Strip of Namibia and then enters Botswana. Here, the river branches off in countless arms with various islands and finally ends in the sands of Kalahari Desert. This scenery of water, islands and reed is best experienced in a traditional mokoro, a small wooden boat. These boats are mostly made out of the trunks of baobabs. It takes approx. one month to make a boat like this. With low water it is punted through the canals, after the rainy season locals row the boats. Of course, tourists can not go by themselves to the delta, as a foreigner would easily get lost in the channels and in between the islands.
Together with two Australians, I did a day trip with 2 mokoros. For the night, we took our tents to camp on one of the bigger islands. There are no shops and no restaurants for sure, so we had to bring our own supplies.

Chameleon

The journey by mokoro to the island took about 3 hours. It was a great experience to be punted through the canals. These canals are often formed by hippos, which create with their bulky bodies a channel for the small boats. Logically, the punters are always watching out for hippos in the channels and lagoons. Once, a hippo just came out of the water about 10 meters from us, our punters became quite nervous and hurried back. Though hippos are herbivores, but they might become angry if one gets to close to them. It has already happened in the past, that hippos attacked mokoros and passengers. Also with a deadly end. In the afternoon, we went to a hippo pool, where we watched these huge animals from a proper distance.
After a tasty spaghetti dinner with fantasy sauce soon everybody disappeared in the tents. Boating simply makes tired, whether one punts or is just sitting inside.

Okavangodelta

In the middle of the night it suddenly started raining – in an amazing amount! The rainy season should begin, actually, in about 14 days, but anyhow, this downpour looked quite like the start of rainy season! In the morning this weather did not stop. Nevertheless, we went in the rain for our walking safari. Nevertheless, quite unexpectedly, we saw many animals. It is rather different, whether you watch big animals like elephants, buffaloes or giraffes from the secure car or you meet while walking… Because of the rain, we went back to the tents soon. Despite rain jackets we were completely soaked. We hoped that, nevertheless, the rain must stop sometime, so we simply waited for a while in our tents. After two hours, it was sure that it will not stop and that we have to break down the tents in the rain. This is always unpleasant, but in such a downpour it is really bad! And then the journey back by mokoro… As there is nothing to do, you just sit there and it is getting colder and colder. In between we stopped sometimes to get rid of the water from the plastic seats…. On the speed boat for sure it became even colder. I cannot remember that I was so cold before in my whole life!
After 30 minutes on the speed boat we arrived in Maun, where there was coffee and a hot shower waiting for us. We were lucky and could rent safari tents, as ours were completely wet, moreover, it also rained in Maun! These safari tents are very comfortably and have even beds and electricity inside. This was exactly what we needed.

"Homestay" with Sanda and Heinz

From Livingstone, I went by shared taxi to the border with Botswana. The border crossing is very well organized and also crossing the border river by ferry was unproblematic. On the other side, in Botswana, there was no public transport, but apparently the border officials felt very sorry for me having no car. So, they stopped the first good looking jeep and asked the driver to take me a couple of kilometers to Thebe River Camp in Kasane.

Sandra, Kasane

This crossing is very easy, so it is hard to understand, why most tourists in Livingstone panic for possibilities to master this border crossing anyhow and end up in an organized safari to Chobe National Park in Botswana. Maybe a clever business idea, rising the fears of the backpack horde of this border and by doing so selling more safaris to Chobe originating in Livingstone, because then the border crossing is done by minibus in the group…

Sandras mum

However, Thebe River Camp is quite big and a lot of overland trucks stop here as well.

These are exactly the kind of the travellers, who independent tourists usually try to avoid. Overland trucks are often booked by young, rather inexperienced travellers. The classical route is overland from London to Capetown, but for sure, one can do also only part of the way. Usually, these trucks go to big camp sites or they camp just in the bush. Mostly, they also cook together and buy food at local markets to save money. Some more up market versions do have a cook on board. Group dynamic plays a big part of it and wild parties are common and often. The latter is also the reason, why individual tourists usually try to avoid these groups.
At the bar of Thebe River Camp I got to know Kibonye and Simon from Kasane. They are teachers in a private school; Kibonye is from Botswana and Simon from England. We spent an interesting afternoon together and they took me with them to town. They introduced me to Heinz from Germany, who spends several weeks a year in Kasane. He bought a house in Kasane some years ago, where now also Sandra, a very nice local lady, lives.

Chobe National Park

They invited me to visit Sandra’s mother in the village of  Kavimba the next day. Kavimba is a remote small village about 80 kilometers from Kasane.

Chobe National Park

The journey to the village was interesting, the area is very dry, and most trees have barely any leaves, a few trees strange enough with lots of green as it had rained 10 days ago. Apparently an extensive rain is enough for some trees to grow immediately leaves. The village has about 800 inhabitants, there is nearly no work except of farming, due to the long period without rain the habitants have to walk for 15 kilometers for drinking water – oneway. Here, people live on subsistence economy, above all maize which can be harvested once a year. There is an elementary school in the village, however, for secondary education children have to go to Kasane. For most families this is not possible, as Kasane is far away and the children have to attend boarding school. Therefore, usually it lacks of money.
Sandra supports her mother as far as possible. However, currently she is without a job herself, so Heinz helps out at the moment.
The way back we drove through Chobe National Park. This park borders Chobe River, which has water the whole year. Accordingly, many animals are here the whole year. Chobe is known above all for the big elephant herds, which can be easily spotted in the evening or in the late afternoon taking a nice cool bath in the river or in the mud. Also, there are many hippos, buffaloes and different antelopes. There are also warthogs, giraffes, crocodiles, leopards, lions……

Chobe National Park

Heinz also invited me to stay with them instead of living in Thebe River Camp. This was great! I changed my small yellow tent for a nice flat with sleeping couch, fridge and a bathroom completely for myself! What an improvement! All this came even with full board – it was like holiday from travelling and, in addition, a time in which I have seen and experienced a lot without any organization work on my side! At this point thanks a lot to Heinz and Sandra. I will definitely not forget my time in Kasane!
Besides our 4 visits to the national park, we visited also various lodges like Elephant Valley Lodge. This lodge is situated close to a big water hole. The animals come here in the late afternoon and at night to drink and can be watched from a view platform. This is one of these super expensive lodges, a travel agent would love to book for a client (prices begin with 400 or 500 dollars per night). I was quite content with a coke and the view platform.
One afternoon, I spent on a boat on Chobe River. This was especially interesting, because we were very close to hippos, buffaloes, crocodiles and elephants. We were also lucky to watch two young elephants in a violent fight.