The Trans Kalahari Highway
Trip Start
Nov 02, 2007
1
12
14
Trip End
May 31, 2008
Spitzkopp,
Namibia
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Simply looking out across the desert was a tonic; waves of dreamy soft white-tipped grass covered the post-rainy-season landscape (the best outdoor lady-peeing experience - Martin managed to get his arm snarled in a thorn tree; for once bobbing was better). The Milky Way looked like a spurting cloud against the silhouette of the mountain we camped at the base of. The sun set as the moon rose ... and as the evening progressed we saw the sliver of moon turn redder and redder as it followed the sun below the horizon. Magic.
Amongst the parched looking landscape was an unexpected amount of wildlife; a dip in a rock held the remmenants of the rainy season, supporting a myriad of aquatic life, a cave was busy with swifts (or swallows ?), we followed the tracks of a leopard (apparently there are 10 living amongst the rocks), saw zebra and springbok at a watering hole, woke to the sound of birds, watched "rock rats" having an early morning graze. But most surprising was discovering the 'bush bar'; the sign and arrow looked as unpromising as the map was in locating the rock art ... unpeturbed we parked, only to be greeted by a woman walking from between a rock. Her bar was built under the rock and catered for tourists offering shade, cool drinks and a tour of a traditional house and lifestyle. This included a most unexpected use of a tortoise shell - the various gourds and wooden platters were fairly self-explainatory, but the shell ? When pressed, our guide said 'it was a little bit delicate', and went on to explain that the shell would be filled with soft grasses and feathers and used by the women ... to clean their husbands genitals post-coitus. Luckily our sunburn covered our blushes.
Opting to stay for a second night, we booked an evening meal at the rest camp restaurant (not feeling very excited about our option of baked beans or pasta). Arriving promptly at the designated 7pm, we were served equally promptly ... a platter of tough greasy goat meat, bowl of cold tinned mixed veg and another bowl of cold baked beans. By the time we'd stopped gawping in disbelief it all had a garnish of moths to boot.
Not using our food supplies meant we could donate it to the kids at the roadside stalls we'd stopped at on our way. They were keen to sell their crafts, but keener to get some food ... there really is nothing for several driving hours, let alone on foot, and the traditional berries and roots we'd been shown the day before looked a pretty thin diet. In fact every time we went shopping (with every intention of campfire cooking) we managed to give the stuff away ... if you visit Namibia (and I strongly advise you do) take lots of tins and unperishables and be prepared to give it all away.
From Spitzkopp we headed west to the coast at Swakopmund. A strange German town; great coffee and baked cheese cake, poor customer relations and weirdly out-of-place architecture. The worlds largest quartz crystal is housed in a museum in Swapkopmund, along with displays demonstrating the variety of crystals and minerals available in Namibia. To be honest, the roadside stalls outside of Spitzkopp were at least as interesting- i never thought i would own an aquamarine,but now i own 3...
One night of 'luxury' in a hostel (with a pair of bunks and a pair of showers in each room ...?) preceeded a much more exciting night at Sea Gull's Cry Campsite. As we sat by our braai fire, one of the staff approached to apologize for the noise in the neighbouring plot - the government were having their monthly social, choosing the campsite as somewhere they could relax and play their music. I don't know what the Namibian President looks like, but it was great to share time on my first visit ... albeit from a discreet distance and from behind a bamboo screen.
Really Namibia was packed with highlights - on a daily basis. We drove from Swakopmund back to Windhoek along the Trans-Kalahari Highway; hours of straight dusty road with few buildings and fewer cars. Stopping for pee nearly cost us dearly ... Martin shouted 'look there's a giraffe watching me pee' so i stopped rooting in the boot for snacks to take a look. Sure enough, there was a giraffe, out in the wild, comically peering around a bush to watch us. I too bobbed for a pee and then we turned to set off ... a tense moment of looking towards the now closed boot for the keys was followed with slightly less tense laughter as i pulled the keys from the hinge of the boot. We couldn't have been further from our point of origination or our destination ...
... Jaans Kiloen National Park, just outside Windhoek. Our last night on the road so we chose a safari hut and evening meal at the restaurant. We'd seen springbok, ostrich and oryx in the distance on the way, but were both keen for a good nights sleep and a day of walking in the park to spot some more, up close and personal. As we sat chewing our game steak, croquettes and mixed veg the waiter asked us how it all was, 'delicious. What sort of game is it?' ... oryx, the one animal Martin has never seen up close and personal ...
We did see them the next morning, and kudu, and red hartebeest, and zebra and a chameleon (Martin nearly stood on it, so we got a privaledged viewing as it wandered away into the bush, changing colour and tempo). Best of all were the wildebeest, snorting, and puffing no more than 10 metres away amongst the thorn bushes. We carefully picked our way, as much to avoid the lethal thorns as the wildebeest. Fabulous, you could almost smell them, and what a strange mixture of zebra, gnu, buffalo, horse they are. We got horribly lost (and horribly sun-burnt) following another photocopied leaflet and verbal directions 'keep the white sticks to your left' ... we only saw one stick before we lost them altogether. Retracing our steps was no problem and we'd certainly seen some wildlife so left happy.
A night in Windhoek watching 'Southern Africa Pop Idol' and slavering cream on the burn, then a swift 2 hr flight over fascinating terrain (this time with more of an idea of the scale) and back to the last of the video shoot ... Namibia is high on the list of places to return to ...
