Sandboarding, rockpaintings and rhinos

  Swakopmund, Namibia
Thursday, January 19, 2006

And so, in our little ol' 2WD Nissan Almera our 8 day MAMMOTH road trip all over Namibia began. A little ol' 2WD right in the middle of rainy season. With the track record of Hannah and Kirsty it was only to be expected that we would have a real adventure, and did we ever!


It started off fine. Kirsty driving flat out down gravel roads trying to avoid the cows. We loved it, speeding along at our own pace, stopping whenever and wherever we wanted for toilet stops :) The scenery that first day (and throughout the whole journey) was gob-stoppingly amazing. Most of the land is arid and unlivable and so there was no development, no people, just constantly changing colours and rocks. From green to pink to yellow to orange to purple, I think we saw just about every colour in the rainbow in the mountains, the rocks and in the sands.


After 4 hours through the desert, we arrived in the tourist town of Swakopmund. Swakopmund is famous for its sand dunes which reach all the way to the sea - so on one side you have fine sand, the other, raging sea. Pretty cool really. Its also famous for being the adventure sport capital of Namibia - and Kirsty being the avid snow-boarder she is REALLY wanted to do sand boarding. So we checked in, made some new friends, met them at 5am the next morning (as one does) and went searching for the sun rising over the sand dunes. Easier said than done - we found the sand and the dunes, just no sun that particular morning! After a quick brekkie break, Kirsty went and sandboarded the slopes away while I napped and enjoyed a lazy day to myself :)


And so Swakopmund was done, Hannah and Kirsty style, and we set our sites on the next leg of our journey, to Damaraland and the ancient rock paintings at Twyfelfontein. We travelled that afternoon through the desert and changing landscape up north further, and drove and drove and drove until the rocks became rockier and the land more ancient.

The sky was starting to darken as we approached our destination and so we set about finding ourselves a campsite. Eventually, after a bit of panic and worry, we found the most bestest wonderful campsite in the whole wide world - right in the middle of the rocks. We had to wrangle and deal to get our spot but get it we did! Campsites (and in fact everything) in Namibia are expensive but damn good. You don't just get a spot to park your tent, but a whole section cordoned off from other campers. At this particular site we got free firewood and our own personal toilet and shower perched between two rocks!


After Kirsty got the fire started, we headed off in search of a large rock to plonk ourselves on and watch the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen. And so we sat on a rock in the middle of nowhere where the entire landscape looked like our own personal canvas of spectacular colours.


After a good night sleep in our (borrowed) tent, we headed off to Burnt Mountain to watch sunrise - another disappointing no-show on behalf of the sun! Then headed to the spot of the ancient Twyfelfontein rock paintings. The price was surprisingly reasonable, the whole site and reception area tastful, the guide friendly, and the rock paintings absolutely amazing. Every second rock on our 1 hour tour had paintings of African animals - giraffes, elephants, lions, ostriches. All of the above have long since disappeared from most of the Namibian landscape, but were used thousands of years ago for teaching children.


That afternoon we again headed off (gotta get that expensive car back as soon as possible) in the direction of Etosha National Park. After a lot of confusion at the gate (strange that the staff of Namibia's biggest tourist attraction didn't speak any other word in English except for "yes"...) we departed with an appointment with the game for 6am the next morning! We found another amazing campsite, did our washing, swam in the pool, I then I headed out for a RUN! It was another beautiful Namibian day - we were luvin' it!


So up bright and early we woke the next morning, munching at the bit for a glipse of 'em animals. With eyes bright and alert, we searched both sides of the road as we entered the park. Our early morning start paid off - within minutes we spotted a lion and lioness at the side of the road within spitting distance of our car. We cautiously approached and watched them lazing around in the morning sun. Feeling more than satisfied with the first find, I turned to share a contented smile with Kirsty and spotted over her shoulder... a RHINO! These guys are really elusive (in the sense of being nearly extinct) so a find ANYWHERE in Africa is pretty special. And I had done it! We were stoked! Thats pretty much where the good luck stopped though, for the rest of the day we saw sh*t all, but enjoyed the sunshine, the zillions of zebra and giraffe and wilderbeest and just enjoyed driving! As sunset approached and we left the park we spotted probably the only elephant left in the entire park (they migrate in rainy season) enjoying a casual walk in the sunset. A very fitting end to a lovely day!


We left the park and miraculously found a campsite where we camped up, ready to travel north, to visit the Himba tribe....