The Martian Chronicles
Trip Start
Dec 17, 2007
1
17
26
Trip End
Jan 19, 2008
Sesriem,
Namibia
Sunday, January 13, 2008
12-13 January - Sesriem Campsite, Sousevlei, Namib Desert, Namibia, 24.4844S 15.7999E Alt 817.5m
We set off from Swakopmund and back into the Namib desert in another early rise ... as we drive along the coast I notice some strange looking trees ... Jacques calls them (the tree of the day) Communicatia Metallica ... also known as GSM antennae ... they are supposed to blend with the landscape but they are so tall they in fact stick out like a diseased limb ...
We start to climb up a winding uncovered road through what can only be described as the world's largest slate quarry ... though this one is carved in such as way as to give the eye a visual feast of beauty ... which distracts from the rather dangerous looking mountain road .. which Will, our driver, is negotiating with skill and apparent ease ... A pee stop revels that everything is covered with a layer of glistening crystal ... Gypsum ... it looks as if the landscape is made of diamond ... it is horribly twisted and contorted into many broken shapes ... which call to mind the famous words - a terrible beauty ... even if a little out of context.
After we emerge from the long and winding road into a multicolour sand and rock filled landscape of the Namib desert ... again we are treated to the wonderful colour palate that is Namibia ... it has to be a land that inspired many an artist ... not least our own - Tessa ... who has been here a few times ... We pause for a photo at a large sign reading "Tropic of Capricorn" (according to my GPS it is 23.5002S 15.7721E Alt 852m ... hmmnnn ... I thought it should read 25S ... but hey, I'm no expert) ... I take a pee along the line of the tropic ... and we're back in the truck ... Will, our driver wants some Strudel ... and the best in the whole of Africa is not far away ...
We pull into a dusty roadside stop in a place called Solitaire ... to find Moose ... Moose is the guy behind the counter in what looks like a general store from some Western movie ... one half expects some strange figure to be sitting in the corner ... feet on the table ... hat down over the face ... poncho disguising the two six shooters in their holsters ... but this one sells the best Strudel in Africa ... and Moose's home cooked seed bread ... both of which are excellent ... and I'm told very famous ... Moose himself is a character of note ... half Scot / Half Irish ... all smiles and joy ... flirting with Nadia ...
I notice that Will seems to navigate by Cake shops ... Cheesecake at the mall in Livingstone, the Cheesecake of Outjo bakery, The many cake shops of Swakopmund, Moose's Strudel to name a few ...
We arrive at the campsite in the blistering desert heat ... its straight to the pool to cool off ... and it is in this pool that I encounter my first fellow countrymen since that faithful night of delays in London Heathrow what seems like a lifetime ago. It feels a bit strange to hear a familiar accent of a Meathman ...
As the air around me cools enough to allow some freedom of motion ... I head off into the desert on my own to shoot the sunset ... pictures will say more than words here ... so I'll let them do their work ...
We rise before dawn at 5am to drive through the darkness to the ominous sounding dune 45 ... it sounds more like some Nazi extermination camp than a dune in the desert ... but it certainly does weed out the weak from the strong ... We hike up the 200m slope to catch the dawn ... it is a real tough hike in the soft powdery red sand ... but when I reach the top the rather disappointing dawn does nothing to dull the sense of awe at the incredible vista that reveals itself to me from the gradual emergence of daylight ... these landscape is straight out of the Martian Chronicles ... it is red and gold and white and brown and orange and ....... Truly I cannot put into the words the wonder of it all ... I am sad to report that my photography has failed to do it justice also ... you'll just have to make a point of seeing it for yourself .. and shame on you if you don't!!
We drive even further through the Martian landscape towards Sousesvlei ... site of an ancient river which has been progressively dammed off from sea over thousands of years by dune after dune until today where it is 55KM from the sea ... and a new dune is damming it further ... this leaves an area of fertile land where a rich ecosystem exists ... I am somewhat lazy now and I don't want to be climbing any more dunes ... we have a hike ahead of us to a place called Deadvlei. I opt out only to be told by Jacques our guide that this would be a big mistake ... he was later proven to be absolutely correct ... and I'm glad I listened to him and ignored my complaining unfit body's protest. It is here that a former life assurance salesman is to be our guide .... He is called Buisman (or Bushman) after the long dispersed indigenous population ... and he has found his calling in life ... a desert guide who makes the dead landscape come alive for us ... I can only describe him as a kind of Namibian Steve Erwin (of the Croc Hunter fame) ... his dept of knowledge is surpassed only by his passion for the desert ... he is a tourist attraction in his own right.
As we set out he briefs us on the hike saying he walks very fast and not to try to keep up ... he was not lying ... he moves like a gazelle over the soft sand ... as if it posed no challenge at all ... every now and again he pauses to tell us of the desert -
He tells us how to find the sea by looking at the direction of the dunes, he tells us how to find water in the bushes squeezing droplets from the leaves of one, how to find food in the lizards but not to use more energy capturing one that its tiny body would give us ... he demonstrated this by tossing a hat in the air over a lizard moving half way up a dune, its shape in the air makes the lizard think there is a bird in the area and it buries itself in the sand ... at which point Buisman scurries with ease up the dune to capture the lizard ... he jokes that it will not feed all of us (it is 10cm long) ... so desert survival is better with a smaller group. When asked if he had ever eaten a lizard he smile and says something like you can survive on this stuff ... but only if you have to!!
He then tells us the story of the Bushmen who lived in this desolate landscape they were only 1M20 tall and would use blow pipes and poison darts to kill their food. The range of these blowpipes is not much so this is how they got their name ... they would sneak up behind a bush and ambush their prey from close range ... they never cooked any of their food (Oryx or Bok) as this would dry it out and remove precious liquid.
Their hinting skills was very disconcerting for both the other tribes of the region and the early Dutch settlers ... who would regularly fall victim ... to our shame the hunting of bushmen for sport was legal right up to 1920!!
He also explains how bushmen would rub the grease from their food into their skin as a kind of early sunscreen ... or how when food was scarce they would leave their weaker brethren to die in the desert ... even children would be left behind in this edge of existence place ...
He showed us two different types of beetle .. first the one with smooth skin who gets water from the mist in the air ... which rolls down its back and into its mouth ... the other a rough skin one which used plants to get water ...
He showed us how spiders would create nests in the sand with a little flap door on top ... he opens one for us ... scatter some sand in the air ... and the spider leaps up to slam the door shut as if to say ... shag off!!! ... these spiders can live for 50 years!!! .. so I guess they can be grumpy old men too!!!
In short Buisman makes the desert come alive ... an incredible man ... for an insurance salesman!!
But the highlight of this day was not the wonders of the many living creatures of the desert ... it was a lifeless place ... aptly named Deadvlei ... this is the former Sousesvlei ... cut off from the river by an advancing dune it is now almost completely dead ... with only a few lifeless Camelthorn trees, their black twisted trunks scattered amongst the white dry vlei (Vlei is Afrikaans for bog by the way) surrounded on all sides by red dunes ... it is so stunningly beautiful here ... I'll again refer you to photos to give it life. But you must see this place for yourself to truly understand the wonder of it all.
That night ... tired from the exertions of the morning and heat of the day ... I go to bed happy as the Jackals surround our camp in their evening forage for food.
