Day 6 - 11 of Namibia Tour; Swakopmund, Spitzkopp
Trip Start
Mar 30, 2008
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Trip End
Mar 31, 2009
Windhoek,
Namibia
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Thursday 29th January - Day 6 Swakopmund, via Lie in!, Walvis Bay Flamingos. Meal out, drinks
Finally the pace slowed today and we were afforded a lie in until 7am, we left at 8. The group had elected to arrive early in Swakopmund to arrange activities. We stopped on route at Wolvis Bay to see the huge flock of Flamingos and struggled to grab a photo as 24 people getting of a truck seemed to disturb them and they moved away!
We arrived in Swakopmund just before lunch and settled back into life with toilets, showers and real beds!
Friday 30th January - Day 7 Swakopmund, Township tour, markets, Braai
As the majority of our small party had decided not to do: skydiving, dune quad biking, sand boarding, deep sea fishing, or one of the many other frenetic activities offered in and around Swakopmund it allowed me time to nurse my hangover for most of the morning. Mum on the other hand had put her name down to go on a tour of a local township with Margaret
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. This she really enjoyed and met some wonderful people including a very old lady who had some great stories to tell. She came back with some lovely hand made objects as gifts and spent some time with children at the local school.The others went shopping and wandering around Swakopmund exploring the very German influenced architecture and bakeries. After lunch all 6 of us then went into the town to look around the local market and buy trinkets. We had agreed to arrange a braai in the evening so on the way back we got some meat and picked up two backs of Mapani firewood for everyone. I made a fire in the indoor braai that they had in the Dunes backpacker and most people braai'd with us, making for a stunning evening.
Saturday 31st January - Day 8 Spitskoppe bush camp, via The Namibian Police to report robbery! Late start, donations to poor community school, Sunset at Spitzkoppe, sickness rtn to Swakopmund
We had a little wait for the office to open to get our stuff from the safe and when we did the worst day had just begun! Mike had checked his wallet just retrieved from his digital electronic safe in the office to find it had been made lighter by the tune of US$710. This of course started a huge checking process as panic spread through our camp. We had all used one of these 15 electronic safes to store our valuables and cash. Clare and I were relieved not to have lost any of our valuables; laptop, gps, epirb, but soon discovered the robbers had made away with $200 from us and $200 from Tina and Steve
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. Their entire haul for the night totalled US$3000 and 2000ZAR. Not bad for a nights work. Needless to say the Police were called and an investigation was begun, we were all interviewed and supplied with statements and crime numbers. We lost the morning and had to miss our trip to the Cape Seals Colony.Instead we headed straight for Spitzkoppe, stopping on route at a local school. We had been told about this earlier by Leticia and so had stocked up on useful items for the children and their teachers. We were happy to give them a huge bag of maize meal, dried beans, sugar, fruit squash, clothes, books, pencils and pens that we had all contributed towards. The staff were very appreciative and the children happy to see us and play with us. It humbled us to give so little after we had all lost what at first seemed like so much, but on reflection to us Westerners, was peanuts really.
Whilst at the school mum felt herself struggling with a tummy bug and having not been able to eat, began to fell somewhat faint. Fortunately we were not far from our overnight stop so we all bundled into the truck and said our goodbyes to the school children and staff. We helped mum to cool down, but were concerned about the long drive up to Etosha, increasing heat and lack of facilities there. Whilst we considered our options Ben cooked up a fantastic African feast for us all with mealie meal pop, spicy sauces and delicious lamb stew. It went down a treat
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. We had decided then that mum and I would take advantage of a lift back to Swakopmund to allow the tour to continue at the frenetic pace while we took time out there. Before we left we witnessed a beautiful sunset amongst the towering rocks of Spitzkoppe, some as high as 500m.Sunday 1st February - Day 9 Swakopmund, (chilling, museum, dinner at the Tug) & Etosha (Game Drive, waterhole, storms)
Mum and I woke up late after having a good nights sleep. Mum was feeling a lot better now. We planned to have a really easy day so began with a lazy breakfast before a walk to the Swakopmund Museum. It was a really good traditional style museum with lots of exhibits about life throughout the years in Namibia. Also there was a sponsored display about the Uranium mines in Damaraland. We spent a good few hours here before using the internet cafe, having lunch and heading back to the hotel to watch a movie. In the evening we went for a blow along the seafront. It reminded us both a lot of Weston or Clevedon in the UK! We dined in The Tug Restaurant and had a great main course with lots of delicious seafood after being yet again denied Walvis Bay Oysters! All this whilst looking out through huge windows and watching the Atlantic waves rolling into along the pier before hitting the gravelly shore with the force of a few thousand miles of fetch.
In the meantime Tina, Steve and Clare had left their Spitzkoppe bush camp after a night amongst the stars
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. They had a long drive to Etosha, but on arriving began there first game drive during which they sawMonday 2nd February - Day 10, Etosha National Park (Black Rhino, Lion cubs, Giraffes) & Swakopmund to Windhoek (Hire car, Amani Lodge, lift for Bianca to home, met Adam)
For mum and I it was time to leave Swakopmund and head to Windhoek which we did in a comfortable Connexion bus. We were only 5 in the bus so had lots of space and met interesting people including a US / Canadian who was working in the north of the country for Wilderness Safaris. The drive was 5 hours and we arrived in the busy city of Windhoek for lunchtime. Feeling rested and not wanting to miss out on all the wildlife here we hired a small car and went to Amani Lodge to watch the Lion feeding there.
It was a rough track that led us to the exclusive lodge and when we arrived rain threatened our safe departure. We also learned that the staff, Louisa and Bianca were very poorly treated by the French owners. We decided to make an early exit and miss the overpriced Lion feeding taking Bianca with us who needed a lift home to enjoy her 4 days of leave, the maximum permitted each month! We took her to her village to meet her brother Adam and her daughter. Adam was a geologists assistant and was using GPS to take samples from the field in the search for more Gold fields. The coffee was awful, but the experience of sitting and talking to Bianca and her family in their tin house was tremendous.
We then took Bianca and her daughter back to Windhoek where they were staying with Bianca's sister before finally heading back to our backpacker for the night.
All day the others were on game drive and saw lots of amazing animals in Etosha: rare Black Rhino, Secretary Bird, Buffalo, Wildebeest, Zebra, herds of Giraffe, and the piece de resistance two Lion Cubs playing while mum was away hunting!
Tuesday 3rd February - Day 11, Windhoek, Game drive, big family reunion, Joes Beerhouse.
While Tina, Steve and Clare enjoyed waking up for the last time at their waterhole camp in Etosha mum and I prepared for another attempt at a game drive
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. They would be seeing some more big game as they left before embarking on the long drive to Windhoek. We had found a state game park only 30km outside of Windhoek. Billed as the smallest park in Namibia we would see no predators but could hope to see many other things including 200 species of bird there. It was hard going for our tiny VW especially on the dirt roads and eventually we were forced to stop and go by foot. This was only possible in this park due to the absence of predators of course. We walked along a dried river bed and found a huge male Warthog before coming to a small lake. The walk was beautiful with scurrying animals in the rocks around us.We were back at the backpacker returning the car in perfect time just as Tati pulled up with the rest of the crew. That evening we all went on mass to Joes Beerhouse for a few beers and the most giant plates of food. Sean very kindly stood up and bid us a fond farewell for tomorrow which was especially gracious of him.
