Namibia part 2 – Truckin’ Through the Rains

For the next 15 days, we were on our own. We said goodbye to our friends in Windhoek and picked up a diesel truck with a rooftop tent for a Sara and Dave 4x4 campin’ rough ridin’ honeymoon. That tent was the most cushy camping we’ve ever done. Why don’t they have them in the States? Why? So much better (and cheaper) than gigantic motor homes. You just fold it out, climb up the ladder, and –instant, comfy, critter-free sleep! First stop was the apricot sand dunes of the west. That place, around Sossusvlei, was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been on earth. You drive to the base of the dunes on a sandy track, and can hike off into them. It’s absolutely quiet, and no one was there. Amazingly, ostriches and springbok seem to get on just fine, but we didn’t see a drop of water anywhere. Depressions known as vleis hold white, cracked areas of mud and 500 year old dead trees. It’s a very spiritual place, no matter what your belief. On our last night there, we climbed to the top of a dune (not as easy as it looks!) and saw an incredible sunset over the dunes and mountains. All around were dry river courses cut into the dry plains below. The Namib is one of the world’s oldest deserts, and it certainly looks it.

We left the dunes behind to go to the Skeleton Coast area and Damaraland, via Swakopmund, a coastal town that looks like a little bit of Germany plopped down in Africa (for those of you unfamiliar with Namibia’s history, it was a German colony for a while, though taken away after WWI and then annexed by South Africa, only gaining independence in 1989. The people also suffered apartheid-style restrictions during those years.). On the inhospitable coast, yearly rainfall is measured in millimeters, if at all, and large, dun-colored desert dunes meet the sea. But the sea life is abundant, and we saw dolphins and seals galore, including an even smellier seal colony than the one in South Africa. I actually had to tie a bandana over my nose to not breathe the stink in through my mouth! But boy those seal babies were cute…

In Damaraland, we saw 6000-year old rock paintings, beautiful animal images of penguins, lions, ostriches and others, painted by the ancestors of the Damara and San people that proved they ranged from the sea to the rainy river areas. We also managed to see the desert elephants! They are notoriously elusive, but we actually saw them from a gravel road. We had picked up two village girls and were giving them a ride to the next town, and they saw them first and pointed them out. The elephants were hanging out in a dry riverbed, after having knocked down all the fences in the vicinity (I don’t think there’s a single fence in Africa that can truly defeat a full grown elephant). We were very excited, but the girls had a different reaction: “Those are stupid elephants! Very naughty!” They might be destructive, but we were excited to see them, since it had just started to rain in the area, and the elephants would soon vanish into the bush, becoming almost impossible to spot until the dry season.

Once we left the dry desert and the desolate coast, the rains really arrived. We were on our way to the Caprivi region, which receives most of Namibia’s rainfall, and is inhabited by people who have more in common culturally with the people of Zambia, Angola, and Botswana. Cross the veterinary control line into the north of the country, and suddenly there are thatched villages and sustenance farms everywhere. It is also much poorer, though the culture seems more traditional and vibrant. We stayed at a camp where we ditched the tent for a night and slept in a treehouse, where we could hear people singing along the Okavango River, and hippos bellowing at dusk. The place had a toilet called “the throne” which looked out over the riverbed. Imagine doing your business, then a hippo surfaces near you – that pretty much captures the area.

We headed south into Botswana, which was a very easy border crossing, for a quick glimpse of the Okavango Delta, which dries up in the sands of the Kalahari desert rather than emptying to the sea. It’s famed for its wildlife, and maze of waterways filled with lilies, crocodiles, and fish. It definitely lives up to the pictures. We got to our lodge after 12 km of sandy track where Dave dodged cows while trying not to get stuck. It was on a gorgeous lagoon, where crocs cruised in the evening, and a tremendous rainstorm had knocked out the phones. The only way into the delights of the Delta is by boat or by plane, so we definitely took advantage of the water transport option. We even went fishing, catching wild tilapia…and throwing them back again. Our second day there we went out on the water all day, with our guide, Alec, who also took us in a makoro, a dugout canoe which is propelled by a standing poler. It was amazing, seeing the delta waters from a low vantage point, with no motor, so quiet you can hear the lily pads squeaking on the hull as we pass. We saw the rare sitatunga antelope, and got quite close, though thankfully had no canoe encounters with a hippo! We also walked around some of the islands and saw evidence of elephant and civet cats. Just wish we could have stayed longer.

Our last days in Namibia were no less filled with wildlife encounters though. On our way back through the Caprivi and down to Windhoek, we spent two nights on the Kwando River, which eventually flows into the Zambezi. The place is filled with hippos, they’re around every corner. Having one charge your boat really gives you an appreciation for the fact that these animals really are that big, and that dangerous – even their footprints seem dino-sized. One hippo blew a huge warning bubble directly under our boat that actually made me scream like a little girl. Even Dave admits to being more than a little scared.

Our last two nights before flying to West Africa gave us a new appreciation for the people that live in the bush. We went with a tracker in search of leopard on one game farm, and he found leopard prints that had been drenched with hours of torrential rain, barely discernable in the red mud. How? He looked for the impressions made by the huge cats’ claws. He also found tiny paw marks – a cub. He even picked up long hairs, which thorny bushes had plucked from the leopard’s tail. But…no spotted cats were seen. Still we were in awe of his skill, that is until we all got stuck in the mud, ending the exciting tracking part of the game drive. We also were able to spend a night interacting with a San family, an ethnic group more commonly known as the Bushmen. These people have been pushed into remote areas of the Kalahari, in the eastern part of Namibia. They can no longer hunt, and live in extreme poverty. We stayed at a camp where the San had been hired to come and show tourists how they survive in the bush. That night, we hung out with them by the fire and shared cigars and songs and played with the kids. We were the only people staying there, so it was really nice to just enjoy their company. In the morning, we went for a walk with them, and learned about various foods and plants, and how they use their environment. Dave was also very impressed with their portable pipe, which doubles as a handle for an axe. I loved just listening to their language, which is one of the planet’s oldest tongues, with different clicks I found almost impossible to pronounce correctly. It was a great way to end our time here, this too-quick look at a culture that may be under threat, but still struggling to co-exist with all the groups that make up modern-day Namibia. It’s just one more enticement to come back someday.