Namibia, week three

The veterinary gate is quite intimidating. It is a full gate across the road, where all vehicles must stop. The attendant, in military fatigues, carried a clipboard. He wanted to know where we were coming from and where we were going. On our way out of Kaokoland, we will have to surrender any meat products we have due to issues of hoof and mouth disease in the north, regardless of where it was purchased.

It was not long and we were back on our way. The gravel road itself was in surprisingly good condition. We saw very few other cars, but that was not out of the norm. Khowarib Lodge was a short 70 km away. What a treat! It was one of our few lodge stays and well worth it. Our "tented" room was up in the trees on the edge of the river, with a cozy porch and two adirondack chairs. There was a 4 poster king size bed with mosquito netting and a stunning outdoor bathroom. Best of all, the water was hot, hot, hot! Oh, and all our meals were provided for so we didn't have to cook. At night all the pathways are lit up with lanterns which made it very romantic. It was very difficult for Lynda to leave this spot.

The highlight of our stay was the elephant tracking expedition organized by the lodge. We went in an open air safari vehicle with our guide, Archie, and two couples from Belgium. It was a sunny, hot day and we drove the Hoanib River from Elephant Song village to Amspoort Gorge. It is not possible to go any further than Amspoort because you are not allowed into the Skeleton Coast National Park. In all, we put about 200 km on the vehicle. It was a very successful expedition. We saw 15 elephants, an equal number of giraffes, baboons, herds of oryx and springbok, Egyptian geese, a black back jackal and tons of ostrich. The giraffes were very regal. It was fun to watch them extend their tongues to get the leaves off the highest branches. We even saw a mother giraffe with her 4 week old baby. It was all legs. We finally saw the elephants at about lunch time on their way to one of the artificial watering holes. A female elephant with a baby has to go to the watering hole every day, but the big bull elephants can drink once every three days. That's because when they do drink, they consume 200 litres in one sitting, in 5 litre increments! We watched all of the antics from a hill overlooking the watering hole, where we ate our lunch in style. We saw two of the bull elephants tussling for domination. One of them had actually killed a rival bull two weeks earlier. Now he was being challenged by a younger bull. Luckily, nothing serious happened. The view of the surrounding countryside was incredible. You could see for miles and miles.

Our next stop is Dolomite Camp in Etosha National Park, where we are likely to see a lot of animals. Since it is the dry season, the watering holes are very busy. We do not know when we will have Internet access again, but we will be in touch whenever it is possible.

Photos

Mufehiwe's story is not unlike many Namibians. We met him walking along a rugged, dirt track between his village and his sister's village. He is a science teacher in Kamanjab, but he is also a farmer. He works during the week at the school, then on Friday he gets a ride to his sister's house where he spends the night. Early Saturday morning he gets up and starts the 5 hour walk to his farm. He carries a clock radio with a USB port and he listens to music. He also carries a stick and tries to ignore the dangers hidden around him, specifically hyenas and lions. He says he is "walking while in God's hands."

We met Mufehiwe because Craig wanted to take the road less traveled. After consulting with the guides at Khowarib, it was decided that we would NOT retrace our footsteps and head to Etosha via Kamanjab. We would cut straight across the land between the C43 and the C35 and end up on Etosha's doorstep. We were trading many dirt roads for one dirt road and a 4 wheel drive track. The first dirt road, also known as the D3710, was straightforward. Unfortunately, the rest of the roads weren't marked. After we arrived in Omuramba, we went too far down the road and ended up in the next village. This meant backtracking 11 km.  When we found the correct road, we ended up at a fancy building with Namibian flags. We stopped to ask some men about the road we wanted and they looked at us like we were crazy. They pointed down the field and told us to follow the dirt track around the end of the mountain. That was the "road"we were looking for. Off we went. Lynda was sure we were going to get completely lost and never be heard from again. That crazy dirt track could not be the way we were supposed to go. When we met Mufehiwe about 1/3 of the way along, Lynda was so happy to see someone who might know the way that she agreed to break all her rules about hitchhikers and give him a ride. Twenty kilometres later we came to his sister's village which sits beside the C35 highway (the exact place we wanted to be). We dropped him off and continued on our way through the veterinary gate and then on to Etosha.

Mufehiwe does what he has to do to make a living and have a good life. He, like many other Namibians, has an incredible work ethic. Craig also met a very generous Namibian named Lot. After many kilometres of pounding along dirt roads, the weak link in our roof rack materialized. A piece of the hardware split in half resulting in the roof mounted spare tire pounding overhead as we drove. This caused Lynda to have a headache and frustration for Craig. When we arrived at The Halali campsite that evening, Craig went into action. He took the bracket apart and went in search of help. He found Lot, who he asked to drill a hole so he could bolt the pieces together. Lot recognized that this would be a bare minimum fix and insisted on cutting the pieces to length, welding them, grinding them smooth and drilling extra mounting holes. It was service above and beyond, and clearly, Lot is someone who takes pride in his work. We are very thankful for the wonderful people we meet!