Namibia, week two

We may be staying in a coastal resort town, but it's all about the desert. It was a five hour drive of long straight stretches across the desert to get here. We only made three little pit stops along the way. One at the Tropic of Capricorn for some photo ops, (we had previously crossed it twice in Australia) and once in the little town of Solitaire (home of the famous apple pie). We did not sample the wares, but Craig enjoyed photographing the vintage wrecks strewn across the yard. We were also flagged down on the road by two Dutch girls about ten minutes outside of Solitaire. They were driving a "bean can" and had hit a big rock and bent the rim on the left front wheel. Amazingly, the tire had not popped. Craig encouraged them to putter their way to the gas station in Solitaire where they could get some help. It is shocking to us that it is legal to rent those little European cars in this country for travel outside of the cities. The majority of roads are gravel, covered in pot holes and in the middle of nowhere. They are just not suitable for the road conditions. 

Our reservation was for camping at Alte Brucke Resort. We called Mureal and asked for an upgrade to a room while we were in Sesriem and she was able to arrange it. Lynda was coming down with a bad head cold, we needed to charge up our electronics, and the location of the town on the ocean made for foggy, damp conditions. We were pretty happy with our chalet room with a kitchenette. Breakfast was included, but we could still prepare our own lunches and dinners. It is important to point out that the houses and buildings here don't have central heating so it is still colder than we are used to at home. We were also wearing our jackets inside our room. 

High season in Swakopmund is in the summer months. We happened to be there during the sleepy winter and on a weekend. By 1pm Saturday afternoon, the place was like a ghost town. Almost everything was closed. On Sunday afternoon, there was a city wide power outage to accommodate an upgrade to the power system. It started early in the morning and was not completed until after 7 pm. Where else could this happen?

The highlight of our stay was a Living Desert tour in the dunes with Steve from Batis Birding Safaris. There were just seven of us in our group. We learned amazing facts about the dunes, including how they were formed from sand from the ocean, how they are constantly moving and about all the plants and creatures that live there. Steve had amazing knowledge and the ability to find some of the smallest creatures in Africa. Some maybe small, but are quite venomous. 

We enjoyed our luxurious stay, but we're back on the road driving up the coast looking at sport fishermen and old shipwrecks on our way to Spitzkoppe... which is back in the desert.

Hallelujah, it's much warmer here! Spitzkoppe is to Namibia what the Matterhorn is to Switzerland. It is a 1728 meter rock monolith surrounded by smaller mountains, and a climber's paradise. Spitzkoppe is also known for its Bushman paintings, which are between two and four thousand years old. We had two days of relaxing and taking photographs, and seeing all of the above. It was so warm that Lynda actually broke out shorts and a tank top. It looks promising that we might have more summer-like days as we continue our journey north.

Namibia is a huge country and as such, there are days where you have to drive - all day. Our destination was Hoada campsite in northern Damaraland. It is a community run campsite so all of the profits benefit the local community. It is also affiliated with Grootberg lodge which is 25 km to the west. We stopped at the lodge to make arrangements for their Himba village tour. We heard it was excellent and we wanted to go with a respectful organization. The Himba are a semi nomadic, pastoral people who move their livestock in search of good grazing areas. The women are distinct because they do not cover their breasts, and they groom their hair and bodies with red ochre. 

The guide from Grootberg picked us up the next morning in a 4 wheel drive, open sided safari vehicle. We needed it. Although the village was only 12 km away, we entered Kakaoland, and the track was rough and rocky. For most of the trip we were crossing back and forth across a river bed (that actually had palm trees and some water in it). Once we arrived most of the villagers made their way to where we were. We were free to interact with them and take as many photos as we wished. Our guide gave us lots of information and patiently answered our questions. It was fascinating. For example, women do not cover their breasts, but they do cover their ankles. A young girl has two braids that hang down and cover her eyes so that young men cannot look into them. Once she starts menstruating, she is allowed to grow out her hair and fashion it with the red ochre. A man in the village can have many wives, but he must build houses for each wife and divide his time between them equally. The women do not bathe with water, rather they make a paste out of red ochre and butter fat and cover their bodies with it every second day. They also make a scented smoke out of charcoal and ochre and butter fat which is like perfume. They use it to scent their underarms and clean the animal skins that they wear. Then the villagers set up a craft market for U.S. They were selling beaded jewelry and carved wooden animals. When we were finished purchasing, the men and women sang and danced for us. Before we left our guide presented our gift to them: ground corn, sugar, and oil. All of the villagers were entitled to have a share of the food items. Witnessing this kind of existence is very humbling. It makes us realize that we live a very privileged life, and we have way more than we need. Maybe we all need to find ways to simplify our lives.

We were leaving Hoada later that morning, but after packing up the truck, we borrowed some bikes and one of the employees, Owen, and headed out on a ride to a neighbouring farm. As it turns out, the son of the owner works for the camp site. When he is not working, he lives there with his parents, his sister and her children. His own wife and child live in town so they can be close to the primary school. This is not uncommon in Namibia. Many families are separated by work or schooling. The farm has chickens, goats, and cattle. They use the goats for milk and food, but they don't eat the cattle because they are too valuable. If they were in need of money they would sell one of the herd to cover their expenses. We cycled a little further up the road to see the elephant watering hole which was built by the conservancy. It was put in that location to keep the elephants away from the farms where they can do a lot of damage.   Then we cycled uphill back to the camp site in the hot sun (without water because Lynda forget the bottle), said goodbye to Andrew and Owen, and started a short trek to Khowarib Lodge, on the other side of the veterinary fence in Kaokoland.

Photos