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Coastal Swakopmund and North to Angolan border area, and the Caprivi Strip
5th to 8th May 2011
Weather: 35C Clear skies
Had to get some work done on the truck the day before yesterday. The rear axle on the driver's side started to move to a position (outward though the drive flange) that was not going to be conducive to ongoing forward motion, so I pulled it out to prevent any damage. This didn’t present any great problems in the short term as all I had to do was lock the centre differential and drive with the front wheels.
On our way through Swakopmond we chased up a Land Rover specialist workshop, the address of which we had been given by another Land Rover owner in Walvis Bay. We were lucky they were open as it was the day between two public holidays. We had the axles welded to the drive flanges which will stop any further lateral movement of the axles in the flanges. Cost a few bob, but with worse roads ahead of us I think it a wise move.
I’ve been thinking about what I can do to make all these strange place names mean something to you guys in our travel blog land? And I’ve come to the conclusion that I can do stuff all. The place names don’t jog the old primary school geography class memory banks the same way that places in the first world do. Buy yourselves an Atlas and put it on my account!
We bumped into some South African Land Rover owners while parking to have some lunch at Henties Bay. They were two couples and very interested in the truck and our trip. We got a lot of info from them on the highlights ahead and the road conditions as they had been up North and were now heading south back to South Africa. They even gave us a better map of Namibia which was very generous of them.
Namibia is a land of geographical contrasts, sand dunes in the south of the Namib Desert, barren and flat in parts to the North, and mountainous where we are at the moment at Brandburg. Massive granite mountains to 2500mtr that rise out of the desert plains.
The only constant is the German tourists everywhere. It’s obviously a place where they feel safe and not far out of their comfort zone. They seem to favour sweet cakes and sausages if the fare in the cafes are any indication.
German colonialism has a very dark past in Namibia. On one occasion, in I think I read in about 1907, a particular nasty pasty German commander pursued the locals after they put up a good fight in battle but lost the main game. He chased them relentlessly killing 65,000 of them as they retreated. He only stopped when his troops started to fall ill and could no longer squeeze their trigger fingers. Those of German decent still power the economy here, as they appear to own most of the businesses. The Namibians appear to be, no are, a very forgiving people.
Gael informs me that there are only 2.2 million people in Namibia. It’s a pretty big place so as a consequence there is plenty of space and the environment seems to be largely intact. It's also a really easy country to get around even though some of the gravel roads are reeeeeally rough.
Bloody hell this sounds like a travel blog. But, unlike Europe, up to the present I have nothing to ***** about. But stay tuned!
Leaving our campsite for the night at White Lady Lodge in the Brandburg Mountains we had a minor disagreement as to the direction in which we should head. Typically, Gael reacted badly and threatened to insert the GPS into a part of my body where the sun doesn’t shine.
There are a lot more people the further north we go. As the land gets more fertile I guess this is to be expected. In the town of Opuwo one takes huge pleasure in observing the locals. Their local tribal groups dictate the type of dress for the women and the diversity is amazing. Ladies in amazingly colorful dresses and head gear, to Himba women and girls covered in mud butter who never wash and are seriously the same color as the earth around them. Like me you have seen it on TV, but being in a supermarket full of them and their earth colored babies is as different a cultural experience as we have had on many levels.
Upon reaching the Cunene river, as suggested by the Overlanders on the coast who clearly hadn’t been this way this year, on the Angolan boarder after a straightforward drive north from Opuwo we got into some seriously flood damaged areas. The water from Angola enters Namibia around this general area flowing south into Etosha National Park and the amount of water flowing very fast and the river height meant that we only found one campsite of many open so far this season. This place looked like a dengue fever death camp so after directions from the owner we decided to head east along the river to the next town about 50 klm or 2.5 hrs away.
Well if only I hadn’t sold the Sherman Tank! Because even with directions from some entrepreneurial kids (who I generously tipped the equivalent of 20 cents, which I subsequently raised to 40 cents each after howls of protest), and the 4x4 prowess of the Land Rover we still managed to come perilously close to getting bogged/rolling over/hitting low branches/etc. The last straw was a detour that I might have tackled when younger and a great deal more stupid than I am now (some would argue that point), but Gaels lack of enthusiasm made the choice a simple one. Back to Opuwo, for a diversion of about 350 klm.
As light was failing, along with my sense of humour, we camped for the night in a dry river bed just of the road reminisce of our trips to the outback at home. In the dark, visions of large angry black men armed with machetes storking our camp seamed all too real when shuffling noises were heard outside. After breaking into a cold sweat Gael released the tension in my anus by informing me that there was a horse sharing the creek bed with us for the evening.
9th May 2011
Weather: 30C Clear skies
After a long day of driving today, retracing past kilometers and adding more, we ended our day in a community campsite still in the North of Namibia but heading South East towards Etosha National Park. A lot more populated here, with few whites, crazy drivers and no opportunity to bush camp. So will try to sleep with the sound of laughing local kids and barking dogs filling the night air.
11th May 2011
Weather: 30ish Clear skies
Had the opportunity to camp with the locals again last night as the road to the lodge/camping ground we were headed for was washed out by the still high Kovango river. They were taking tent based campers in tour groups by pontoon up the river to the lodge but as we are vehicle based permission was given for us to camp by the local village.
We were assured of our safety and had a guard provided to watch over us and the parked vehicles. The local billy lids had something to look at till the sun went down and even scored some bon bons from a dumb tourist on one of the buses. No wonder the kids always have their hands out begging all the time. The woman was on an ego trip and implied by her behavior to all assembled that it was a humanitarian act. The rich white gives to the poor black! There is plenty of information available as to not promoting a begging culture as well as pointing out that the kids have no access to a dental care.
5th to 8th May 2011
Weather: 35C Clear skies
Had to get some work done on the truck the day before yesterday. The rear axle on the driver's side started to move to a position (outward though the drive flange) that was not going to be conducive to ongoing forward motion, so I pulled it out to prevent any damage. This didn’t present any great problems in the short term as all I had to do was lock the centre differential and drive with the front wheels.
On our way through Swakopmond we chased up a Land Rover specialist workshop, the address of which we had been given by another Land Rover owner in Walvis Bay. We were lucky they were open as it was the day between two public holidays. We had the axles welded to the drive flanges which will stop any further lateral movement of the axles in the flanges. Cost a few bob, but with worse roads ahead of us I think it a wise move.
I’ve been thinking about what I can do to make all these strange place names mean something to you guys in our travel blog land? And I’ve come to the conclusion that I can do stuff all. The place names don’t jog the old primary school geography class memory banks the same way that places in the first world do. Buy yourselves an Atlas and put it on my account!
We bumped into some South African Land Rover owners while parking to have some lunch at Henties Bay. They were two couples and very interested in the truck and our trip. We got a lot of info from them on the highlights ahead and the road conditions as they had been up North and were now heading south back to South Africa. They even gave us a better map of Namibia which was very generous of them.
Namibia is a land of geographical contrasts, sand dunes in the south of the Namib Desert, barren and flat in parts to the North, and mountainous where we are at the moment at Brandburg. Massive granite mountains to 2500mtr that rise out of the desert plains.
The only constant is the German tourists everywhere. It’s obviously a place where they feel safe and not far out of their comfort zone. They seem to favour sweet cakes and sausages if the fare in the cafes are any indication.
German colonialism has a very dark past in Namibia. On one occasion, in I think I read in about 1907, a particular nasty pasty German commander pursued the locals after they put up a good fight in battle but lost the main game. He chased them relentlessly killing 65,000 of them as they retreated. He only stopped when his troops started to fall ill and could no longer squeeze their trigger fingers. Those of German decent still power the economy here, as they appear to own most of the businesses. The Namibians appear to be, no are, a very forgiving people.
Gael informs me that there are only 2.2 million people in Namibia. It’s a pretty big place so as a consequence there is plenty of space and the environment seems to be largely intact. It's also a really easy country to get around even though some of the gravel roads are reeeeeally rough.
Bloody hell this sounds like a travel blog. But, unlike Europe, up to the present I have nothing to ***** about. But stay tuned!
Leaving our campsite for the night at White Lady Lodge in the Brandburg Mountains we had a minor disagreement as to the direction in which we should head. Typically, Gael reacted badly and threatened to insert the GPS into a part of my body where the sun doesn’t shine.
There are a lot more people the further north we go. As the land gets more fertile I guess this is to be expected. In the town of Opuwo one takes huge pleasure in observing the locals. Their local tribal groups dictate the type of dress for the women and the diversity is amazing. Ladies in amazingly colorful dresses and head gear, to Himba women and girls covered in mud butter who never wash and are seriously the same color as the earth around them. Like me you have seen it on TV, but being in a supermarket full of them and their earth colored babies is as different a cultural experience as we have had on many levels.
Upon reaching the Cunene river, as suggested by the Overlanders on the coast who clearly hadn’t been this way this year, on the Angolan boarder after a straightforward drive north from Opuwo we got into some seriously flood damaged areas. The water from Angola enters Namibia around this general area flowing south into Etosha National Park and the amount of water flowing very fast and the river height meant that we only found one campsite of many open so far this season. This place looked like a dengue fever death camp so after directions from the owner we decided to head east along the river to the next town about 50 klm or 2.5 hrs away.
Well if only I hadn’t sold the Sherman Tank! Because even with directions from some entrepreneurial kids (who I generously tipped the equivalent of 20 cents, which I subsequently raised to 40 cents each after howls of protest), and the 4x4 prowess of the Land Rover we still managed to come perilously close to getting bogged/rolling over/hitting low branches/etc. The last straw was a detour that I might have tackled when younger and a great deal more stupid than I am now (some would argue that point), but Gaels lack of enthusiasm made the choice a simple one. Back to Opuwo, for a diversion of about 350 klm.
As light was failing, along with my sense of humour, we camped for the night in a dry river bed just of the road reminisce of our trips to the outback at home. In the dark, visions of large angry black men armed with machetes storking our camp seamed all too real when shuffling noises were heard outside. After breaking into a cold sweat Gael released the tension in my anus by informing me that there was a horse sharing the creek bed with us for the evening.
9th May 2011
Weather: 30C Clear skies
After a long day of driving today, retracing past kilometers and adding more, we ended our day in a community campsite still in the North of Namibia but heading South East towards Etosha National Park. A lot more populated here, with few whites, crazy drivers and no opportunity to bush camp. So will try to sleep with the sound of laughing local kids and barking dogs filling the night air.
11th May 2011
Weather: 30ish Clear skies
Had the opportunity to camp with the locals again last night as the road to the lodge/camping ground we were headed for was washed out by the still high Kovango river. They were taking tent based campers in tour groups by pontoon up the river to the lodge but as we are vehicle based permission was given for us to camp by the local village.
We were assured of our safety and had a guard provided to watch over us and the parked vehicles. The local billy lids had something to look at till the sun went down and even scored some bon bons from a dumb tourist on one of the buses. No wonder the kids always have their hands out begging all the time. The woman was on an ego trip and implied by her behavior to all assembled that it was a humanitarian act. The rich white gives to the poor black! There is plenty of information available as to not promoting a begging culture as well as pointing out that the kids have no access to a dental care.
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