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We were told Terrace Bay was about the journey and not about the destination. How right!
The first part of the drive, from Swakop up to Henties Bay was dull, but once past Henties the landscape soon came alive and continuously gently changed shape and colour for the remaining 5 hours of driving.
I think we were blessed with beautiful weather - the Skeleton Coast is known for its coastal fog - but today bright blue skies afforded spectacularly clear vistas, with sand and sea as far as the eyes could see to our left and undulating dunes to the right. And oh the colours! Constantly twisting and turning. It is hard to capture the scenery in words and hard to let the camera do it justice too.
I thouraghly enjoyed being a passenger - we weren't able to drive very fast (60kph max) due to the condition of the roads, so I just sat back and relaxed and watched the landscape unfold before me.
At this point it is worth pointing out that the people we used to book the trip had provided us with a 2 wheel drive Polo, claiming it was suitable for the route we were taking. Well into the national park and every other car we saw was a huge American sized off-road 4x4...Hmmmmmm.
6 hours into the journey and safe in the knowledge that we were only 16k from our destination we rounded a corner and the car went into a skid. Each time the car lurched to the left I saw rocks and gravel coming ever close, convinced this time we were going to roll. After several hundred yards the car left the road, took off over some rocks and came to an abrupt standstill in the sand. How El managed to keep the car upright I do not know, but thanks to him we didn't have a scratch between us. Not quite the same story for the car though!
The entire underneath of the car was ripped clean off and lay shredded around the car and the circuit board for the electrics was hanging loose. Now what is the one part of the car that the most comprehensive car rental insurance doesn't cover you for in Namibia? Yep, the underneath. We are currently awaiting the car bill, but plan to take it up with the agents who should never have rented us this particular car.
A few minutes later a family from Windhoek passed by and stopped to help, they followed us the last 16k to Terrace Bay, which took forever given we couldn't drive much past 30kph! The arrival at Terrace Bay and the evening ahead of us was ruined, but we were able to appreciate the splendour of the location; an isolated hub of activity.
So, this really was one place that was about the journey. The accident was just part of the adventure really!
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