Sossusvlei & Naukluf Mountains

I think I’ve just seen my dream bicycle set up. The bike itself is in pretty rough shape, and the seat looks like it would make sitting down painful for the rest of your life. But the set up is brilliant – it has a huge shopping cart-like basket welded to the front. Do you know how many groceries could be carried on that thing? Or camping equipment? Or furniture? I think the man uses it to deliver laundry from the Laundromat where we’re currently hanging out. Our clothes are once again filthy; this time from sand and dust.

We finally made it to the number one tourist destination in all of Namibia, the Sosusvlei sand dunes, and for once I think they deserve all of the praise they receive. The towering, sinuous dunes create beautiful curves and lines that flow into each other and cover the landscapes in shades of red, orange, and brown. When seen at sunrise the growing light creates stark distinctions between the glowing red sand and the deep shadows. Even when seeing them in person, it feels like you are surrounded by paintings instead of actual landscapes. Our photos do not do them justice.

Jeanette on Dune 45 at sunrise

Springbok running over dune right before pronking

Sunset on Elim Dune

We spent two nights in the park, which was much cheaper for camping than either of our guide books suggested. We’re also traveling well off season, so we’ve been able to get sites at the last minute. After driving to the dunes for the sunrise on the first day we hiked up Dune 45, the tallest of the dunes, and then hiked out to Sossusvlei itself. A vlei is a low, flat, dry area of land, though the namesake of the park is currently filled with a shallow lake from all of the rain in January. Apparently they’ve had very atypical weather this year including a rainy summer and now a cold winter. An unusual number of low-lying plants and beautiful flowers bloomed in the sand covered landscape. We hiked to a few very desolate vleis as well that had skeletons of trees standing on flat plains of mud and sand.

Dead Vlei

Anne on Dead Vlei admiring trees that she so misses

Two women hiking alone apparently stood out. The male drivers of the shuttles down the sand road to the vleis didn’t understand why we wanted to walk instead of paying close to $40 for a ride. When we decided to walk another 4 km to another vlei, it was shocking. We’re frequently asked where are men are because clearly two women, especially of our age, should not be without husbands. Our story is that they couldn’t get off of work, so we decided to travel without them. No one ever asks for details, though, which is unfortunate. It’s fun to concoct stories. I’ve decided my fictitious husband is an astronaut.         

Bob

After Sossousvlei we went to the much less popular Naukluft Mountains for a day hike on the Waterkloof Trail. The mountains weren’t very far from the dunes, but we allowed plenty of time to drive there. A large majority of the roads in Namibia are gravel and vary from being wonderful one minute to washboards with sandy dips and rocks the next. We got our first puncture on the way to Sossousvlei, but changed the tire on our own without any issues. (Though I’ve changed many bike tires, I’ve never had to change a car one, so it was a good lesson for me.) We’re pretty sure that “waterkloof” means river bed ravine, since the entire hike walked through one. Though not the most exciting trail we’ve ever done, we encountered many beautiful views, rocks, purple flowers, and painfully prickly plants. At night we huddled into our sleeping bags and extra blankets. Jeanette keeps complaining because so far, though we are now technically in the tropics, Africa is COLD.

Naukluft Mountains

When we left the mountains we headed to the moon landscape and welwitschia plains of the Namib Desert. Welwitschia are ancient dwarfed trees that only grow in this small section of Namibia and nowhere else. Their trunks actually developed into long roots underground. Above ground they have two leaves that split apart to look like grass skirts around them. The oldest plant here is 1,500 years old. It started growing when the Roman Empire still controlled Europe and Atilla the Hun was just defeated.

Welwitschia

The moon landscape is just that – a weird, rocky, crater-filled landscape in the middle of the desert that looks like the moon. I think Jeanette is right when she says that if it were in the U.S., some tourist trap would have set up a model of an astronaut and Apollo 11 so that people could take their photos with them. In Namibia they just have signs that say “Viewpoint” and “Stay on the road, drilling in progress.” Mining companies are searching for uranium within the national park.

The Moon

While driving we met a couple from Holland who turned an old army truck into an overland travel vehicle. They’ve been traveling through Africa for two and a half years and have had brilliant adventures. Checkout their blog at http://www.travelisfun.org/.

So after all of that we’ve finally landed in Swapmokund, tourist destination extraordinaire. We’re doing everything on our own instead of taking tours, so for us, this town means well-stocked grocery stores, pizza, and a Laundromat. Then we’ll head back out into the desert, because you can just never have enough dust. However, we will always keep with us the brilliant words of wisdom from an Arabella wine bottle:

Important Words of Wisdom

Luderitz Boat Trip

When we last left our two swash-buckling adventurers they had secured a place aboard a Namibian research vessel headed towards penguin-filled islands and a packet of seasickness pills. Let’s see how they fared...

On Wednesday morning we arrived at 8 am at the Ministry of Fisheries office in Luderitz. The staff needed to fill more than two dozen large jugs with petrol before we left on the resupply trip to Possession Island, so while we waited we joined a few women as they went out to take water samples in the local harbor. When fisheries scientists do this in Alaska they usually wear Xtratufs and a hoodie. Heck, when any one in Alaska just watches this done they are usually wearing Xtratufs and a hoodie. In Namibia it’s a whole different ball game. People here dress up much more than people in the States, even just for going to work. One of the women wore a beautiful silver dress complete with complicated pleats and puffed shoulders. Back home, the dress was more appropriate for going to the opera, but here she didn’t even bat an eye when dipping a small net into the ocean to test for plankton levels. The other women weren’t as fancily dressed, though their delicate shoes and gleaming white jackets would not have lasted long in the Aleutians. They were fun to chat with about the town and the local oyster and lobster fisheries.

Within a few hours it was just like being back at home—on a large boat headed into the wind over a cold ocean. Jeanette couldn’t help but reminisce about her days as an observer, and I felt like I should have a microphone with me to ask questions of everyone on board. The boat sailed fairly close to shore and we had a unique perspective on the forbidden diamond zone. From our ship we could see the massive building used to sort diamonds from dirt and the remains of yet another diamond ghost town. It seemed almost contradictory to watch seals and dolphins leap into the air and swim past our ship, R/V !Anichab, while staring into a stark desert landscape.

Stark Desert Landscape

Stark Desert Landscape continued (although this one also has a shipwreck in it)

Our first stop was Pomona Island. The biologists on board the boat needed to check out a shipwreck on the tiny, uninhabited island. A small boat belonging to the diamond industry went aground a few years ago, and the company was busy dismantling it for parts. The biologists wanted to make sure they weren’t working near any bird breeding colonies. Either the work on the wrecked boat had already scared them away or they no longer nested there. When we landed there was nary a bird in sight.

That night we anchored up near Possession Island. Jeanette and I slept on the boat, which mercifully rocked much less in the calm harbor. Possession Island is about three kilometers long and is the largest island off of Namibia’s coast. It’s staffed year round with biologists who monitor the local penguin, seagull, gannet, oyster catcher, and cormorant colonies. People do one year shifts on the island with only a few weeks of leave, but they have nice houses with electricity, satellite TV, phones, and internet. We disembarked from the large ship again in a small rubber boat that we call a zodiac and they call a rubber duck. And awaiting us, right on shore, were penguins!

Possession Island Penguins!!!

The biologist explained that the penguins live in three distinct colonies, though to me they just look like three different dirt patches with groups of penguins. He said that they always know to come back to the same place, though they sometimes hang out with the other penguins in the water. Their main predators are the colony of fur seals that live on the far end of the island. Apparently some of the seal pups learn to hunt the penguins at an early age. If a seal starts feeding primarily on penguins then the biologists have to shoot it so that it doesn’t decimate the small penguin population. The seal population is very healthy. The island itself is flat with small bushes used by penguins as nests, piles of rock, and tons of bird poop. Germans used to hunt seals on the island, and they built a small network of tracks for carting about the seal carcasses on mini railcars. These remain along with a small cemetery.

After leaving Possession Island we headed back to Luderitz. We decided not to join the crew for the two day trip up to Mercury Island and back. As much as I love penguins and watching the scenery, I still feel like the world is moving around me and we’ve been back on land for hours! Also, for the first time ever, we actually made plans and have booked a campsite in advance. We are both quite grateful to everyone at the ministry who let us tag along and to Julius the cook who made us special non-meat food. (Namibians really, really like to eat meat at every meal, it seems.) So now, back on land and onto the seas of sand!     

South Africa Thoughts

Before leaving on this trip our basic itinerary had us in South Africa for about three weeks, but we’ve ended up staying over six.  This is an incredibly beautiful and diverse country, and it’s remarkably easy to get around.  Looking at a road map of Africa, it seems like half the roads in the entire continent are in South Africa.  The southern part of the country is much more developed than the northern. 

There are numerous national parks, game and nature reserves throughout the country, dedicated to a variety of interests – wildlife, hiking and camping, boating, etc.  Once we rented a car these parks become so much more accessible to us, and it’s been fantastic to get to see them.

The availability of goods and services has been astounding.  We packed for the trip with the mindset that everything from hand sanitizer, batteries, and tampons would be difficult to obtain unless in a major city.  So here we are with a massive first aid kit in a country where it’s safe to drink the tap water.  Grocery stores and gas stations are everywhere, as well as restaurants and accommodations, and they have all been easier to reach with a car.  To top it off, most South Africans speak at least a little bit of English, while whites and those in the tourist industry speak very good English.  This has made getting around immensely easier than it would otherwise have been.

One of the prevailing things we’ve experienced is post-apartheid South Africa.  You see it everywhere, and although the worst is hopefully over, the racism you encounter is difficult to stomach.  I think largely because it’s so blatant and the disparity of wealth between blacks and whites is so vast.  It was interesting traveling on the taxis and being the only white people verses now with the car; other than picking up a hitchhiker (females only for safety reasons) every now and then, our interactions with the black population has been very limited.  It will still be a long while before this country heals itself, but hopefully future generations will be more open-minded and fall less into stereotypes.

Crime is a problem in most towns and cities.  I can probably count on one hand the number of times we’ve walked around after dark.  Security is very conspicuous – there are fences with steel spikes surrounding houses and buildings.  On top of the fences are rings of barbed wire for added measure.  Most of the hostels are very good about letting you know where it is safe to walk and where it is not, and if there is a restaurant close by.  Prince Albert (in the Karoo where we stayed with John and Anne) is the only town I recall without these immense security measures.

A few years ago one U.S. dollar used to equal roughly ten South African Rand, but with South Africa’s improving economy and following the 2010 FIFA World Cup, one U.S. dollar now equals just under seven Rand.  We’ve saved a considerable amount of money by camping and cooking our own food.  Aside from the needed (wanted?) splurge, we managed to stay under our budget.  Then we decided to rent the car earlier, and with that and gas, we’ve been spending more than expected.  The freedom of the car and flexibility it affords is well worth it.  What’s the point of coming here and not seeing or doing what we want to?

Our interests have mainly been wildlife, scenery, and hiking so we’ve stayed at quite a few parks and campgrounds, some in the mountains and some in the semi-arid regions.  One thing that has struck me so far is how cold it gets at night, and sometimes in the day.  I’ve already spent way more nights outside here in below freezing temperatures than I did on the Appalachian Trail.  Of all the preconceived notions I had of Africa, one of them was definitely that it was a warm – if not hot – continent.  I guess that’s what we get for traveling in winter!  At least it’s meant that many campgrounds are empty, so this has greatly assisted us in making plans last minute.

One South African characteristic when camping is to go caravan style.  I have never seen the likes of it.  People definitely don’t just go camping, they go caravanning.  Picture the most enormous tent you’ve ever seen in your life and then double it and that’s what it’s like.  Two people will arrive in a truck with it completely packed and they’ll tow a small trailer with more stuff.  There are full kitchens, giant air mattresses, huge overhead lights, and full screen porches.  The few outfitters we’ve been to most definitely cater to this crowd instead of the hiker/backpacker crowd.  When we got the car we totally splurged on pillows and a blanket, and that blanket has been worth its weight in gold considering the subzero temps.  Most other campers have a cooking station bigger than our entire tent, and their tent could serve as a two car garage for our rental car.

The South Africa National Parks systems keeps well maintained camping facilities and have had an impressive array of overnight hiking options available with huts.  It’s kind of nice to not have to carry a tent and sleeping pad and you get the added bonus of knowing an ostrich or baboon won’t steal your food.

South Africans love their KFC.  It’s really funny because in the states you’ll see KFC but they’re no Taco Bell or anything; here, they are in competition with Nando’s, Chicken Lickin’, and Wimpy’s.  Beloved KFC, every time I see one it makes me laugh a little bit. 

South Africans are big meat eaters in general.  You’ll see signs for biltong everywhere, which is basically just jerky but from anything imaginable – beef, ostrich, kudu, klipspringer.  Every single ad for any accommodation will heavily advertise that they have braai facilities.  This is basically a grill, but braaing is such a way of life here, that it’s a necessity.  Our braaing skills started out rather dismal but have improved since we began using large amounts of fire starter. The other night we had a lovely butternut squash that was cooked on the braai.  It was our most proud South African moment.   Well, maybe that’s tied with hiking the Otter Trail, but still, it was quite delicious.

Overall we’ve been incredibly lucky with the people we’ve met along the way.  We’ve had generous offers of hospitality and great conversation.  People have given us their phone numbers if we need a place to stay or get stuck somewhere.  It’s been fantastic.   Many also really look out for our welfare once they realize we’re two women on such a journey.

As wonderful as South Africa has been we both have a strong desire to move on.  In fact, we keep joking that we are ready to go to “Africa” now.   Except for a few anomalies, you could pick any developed country and say we were on a road trip there.  Before this trip began, I had a variety of images in my head of what it would be like, and while I haven’t quite encountered that yet, South Africa gets two big thumbs up.

Geology Lessons

Namibia is in many ways set up for tourists with cars. The tourism office offers tons of free detailed maps that show the roads and highlight any possible tourist attractions. On our first day we were driving to Fish River Canyon and decided to stop by to see dinosaur fossils at what we thought would be a cheap roadside attraction, like you might see in Kansas. It wasn’t. We pulled into an empty parking lot next to a small neon green building. Within 30 seconds a pickup pulls up and an old man hops out and signs us up for the next slightly expensive private tour, starting immediately, with him. No backing out.

We follow him in our car up a gravel road through his farm and stop at a grave site of a German soldier killed in a battle with local people in the early 1900s. Then, he shows us the fossils. They were perfect imprints of bones from a mesaurus, a small reptile that pre-dates the massive dinosaurs. Their bones are only found in southern Africa and South America. They lived back when the two continents were connected and covered by a shallow ocean. The animals had fully developed lungs, lived on land and water, and ate plankton through their slender, filter-like teeth. His son found the first fossil 20 years ago, and they have found dozens of others since. In the past six years the man started giving tours of the fossil site and the surrounding geological features to support their farm.

After examining the fossils he took us to an area with naturally formed stacks of square blocks. A similar roadside stop calls it a Giant’s Playground. As well as I can recall, magma was basically pushed up into tubes that eventually cooled and turned into dolomite rocks. Over time the softer sandstone around them eroded away and left stacks that naturally cracked into blocks. Some have enough space between them to create resonance, and the guide hit them with a smaller rock to play songs. The tour guide was quite a character, always cracking bad jokes as he spouted useful information and explained how and where he learned it. (I do like a person who cites his sources.)

Quiver Trees

Tour guide playing music

Growing between the rock piles were scads of bizarre quiver trees. The trees aren’t actually trees, just a large aloe variety. The San people used to hollow out the light-weight limbs to make quivers for their hunting bows. What we thought would be a quick stop actually turned into quite an educational and interesting tour. That’s more than can be said for Fish River Canyon.   

Fish River Canyon is the second largest canyon in the world, and it is quite large. You can book a five-day hike through the canyon, but the parks office here wouldn’t let us because there are only two of us, not three, and we don’t have a doctor’s note saying that we’re healthy enough. We thought we could still do day hikes in or around the canyon, but apparently we can’t.  The Lonely Planet said there was a nearby park with hiking, but it was off by about 150 km. So, instead, we stayed at the hot springs at the end of the canyon (lovely!!!) then went to the view points at the top of the canyon. It’s large and the walls are impressive, but I have to admit it didn’t do much for me. Maybe I’m just over semi-arid, cool geology in tones of brown. Maybe I was just cranky that day. Either way, I’m rather glad we couldn’t do the hike, especially given what we get to do now…. (Just wait!)

Fish River Canyon

We left Fish River and did a pleasant day hike through the desert at Aus before heading to Luderitz. 

View from desert hike in Aus

Lovely desert sky

On the way into town we stopped at a ghost town next to the Forbidden Area. Germans found diamonds in Namibia in the early 1900s. The desert was literally littered with them. At first, instead of mining, the workers just scooted about on their bellies picking them from the sand. Since then a huge chunk of the country has been designated a no-go zone and is controlled by the mining companies and the government. For about 40 years a small diamond mining town proliferated near what’s now a main road then was closed down in the early 1950s. The buildings still stand, but many are derelict and filled with sand from the surrounding dunes. We visited during a wind storm, which made it even more desolate seeming. The tour taught us many things about diamonds and the history of Namibia. We also finally learned that Namibia is in a different time zone than South Africa and we’d been off an hour for three days. Oops….

Dune-filled home in Kolmanskop Ghost Town

Wind storm on the way to Luderitz

Finally, we reached Luderitz, a cute old German town complete with bakeries, colonial-style houses, a penguin colony, and a research outpost for the Ministry of Fisheries. We arrived in town and wanted to find out about boat trips to see the penguins. I had been day dreaming that maybe we could actually go to the island and see the penguins instead of just going nearby on a boat. I thought maybe we could get a lift with a research boat or something. It turns out I was right!! The lady at the tourism office knew a lady at the fisheries office and it turns out boats aren’t going to the nearby island this week, but they are going to research outposts further out. For three days we get to go on the boat and see penguins and many other sea birds and learn about bird monitoring in Namibia. And all we had to do was ask! So now I’m off to look for sea sickness pills (better safe than sorry) and you’ll hear from us when we get back. Penguins ahoy!!!!!!  (Also, this is Anne writing. Jeanette still likes brown canyons, and she doesn’t get seasick. I’m not sure of her opinion on the importance of accurately citing sources.)

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

My eyes hurt. Hour after hour we stared into a tan, green and brown dusty environment looking for tan and brown creatures to move. Some of the animals in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park were easy to spot. The ever-present gemsbok is a massive ungulate with distinctive black and white markings on its face and long, straight horns. When we drove into the park on the first evening, a small group of them greeted us near the gate. They aren’t on the emblem of the park for nothing—they’re everywhere. Gemsboks are frequently joined by small gazelles with tan backs and white bellies called springboks and the occasional wildebeest.

Gemsbok

Gemsbok and springbok chilling out

Springbok playing around

Our last hurrah in South Africa was a two and a half day trip to a multi-national park that covers a small portion of the Kalahari in the northern protrusion of South Africa and the southwest corner of Botswana. The Kalahari is thought of as a desert but is actually semi-arid with many plants, some trees, and a wide expanse of tall grasses. Upon entering the park we thought it would be filled with animals. Ungulates greeted us at the gate. Massive secretary birds and cory bustards, another bird, strutted through the grass. We drove down the dusty roads looking at each of the old waterholes that lined them and searched for the area where people had seen lions, but we didn’t see anything. I was getting anxious about the time because you have to get back to the campsite before the gates close at sundown, and the speed limit was fairly low. Jeanette was sure we could make it to the next waterhole. After about two hours we finally turned back having seen nothing more than ungulates. Then, Jeanette saw him.

We were extremely lucky. The lion just happened to be walking up over the ridgeline when we happened to be driving by. Otherwise, we never would have spotted him. He sauntered over the hill, wandered a bit then settled in to watch two nervous looking wildebeest. After watching the lion for 15 minutes I convinced Jeanette that we had to get a move on. A few minutes down the road two bat-eared foxes jumped out in front of us. We hurriedly shot some photos before moving on. We were running so late I wouldn’t even stop for more than a moment to see the group of eight foxes playing in the grass. We got to camp ten minutes before they locked the gate.

After our amazing luck the first night we were certain the next two days would be spectacular. They weren’t. We drove for about 10 hours the next day and saw jackals, ostriches, and ungulates. We also discovered that the roads didn’t seem bad in our little car when we were pumped up and excited to see new things. However, as soon as the excitement wore off we realized that we were bouncing around on washboard roads that jostled our brains into mush. We decided our final day would be a straight route through the park to the Namibia border at Mata-Mata.

Our final day in South Africa had one major highlight—pronking. Apparently springbok got their name from their weird, straight-legged jumping called pronking. I have no idea how it’s physically possible, but the lithe little animals don’t bend their knees, they just arch their backs and shoot straight up into the air over and over when playing. It is quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in nature other than a penguin. It happened too fast to get photos, but you should all look up videos of it. We also saw meerkats (suricates) from pretty far away and giraffes. And finally, we entered Namibia!! 

Meerkat

Secretary Bird

New pictures!

Hello! We finally got the chance to add more pictures to old posts. Start with Otter Trail and move forward to check them out.

Augrabies Falls

We arrived at Augrabies Falls National Park unsure of our exact plans, other than that we were going to camp there that night. We had read about a three-day hike called the Klipspringer Trail, and asked about it at the reception desk. It was described as a popular hike of moderate difficulty. Upon inquiring about availability to start the next morning, we found out there was room! In fact, on this popular hike we were the only ones signed up! (The same thing happened at Blyde River, too.)

Before setting up camp we walked down to the falls the park is famous for. Here it is, Augrabies Falls, the world’s sixth largest waterfall:

A fair amount of the boardwalk was washed out from big floods this February. It is hard to imagine the water levels rising that high, and must have been quite a sight to behold.

At first glance this region seemed as if it would be fairly monotonous, but each day on the trail proved to be much more varied than expected. The semi-arid regions are usually quite beautiful to look at but don’t hold people’s attention for long. It takes a close eye to notice the subtleties and appreciate the fine details, so hiking through it was the perfect way to accomplish this.

The days included rock-hopping over boulders, walking past koppies (basically giant mounds of rocks), avoiding koppies with large baboons, sandy, dry riverbeds, and numerous wildflowers. On the second day we dropped down into the gorge where the Orange River flows and followed along on the banks for several kilometers. The boulder-hopping was fun, but very taxing on the body.

Anne with the Orange River

The trail was incredibly well-marked with little green signs, white arrows painted on the rocks, and rock cairns. With the terrain being what it was, this was essential. Otherwise, you could get lost very easily. As soon as one trail marker was passed, we instantly looked for the next one so the trail became a sort of connect-the-dots adventure.

Quiver Tree with Weaver Nest

Scary but beautiful desert flower

The first two days of hiking only took us about five and half hours each, so we had plenty of down time to read, play cribbage, and most importantly, plan Namibia. We only have the car until June 29, so every minute counts.

The trail was a great little desert getaway. We spent the hours scanning the horizons for kudu, springbok, klipspringer, eland, and giraffes. On the last day (ironically, while on a dirt road for a brief while), Anne spotted two klipspringer, but the giraffes and other ungulates completely evaded us.
Tomorrow it is on to the Kalahari Desert where black-maned lions await us…hopefully.

Klipspringer