Exploring Namibia

We hired a 4WD pickup from B.B. Cars in Luderitz and drove 3,500km via Fish River Canyon (second only to the Grand Canyon) and then up north via Windhoek to the Etosha Game Reserve.

On the way we stopped at the deserted diamond mining settlement of KolmannsKuppe, just outside Luderitz, where the buildings are being gently subsumed by the desert sands.  The diamond rush began when some discovered that there were diamonds lying about on the sands.   The Orange River washes down great quantities of diamonds into the sea and then they wash up and are blown inland with the sand.   It is strictly forbidden to walk anywhere in the coastal desert areas, or to enter the Mining areas at sea.  The museum provides an excellent tour of the preserved buildings set up to provide everything that the community would need including theatre and bowling alley.  A little train circulated to take ice and water to each home, and to bring the ladies down to the company store to buy food.

Miners' homes disappearing into the dunes

The train outside the Company store

Endless roads across desert mirages

 We drove up along the Orange River and I took the opportunity for a wild swim, hoping there were no crocs.

My swimming spot in the Orange River

Rough roads 

Strange vegetation

Oryx and Eagle

Then onwards through dramatic rocky canyons to a hot spring spa in the mountains for the night..  Mark camped, but Justin and I succumbed to a comfortable bed. Next morning we drove out to the Fish River Canyon, where Mark got some great video from his drone.

Fish River Canyon

We had a long drive up to Windhoek where we had booked an Air BnB for the night.  We circulated the driving, but I found the rear seat very hard on my legs, and Justin must have been worse still!

The following morning we drive on to Etosha where we camped and were delighted with vast numbers of animals; oryx, hartebeest, springbok, wildebeest, impala, Thompsons' gazelles, duiker, steenbok, zebra, giraffe, warthog, elephant and even lion!

Gnu

Zebra

Justin - Wildlife Photographer

Secretary Bird

Giraffes

Ostrich

Jackals

Impala

Hyaena with a giraffe leg

Hornbill

Hartebeest and calf

Steenbok

Bee-eater

Rare Rhino

Mark flying his drone on the salt pans in strong winds

Thompson's gazelles

Lion siesta

King of the water hole

Fiery sunset

From there we took dirt roads south again to see the giant red dunes at Sossusvlei, which we climbed at sunrise. Extraordinary colours and shapes.  On the way we found a broken down pickup truck, and stopped to help (with just a tinge of anxiety that it might be an ambush).  Four Namibian men had been stuck there for two or three days and were out of food and struggling to find water in the dried up river bed.  We shared our lunch with them and gave them water.  They said that only one car had passed in all that time and it hadn't stopped.  They asked to be driven back about 4 hours to the last village to phone for help, but we didn't want to retrace our steps. So we towed them up and down hills for an hour or so to their uncle's farm, using their seatbelts as a tow rope.  Luckily a car going the right way appeared with an African couple and they took the driver back to get a mechanic.  We also witnessed a white couple accelerate past in a big Landcruiser, obviously not prepared to risk stopping to help.

The great red dunes at Sossusvlei in the dawn light

Climbing dunes

 Our last day took us through wild desert landscapes which stretched to distant horizons, framed by mountains of dark bare rock, startling patches of orange or yellow sand dune, and then shimmering views of oryx and zebra through the mirages on the plains. The three year drought means that there is little vegetation, and we saw at least three oryx dead by the roadside.

The day was enlivened by getting stuck in deep sand, blowing a tyre in the remote desert, then having to cut the steering lock off to get the car going.

Stuck in the sand at Sossusvlei

Blow out in the desert.  Time to get out the spare tyre!

 The steering lock had been getting increasingly dodgy as the week wore on, and it chose the middle of the desert to break completely.  We couldn't start the car or unlock the wheels.  There was no phone signal and no likelihood of people nearby.  We were rescued by two South African couples in superbly equipped desert Landcruisers. Pierre and Elsona and their friends, Ignatius and Audrey, were driving up from Cape Town when they stopped for us. Their extensive toolbox soon had the steering lock cut off, and we then eventually found out how to "hot wire" the car so that it would drive. (There's a secret radio transmitter in the key that has to interact with a hidden coil of wire.)

The amazing Landcruisers that stopped to help us

Mark breaking off the steering lock

 So once more we headed south, but now with a second slow puncture to worry us I was keen to find a phone signal to alert our rental company. Some 50km later we found what we needed in a little settlement called Bettem and I called B.B. Cars. Ben and his sons immediately set off to drive 300km north to meet us with a spare tyre. Reassured that we would not spend the night in the desert, we drove on and 100km later we found a garage that managed a temporary repair to the slow puncture. Ben met us after that and gave us the spare, and indeed we needed it because the slow puncture finally blew up just as we arrived in Luderitz at 22:30. We did another wheel change and then Ben kindly launched his ski boat and his sons ferried us out to Tin Tin.

The following morning our neighbour brought our outboard back, with a detailed record of all the work that he had done to service it.  He showed us the photo of his diving suit and we learned about his time diving to retrieve the remains of Bluebird.

Jack returning from his catamaran with our mended outboard

Finally we were ready to set off to St Helena.  But just after we had completed all the formalities I experienced an awful sharp pain in my chest.   So I hurried off to find a doctor, and eventually got seen to, hooked up to an ECG machine and had blood tests done.  They showed nothing, but I continued to have the pain, so they advised to wait for at least another day, and get tested again.    So I delayed our departure and informed the authorities.  The following day I went through various additional tests on a treadmill, and then,, since there was nothing showing gave my thanks to Dr Petzer and set off to sea at last.  Worrying, but thankfully nothing obviously wrong!