Thursday, August 25, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Day 93 - 97, South Africa
We entered South Africa, aware that the main chunk of our trip was now over. Ahead of us were roughly 1000km to Johannesburg, where we were headed to return our trusty car/home. First stop over the border was the town of Upington, in the Northern Cape province. Here we found a nice and extremely cheap camping site, on the banks of the Orange River. In the evening we headed into town and had a rather fancy meal in a very nice restaurant on one of the main roads. Although the town itself seemed deserted, we nearly crashed into a car whose driver decided to speed through a red light. Our light had just turned green and thankfully we were going slow. It does make you think though, how a fraction of a second can make such a big difference.
After a rather cold night (worse for our hitchhiker friend John who didn't have a mattress and duvet like we did), we drove off to Kimberley. This city was the heart of the diamond industry in its heyday, and it's where De Beers originates from. Although we were on a tight schedule to head back to Joburg, we stopped here for a tour of "The Big Hole". A 450m wide, 200m deep hole, it was dug using picks and shovels by thousands of miners who migrated here in the late 19th century. The museum shows how mining conditions were at the time, as well as a chance to see some of the precious stones inside a tight-security vault. There's also a platform that allows you to see the actual hole from above.
It was in Kimberley that we said bye to John, who was hitchhiking his way down to Lesotho. We instead were heading on the opposite direction and the plan was to drive as far as possible, to anywhere that brought us a bit closer to Joburg. The place ended up being Wolmaransstad, a small nondescript town where we found a comfortable lodge. Here we had some food, re-packed our stuff and cleaned out the car, which, after more than 30 days serving as our home, really needed it.
Thankfully our whole experience driving in Africa had been problem-free, so it was a bit ironic that our only issue happened as we entered Joburg, arguably the biggest city of the continent. A policeman stopped us for what looked like a routine check, as other cars were being stopped too. Kai handed him his German driver's licence, the guy looked at it and claimed that to drive here we needed a temporary licence (whatever that meant). We told him we were sure that we could drive with the one we had. I think he realized that we knew what we were doing, since he then moved on to ask us for something for his lunch. We refused to bribe him so openly, but when he asked for money for a cold drink, we handed him a bottle of Coke and drove off.
Rather than heading straight into the car rental office, we couldn't help ourselves to a last glimpse of the king of the jungle and stopped for a visit to Joburg's famous Lion Park, to see a few last furry animals. Here we had a chance to hang around with lion cubs, petting them and obviously taking advantage of the great photo op. In our many safaris/game drives in three countries we got amazing chances to see lions in the wild. Seeing them in the lion park was clearly not as impressive, but they are still magnificent animals to look at. And getting a chance to play with the cubs is just too cute an opportunity to miss! On top of that we also saw meerkats, which I had been looking out for all over Namibia to no avail, and got a chance to hand-feed a giraffe.
After that is was only 50km or so to the car rental station where we arrived an hour before closing time. Having done around 8500kms across 5 countries in 31 days it felt strange to give the keys to our trusty companion to a stranger, and we left the place with mixed feelings, reflecting once again on the various highlights of the trip and discussing how our last remaining days would be spent.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Day 87 - 93, South-Western Namibia
After two days of "city life" it was time to get back into wilder territory, so after returning from the boat trip and playing with the pelicans we turned the car eastwards into the direction of Sesriem and the famous dunes of the Namib.
Our first stop turned out to get us right back into wild territory proper. After a short stop at Dune 7, a dune popular with locals running up and down it, and after driving east for a few hours, we turned off the "main" road (which was still only gravel) to get to our destination for the day. This campsite had been recommended to us by the family in Palmwag, who had mentioned that it had been the most spectacular campsite of their trip. When we arrived, we learned why. High up on a hill, with a little cave dug out of a cliff wall, we could look out over the empty land for kilometers and except the farm house there wasn't a sign of human habitation around. The facilities were integrated into the environment, with our shower consisting of a handle bolted into the sheer rock face. Our hosts, a farming German/Namibian couple were very nice as well and Yeya got to befriended Linus, the tame mountain zebra of the farm.
Unfortunately, the wind picked up substantially in the night, so we didn't get as peaceful a rest as the setting could offer. In the middle of the night we repositioned the car for more wind protection and we slept in as the wind eased towards the morning. Off again on the gravel road, we made our way towards the dunes, with a stop in appropriately called Solitaire, a place of 5 houses that serves as a well-known stop for travelers. To our surprise, they had a bakery with the most delicious apple pie! We arrived in Sesriem in the afternoon, but realized that not booking ahead would cause us some problems, as the main camp sites were all full. After mulling over a few options and checking the still prevailing wind, we decided on the overflow camp area which lacked in wind-protection, but was the shortest approach to the dunes for the early morning we planned. For the evening, we only took a short drive into the park, checking out some of the dunes and concluding the day at a lookout point.
5am was the time for the alarm clock the next morning, to get a glimpse of the famous Sossusvlei sunrise. 5.45am saw us crossing the park gate (still in darkness), where one of the rangers hitched a ride with us to the dune area. We were running a little late unfortunately, but managed to get up on a dune for the big moment due to some speedy driving, although we had to "abandon" our car in the middle of the track to run up the dune to be in time. Sunrise itself was not as impressive as we had been made to believe, but the dunes in general were very impressive and gave us a certain Lawrence of Arabia feeling. After a slightly chilly breakfast we slowly drove back, admiring the massive dunes and letting the atmosphere sink in. Originally, we had planned to spend two days in the park, but we decided that we had seen enough sand for the time being and carried on southwards.
After another long day of driving through the at times dramatic but always vast and long-distanced countryside, we arrived at our next stop, another curious artifact of the colonial times. A German baron had built a mini castle to impress his wife and do some horse farming in the early 1900s, but after dying in World War I, his wife never returned to claim her property. The result is an authentic but still strange place, which was interesting to see. As there was still a good bit of wind going, we decided to go for four sturdy walls for the night and call it a day. With the walls came a kitchen and a nice bed, so dinner and a good night of sleep were on the agenda.
We slept in the next day, savouring the comfort of a house before going back on the seemingly endless gravel roads. Our destination for the day was the imposing feature of the Brukkaros, a 2km wide crater of a giant volcano that had exploded 18m years ago. We arrived well in time, but were surprised to see the community camp site deserted and empty. We drove as close to the crater as possible and pitched camp on a site that rivaled the Rooiklip camp in its spectacular setting and loneliness. Unfortunately, it also rivaled it for the force of the wind whipping up the side of the mountain and after cooking dinner and observing the situation we decided that putting up the tent on top of the car would not really let us sleep due to the noise from the wind. After experimenting a little we found that the inside of the car offered more than a comfortable setup including light, so we took our books and retired into the car for the night.
Our last major destination in Namibia before crossing back into South Africa was the Fish River Canyon National Park. One of the largest canyons in the world, it is said to be on par with the Grand Canyon in regards to scenery and visual impact, so we were pretty excited to go. The way proved to be yet another long drive through empty countryside, which we only broke by a short stop in Ketmanshoop, the only town of any substantial size in the south of Namibia. We arrived at the Hobas camp site at the north side of the canyon in the early afternoon and this time we were more lucky with our plan-as-you-go approach as there was plenty of space on the camp site. We chose a nice spot (wind-protected!) before heading out to the rim of the canyon in time for the setting sun. I'm not sure how it compares to the Grand Canyon (I was 12 when I saw that), but the landscape must certainly be called dramatic. The Fish river has dug a double canyon into the land, which snakes for nearly 100km through the barren land and reaches depths of more than 500m. We were properly impressed! Coming back and doing our last barbecue of the trip, a French guy dropped by our camp spot and wondered if we were going to South Africa as he was looking for a ride. It turned out we didn't go quite the way he intended, but we left the invitation open anyway.
The next morning, he (John) dropped by again and said he had decided to join us for a ride to Upington on the other side of the border (~400km away), despite us spending another day in Namibia. We loaded him and his luggage into the car and drove off towards our last stop in Namibia, the thermal springs of Ai-Ais at the southern end of the canyon. Before getting there, we took a long drive along the edge of the canyon that offered a wide variety of views and lookouts into the canyon itself. After that, it was just a 100km drive south to the camp, which beat all of our expectations. Instead of a simple camp site with some thrown-together hot water pools (as we had seen in Chile and Peru) this place more resembled a flashy resort in Europe or the US. The pools had been shaped into a large outdoor pool and an inside spa area complete with full massage and beauty treatments. The campsite itself was right next to the river, with glorious views and very good facilities and there was a nice restaurant attached. As a result, lots of South African and Namibian tourists were present, probably also because it was a Saturday and people had come out for the weekend. Plenty of braiing (African BBQ) was happening, but we decided to treat ourselves to dinner and went for Kudu steak and some nice red wine in the restaurant. The wine and the calm night meant that we were in for a good nights sleep.
A last drop in the spa pool in the morning and we were off to the border. 100km into the drive we left the gravel road for good and the drive went by eventless. So did the border crossing and within 15 minutes we had left Namibia and were back in South Africa, which we had left nearly 30 days before.
Our first stop turned out to get us right back into wild territory proper. After a short stop at Dune 7, a dune popular with locals running up and down it, and after driving east for a few hours, we turned off the "main" road (which was still only gravel) to get to our destination for the day. This campsite had been recommended to us by the family in Palmwag, who had mentioned that it had been the most spectacular campsite of their trip. When we arrived, we learned why. High up on a hill, with a little cave dug out of a cliff wall, we could look out over the empty land for kilometers and except the farm house there wasn't a sign of human habitation around. The facilities were integrated into the environment, with our shower consisting of a handle bolted into the sheer rock face. Our hosts, a farming German/Namibian couple were very nice as well and Yeya got to befriended Linus, the tame mountain zebra of the farm.
Unfortunately, the wind picked up substantially in the night, so we didn't get as peaceful a rest as the setting could offer. In the middle of the night we repositioned the car for more wind protection and we slept in as the wind eased towards the morning. Off again on the gravel road, we made our way towards the dunes, with a stop in appropriately called Solitaire, a place of 5 houses that serves as a well-known stop for travelers. To our surprise, they had a bakery with the most delicious apple pie! We arrived in Sesriem in the afternoon, but realized that not booking ahead would cause us some problems, as the main camp sites were all full. After mulling over a few options and checking the still prevailing wind, we decided on the overflow camp area which lacked in wind-protection, but was the shortest approach to the dunes for the early morning we planned. For the evening, we only took a short drive into the park, checking out some of the dunes and concluding the day at a lookout point.
5am was the time for the alarm clock the next morning, to get a glimpse of the famous Sossusvlei sunrise. 5.45am saw us crossing the park gate (still in darkness), where one of the rangers hitched a ride with us to the dune area. We were running a little late unfortunately, but managed to get up on a dune for the big moment due to some speedy driving, although we had to "abandon" our car in the middle of the track to run up the dune to be in time. Sunrise itself was not as impressive as we had been made to believe, but the dunes in general were very impressive and gave us a certain Lawrence of Arabia feeling. After a slightly chilly breakfast we slowly drove back, admiring the massive dunes and letting the atmosphere sink in. Originally, we had planned to spend two days in the park, but we decided that we had seen enough sand for the time being and carried on southwards.
After another long day of driving through the at times dramatic but always vast and long-distanced countryside, we arrived at our next stop, another curious artifact of the colonial times. A German baron had built a mini castle to impress his wife and do some horse farming in the early 1900s, but after dying in World War I, his wife never returned to claim her property. The result is an authentic but still strange place, which was interesting to see. As there was still a good bit of wind going, we decided to go for four sturdy walls for the night and call it a day. With the walls came a kitchen and a nice bed, so dinner and a good night of sleep were on the agenda.
We slept in the next day, savouring the comfort of a house before going back on the seemingly endless gravel roads. Our destination for the day was the imposing feature of the Brukkaros, a 2km wide crater of a giant volcano that had exploded 18m years ago. We arrived well in time, but were surprised to see the community camp site deserted and empty. We drove as close to the crater as possible and pitched camp on a site that rivaled the Rooiklip camp in its spectacular setting and loneliness. Unfortunately, it also rivaled it for the force of the wind whipping up the side of the mountain and after cooking dinner and observing the situation we decided that putting up the tent on top of the car would not really let us sleep due to the noise from the wind. After experimenting a little we found that the inside of the car offered more than a comfortable setup including light, so we took our books and retired into the car for the night.
Our last major destination in Namibia before crossing back into South Africa was the Fish River Canyon National Park. One of the largest canyons in the world, it is said to be on par with the Grand Canyon in regards to scenery and visual impact, so we were pretty excited to go. The way proved to be yet another long drive through empty countryside, which we only broke by a short stop in Ketmanshoop, the only town of any substantial size in the south of Namibia. We arrived at the Hobas camp site at the north side of the canyon in the early afternoon and this time we were more lucky with our plan-as-you-go approach as there was plenty of space on the camp site. We chose a nice spot (wind-protected!) before heading out to the rim of the canyon in time for the setting sun. I'm not sure how it compares to the Grand Canyon (I was 12 when I saw that), but the landscape must certainly be called dramatic. The Fish river has dug a double canyon into the land, which snakes for nearly 100km through the barren land and reaches depths of more than 500m. We were properly impressed! Coming back and doing our last barbecue of the trip, a French guy dropped by our camp spot and wondered if we were going to South Africa as he was looking for a ride. It turned out we didn't go quite the way he intended, but we left the invitation open anyway.
The next morning, he (John) dropped by again and said he had decided to join us for a ride to Upington on the other side of the border (~400km away), despite us spending another day in Namibia. We loaded him and his luggage into the car and drove off towards our last stop in Namibia, the thermal springs of Ai-Ais at the southern end of the canyon. Before getting there, we took a long drive along the edge of the canyon that offered a wide variety of views and lookouts into the canyon itself. After that, it was just a 100km drive south to the camp, which beat all of our expectations. Instead of a simple camp site with some thrown-together hot water pools (as we had seen in Chile and Peru) this place more resembled a flashy resort in Europe or the US. The pools had been shaped into a large outdoor pool and an inside spa area complete with full massage and beauty treatments. The campsite itself was right next to the river, with glorious views and very good facilities and there was a nice restaurant attached. As a result, lots of South African and Namibian tourists were present, probably also because it was a Saturday and people had come out for the weekend. Plenty of braiing (African BBQ) was happening, but we decided to treat ourselves to dinner and went for Kudu steak and some nice red wine in the restaurant. The wine and the calm night meant that we were in for a good nights sleep.
A last drop in the spa pool in the morning and we were off to the border. 100km into the drive we left the gravel road for good and the drive went by eventless. So did the border crossing and within 15 minutes we had left Namibia and were back in South Africa, which we had left nearly 30 days before.
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