Read about Ron & Viv's journey so far through Africa - into Namibia April 2007.
Namibia
AFRICA TRIPEarly to Mid April 2007
To Southern Namibia and Windhoek
Sooner or later all things come to an end and we had to leave and listen to the sound of rubber rolling on bitumen. Now we were heading north on the BIG drive north to Egypt!
Stopped at the town of Clan William which is on the Oliphants River and is the heart of quite a large irrigation scheme. It's an old town – the jail being dated ‘1808'. Headed to the Dam Resort , (GPS 32°11'40”S 18°53'10”E) which is just south of the dam wall on the edge of the man-made lake and which offers good camping and accommodation.
The lake was near empty but is very popular with the ski boat fraternity as it is supposedly the best lake in South Africa for water skiing. The amenities were quite good – toilets and showers, hot and cold water, lawn campsites, taps everywhere and all for about R65/vehicle – the best price we've found yet!
The country got drier as we headed north and ‘quiver bushes' started to appear on the mountain sides – they seem to like the rocky slopes. Flocks of goats, which were never common, were even scarcer and a few mines began to appear.
As we got closer to the border the country became more dramantic as we headed towards the Orange River valley. Got to the border and went thru all the dramas of clearing customs, declaring and claiming VAT and then on the Namibia side of the border paying our road tax, and entering the country.
Headed off on the C13, (the Engen servo right at the junction) which follows the Orange River – which is the border with South Africa and Namibia and for the first few km it is blacktop, the LH side of the road being mainly green and lush with irrigated orchards and crops; the RH side of the road and being away from the river being quite hilly and as dry as a chip!
The road turned to dirt and while in very good condition (like we found with all the dirt roads in Namibia last trip) it was very dusty. Still the scenery got more rugged and spectacular as we pushed on, the road clinging to the river for most of the way, although it did deviate at one point to climb over a ridge before again rejoining the river.
We checked out a track down to the river and found a large sandy river flat at GPS 28°4'23”S 16°56'16”E and set up camp for the night. The setting was quite dramatic; the Orange River flowed strongly past just 50 metres away, a ribbon of green scrub and bush lined the remote waterway while all around us rugged and rocky and bare and dry mountains surrounded us.
Next day we crossed the divide and almost immediately the country improved to near flat grasslands, broken by the mountain outcrops of bare harsh rock hills. For the most part these hills or mountains look like islands in a sea of yellow grass – quite spectacular really but you have to remember we are at the end of their rainy season, so by October these grassy plains will be just stony hot bare desert!
As we got closer to Rosh Pinah there was more signs of mining and just on the outskirts of the town we hit the bitumen. The town was a typical mining town – albeit African style but the homes for the workers looked new and were well painted (green being predominant) and spread out in ordered files. Just up the road from the town was the shanty town of tin huts and shacks for those hoping to move up to better accommodation one day. The town has a caravan park (pretty bare and basic and meant for contract workers more than anything I'd guess), a small but busy Engen servo and a general store.
The blacktop continues all the way to Aus (not shown on any map we saw) and from there we picked up the main highway to Luderitz. As we got closer to Luderitz – and at about the 30-40km mark the country became barer and much harsher with much less grass. The wind picked up and was soon blowing at gale force from the south. Sand was streaming across the road in places and about 10-15km from town drifts were starting to build up across the blacktop. Dust clouds filled the air and visibility was down to less than 1km.
Got to Luderitz and drove thru town to Shark Island camping to see what it was like. Very different campsite located on the rocky point that helps protect the harbour. A lighthouse and tower crowns the top of the ‘island' while a monument to the areas pioneering ‘heroes' is located just inside the campground. The camping area has facilities with good large sites, BBQ and wash troughs in small shelters but they are all unprotected in this howling wind so, being complete chickens, we headed back to a café and had lunch where we decided we'd find a self-catering cottage or something.
It was a hell of an introduction to the historic diamond town of Luderitz but it just had to get better even though one of the locals warned us that, “It gets a lot worse – sometimes the visibility is down to just a couple of metres and you can't see over the bonnet of your vehicle.” Great!
When we left late next morning it was a balmy autumn day and the town and its surrounds looked a lot better. Even the animals thought so and as we headed to Windoek we saw the famous ‘wild horses' of Namibia as well as groups of springbok and groups of ostrich.
Got to Windoek which is by all accounts the ‘smartest looking capital in Africa. We were here 18 months ago and it is a pleasant city of just 300,000 people. Found our way to the hotel we were staying at and found our friend, Gay, who had arrived in from Australia the day before.
Checked out the small Daan Viljoen Game Park on the outskirts of Windhoek and was surprised to find that it was centred around a small dam which made a fine backdrop for the small camping area and the self-catering chalets that you find here. Located only 20km from the heart of the city it would make a pleasant and handy stop over. There were even a few animals - Mountain Zebra, Wilderbeest, Hartebeest, Springbok and even giraffes.
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Rugged pass on way to Rosh Pinah.
Our first bush camp alongside the Orange River.
On the road north to along the Orange River through Fish River Canyon NP.
The diamond ghost town of Kolmanskop, just outside Luderitz.
A very, very windy day in Windhoek and the camping out at Shark Island. We opted for a bungalow .
The view of Windhoek, capital of Namibia, from the Daan Viljorn Nature Reserve, just out of Windhoek.
