Adventure Articles

THE "HOW TO SURVIVE NAMIBIA" TOUR 1997 a personal insight .... Article by Jan Maritz Photos by Lynette Oxley

Some people never learn!! After last year's trip to Botswana, you would have thought we would have had more sense than to try another one. But like I said, some people never learn! The intrepid team decided to tackle Namibia and requests for participants were made. Funnily enough, there were fewer contenders this time round. The final score was 9 adventurers - Terry, Gail and Murray Clack, Mada and Roy Maritz, Lynette and Paul Oxley and, the instigator of the whole mad expedition, Eric Maritz and yours truly, who is still wondering why she ever agreed to attend.

September was considered to be the best time to venture forth into the desert, goodness knows, if this is the best time, I would hate to go in the worst. Still it is purportedly before the rainy season and therefore we would not have mud to contend with. Nobody said anything about sand, rocks, heat and dust!!!

Maps were duly consulted, routes decided upon. Paul van der Ploeg, a friend, was consulted by fax on the best roads to take and then we were to meet up with him in Swakopmund to go over the last minute details.

Vehicles were serviced and the final total was three. Eric was to take myself, Mada and Roy in the Range Rover, Lynette and Paul their newly purchased Landrover and the Clacks their Landrover together with a trailer, although we wondered if this was wise as trailers can become a bit of a bother on dreadful roads - we discovered this to be true later on in the saga.

Minimum food was purchased this year as, after last year's experience, we found that we had taken far too much of everything. Anyway, Namibia is better equipped for tourists than Botswana and we intended to buy food along the way. The idea was also to stay in guest farms and lodges for a good part of the trip and avoid putting up those damned tents every night. Still we had enough rations if we should be stranded and the good old "Tray Packs" were packed in for good measure. Thanks to Terry, no one need ever starve!!!

Date was set for Saturday 6th September - meet under the bridge on the motorway at 3.30 a.m. Terry overslept so it was a bit later, but eventually we were on our way to The Namib via Botswana. A new innovation for this trip was radio contact. Each vehicle was fitted with a VHF radio and we were able to communicate with each other within about a 20km radius. It proved to be a lifesaver and no trip should be without it. The radio ops became quite proficient with the jargon such as "Over", " Roger" , "Affirmative" and "Cool"!! The journey almost had a military feel about it!

The aim of the first day was to reach Ghanzi in Botswana and the route was via the SA border post which glories in the name of Skilpadshek. No problem there, walk a few yards and through Pioneer Gate into Botswana. We have a long ride and are looking forward to arriving at the Kalahari Arms at Ghanzi some time early evening. The drive was fairly uneventful, couple of stops for refreshments and chat but we must press on, we have far to go. Ghanzi is reached - we have travelled over 960 kms in one day. Exhaustion has set in - I just want my bed. Lynette and Paul opted to spend the night in a tent and of course there was a torrential rain storm, wasn't there! The rest of us were snug as bugs in rugs in our little cabins!! Picture on the left: On the way to Ghanzi!

Day 2 - we are going to take it a bit easier today. Originally we were going to go straight through to Swakopmund but, after yesterday's long run, it was decided to spend a night at a guest farm. Weissenfels Guest Farm was recommended by the Kalahari Arms and a reservation was made. We got through the Botswana border into Namibia at Mamuno/Buitepos without hiccup and on the route to Windhoek via Gobabis. Unfortunately, we had to bi-pass Windhoek, which was a pity, but we were able to view a bit of the city from the outskirts. We are making for Hochland where we hope to find Weissenfels. The ride was quite spectacular, mountain ranges, grasslands and little else. Not much animal life but birds prolific. An interesting feature was the bird nests on the top of the telephone poles - probably weavers. They can listen in to the conversations of all the farm party lines. Picture on the right: Sunset at Weisenfels farm!

We reached Weissenfels, which is a cattle farm and bed and breakfast venue, in the early evening and after a shower and general clean up, we were entertained by the owners, the Lombards, to a fantastic supper. Manda Lombard did all the cooking herself and there was a marvellous spread of gemsbok stew and a variety of other game and lovely vegies, followed by a selection of mouthwatering tarts. All very nice and a good start to the holiday. Off to bed and a well earned rest.

The early morning was alive with bird calls, the sun was shining and it was still cool.. After a hearty breakfast it is time to be on the road again - I feel like Willie Nelson!!

It is Monday and Day 3. Today we are traversing the Gamsberg Pass to Walvis Bay and then on to Swakopmund. The scenery is much the same as yesterday, lots of yellow grass, dead trees or perhaps they are just dormant awaiting the rains, due to fall in the coming month, hopefully. As we near the coast, the atmosphere changes, we are driving through desert conditions, sand on either side of us and the sky is overcast and quite depressing. Poor Roy is not well. He has been feeling sick all day. We reach Walvis Bay and took a ride to the esplanade to see the bay with all the flamingos. What a sight, hundreds of them. Then off to Swakopmund - Roy is feeling a bit better now and as we have bi-passed the hospital, we hope he stays that way. The road to Swakopmund is long straight and is bordered by the sea on one side and the desert on the other. Quite a strange feeling. We have to book in at Mile 4 camp site, which is, as is to be expected, four miles from Swakopmund up the coast. We duly arrive and settle in to a cabin on the beach. Some vehicle maintenance is required and of course, no holiday would be complete without a visit to an exhaust or tyre emporium. The Range Rover's exhaust needs attention, it hasn't quite fallen off, but is in danger of doing something like that. Picture on the left: Between the Gamsberg & Kuiseb Passes!

Picture on the right: The flamingoes at Walvis Bay!

The exhaust shop is situated right opposite the prison, which is the most magnificent building from the outside. What the inmates think of the inside, we shall never know. While exhaust is being attended to, Terry is arranging to have first puncture of the holiday fixed. We girls are looking for some likely shops for browsing, but find nothing much of any interest except a guy on the roadside selling curios of dubious worth and little creative talent.

Back to Mile 4 to get ready for an evening out. This is to be enjoyed at the famous Kucki's Pub, where a table is waiting. Roy has opted for his bed rather than the delights of Kucki's. Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow. Kucki's was excellent, the seafood fresh and tasty, the beers plentiful. I had a bit of a hangover the next day, I wonder why.

Day 4 - We awake to an overcast day - this is fairly common in Swakopmund according to the locals. We are going to find Paul van der Ploeg today and ask his advice about the trek to the Kaokoveld. He is an expert as he takes tourists up there on a regular basis. If he doesn't know how to get there, then nobody does. The boys find a friend in a bar and put the word out for Paul to join them. Gail, Mada and I descend on the shops. First of all the boring bit, groceries - then the best bit, curios. We found some gemstones shops and antique shops with curios and artifacts, but nothing terribly interesting. Then we discovered a factory making teddy bears stuffed with wood shavings for export - they are not very cuddly -so we couldn't buy them and a Karakul rug weaving factory, which was wonderful. They were horrendously expensive though, obviously catering to the foreign tourists, not us poor South Africans with our useless rands.

We are going to have a braai tonight and Paul vd Ploeg and his girlfriend, Sandy are joining us. The evening was very pleasant and Paul and the boys went over the route and wrote down all the likely land marks, like Himba graves and windmills, and it all sounds quite exciting. We are advised to stock up on packets of tobacco, because the local Himba people will be more happy to impart their vast knowledge of the hinterland if you first cross their palms with baccy. What we didn't know was that a couple of dozen Bic pens would have gone down just as well, there seems to be a dearth of pens in the Namib.

Day 5 dawns cloudy and cool, just right for travelling into the wide, blue yonder. Our destination is Abu Huab and we are going to get there via Henties Bay and through the Brandberg Mountains. The day didn't stay cloudy and cool, it became very very hot and dusty. We reached Uis and duly inspected a shop selling minerals and gemstones, not much to write home about there. Abu Huab camp was reached. We are still loathe to haul out those damned tents, so we opt to sleep in the locally erected A-Frame huts for the princely sum of R15 each per night. It closely resembled a chicken coop. Mada, Roy, Gail and Terry were lucky enough to find ones big enough to sleep two people. Eric and I had to make do with a single. It was like sleeping in a straitjacket and there was no front or back to ours, just sides. After Roy and Mada had beaten their A-frame to death to remove all the dust particles settled upon it over the years, a tremendous dust storm overtook us, which necessitated us taking shelter in said A-frames to avoid being blown away. This storm carried on for quite a few hours and so we decided to clamber back into the vehicles and take off to view the Twyfelfontein rock paintings, organ pipes and the burnt mountain.

Picture on the right: On the way to Abu Huab!

Terry, Eric, Roy and Lynette went off with the guide to view the paintings or, I should actually call them engravings, and Mada, Gail and I remained in the vehicles as we did not have the requisite footwear on for a tramp up a mountain. The dust storm was still blowing there too. The organ pipes were a bit disappointing and the burnt mountain rather odd in that it was the only black burnt mountain in the area among all the brown ones. Funny. Nobody can explain why it's like that either.

The owners of the A-frames had also erected showers and toilets on site, which was a blessing. They evidently use the money they glean from eccentric tourists to better themselves in whatever way they deem fit. Probably purchasing baccy and beer. We feasted on tray packs and went to bed in the chicken coops, dust and all. Picture on the left: Mada & Roy in their A-Frame at Abu Huab!

In the night the desert elephant visited our camp - we saw fresh spoor the following morning not so very far from where we were sleeping. They are elusive creatures and we lucky enough to see a couple at some distance the next day browsing in the scrub.

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