An African Odyssey

Haven eaten and drunk our fill in Swakopmund and delighted in the multitude of cafes well stocked supermarkets (proof of levels of enjoyment is that I actually popped a button on my trousers after having consumed an enormous oryx steak!), we headed south into the desert and dunes of the amazing Namib-Naukluft Park. The scenery was really spectacular with the red dunes majestically rising out of the earth, the light and shadow dancing on their constantly changing coloured slopes. With the pervasive wind and sand’s innate ability to get on any surface and into every crevice and be carried away by visiting tourists, it is hard to believe any dunes exist at all. We explored some of the dunes and took many more photos until our cameras started making funny got-sand-inside kind of noises.

One ‘must do’ in Sossusvlei is to head up Dune 45 and watch the sunset or sunrise from the top ridge. We have no clue as to why it is called Dune 45 - perhaps because it is between equally imaginatively named Dune 44 and Dune 46 and has close access to the roadside. Whatever the case it has great views over the surrounding plains and dunes. Staggered up the hill and must admit almost gave up as it was such hard work, however had met a 71 year the previous day so decided if she could do it, so could I!! Trudi crawled up again. Sunset was pretty but not the reddest or the most spectacular that we’d seen. The best part was actually the joy of running down the dune plunging almost knee deep into the sand along the way.

Bushcamp following night was at the nicest spot with a lake and hills, reeds and rocks all reflected in the cooling water. Braved sleeping outside for the first time (outside malaria danger zone) as was a clear and windless night. Also my solo tent efforts the previous night had failed me and I'd had half of it fall on me in the high winds… Glad that I had the experience of laying all cosy in my sleeping bag next to the crackling fire and gazing up at the millions of twinkling African stars (useless fact: the southern cross is upside down here and goes down during the night, not up). Didn’t sleep too well as was next to several serious snorers and despite close proximity to the fire was also a very cold night!

Stopped in at the famous Cape Seal colony as we wound our way down the Skeleton Coast, named due to the amount of shipwrecks along the uninspiring rocky coastline. Thankfully the weather was cool and wind was in our favour so the smell of the numerous seals was actually bearable whereas usually it overwhelms the most hardened olfactory senses. So it was the cool breeze and our keenness to get to Swakopmund that made our visit to the colony a short one.

Swakopmund is the adventure capital of Namibia – think Vic Falls with sand instead of water. It is literally a city built on sand with the reputedly highest dunes in the world towering over the city a stones throw away. The city itself reflects its German origins in the architecture and great food – must say that we definitely took advantage of the numerous restaurants and gorged ourselves stupid for several days with the best food we’d had in weeks. Another reason to love Swakopmund was that we had beds to sleep in, although at 10 to a dorm had more privacy and less snoring in the tent!!

First night was a big night on the town to celebrate Jesse’s birthday and return to civilization. Our star spotting antennae were out but we didn’t see Wesley Snipes who is in town filming a movie and usually hangs out at the bar next door to the hostel…

Next morning we went sandboarding, and with gloves, elbow pads and helmets took on the towering dunes on our high-tech speed machines (yep, a basic slippery board!) – what an adrenalin buzz lying head first at the slip face and rocketing down the slope at high speed. Started off nice and tame, then onto a tandem ride (we canned out half way down but a soft and hilarious landing in the sand) and then onto the highlight of the day – the terrible twin dunes Lizzie and Dizzie. Aptly named as the speed was definitely dizzying at over 75km/hr!!! They actually have a speed gun at the bottom so you know your top speed and can challenge other contenders. It was so much fun although enough to the get the nerves going before descending each slippery slope. A few of the others tried out the stand up version which is basically snowboarding on sand – a lot harder and not as much speed involved. One way to ease the pain in our muscles clambering back up the dunes was to watch Trudi, one of the larger members of our group, struggle up the dunes on her hands and knees with shoes on her hands!!! Following a great lunch and all the excitement, spent the afternoon having an unexpected nap before venturing out to do exciting things like laundry… then more food and wine. Really will not return from Africa any thinner than when I started!!

Unfortunately we were in Swakopmund on the weekend so being Sunday there was not a lot of things open the following day. Basically hung out (doing internet and finding the only open café for coffee) until our next adventure of quad biking in the afternoon. Most of our group was on automatics, though the experienced petrol heads had manual bikes to churn up the sand with. Was great fun zooming round the dunes, doing ‘roller coasters’ up, down and around the place. Took me awhile to get the hang of the leaning into the curves but soon was hooning over the dunes with abandon and loving it!! Had a few rest stops to enjoy the views of the seemingly unending dunes and then the unexpected view of the sea and city that suddenly appeared over a dune. Saw one of the guys on a manual have a spectacular wipeout but thankfully unhurt due to the soft sand landing. Must say particularly enjoyed bottle of wine that evening after all the excitement of the previous few days.

Did a final uneventful drive through Etosha (our last game drive for this trip) and onto Cheetah Park, an out-of-the-way place that was as its name states, a cheetah conservation park. Pretty basic campsite and really hot (above 30 degrees) but thankfully a small well-stocked bar to keep us cool… firstly we went to see the ‘tame’ Cheetahs that stayed with the family in their house (orphaned cubs that had been rescued when their mother had been shot by hunters) and all had our photos taken with them. Some even got a sandpaper lick from the cats as they wound through our legs. Cheetahs are so much like domestic cats in their mannerisms (much more so than lions) except of course their physique is much more streamlined and they are surprisingly tall with long legs (guess this is why they can move so fast!) and their eyes have a wicked golden gleam.

Afterward we went to watch the wild cheetahs being fed in a large enclosure – it was great watching them trot along behind the truck, then wait patiently (with occasional cat-fight thrown in) for the choice bits of goat meat to be thrown out for them. The lucky recipient of each bit of meat would run as only cheetahs can and devour it, the rest hungrily circling for the next hunk to be thrown in their midst. Was great except for the fact that my camera batteries took that moment to die so only got half as many of the million photos I had planned to take (digital cameras can be dangerous in the number of photos they allow you take in the quest for the perfect national geographic shot!). We also saw a few cute fluffy cheetah cubs delicately nibble their evening meal under the protective eye of their mother.

Cheetah park was followed by another bush camp in the middle of the desolate landscape of Namibia and we managed to get ourselves stuck in the sand… this took a good hour the following morning to dig out and get going. Thankfully there were a lot of rocks in the surrounding area so could build a little road to the road and out of the sand pit!!

The drive day was a normal day but really enjoyed the mesmerizing scenery of Namibia, all of which looks like it is textured fabric draped over a never ending strip of blue sky and the road a narrow ribbon that runs through it. Surprisingly the roads in Namibia are nearly all gravel and dust which meant that we had to have the sides of the truck up to keep out the dust – sometimes got so cold on the road (despite heat when we stopped moving!) that we had to huddle in our sleeping bags! On the way to the bush camp we stopped at the Brandberg (Fire) Mountain to go and visit the famous white lady cave paintings that date between 2000-5000 BC. Have to admit that it was a really hot climb to see them and they were a little disappointing in size and interest for me, really just a few scratchings on a rock in the middle of nowhere. Found the rock formations and surrounding mountains more impressive.

Was pleased to leave the paranoid foot-and-mouth Botswana (there are lots of stops where you have to get out and walk through disinfectant as only country without the disease in Africa) and head into Namibia. This is the country that I had most looked forward to seeing in Africa with all of its vast sand dunes and desert landscapes.

Our first campsite at Ngepi just across the border was awesome with really lush green lawn, a welcome respite from the constant sand. Also it had a hippo and croc pool - as in a safety cage so that you can swim without them visiting - and these great open-air themed eco-toilets and showers!! Plus the ubiquitous bar… and the best bit was that we had avoided bush camping for the night whereas the other truck (with only 12 remaining passengers after Vic Falls) were not so lucky.

The following night we did have to bush camp though but it was actually a humourous event. Bush camping is actually illegal so always have to try and pick a spot well away from the roadside and leave early in the morning to avoid detection… this day we arrived late in the evening and for some reason Phil and I had decided to sleep on the truck and not bother with the tent… a really fortuitous decision as only 30 minutes after we had parked up and the tents were erected, the land owner happened to pass by. He was a not particularly friendly Afrikaner along with his equally inhospitable wife and told us in broken English to get the hell off his land. So while the others packed up their tents, we rested on our laurels in glee at not having to do the tent again!! On the way out passed a sign at the end of the road that had skull and crossbones on it with bold letters underneath announcing that trespassers will be prosecuted… no wonder the guy wasn’t the president of Namibia’s welcoming committee.. We eventually found a spot in a layby on the road and had a great night admiring the stars and the most amazing red moon rise over the horizon.

So it was onwards to Etosha National Park – the name means great white place of dry water – which is particularly apt when you see the vast salt pans. The park spreads over 20,000 sq km and has several very well appointed camp sites with pool, bar, nice showers and even floodlit watering holes. Also both the different camps that we stayed at had their own animal viewing with little fluffy mongooses (like a cross between meerkat and a squirrel) or jackals running around stealing food at all available opportunities. The park is definitely one of the best game viewing opportunities that we’ve had as there are watering holes scattered throughout and as it is the dry season you can guarantee that you will see the animals in pairs, groups and even hundreds all crowded round for a drink. It is hilarious watching them all interact and give way to the different species jostling for space. As an example, elephants will chase away the rhinos and anything else in their way, lions scare away everything (saw quite a few prides lounging by the water), the rest all drank in uneasy acceptance of those close by.

Another reason that I loved Etosha was the amazing change in scenery from grassland and shrub to the wide open salt pan.. and the another bonus was that there were heaps and heaps of giraffes throughout the park… everyone else was quite over them by this stage but still humoured me and pointed all of them out on the way past. You could tell that most of our group had done quite a lot of game viewing in the last few months as between any good animal viewing spot a lot of people slept or read along the way and no-one hummed lion king tunes under their breath anymore.

The highlight was probably arriving at the second campsite in time for sunset and we all dashed to the watering hole to watch the elephants, rhinos and giraffes have a little sundowner and wander away into the fiery inferno of the glowing red sunset – absolutely magic. Went back later in the evening to watch some more animal antics – could really watch all night and almost had to as lost my way back to the campsite two times before managing to fall on our blue tent by accident. Note we have the only blue tent on the truck which has been a saviour on many a dark and drunken night!!

Left Zimbabwe and all her troubles behind and set off to Botswanna. So different going through the borders now with clean tidy offices and uniformed immigration officers. Makes me miss the chaos of the first few borders with big long queues of vehicles, people selling samosas, drinks and all sorts of souvenirs that you don't really want but buy anyway.. Botswanna is a success story of Africa as it is reasonably affluent in comparison to its neighbours and has non-racial policies and a democratic government. Considering all of these factors would be quite a dull place if it wasn't for the fabulous wildlife on offer.

We stopped first in Kasane and headed off to on a river cruise safari through Chobe National Park. Was very civilised as we had brought along wine and cheese on board, drifting past hippos, crocodiles and more elephants than you could count wallowing in the water and on the banks of the river. The safari left late afternoon and on the way back we got our first blood-red African sunset - the kind that you see in all the nature programmes on TV. While one of the cheapest safaris that we had done, it was also one of the best.

The next day we headed further into Botswanna to the Okavango Delta, which is the biggest inland wetland in the world. The weather was really crazy hot and the campsites full of sand which meant that everything we owned and ate was also full of sand!! The traditional thing to do in the Delta is to take an overnight trip on dugout canoes called Mokoro and it is supposed to be a really tranquil and relaxing experience... unfortunately our poler called Samson who looked about 12 and as though he didn't have any biblical strength to move a fly yet alone a canoe, was rather chatty.. That meant the few hours that we spent on being gently poled along were less than peaceful and only very ocassionally could hear the gentle lap of the water on the boat and rustle of the reeds. The ride was altogether too short and we bushcamped on an island in the Delta. Was a small island with not much to do except read or listen to music, though did go for a swim in the Delta, squelching through the muddy bottom and reeds with a disconcerting amount of bubbles coming to the surface (it was like the swamp monster had a flatulence problem!!). Had an uneventful afternoon walking safari before dinner, then got entertained by the locals singing under the full moon. Possibly the most memorable part of the trip was the midnight visitor in our tent. At first Philippa told me I was imagining it, then she thought she felt something on her hair, then both of us shined the torch, saw it and screamed. The teensy wee mouse was probably more surprised than we were... we woke the entire camp and in the end we couldn't find the mouse again after throwing all our belongings about the place, so left a small gap for it to hopefully leave our company of its own accord (it did!!)

Next day we were poled back to our pick up point and decided last minute to do a flight over the Delta, as some people wanted to back out of it. From a tiny 6-seater Cessna it was a hugely differnt perspective of the Delta and you could see the vast expanse (it is the same size as Northern Ireland) broken up with islands, termite mounds and watery passages. Spotted game roaming below us but the best part was the different colours and hues stretching out below us. It was a lot more fun and better value for money than the mokoro trip.