We travelled
on the road that led us out of Swakopmund to Walvis Bay (one of the biggest
shipping ports on the western side of Africa) skirting the Atlantic coast still
pitch black, and we saw nothing, but our
trusted GPS told us we were travelling along the coast as on the GSP we
saw water on the right and desert on the left, good roads, reflectors and some
street lights to Walvis Bay (31km from Swakupmond). We bypassed Walvis Bay and headed South 220km
towards Solitaire and heavy fog on paved roads for about 15km then rough roads,
some really bad, but some you can travel on at 100km and some you have to slow
down to 20km, watch the ditches and bumps in the road, you have to have a 4x4,
driving through the heart of the Namib desert and across the Tropic of Capricorn (again).
You drive through Gaub Pass through mountains and valleys, very winding,
full concentration. We did see some 2x4
cars , so it is not impossible, you just have to pick the time of year to
travel. Between the two of us sharing
the driving, we made it to Solitaire at 9:30am.
I just have
to tell you about Solitaire; that is definitely a one horse town if ever we saw
one (gas station, general dealer, restaurant, one lodge and a bakery). Francistown is a big metropolitan city
compared to Solitaire. Driving into this
little town there are old, scrapped vehicles (including an old model T), all
lined up to welcome you to Solitare.
Luckily the gas station (filling station) has diesel (this is the first gas station we
have seen since Swakopmund), always
remember to fill up when you see a gas station.
All I can tell you about Solitaire is that there are some true
“characters” that live here, one being the owner of the Desert Bakery, his name is
Moose McGregor, and he is famous for his apple pies, and quite proud of it, one
big Zambian, he got his name Moose from some American Soldiers and his
grandfather was also famous and Liam Nielsen played him in a movie (we had to
leave and I forgot to get the name of the movie). We spent little time here as we still had 80km
to travel.
We spent the
night at Soussesvlei Desert Camp www.desertcamp.com, one of the best tented camps we
have seen, and in the two years living in Botswana, we have seen many, well
appointed with everything, including a kitchenette and if you want a chef to
cook that can be arranged, lovely looking out at the wide open space of the
desert, with the Naukluft mountains in the distance. As we have to head back to Swakopmund the
next day, and it was still early we wanted to get to Sossusvlei as soon as
possible, the reason why these Jamaicans made it this far in the first place.
In the
middle of the oldest desert in the world, the Namib desert, there is this vlei (marshy
area) and then these there are these massive stunning ochre dunes. Our guide tells us that it rained here heavily
two weeks ago, and no one could drive in the Park, and it has rained in this
area two years in a row. Before that, it
has not rained in seven years straight; there is still water in the vlei, and
signs of dried mud everywhere. The dunes
are amazing, you have Big Pappa (300 metres) and Mamma and Dune 45 (the tourist
dune), just rising out of the ground.
Kate picked the tourist thing to do and climbed a little way up dune 45,
and slid down, filling a bottle of the ochre sand from Big Mamma and Dune 45,
just for keepsake, and taking pictures of the fog beetles on the dunes, they have special bumps on their backs that condenses the morning fog into water for their survival. Now getting to
Deadvlei is 1km off the main road, you have to walk, it is now 3:00, and we
were just too tired. The Deadvlei are
like the petrified trees, preserved like stones, and over 9,000 years old, it
is said that this area was a forest many years ago, and now a desert, we wanted
so bad to see this, but if we could not drive there, we were not going to walk
there, the sun was blazing. This Park is
truly amazing; you have to pay park fees for yourselves and your car (not
much). You drive 60km then get to this
area that leads you to the mammas and pappas that is 5km of solid sand, you can
drive your 4x4 or get a guide to drive you in (not a bad idea). We saw many people climbing these dunes,
amazing, most from Europe mainly Swiss, English and German.
We had an incredible
dinner at Sossusvlei Lodge about 4km from our little haven for the night. Dinner was fantastic,, a four course meal, including
all the game (wildebeest, oryx (gemsbok), warthog, ostrich, bushbuck, eland,
kudu, impala, springbok) done on a braii, we went African and had the warthog,
eland and oryx, out of the three we decided that the oryx was the most tender,
a must try if you are even in this neck of the woods.
On our
Namibian adventure this is as far south as we are going to go and , so the
following morning we took our time driving back the same way we came, the 370km,
back to Swakopmund. A very trying drive,
but well worth it. We got in at 3:00pm,
and will get to the Skeleton Coast tomorrow, before our journey back to
Windhoek. What a time these Jamaicans are having.
Blessings
from Namibia
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