Namibia Etosha Trip: August 2014
I was fortunate to be able to do a second Namibia trip this year, this time with my wife Letty, my daughter Melanie, granddaughter Mariska and son-in-law Chris.
What I did not know, but soon found out, was that
August and September are the most popular months for foreign (non-South
African) tourists to visit Namibia.
(click the link to download the whole trip in MapSource format - gdb- EtoshaTrip.zip)
Day 1
Ceres -
Norotshama River Resort
We had decided to camp here. You do not have a river view from the camp site, but the facilities are clean. I think the noise from multiple air conditioners backing onto the camp site could be a problem (few people were there when we camped and it was cool).
What surprised me the most where the huge vineyards of export grapes at Vioolsdrift and Aussenkehr. I was aware that some of my clients had business there, but not at that scale.
Day 2
Norotshama to Ai-Ais
This was out of season and we found these, made mostly from reeds.
The area was surprisingly clean and right among these huts there is a well-stocked Spar.
I'd read about the Gamchab Canyon and 4x4 trail and we decided to follow the river. The loneliness (we were the only people in the canyon) and grandiose mountains made this one of the early highlights of our trip.
Letty got some energy from the mountains
My Cruiser never looked so small
This is the main turn off to the canyon if you come from Ai-Ais - BRING
YOUR GPS -
On the way to Ai-Ais we met up with two ladies in a VW Polo who had a puncture, but not the right spanners. I changed the tyre for them and got some hugs in return and hope they made it safely to the next garage.
We met up with the rest of the group in Ai-Ais. I'd read about the major R35m refurbishments, but all that they did was build some new houses - the rest stayed the same.
Still, the camp site was clean and the ablutions fine.
Also, it was great sitting on the stoep of the restaurant drinking cold beers whilst watching groups of very tired hikers arriving from their trek through the Fish River Canyon and thankfully downing multiple ice-cold beers.
One of the hikers was a lady Letty met on her trip to Egypt last year - small world.
Day 3
Ai-Ais to
Klein
Aus Vista
I'd stopped at this place 2 months ago and we were fortunate to get the last camp spot.
From Ai-Ais to Hobas we were greeted by these guys
I have been many times to Hobas and completely forgot to take any more
photos for this blog.
Our little convoy at Holoog
We had a great meal and a few cold ones at the Seeheim Hotel - highly recommended and also stopped at the //Nai-Ams Fortifications, a little-known fort off the main road to Lüderitz. It is not shown on Tracks4Africa, but have a look at my Garmin file.
Whilst browsing the Internet for accommodation during the preparations for this trip I came across the Alte Kalköfen Lodge named after this
I had a chat to the owner of the lodge, an ex-South African, and commented on his courage to start such an ambitious project in the middle of nowhere. They have been going for a while and things look good for them.
Some time in the future we'll treat ourselves to a stay there.
Day 4
We went for the day to Lüderitz and Colmanskop and were lucky to spend
some time with the wild horses of the Namib.
They looked in great shape.
It was drizzling and cold at Colmanskop, but a guide made the visit interesting.
Day 5
Klein Aus Vista to
Betesda Rest Camp, the closest accommodation (40km) we could get to
Sossusvlei, everywhere else being full.
Just before turning off onto the D707 we came across this, apparently a windmill designed by some maths teacher from the region.
The D707 was beautiful as ever.
The camp site at Betesda is a bit exposed to the elements.
Day 6
Day trip to Sossusvlei
The full impact of the number of tourists became apparent when we arrived at the Sossusvlei gate and were the 10th vehicle in the queue. It took us 45 minutes to get in.
The bright spark at the gate meticulously took down each person's details, instead of us filling it in. Once finished, he told the vehicle to go ahead and moved onto the next vehicle. By the time he got to Chris in front of me, the guy was about 300m from the gate. Chris kindly offered to give him a lift and the row of cars could all move forward.
Everywhere were masses of people, but I managed to take some photos without crowds.
We then climbed the dune ahead of us.
Day 7
Betesda Lodge to Walvis Bay
We stayed at the Lagoon Chalets Walvis Bay. The place is ok.
Letty and I spent some time driving up and down most of the streets of Walvis to get a feel of the place. I'd always said that Walvis is the Touws River of Namibia, but have now changed my mind. I wouldn't want to live there, but it's not too bad and reasonably clean.
Day 8
Rest day
We did the dolphin trip, which included a trip to the seals at the
nearby lagoon and eating as many oysters as we wanted. I didn't feel
frisky at all after that, but had to get rid of the sand in my teeth.
The trip is professionally handled and they even fed some pelicans in mid-flight.
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Day 9
Walvis Bay to
Palmwag Lodge
In the morning, four members of our group had to return to Johannesburg and now it was just family.
We saw some wrecks on the way.
And went to visit the seal colony at Cape Cross. The smell was unbelievable. It was fun watching the Japanese tourists with their face masks - obviously not good enough to keep out the smell.
Welcome to the Skeleton Coast National Park.
Someone's dreams of diamonds were obviously not sustainable. This tower had collapsed.
Not a great place for farming
This type of terrain, with Letty by my side, makes me the happiest.
The mountains looked familiar and I realized I'd seen them on my trip 2
months earlier, but from a point about 50km south east from here.
It was great to be back at the lodge after 24 years. The place has certainly grown - highly recommended camp site.
Day 10
Palmwag Lodge to
Kunene
River Lodge
This part of the trip caused me the most worries during the planning phases because of conflicting reports about the road conditions north of Palmwag, and especially the Otjomatemba Pass on the C43 north of Sesfontein. If any part of this road had washed away, we'd have to do a major detour.
I also wanted to visit Kaoko Otavi, one of the stay overs of the Thirstland Trekkers (Dorslandtrekkers) I'd read so much about.
On the way to Sesfontein we found these in full bloom.
Fort Sesfontein has been transformed into a lodge and we were not welcomed with open arms. On a previous visit one could walk around to get a feel of what it must have been like to be stationed here as a German soldier.
Letty was not impressed.
The Otjomatemba Pass proved to be quite a challenge. Although the C34 is one of the main routes in Nambia, the roads department had started to build the pass and then apparently just gave up. This road cannot be travelled by a sedan car and there are no warning at Sesfontein telling you about this.
We went up the pass travelling 4-wheel low, second gear.
We turned off to Kaoko Otavi and after 11km arrived at the village. Here
even the Tracks4Africa map let us down. We found the fountain, but not
the church the trekkers had built.
Enquiring at a shop brought us no further - instead of getting worked
up, we decided to just leave this for another day.
Swartbooisdrif is where the Thirstland Trekkers had crossed into Angola initially and also returned 50 years later. The spot is marked by a few graves and a monument.
Ten minutes later we arrived in paradise.
We even enjoyed a sunset cruise on the Kunene.
Day 11
Rest day at the Kunene River Lodge
Day 12
Kunene River Lodge to Halali Rest Camp in the Etosha National Park
We knew this was going to be a long day, but the trip up to the newish King Nehale Gate of Etosha was uneventful. This is the most populated part of Namibia and there were people everywhere.
Every second building seemed to be a pub, although most of them were closed. Also a lot of car washes.
Oshakati was a surprise - a city by Namibian standards.
One weird sight was seeing a car lot with local South African
registrations on the cars for sale (Porterville, Tulbagh, Worcester,
Bellville..).
I wonder how one buys a vehicle like that.
We were pushed for time, but managed to see some resting lions at the very first waterhole where we stopped.
We stopped at Namutoni, but it was busy like a South African mall. Tourists everywhere. Not our cup of tea.
It was actually funny seeing all the tourists in their open safari vehicles with their mouths and noses covered with scarves because of the dust, whilst we set in air-conditioned comfort in our 4x4's.
When we arrived at Halali we thought we were lucky - we were the only campers. NOT. By evening the place was packed and one lonely tourist decided to join us on our site. This was like Pilanesberg over a long weekend.
Three German girls arrived and unpacked their tent. They removed it and the poles from the bag and looked completely stumped. We did the gentlemanly/gentlelady thing and put up the tent in no time.
Day 13
Rest day and driving around the park.
This guy must have had a mud bath.
You had to watch here you were driving.
The Thirstland Trekkers also lived at Rietfontein in Etosha, before it was a park.
There are Zebras everywhere
The Halali waterhole is only 5 minutes walk from the camp. Nothing much happened but it was restful.
Day 14
Halali to
Kamanjab Rest Camp
Whilst preparing for the trip I read that the western part of Etosha, which was never open to the general public, was now open for us to explore.
There are plenty of waterholes along the way.
The strange thing that happened at one waterhole was that as soon as we got there, the herd of elephants got spooked and chased off.
I switched off my engine and calm returned. However, when I started my engine again, the stampede continued. Letty and I think that the elephants remembered being hunted in this part of Etosha. Some time later we passed a signpost "Elephant Abattoir".
The restaurant at the camp was closed (one has to pre-book) and we decided to go into town.
One says, you must not judge a book by its cover and I proceeded to do just that.
Whilst looking for a place to eat, we came upon
OppiKoppi Restaurant and resort. On entering the pub there were a
few ladies there with drinks and one of them had seemingly passed out on
the bar counter. I was not impressed.
On enquiring whether we could eat there, we were presented with a menu
of multiple choices.
And what a feast we had. The service was fast and excellent and the game steaks huge and cheap (R60,00 for a 600g steak).
I will eat there again and probably stay there, too.
Day 15
Kamanjab to
Elisenheim Guest Farm 10km north of Windhoek
We stayed in the mountain hut. Chris had to unhitch his trailer and then it was 4x4. Great place to stay, if a bit pricey.
I managed to look down on two black eagles (Verreaux' Eagles)
The photos on their web site are better than my own.
Reversing down to where you can park your vehicle is not for the
faint-hearted. I left my Cruiser about 50m on a piece of level ground.
Any mistake and your vehicle will roll down the hillside.
This was the view from my bed (Windoek)
Day 16
Elisenheim to White House Guest
Farm near Grünau
Great place to stay.
The food is out of this world. You book it when you get there and the owner of the farm brings it to you on a tray. Highly recommended stopover.
Day 17
Grünau to Ceres
They say all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. According to that I should be an exciting lad.
Total distance travelled 5751km.