Namibia - desert, sea and salt pans

I spent a few days in Cape Town looking around for a car to purchase as I had heard that traveling around without one in the next few countries was quite difficult! However the idea of parting ways with $5000 USD for a shitty old hatchback was a little more difficult to swallow so I jumped on a 23 hr bus ride to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It was a good feeling to be traveling again even if the guy sitting in front of me decided to recline his seat as soon as the bus was put into first gear! Mind you I have a developed new tolerance for buses and long trips over the last few months (as long as the ipod works and there are temazepams on hand!).

I arrived at the backpackers, set up the tent and began talking to fellow travelers. I came across a few guys who were headed down to Sossusvlei that afternoon and they offered me a lift. I was a bit shitty that i didn't strike up that conversation before a set up my tent as i have not developed the same tolerance for packing up my tent as I have for the bus trips!

Sossusvlei is a spot well known for its sea of red sand dunes. Some of which are over 200m high! We woke early in the morning with the plan to see the sunrise over the dunes. Unfortunately there was cloud cover in the morning so we did not see the warm glow of the sun! We did 3 walks in the dunes; Hidden vlei, Dead vlei and Sossusvlei. They were all amazing valleys/pans surrounded by towering sand dunes. The silence was deafening! It seemed we were the only people there, truly magnificent. I climbed up one of the high dunes to admire the view, the red sand ocean seemed to go on forever! The drive back was interesting. At dusk the warthogs came out in their thousands to graze on the road side. I came close to hitting but didn't which was lucky! Apparently they do more damage to your car than you do to them, tough bastards!

The following day I jumped into a matatu to head down to Swakopmund. This town is well know for being more German than Germany, so of course it attracts lot of my deutsch speaking brethren! The town is based on the ocean and is quite the party town. I traveled there with a couple of Irish girls who I met in Windhoek. They consistently drank me under the table which was scary as my piss fitness was well off the charts at that point. I think they were both secretly alcoholics!! One night on the walk home we decided to have a few more drinks at the casino but unfortunately they had closed their doors for the evening. Our luck changed when we noticed a deflated jumping castle display, in their courtyard, with a compressor on hand. Naturally, I hooked it up to the power and in seconds we were bouncing around on a very large dragon. Security soon arrived so we had to hop off. They did mention something about ID so I told them that I would pop back tomorrow with it!!

Apart from the fine drinking establishments the town is also known as Namibia's version of Vic falls, for being a adrenaline junkies paradise. They had loads of things to do so I decided to go for a quad bike through the desert and a kayak with the seals.

The quad biking was great fun riding up and down the massive dunes. I did manage to roll the bike however. The group was going a little slow so I hung out the back and would do my own thing. I was doing a few sharp turns when the wheels dug in and the bike fell over. No damage done so I quickly turned the bike upright and drove off luckily not to be seen by the guide! I drove a tad more responsibly after that!

The sea kayaking was much more up my alley! It did make me miss my kayak and the Australian coastline however! The number of seals did make up for it. The guide let me go solo in his kayak which was great, so again I did my own thing. The seals were so playful. They would follow the kayak and jump all around it. There were thousands of them and a lot of pups also. I wasn't game to take the good camera out so I took the smaller one which made it tricky to get the seals out of the water. I think I did manage to get a few good ones out of the thousands I took! It was lucky i didn't take the SLR as there were a few times when the seals would not realise you were there and get a hell of a fright when the kayak came close to them! The seals would then bolt off covering me (and the camera) with water! Fun times, except the water had a funny smell about it, much like gravy!!

After taking the hostel managers advice I jumped on a matatu (called combi in Namibia so I guess I should comply) back up to Windhoek to then jump onto another combi north to Etosha. I asked the driver when I got off when the buses leave for Etosha, he was surprised and told me that i could have gotten one from Swakopmund! @#%$!!

As a result I spent the next morning trying to find a bus north, the only one I came across was a shitty old local bus that would take twice as long to get there. I had no option so I jumped aboard. Two hours later the bus had not moved (over here they don't go until full). My tolerance evaporated and I took my bat and ball and headed to the highway to hitch. It only took half an hour and I was heading north. The young fella was great however his conversation always came back to me hooking him up with a white Aussie girl. I told him I would look into it.

Etosha is a well known national park based around a pan/lake. I headed up to the closest town, Tseumb to try and meet up with a few other travelers so we could hire a car and self safari. At the backpackers I was staying there was nobody apart from a German family, so I door knocked the other hostels without luck. It was a ghost town. The German family thankfully took me under their wing and offered for me to tag along with them to Etosha. They were my saviours and I was their adopted son! We celebrated Xmas eve together along with the hostel staff sharing a few brews well into the evening! (Funnily enough the hostel staff were people I met in Malawi! They were a couple with a 6 year old young son who were circumnavigating Africa in an old truck, stopping to work in hostels along the way. They had some great stories to tell of the western coast. Next time....)

Anyway Etosha was a bit of a let down in the end. It had rained heavily the previous night so there was water everywhere, a horrible situation for game viewing. The highlight was one measly elephant and rhino. Luckily I didn't spend the 300 odd dollars to do it myself! Mind you I still believe it is one of the better parks (from what people say) however I just saw it at a bad time!

I headed back to Windhoek after Etosha with the intention to try and cross into Botswana. I met a interesting tour guide at the backpackers so a quiet night turned into a springbok shot marathon! I was a little hung over for what was to be a long day of buses and hitching. However I eventually made the border with a well tanned thumb and a sore head!!

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