Namibia weblog 200611th November 2006 Rosanne writes.... Well we have just finished our last Namibian adventure. We were invited to join a team of Germans with three 4 x 4 vehicles, two of which were state of the art Landrovers, for a trip to Kaokoland, in the far NW of Namibia. It is the most remote part of Namibia with no roads just tracks and paths through rocky desert with spectacular mountains and interspersed with sand dunes. We set off on Friday and drove to Sesfontein, the site of an old German fort built in 1904 as their colonial outpost. We camped in a lovely campsite all on our own, watched by a baffled and mute boy who had never seen such goings on. The next day we met up with the rest of the team, two cars had come up from Windhoek. We had to back track some hundred and fifty kilometres to another outpost, Palmwag, for fuel as the supply had run out in Sesfontein, leaving Rosanne happily lurking by the swimming pool at the fort.
The thorn trees were vast and venerable and Rosanne was searching every one for any signs of leopard. At the start of the Skeleton Coast Reserve which is closed to ordinary people we turned right and scrambled up out of the river bed and headed across to the next river, the Hoarusib River. This meant about 75 km of the most subtly coloured desert in shades of orange and rust. Even here where nothing seemed to grow we saw Oryx, truly one of the most incredibly well adapted animals.
Purros camp site was so beautiful. There were more of the gigantic shade bestowing trees and lots of open space. Showers and loos were hidden in bushes, but open to the sky. We had a very happy evening there. Elephants often walk through the camp, as seen by quantities of dung and large footprints, but we did not see or hear any that night. Our camp cooking was always preceded by a ceremonial gin and tonic with glasses, lemon and chilled tonic.
The next day we returned through the dunes, which was even more challenging as we had to climb up to get out of the river valley. It was very demanding, with everyone getting stuck at various times. More pushing, towing and digging got us all out. We had the use of GPS and VHF radios to pass advice between the cars; it was amusing to see the key GPS landmarks in the enormous world we were crossing: an old chassis, an orange oil drum, a red oil drum, a wrecked landrover. We went back down the Hartmann valley and across a pass into the parallel Marienfluss valley. North again and right up to the Kunene river again. This time there were no sand dunes just lush yellow savannah grasses and then scruffy grass which got sparser as we got close to the river as the land became sandier and sandier. We had detected that there was some order in the conservancy as there were immaculate signs, and as we approached our unknown destination it was like reliving The Heart of Darkness…imagine our amazement when we arrived at our camp.
Camping in Purros was bliss again and was still free from nocturnal elephant visits. Our journey the next morning took us through a canyon, across a very dusty plain and back to civilisation and more punctures. Travel weary by this time, we spent our last night together on a farm campsite which was also a cheetah sanctuary. We were told there was a leopard on the farm and we would hear him roaring in the night. No chance, but we went for a morning drive and saw lots of cheetah in a very big, 250 ha enclosure. The farm owner drove us in his open truck and his Jack Russell terrier generated a great deal of cheetah interest. They circled us, and stalked us, and gazed up into the truck with enormous liquid amber eyes. Then they mostly grew bored of us and sloped off to pant and lie about under trees, but then suddenly one would leap up and pad after us again. Then as we were leaving we were invited in to see a young cheetah that had been rescued as a cub and brought up by the family. Rosanne stroked it and it purred and purred and then licked her arm with an enormous rasping tongue.
It was great. So many thanks to Ingo for inviting us to join him and his cousin and friends.
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We surged straight into off-road driving down a dry river bed, Hoanib River, throwing up clouds of dust. This particular riverbed with a trickle of water and livid green fringes was home to a surprisingly large community of really wild wildlife and we were able, at last, to find desert elephant, an elephant that has adapted to the harsh desert conditions. It is smaller than the normal African elephant and has longer legs and bigger feet. They are quite aggressive and can be dangerous, particularly in river valleys where there is no escape from a charge. We had an encounter with a young male but his aggression was all show and he backed off and let us pass. We also saw giraffe straining upwards to reach snippets of foliage from the high and majestic trees which were able to withstand the flood in the rainy season. Oryx and springbok were plentiful too and there were lots of birds including a stunning vulture.
We camped half way down, at Dubis, on a little plateau above the river bed. The river was quite dry and only flows very rarely. There was a water hole, we were all amazed to see water appearing from nowhere, but this obviously sustained the wildlife.
We then slowly descended into the Hoarusib River valley where there was a trickle of water. This water sometimes flows underground and sometimes appears on the surface. It comes from a big mountain range and seems to seep out from these rocks throughout the year. We followed the river up to Purros and saw 6 more desert elephant. We again had a couple of tense moments with a mother and child and a party of 3 which just appeared as we turned a bend in the valley. We all froze. Eventually the elephants disappeared into the bushes. In total, we had seen 30 of them.
The next day was a very exciting long trip up the remote Hartman Valley. The valley is a flat desert with some sparse grasses and very occasionally a small scrub bush. There are mountains both sides and it ends with 7km of high sand dunes which extend 60 km from the sea and line the Kunene River which flows into the Atlantic and separates Namibia from Angola. We had to cross these sand dunes. The first car started up and got stuck, so all tyre pressures were dropped to ridiculously low levels and the tyres bulged. It was amazing what a Landrover can do in soft sand. The technique was to send a walking party to see what was beyond the first dune and then drive up fast enough to be stopped up and over the ridge ready for a descent. Too fast would leave one leaping or flying and not fast enough got us straddled over the ridge. There was a great deal of miscalculation and many episodes with ropes and towing and pulling and digging and pushing. It took us 3 hours but we did eventually get through to the Kunene River the other side. We had climbed dunes, rushed down what seemed like vertical sand cliffs and felt our way though the dunes. It was awesome.
The river was low and the sand dunes went right up to the banks. There was very little vegetation for most of the time but every now and then there would be a small oasis with trees and green shrubs. There was no camp, and we washed in the river. We saw evidence of hyena and bones of long dead oryx which had been ambushed on their way to drink in the river. There are crocodiles in the river and, although we saw no evidence of any when we washed in the river, we were very watchful. It was a magical night. Probably the most remote place to camp that is only just accessible to vehicles in Namibia.
The place was immaculate. Our host strode forward and was introduced as Kurtz. But we had misheard and it was Koos. He is a white ex army officer who has retired to his own paradise and he really cares for the environment and the local people. He is effectively running the whole conservation area and is in constant dialogue with the Himba people who live here. He believes that the way forward is to work closely with the children whose school is close by. We stayed there for two nights. One of the highlights was a walk up river to see a gorge, but the real delight was a swimming expedition to a rock pool reputedly free of crocodiles where we were joined by the 40 local Himba children from the school. We piled into Koos’s old truck with the kids, who were let out to scramble over the rocks to the pool. It was great trying to teach some of the children to swim. They all raced us back, sprinters all, and there was a prize of a Coke for the winner. While we settled to tell German/Africaaans/English travellers’ tales the kids were shown a video under a tree.
The last phase of the journey back down the Marienfluss valley and then over a very rocky pass and through narrow gorges, down dry river beds and eventually back to Purros was very demanding on the car and drivers. The tracks were really rough. We became skilful in jacking up the cars to change tyres We had a lunch stop by a river, the Khowarib, which was flowing with hot sulphuric water. When the river became rapids we did more paddling and water play, lying right under the small waterfall, but the water was so hot and the stones around it even hotter, that it was far from refreshing. We drove gingerly up a hilly crag to look over Purros as the sun was getting low in the sky, casting wonderful shadows over the riverbank, trees and Himba homesteads. We made a quick visit to greet the Himbas, some of whom were not available for talking as they were lying in their huts with delicious giggles coming from inside.
We spent our last night in Opuwo where the Lodge campsite is perched on the top of a hill and we were allowed to swim in the best infinity pool in Namibia, looking out over the valley which was lined with mountains. How lucky we were to go to such remote places that we had always wanted to visit but thought we would never manage to get to. No serious mechanical trouble from the three well maintained vehicles, 5 punctures and two wrecked tyres were the only casualties. We had to carry enough food, water and fuel for 9 days. It worked out, with proper feasting off pot made bread, oryx and kudu steaks from the Landrover fridge, and potje with dumplings. Enough water, enough beer, horribly desert-dessicated carrots.