Swimming monkeys

03/05/10
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Stinky flamingos

Back on the bus and surrounded by trees. Well, they’re more like bushes that reach 6-7 ft, but they are definitely the first tree like things we have seen in about a week. That is apart from the camel thorn acacia that would probably survive on the moon if someone thought to introduce it.

Have had a relaxing few days. We had our 2 nights in Swakupmond where we got to sleep in a bed for a change. While it was nice to be in civilization for a bit Swakupmond is a large ugly dust whipped town at the southern end of the Skeleton Coast, and it stinks. Smells like rotten eggs. It permeates everything. You wake up in the morning smelling it, and any washing you do ends up smelling of it. It’s better than the last town we drove through before here, they were cultivating cormorant guano beds and it was so ripe it made your eyes water. Combine that with a beach that was green with flamingo poo that sucked off your flip flops and slowed all but the most determined camera clickers in pursuit of the flamingos. All in all it’s a really stinky place.

Driving north from Swakupmond we were back to nothing. 150 km of flat sand planes and empty coastline. The only interruptions on the skyline are small white ablution blocks every 200m along the shore. These are used in December when people from inland flock to the coast to try and escape the insane heat. The only slight signs of human activity is the small makeshift tables every 10m at the side of the road. These have white chunks of salt crystals laid out for sale. As usual, not a sole to be seen, instead you are expected to take one and leave the correct money in a small tin. This trusting approach to business contradicts many common beliefs about the honesty of African people. Can’t imagine this concept fitting in anywhere in western culture which is usually deemed the more civilized.

We stopped on the coast to visit a site that has become a huge breeding ground for sea lions. It’s estimated that about 300,000 sea lions live there. The flat expanse of sand has easy access to the water, waves to play in, few predators, and best of all no humans. That is apart from those willing to drive 150km to see them. You can see the seals playing in the ocean before rounding the corner to find a beach that is black with a writhing mass of blubber. Animals that are only sleek and graceful once submerged, are fat and cumbersome on land. They role, stretch, scratch, and then pass out with the effort of moving to bake in the sun. There is constant noise with braying; mums calling out to their fat black runny eyed pups, and females standing on each other and bickering over the perfect sunning rock. A bull male made his way onto the beach and all hell broke out until he settled into his current harem. As well as all the noise, and in keeping with all the other coastal stops so far in Namibia, it stinks. You have to quickly perfect the art of only breathing through the mouth.

Stinky swimming monkeys

The Skeleton Coast is named after all the shipwrecks that have left the shore littered with the remains of boats and their crew. The hot air of the desert mixing with the cold air of the ocean creates a thick and heavy fog that covers the coast and its hazards. Large numbers of ships have hit rocks or simply run aground by getting confused in the fog. The land is so inhospitable that few people survive. We only went along the very southern edge of this coastline, but we still saw the wreck of a cargo ship wrecked not too long ago.

We have been quite lucky with wildlife so far. As well as the seals and flamingos we have seen ostriches, springbok, wild mountain zebra, a rare African wildcat, and even cheetahs when driving along the main road. In a place where it is often at least 200km between small one shop towns these animals really have the freedom to roam. We have also seem hemsbok or oryx as it is often known, which most of the group have since tried in steak form after being told it is the best meat in the world. It lives to about 25 years and can survive without ever drinking water, only getting liquid from plants. To conserve energy it moves as little as possible. It is tender and fat free.

The Brandberg Mountains

Last night we stopped by Brandberg Mountain (fire mountain), that lights up the sky at sunrise and sunset. We stayed at the beautiful White Lady camp where all afternoon activities got cancelled in favour of the chance to go in the pool and have sundowners in cold water. There was a tame meercat running around the garden called Timone. That night we ate dinner in silence with just the light of the milky Way to see by. The lack of light pollution and low moon meant the stars were the clearest I’ve ever seen them.

Timone

Kids who came with their families to sing tradtional songs around the fire.

Dreamscapes

01/05/10

Now in Swakupmond, and the days plans have radically changed. Today was meant to be the day I throw myself out of a really small but perfectly good airplane. Have been dreading it for months and was all supposed to be over by now. Wasn’t accounting for the rain, clouds and sandstorm though. It’s the second time I’ve geared myself up to it and it’s been cancelled due to bad conditions. Maybe I should take it as an omen and just not do it.

Been a busy few days, with lots of amazing scenery. Namibia has to be one of the most dramatic places I’ve ever been. From the huge brown scree piles just past the border to the giant slab faced escarpments towering over the Orange River and its black sand dunes, on to the brown rubble and 300m deep ravines and gulleys of Fish River Canyon. Yesterday was the best of all. We were taken deep into the Namib Desert and towards the coast, where there are 300 kms of towering red sand dunes that rise above the hard baked desert floor. We went to Dune 45, the only dune out of 60 that you are really allowed to climb. Not sure how this restriction is enforced 300 kms of sand. Dune 45 is 150m high, and unsurprisingly it’s not an easy climb. Trudging uphill in soft deep sand, especially for Nick who’s still suffering from his vertigo thingy.

We climbed with the moon still high and the sky lightening to the east. The top of the dune was quite busy so we picked a spot further down next to our tour leader and resident photography expert Gareth. From our perch we got to watch the desert floor and surrounding dunes light up. As the light pours down the dunes and highlights and shadows pick out the curves, all you can hear is the crazy clicking of cameras. Some people have 2 or 3 cameras with them on this trip so they can get every angle with every lens. The sunrise was nice, but it was seeing the red and black shapes made by the ridge of the dunes that everyone was there to see.

The dunes of Sossusvlei.

 

From Dune 45 we drove further into Sossusvlei which is the valley that runs between the dunes. Here we met a bushman called Bussman who took us on a hike around the dunes explaining how plants, animals, and the old bushman people of Southern Africa survived in a place that gets about 3 inches of rain once every twenty years. His stories of the bushman people were amazing. Sadly few live in the desert any more. The western world declared it was wrong of the bushman children to be denied access to education and took them all away from their homes. They were taught how to read and write up until the age of 11. This left them with an education inadequate of helping them survive in the modern world, but also stopping them from learning the skills they needed to return to the bush and to families. The first thing a child was taught in the bush was how to recognize their mother’s footprints in the sand so they could follow them home. Up until the 1920’s it was legal to hunt and kill bushmen. Some people even used to keep the children and raise them as pets.

On the walk we learnt that ‘vlei’ means ‘place where water comes to rest and plants live’. We were taken to visit Deadvlei, which is now an area cut off from any further flood flows as the dunes have enclosed the area. When reaching the brow of the dune that has enclosed Dead Vlei you encounter an unearthly hard white flat floor surrounded by towering red dunes. Team that with the blackened dead trunks of trees sticking up into the deep blue sky and it is photographic heaven. Walking across the sun baked limestone floor with the wind blocking out all other sounds is magical. It has to be one of the most unique places I have and probably ever will visit. 

Spectacular Deadvlei

We spent 5 hours baking in the desert that morning before packing up camp and getting in the bus to do another long hot and dusty drive. Driving further north we went through flat planes of short yellow pampas grass, then to flat planes with nothing for about 100 km. Next we went through deeply undulating canyons up and down about 20 metre rises and falls, then onto sharp granite canyons that looked distinctly like something out of a sci-fi movie. Each of these different terrains going on for 50 km or more without a person or building to be seen. Namibia has to be one of the most empty and extreme places on earth.

Our driver, John enjoying the miles of peace and quiet.