Kaokoland Trip – 2nd April 2010 to 27th April 2010

17^th April Saturday Puros
Chill day – woken by red-beaked francolin that had the previous day eluded the catty shots from the youngsters Emily and Ian who had not yet twigged that we were guests in a conservancy. A sign warning about lions and elephants walking through camp saw me erecting my tent between trees too close to allow elephant loitering – no lions or elephants however bothered us.
An early morning travel with a guide saw us circling a bush where lions were supposed to be but none were seen. Similarly our trek to see elephants was unsuccessful so we stopped in the Puros village of square block houses to purchase petrol (for petrolhead Glen) and cold drinks and chips for the rest. The lady in the shop was dressed in traditional Herero garb copied from the German missionaries. The Hereros were taller and more well-set than the Himbas and overdressed in comparison.
Of interest was that the village was located on a barren piece of land so hot that the crows would sit on the fences with gaping beaks trying to survive – why not the cool tree and palm-fringed river banks? The reason was the risk of elephants and lions frequenting the latter did not make this shaded location worth it. Thus the ample warning signs in our camp.
John had chased a geocache and in the process located a sundowner spot for later. Ian and Emily in the meantime had made no progress in hitting their francolin targets that seemed to be quite safe in their conservation environment.
The Herero lady brought back a mountain of clean clothes – what a pleasure.
Late afternoon saw us on a hill overlooking the Hoarusib in the area of our second crossing the previous day. The valley seemed idyllic in the golden sunset and Ian provided entertainment below by trying to get cruiser stuck in the river. Like children we attempted to throw rocks from our elevated hilltop into the river far below. Most of us managed to hit the river at least once.
Return to camp allowed a walk to the river and around the camp before campfire and dudus.

18^th April Sunday Puros to Sesfontein
The target destination for this day was the “pearl of the Kaokoland” Amspoort Gorge on the Hoanib River. The track was pretty rugged with some vegetation and we witnessed a Verreaux’s Eagle (black eagle) being seriously attacked by a very much smaller and rare Auger Buzzard that was vigorously defending its nesting terrain in an aerial combat lasting some considerable time. Having travelled quite some hours an oncoming Landcruiser bakkie with the technical manager of Wilderness safaris met us. Hermann informed us that it was of no use to carry on as the Hoanib had flooded the route to the poort and back to Sesfontein. Café Sera had a youth camp planned and as the elephants had destroyed the borehole pump, he had brought some water to the camp and was on his way to get the pump replacements. He did show us an up to now unknown route through a valley that Fearless immediately called Fearless Pass and got it logged with T4A. The valley had good game and Hermann was pleased to report that the much hoped for arrival of Rhino had happened. One rhino had taken residence in the valley and they were planning to bring in a mate. The tenders for the concession were due and they hoped that they could extend the concession period. Namibia had offered these wildlife areas to concessionaires who set up luxury lodges for fly in safaris as we had experienced at the dunes.
Once back on the D3707 Fearless set a fast pace. On route Hermann invited us to rather stay at their Palmwag lodge and he would give us free campsite accommodation with use of the pool and restaurant. We did not take up the invitation. We stopped at an unmanned curio sales stall next to the road at which Himba and Herero fertility dolls amongst other trinkets were on offer. A WRC type drive by fearless in his Defender impressed and its BFG tires gripped the road unbelievably until we reached Sesfontein again well before the others. The little town was disappointing with drunken beggars at the local shop making a serious nuisance of themselves. The hoped for petrol pumps did not have fuel but Peter and I did manage to have a look at the Old German Fort that had been restored to former glory and was now a luxury lodge with luscious green gardens in the large courtyard. Under cover were a gleaming brand spanking new Unimog and another 4x4 vehicle that indicated the type of clientele being catered for by this luxury lodge.
The camp sites in the village had not come recommended and we carried on to the site near Warmquelle. The site had a crystal clear warm water pool complete with its own terrapin and waterfall. This had us all inside pretty quickly and while the camp site as a whole was not popular with some, the sleeping under the stars was good.
Lisa and I walked up the hill to marvel at the sunset view over the plains below that again looked Serengeti like. The terrain would have suited the filming of Jesus in the hills around Jerusalem. Sadly the fridge at the open air bar was not cold and accordingly the bar was deserted.
A French couple that was like others we met on the journey were on a long trip around Namibia. Some people seem to have all the time, the money and the peace to travel without apparent cares in the world.
19^th April Monday Sesfontein to Twyfelfontein
Hoorah, finally fuel was found at Palmwag in northern Damaraland. The “pomp joggie” was a very babalas Damara and the rush of four vehicles at once was a huge stress with comical four letter expletives. Palmwag was the luxury resort to which Hermann had invited us and we had the luxury of a full breakfast of yoghurt, cereals, bacon and eggs and lovely orange juice and coffees – heaven. Glen had his spare tire brackets welded and Fearless sorted out his slow puncture, the shredded tire obviously past help. A second phone-call to Ramona brought on emotions – absence makes the heart grow fonder.
A one armed man at the lodge turned out to be a chopper pilot who remembered having seen John at Epupa. He had obviously spotted the large white beard and been struck by the vision.
Departure through a vet control point brought us into tourist world where camper vans were the order of the day. On the way to Khorixas we stopped at the very popular petrified forest heritage site where large tourist buses disgorged masses of middle and old aged tourists. A walk through these large tree trunks that we were advised were washed here from central Africa in a previous age and Welwitshia Bainesii was well worth the stop.
Khorixas saw us invading the local equivelant of our Kwikspars for provisioning. Not a long stop as the wilderness called and we travelled south and then west again toward Twyfelfontein against the setting sun. Ducky stopped in a river bed to celebrate its 400,000 km and beers to celebrate were in order. Damara lads soon joined in and as usual Lisa had these under her spell doing cartwheels across the sand.
A further milestone to be celebrated was John and Marilyn’s 6^th wedding anniversary. Having had a relationship for 25 years and a son Ian for 19, six was not really the significant number. The very close relationship between father son and daughter was special and enviable.
Having witnessed another spectacular sunset we arrived late at our Twyfelfontein camp and soon I had a fire going with the standard braai and Fines meeting. Richard again had the duty of firing up the donkey for the open air showers. Ian and Emily disappeared to the pub and were not seen again sober until later the following day.

20^th April Tuesday Twyfelfontein to Brandberg
First stop was to see the Rock art (engraved as opposed to painted) at the Twyfelfontein valley at one time inhabited by white colonists the Levines who failed to make a living in this harsh environment and partly due to inadequate water supplies. The artwork is attributed to Shamans (spirituals) that would document on stone by engraving what came out of their drug induced visions. Significant and also part of the tour guide’s logo was the lion with its long tail. The only human depicted was of a man holding an ostrich around its neck. A seal indicated that the artist had travelled to the coast.
The burnt mountain looked like the side of a coal mined mountain in northern KZN. A geocache was successfully located before proceeding to the Brandberg campsite. Lunch stop was in sight of the Brandberg that was a local version of the Australian Ayres Rock. A large volcanic intrusion remained after the surrounding layers had been eroded away leaving the highest point (Koenigstein at 2,579 meters) in Namibia.
Early afternoon saw us camped at White Lady Lodge where the swimming pool at the lodge gave welcome relief to the desert heat. A planning meeting did not fully resolve whether the Sossusvlei loop should be included in our itinerary – certainly a keen interest was shown in this possible extra to our trip.
Richard had made friends with the local red-billed francolins and was hand feeding them.
That night I slept under the stars again. Gail had a bad night of homesickness. Her prophylactic tablets for malaria that were to be taken weekly had nasty side effects and Dr Bill had a week prior suggested a change to a daily tablet that I was taking. The change to my tablet had improved things but not taken away the home-sickness for her daughter Jane.
Fearless had returned from the lodge with the very good news that the Ugab was once again accessible by 4 x 4’s and that we could reach the skeleton coast via this route.

21^st April Wednesday White Lady to Ugab camp
The walkers that did not include John and Marilyn, beat the tour guides for the white lady painting to reception and boldly Johnny the watchman took us into the valley. He was very good at explaining the various trees like the acacia and combretums that were used by the locals for home building. The highlight was the famous white lady that has had so much research and opinions world-wide with no real clear resolution. It was very faint but was surrounded by lots more bushman paintings – certainly an exhilarating excursion. A dusky sunbird was sighted in one of the acacias and Emily was rock-hopping with youthful exuberance.
Johnny who had enjoyed his enhanced status as a guide and who had been ragged by the other group guides that we met on route with enthusiasm read through the Damara language exhibit at reception. The Damaras had their own click and sh sounds that were not catered for in the western alphabet. The written words were thus supplemented with crosses, double crosses and exclamation marks inserted at points in the words to create the required sounds.
The trip down the Ugab river valley was dramatic with wide sandy river bed, high cliffs and large acacia trees. The track took us through marshy reed beds where we picked up a mini-tortoise, up and down challenging sand embankments that needed quite a few tows mainly Gemma with its smaller wheels and tall elephant grass where the vehicles would literally disappear from sight. At one stage three vehicles needed a tow.

When the river became impassable, we trekked into the Brandberg nature reserve where a lunch stop was followed by a drive over desolate but o so pretty geological terrain. The eroding layers around the Brandberg intrusion displayed different colours, some layers were folded in sweeping shapes and other black layers were protruding needle sharp out of the ground in rows. Other plateaus were covered with hundreds if not thousands of Welvitias that changed my perception that they were endangered. Grotesquely shaped succulent trees were growing in what appeared to be absolutely dead soil. The really worst environment experienced on the trip was the diversion down to the Rhino sanctuary supported by world-wide wildlife groups. The rocks closing in on the track on both sides appeared as if they had been burnt in a fire in hell. There was no respite in the dead burnt-out environment and this affected our choice on not to stay at the camp in the valley. So out we drove again and thank goodness for we found a brilliant bush camp site on a sand bank in the shade of massive cliffs on the opposite side of the Ugab river.

A lovely evening around the camp fire and sleeping under the stars is the ultimate wildlife experience, especially when animal tracks pass meters away from the camp site. We were still in the rhino sanctuary and the thrill of sharing the animals territory with rhinos and possibly elephants and lion was tops.

22^nd April Thursday Ugab to Henties
Mid-morning saw us at a large gaping hole of the Brandberg West tin mine that had been decommissioned. John had remembered a visit to this mine during his time with Gold Fields and was unimpressed with the way the mine precinct had been left. The buildings had been flattened but no further clearing up or re-establishment of the natural environment had been attempted – a blight on the mining sector. As usual Bill and others searched for valuable stones before our onward trip back into the Ugab river where this time travelling in the cruiser with Ian driving I spotted a sign high up on the rock face. Stopping and zooming in with the camera we discovered that this was a Skeleton Coast National Park corner beacon. We were on the boundary between the Skeleton National Park’s recreational and restricted areas, the Ugab being the boundary. We were also exiting Damaraland into a different world.
A stop for oranges at a Skeleton CNP permit entry sign led to the discovery of a wonderfully bubbly like surface. Tapping the earth bubbles would crack these shell like surfaces showing the salt crystallized underside of the thin earth shell. Everywhere salt crystals could be picked up and munched on.
A good road surface now through the SCNP recreational area that showed tracks all over the surrounding landscape led to the salt highway demarcated by white vertical post markers, possibly to keep drivers driving in the right direction with the coastal fogs that come off the cold Benguella currents off-shore. Cruising down this good highway we drove to the sea where the stranded Winston fishing trawler had disintegrated due to the seas corrosive power. Spirits were high and the cold water was no problem in getting our feet wet in the Atlantic.
Names like mile 108, Predikant se Gat, Sarah se Gat etc denoted various spots along this desolate coast with virtually no distinguishing features. At mile 108 vehicles were filled with fuel and cold drinks purchased. A further stop to see another trawler wreck that had not yet had time to break up and we arrived at Henties Bay and our modern formal camp site. There was enough time to drive through this clean and well-developed town with 2,700 permanent residents mainly Afrikaans farmer pensioners that found this fishing environment more attractive than the very German Swakopmund. The hangman’s noose was erected at the entrance to the local nine hole golf course as a reminder of what would happen to people caught littering the town. John posed for a hangman’s photo.
The fish restaurant was taken over by our motley mob and what a great evening on mainly fish courses and white wine it was. Also in the restaurant were four German men playing cards, probably Skaat.

23^rd April Friday Henties and Swakop
Having arrived at Swakopmund one day ahead of schedule, we could not get accommodated at Die Alte Bruecke and had to book into the municipal campsite on the other end of town. It was here that we met and invited Andreas a lone traveller from Australia who was planning to travel solo through Africa, Russia and China before heading back to Australia in his Nissan Patrol double cab that was new to us as it was not available in RSA. Andreas from Stuttgart, had studied photography in Cologne as had Stefan Braun our friend from Cologne. He landed up getting lots of advice (four fingers, fuel/water filter and T4A from Fearless and routes through Africa from John).
Swakopmund was clinically clean. It could only be Germans that could get a town in such good shape. All the houses were in superb condition as were the roads and public places. The explanation given by the lovely german lady at the curio shop near Café Anton where we had coffee under palm trees and where I bought my trinkets for home was that many mines had opened in the vicinity and this had brought money into town. Rentals on the houses were high. News from home was that Julius Malema had misbehaved and with his hate-speech had upset South Africans to the extent that we thought Swakop would not be a bad place to relocate to in the event that the errant ANC youth league was allowed to wreck the country.
The crystal museum was stunning in its display of what has been found in Namibia form the world’s largest calcium crystal to an impressive range of semi-precious stones and jewelry.
An evening with our guest Andreas went on quite late.
24th April Saturday Swakopmund and Walvis Bay
The party split for the day, the young ones to do quadbikes and sandboarding, Glen and Gail off together and Fearless and I to do some birding at Walvis Bay. Peter sought out the brick walls that he in his Corobrick days observed with special attention to crumbling of the Bloemfontein bricks in this waterlogged salty environment. Past the salt pans with their huge mountains of white salt to Pelican Point to list sixteen species of birds the most in one outing to date. At Langstrand I looked for the holiday club facility (unsuccessfully) and after a photo shoot in front of dunes we settled at a Wimpy for a stabilizing meal.
After lunch Fearless settled down to some computer work while I visited the local Aquarium built in 1997, a nicely done small aquarium at the Ministry of Fish Resources. With a tunnel through the central tank and a model of the Namibian coastline, the R5,00 for pensioners was a gift. The exhibit space was probably less than 10 percent of the space at our uShaka aquarium that I was privileged to have had a role in establishing and there were no retail outlets. It highlighted the pure grandeur of our Durban facility that is probably not adequately appreciated by the locals.
A walk onto the pier under refurbishment under pleasant weather gave a view over town from over the waters of the Atlantic. The pier had been an attempt by the german government at the time to attract ships as Walvis Bay was under South African control. Due to sanding up and the loss of draught the bridge never became successful and is now of tourist benefit. A walk through town revealed that the Europa Hotel of previous visits was in good nick however the Hansa Brauerei was boarded up. The area boasted schools and old age homes as well as WB the Woermann/Brockman shops. Most of the South African franchised outlets were there.
A lazy afternoon with the Sharks beating the Blues 23 – 10 at home at a super 14 contest ended with a walk to Kueckie’s Bar for our “Henkersmahlzeit” at which the fines collected were to be spent. Traditional meals like Eisbein and Schweinebraten with Bratkartoffel and Rotkohl were supplemented with Bloody Maries, Beer and Jaegermeister. Unfortunately Glen and Gail had already left for home and we were now a reduced team. The hostess enlightened us to a possible border closure due to striking border officials commencing Monday. It was thus important that we crossed the border into Botswana before then meaning an early start tomorrow.
Walking home through the wide streets of the town were others doing the same thing. The town appeared safe and not owned by the criminals as we are used to at home.

25^th April Sunday Swakopmund to Botswana
Because of the impending strike action, Bill and Lisa managed to get their Monday flight booking changed to Sunday and with an early departure we drove in thick morning mist before the sun popped out. Spitskoppe glowed in the morning sun and Usakos, Karibib and Okahandja and Windhoek passed before we reached Hosea Kutako Airport without incident. We bid Bill and Lisa farewell after Bill had donated his Crocs to Richard and we had bought some cheese and tomato sandwiches. By evening they would be with their relatives in Johannesburg before flying back to their respective homes. It was very good to have met and befriended them.
Being Sunday all Biltong sales houses were closed so we missed out. At Gobabis (the center of cattle country) Fearless had to photograph the statue of a cow at the entrance to the town. This was to be added to the T4A information site.
The border was crossed safely between 15h30 and 16h00 and we were back in Botswana. In the Charles hill area we waited for an unfenced section of the road and selected a site in the Wag-n-bietjie bush.
The camp fire lit and the evening meal complete a planning meeting was held. Peter and I needed/wanted to get back soonest while Duckie and Cruiser wished the slow boat home. Provisions and kit were thus packed accordingly in the vehicles before lousy weather put us to bed.

26^th April Monday Botswana to Home
Early rising meant me packing up and dressing in the small tent with rain pelting down. A respite in the downpour permitted the striking of the tent, packing all and after a cup of coffee and good byes we were on the road at 7h20. Because of lousy weather we agreed to alternate driving with minimal stops and we made good time. We came across a large bunch of cyclists with a support bus that obviously intended cycling across Bots – what would you want to do that for?
We crossed the Bots/RSA border without mishap and wound our way south. We stayed in touch with the slow-boaters who in the end only managed to get as far as Lichtenburg before clocking in at a Bed and Breakfast in the town.
Our going was good and we decided to drive straight through to home – Lichtenburg, Klerksdorp and Coligny before we managed to find a Wimpy in Kroonstad just before closing time. Two cheese and tomato sandwiches and a mega coffee each saw us recharged and with advice from the manager to drive to Bethlehem via Senekal. Up to now we had rain all the way but this had now cleared and Senekal (good looking town) and Bethlehem passed before we stopped for fuel at Harrismith truck stop. Here Peter hauled out a Red Bull for each of us and we departed recharged. Even the large volume of long haul vehicles down van Reenens was not a problem and a call was made home at 10h00 advising of our arrival.
At 14h00 Peter drove the Landie through our gates and after a quick pleased to meet you and unpacking he was on his way. I was fresh as a daisy and could not get to bed for sleep before four o clock. Whew – what a trip. The trip certainly was a once in a lifetime experience and what a privilege.
Our slow boaters had played with the idea of travelling back via Lesotho but with the weather conditions not being favourable they gave this one a miss and slow boated it back to home arriving in the afternoon.
By the time of their arrival my gear was unpacked and washed. My physical appearance had changed by the addition of a scruffy beard and a leaner body and the change back into normal routine took some time. Especially at night the mind still wandered back into the bush.

Post script
The comments by the team leaders that this was the best trip for them so far and that the team spirit was exceptional was good to hear. The team had really come together without any pre-selection and the bonding has resulted in what I believe will be long lasting friendships and possibly even further adventures together.
As an adventure this one must be extremely hard to beat and a deep sense of gratitude to organizers and hosts will prevail forever. The trip gave a different perspective on values of life and comments by other overlanders about the “dying cities” gave new meaning about the value of wilderness as well as the dependence on each other as team members in such an environment.