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

Ruacana west had the last dependable fuel supply for the next 1,200 km so all spare tanks were filled to the brim and last minute snacks enjoyed. Cresting a hill an awe-inspiring vista of the Kunene River valley with the “smoking” mass of the Ruacana falls opened before us. With good rains in the Angola catchment, the Kunene was in full flood and the falls were spectacular. Normally the barrage upstream and in Angola would channel the water through the turbines with hardly a drop going over the falls. It was a first class photo opportunity and also the end of the very good tar road.
On the winding tar road into the valley an articulated truck carrying crushed stone had come to a devastating stop on the last corner. The cab was unrecognizable and parts were strewn over a large area. The engine having landed some twenty meters from the impact zone had been used for supporting the warning signs and the deviation showed that this accident had happened quite some time ago – was there no capable salvage operation in Nam?
Fearless had recommended that we give Hippo Pools a miss for camping and the gravel river road to Kunene River Lodge was selected. It was soon evident that we were in for a hard slog as the Kunene had flooded portions of the road to levels that required alternative off-road driving in many places. The flooded portions were all waded through to check depths. Many detours over rocky and bushy terrain slowed progress and it was not long before the sun set and darkness was on us. Wading by the light of headlamps, with fish swimming and jumping clear of the water in front, a feeding water thick-knee being surprised by the night time visitor and the ever present thought of crocodiles, made this portion one to remember. The action included:

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  Doctor Bill instructed the application of mozzie spray due to the profusion of insects.
  
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  Fearless had to be jacked off a rock that had his defender front in the air,
  
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  Fearless also had to be pulled out of a near tip situation,
  
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  Glen had to be hauled up a steep hill, tires had to fight their way up bolder slopes,
  
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  Himba children would run barefoot ahead in boulder areas where no pathway was visible,
  
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  As navigator to Fearless, Lothar followed tyre tracks by headlight to establish bye pass routes
  
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  Elf-like Himba women in traditional regalia would gesticulate and jabber wildly about closed roads
  
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  A Mercedes supply truck had got its engine under water and was abandoned
  
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  Fearless would lose lighting under a bow-wave and travel sections in darkness
  
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  A large detour was done as one short side route was not seen in the dark
  

On a number of occasions the option of bush camping favoured by John was not taken up as the majority longed for a chill day at Kunene River Lodge that had got rave reviews from previous travellers. The pure determination and the way the team took up this extreme challenge was for me by far the best and most rewarding portion of the trip so far. We thankfully arrived at KRL at 21h00 and set up camp.

10^th April - Saturday Kunene River Lodge
Not that by this time anybody really new or cared what day of the week it was, we had nevertheless been on the road for one week and this was our first chill day. Richard and Emily’s hammock was strung between two palm trees and especially Emily and Ian made full use of recovering sleep lost to over-imbibing the previous nights. The pool (with blue sodalite in the rock surround) right next to the camp site that had the rising Kunene lapping on the opposite side of the campsite was used extensively as were the wash tubs. Whether the cold water Omo combined with our washing skills did the trick is doubtful but judging by the long lines strung between the trees, our clothing must have seen a remarkable improvement after one week of service.
Lounging on the lodge deck eating toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches, drinking Tafel lager, inspecting the rising Kunene water levels against the deck supports and meeting for the traditional fines meeting for sundowners was the order of this day. John would identify birds by their calls; we discovered the symbiotic relationship between blue waxbills and wasps and generally caught our breath so to say.
Bill, Lisa, Richard and I strolled outside the camp noting that the trees in the rising river water already had a paler leaf complexion than those in the dry indicating that they had been partially submerged in the rising water for some time. We walked along the millet fields and I photographed this to me unknown staple food. We soon found that we had missed a track turn-off the previous night that would have saved us at least half an hour on our trip.
The iconic bird in this area was the Cinderella waxbill and for R100.00 a piece we could have followed a tour that would “try to spot” this bird. This and a boat ride on the Kunene were not for this party however we still had a fruitful bird sighting day.
The chill day was hugely needed and the camp site was thus etched positively in our memories.

11^th April - Sunday KRL to Epupa
The River Road to Swartboois Drift was passable (but thereafter not), so off we drove to have a look at this famous crossing point between Angola and Namibia (SWA). For the early migratory tribes like the Herero and the Afrikaner Dorstland Trekkers this had been the border crossing. We found palm trees and nothing much else but up on a hill overlooking the drift was a small cemetery of trekboers as well as a memorial erected by the descendants of the trekkers.
The trekboers that had reached South West Africa had negotiated a settlement agreement with the Portuguese and in successive waves had crossed the Kunene in the early 1880s to settle on a very fertile Humpata plateau. They retained their cultural values and life was good as they were seen to be valuable allies for the Portuguese in the fight against aggressive local tribes. The unfortunate element of their comfortable existence was their uncontrolled poaching in Kaokoland that all but nearly caused the extinctions of the abundant elephant and Rhino populations that have never really recovered. We at no stage saw either of the two species even though we paid guides to take us to these animals. After some forty rather comfortable years in Angola the “trekgees” again raised its head and this time because of the Portuguese requirement that Portuguese be taught at the schools and the fear that Catholicism would erode their religious beliefs. So in 1928 all but four families moved back into SWA, their culture and language intact but to the surprise of the local Afrikaners the men now wore black leather hats as opposed to the traditional brown. The Union of South Africa flag was hoisted at the drift and all their livestock had to be left behind – they were compensated by the SA government. Both northward and southward treks were commemorated by the descendants by erecting a large pointed stonework memorial with engraved granite inlays.
Not far from the memorial site we located a small sodalite mine. The blue sodalite rock is a semi-precious stone used for ornamental jewelry as later witnessed in the crystal museum in Swakopmund. Pure blue colours we did not find but samples were taken along.
As the river road to Epupa was not passable we drove the gravel roads to Epembe and Okangwati where we provisioned up at “The Good Road Shop”. Himba herders with their ornamental horns worked into their hair and Himba women in traditional garb were commonplace. Gone was the misconception that traditional Himba dress was only for tourists – they actually still covered their skins with ochre and lard as this protected from the harsh climate and retained their beauty. With their refined features, elaborate hairstyles and traditional ornaments they are very attractive people and very different to the everyday KZN native.
The Namibian topography must be the most varied and stunning in the world. We travelled south past the Zebra Mountains and then north again past the same mountains on our way to Epupa Falls. Bare black dolerite intrusions in Zebra patterns alternating with the original bedrock now overgrown with vegetation gave the whole range a Zebra pattern – most unusual. A view site overlooking the falls on arrival showed the whole falls area and a helicopter perched on a promontory between two of the falls – one wondered how much the lucky tourists on this rock had paid for their privilege. The R10.00 a head demanded by the local gentleman was not paid due to Johns insistence on “no hand-outs”, there was no formal evidence that the R10.00 would actually reach the community as claimed.
The campsite chosen by Fearless was right on the water’s edge and some 35 meters from the first fall. My dome tent was erected between three palm trees to catch me in the event that the rising waters should enter our campsite and carry my tent and me downstream. The tall palm trees in the camp had dropped the ivory kernels and the locals were either throwing these into the river to clear the camp or use them to carve ornaments out of the very hard ivory.
Having set up camp the usual team of Bill, Richard, Lisa and I did our normal walk, this time with the geo-cachers to the view site overlooking the endless array of falls. No geocache was located and the cachers duly disappeared leaving the walkers to absorb the falls in full flood. There were of the order of thirty six individual falls and it needed my six-shot panoramic function on my trusted Samsung cell phone to capture the full extent of the vista. We were truly blessed as this view is seldom seen with the Kunene in spate. Lisa could not resist the temptation to submerge herself in a shallow portion of the river under the watchful eye of her dad.
There was cell-phone reception and I had my first call to Ramona – what luxury. All was well at home except for the news that Abbi had been shot but survived.
Another walk by Bill and I brought us to a hill overlooking the Kunene upstream of the falls. Ever the engaging doctor, he helped a picanin push a wheelbarrow with a water drum up a small hill. A jovial laugh from the little fellow was followed with a begging hand for money. This is exactly what cruiser John had such a passionate distaste for – money should only be paid for services rendered, handouts were a no-no. Not far from our look-out point where a luxury lodge was in the process on being built, was a tavern with loud music. This has apparently upset campers in the more expensive camp upstream from where we were camped.
Our camp had a raised deck with bar facilities and this is where Bill and I found the rest of the crew on our return.
The camp was probably the most beautiful of our camps. The camp fire under palms with the Kunune slowly drifting by, mourning doves peeping in on our activities and Angola mountains on the opposite bank. My tent some 35m from the first spraying falls, some 300mm above the Kunene water level only housed my body with my head outside being cooled by spray from the falls and looking at the stars though the palm fronds. If only I had had more peace and quiet to fully absorb this once in a lifetime experience.

12^th April - Monday Epupa to van Zyls
The heat had got to some overlanders and rehydrate was called into action. The desire to move on got us travelling back the road we had come to Okangwati, between the Zebra Mountains and the Baines Mountains. At the Good Road Shop we again stopped for some refreshments with the Himba ladies again proving a center of attraction. R16.00 bought 1,5 liter of Bon Aqua.
The country side on the way to van Zyls camp site was rugged to say the least but sprinkled with surprises. Plant life such as the bottle stemmed flowering Impala lily and the Paper bark, the smooth black stemmed trees and the remarkable softwood trees forcing themselves through plates of sandstone that was lifted into the air proliferated in this harsh environment. The going was so rough that items were thrown off the tops of the vehicles e.g a dozen cans of beer but more distressing was the tent poles from my dome tent that worked their way out of its bag causing unnecessary hardship. Also a lifer for me was the yellow-billed oxpeckers being hosted by of all animals domesticated donkeys.
Lunch saw us stopping for a bite in a sandy river bed with massive Kameeldoring trees. Onward through the rough to our campsite named van Zyls. If not as dramatic as the previous, the 35m diameter kameeldoring was our canopy also providing at its base a double kitchen sink with excellent clear drinking water. Ablutions were good and Richard would stoke up the donkey so we could shower with warm water. Outside the shower was another sink with even a mirror. Rules were nailed to the kameeldoring and these I duly read out for the team to take note. One of the rules was “no public show of affection” which resulted in a fine being imposed on Gail for her public utterances in the “open” shower when she joined Glen for her heavenly experience.
My tent was erected “boer maak n’ plan” style with poles borrowed from another tent and on packing away my tent next morning I could claim to have slept on a scorpion. This was the only scorpion sighted on our trip even though scorpion holes were present in abundance throughout our trip.

13^th April - Tuesdays van Zyls to Camp Synchro
We struck camp and posed with vehicles for a photo-shoot on the wide dry sandy riverbed. The rugged work horses deserved the attention as they took us through the roughest of passages without a murmur. In this terrain reliable vehicles are a necessity not a nice to have.
The van Zyls pass was a long one over four stages. The environment changed constantly and new to us was:

The white hail-like stones covering the ground in places

The near vertical descents into gullies and rises out of these gullies

The boulders in the road that needed inch by inch guiding by Ian

The clear blue skies with the white puffy clouds

The trees at the side of the road laden with rocks perched in branches

The variety of succulents some in flower

An important Himbas grave site with near-naked Himba boys showing a keen interest in our party

We finally arrived at the crest of the mountain overlooking Marienfluss and its spectacular view over the Serengeti like pale green plain below dotted with trees. Anyone who has been here will attest to the beauty of this valley. A cache was located and a brown snake-eagle identified. Having absorbed the moment, the last hurdle of the pass was tackled. The van Zyls track dropped off the back of the view mountain and with the packing of stones in places and a lot of marshaling all vehicles managed to descend this famous pass finally hitting the valley floor. This was the rest stop where under a tree lay a mountain of flat stones all inscribed with pride by people from around the world that had successfully negotiated van Zyls. With great pomp Peter’s white group stone from the Umzimkulu quarry and with everybody having added their name in black coky, was laid by Peter after having walked through the tunnel of honour formed by the rest of the overlander team. With the stone firmly wedged in one of the higher branches, I added a stone from the new King Shaka International Airport, suitably inscribed to show its origin. After another group photo-shoot lunch was taken under some large trees in the sandy valley and the group all got an introduction to Tim Jan – the bitter aloe and vine concoction that was supposed to be an excellent tonic for all sorts of ailments. Suffice to say, the vile taste did not make it a popular aperitif.
Once in the open on the valley floor a sign welcomed us to the valley and requested that we observe local customs and requested looking after the environment by not driving off the tracks. This latter request was however sadly not always adhered to by the younger drivers who still had to fully develop a sense for protecting this extremely sensitive environment.
How green was my valley would have been an apt description of the vast plain of green grass waving like mini sugarcane in the wind. Fairy circles where everywhere and in the distance to the west the Hartman Mountains. We followed the valley “downstream” to Camp Syncro on the Kunene where camp was erected with the tents on a wide berm ostensibly to hold back flood waters. Our evening walk took us to a hill upstream that again gave us a clear view of the snaking Kunene and in the distance a green piece of prime property looking very much like a luxury golf course.
A beautiful firelight setting under a tree and a scops owl perched above, steaks on the camp fire, an ice cold whisky and only my second cigar on the trip in hand was rudely interrupted by advice from the camp manager that the camp site would be flooded that night. The blissful peace was shattered and camp had to be hastily struck with tensions rising – I was not able to put in the effort to satisfy my host’s expected requirements. The heat had finally got to us and the night at the relocated bush camp was my low point of the trip. Having no water in my tent to quench the thirst and scared to wake the camp in my search for water, the heat had driven me to a panic attack. I just pictured our green Kelvinator at home with the permanent supply of fresh orange juice and would have given anything just to be able to access that fridge to quench my thirst. I had till now not realized that some of the overlanders had already been availing themselves of the doctors re-hydrate and a lesson was learnt – next time take plenty of Game or Re-hydrate on a trip like this.

14^th April Wednesday Camp Synchro to Kunene Dunes
Going back to the camp site we noted that the site had not been flooded and all relocation had been in vain. We still paid our camp fees and used showers and wash facilities before leaving. Having asked birder Bill if he had seen the little birds in the tree and getting a negative, I quickly hauled my binoculars from Duckie to have a look and lo and behold, a small flock of the Cinderella Waxbills in all their glory. Being the last to board the departing column and fearful of further upsetting my sponsor, I jumped aboard with the result that I was the only one privileged to see this bird that only lives in restricted areas of the Kunene river valley. This was my best bird sighting of the trip.
Traveling south in the Marienfluss valley and in the opposite direction of the previous days travel we finally rounded the southern tip of the Hartmann mountains to Rooi Drom in the drier Hartmann’s valley. Hartmann had been a German scientist commissioned to survey northern Namibia for mineral deposits and had the mountain range and wide valley named after him even though he did not find any deposits worthy of developing.
Rooi Drom was a marker erected in honour of Jan Joubert who did a lot of good work in Kaokoland only to be killed by the locals. The drom was in need of freshening up and a friend of Fearless Mike Lauterbach (of Harburg stock) had asked that the team repaint the drum. Fearless had taken along paint and brushes allowing the whole team to participate in giving the drom a fresh appearance. Marilyn duly added the reference to Jan Joubert and the co-ordinates.
Before long we hit blou drom erected for fun by some big coporates. It had a telephone with no innards and a satellite dish to which we added our logo sticker (my honour as I was the only one tall enough to reach and for which I was later fined for despoiling a public facility ). A sign noting that due to continuing load shedding there would be no connectivity to the outside world explained why the telephone that was complete with cable and handset did not have anything behind the face plate.
Travelling north to the dunes destination we could see a distant dune but did not realize that we were actually travelling over vegetated dunes. A breathtaking vista opened itself from the crest of a dune. A large black valley with a river snaking far below presented a 180 degree view as a backdrop to our red dune. All around us rain showers were pouring down over this desolate area and after we had located our campsite behind a dune, one such squall decided to select our site. The volume of rain was intense and dancing and whooping in the rain out of pure delight after the interminable heat Lisa infected us with a madness that soon had my shower gel being passed around for having hair washes. Rinsing was no problem with water pouring off the Landies tent covers. Because of the multitude of scorpion holes we spread our ground sheets – it appears scorpions rule in this forsaken world.
We could not travel to the Kunene River unfortunately as the Wilderness Safari Company had the exclusive use concession over this area and was based at Sera Cafema lodge. These people operate fly-in safaris for the monied folk and we ran into a number of Land Rover viewing vehicles on our way out. We did however manage to soak up the beauty of the environment that was again very different to what we had previously experienced. John managed to establish a geocache in what was without a doubt the most dramatic vista on our trip.

15^th April Thursday Dunes to Khumib
Travelling south and in the opposite direction of our previous day’s travel this time on the western side of Hartmann’s Valley and staying as close as possible to the Skeleton Coast (entry to the park at these points was verboten), we saw the most dense wildlife on our trip, Hartmann’s zebra, blesbuck, springbuck, the endangered lappetfaced vultures and large flocks of Abdims stork. Travelling with Duckie, we spotted a gemsbuck skull and horns and this was immediately retrieved and cable-tied to the bulbar. The gemsbuck was named “Steven” a new member of our team and “he” was forthwith allowed to join us around the camp fires.
The searing heat was interrupted by cool air blowing through gaps in the mountains from the cold Benguella currents lapping the Skeleton coast that we were skirting. Before long we also parked against some lovely high dunes where the black and white beetles (Onimacris Bicolor) were sighted on the windward side of a dune. Of interest was that the sky was clear in the direction of the Skeleton Coast but over the Hartmann’s mountains on the opposite side the white puffy clouds in the clear blue skies were plentiful. At this location the Hartmann’s Valley was barren and not at all green like the lush Marienfluss.
Groen drom was the last drom in this desolate landscape and we duly added our name to those few that have travelled this way and recorded their visit. Orupembe finally came into sight. Shown on the map as a town or village it consisted of a police station, Shop No 1 and a square hut (less than half the size of Lueneburg). We managed to stock up on fresh water for those that had run out (Glen) and cold drinks for the thirsty (the rest of us).
The Kumib River offered a route off the beaten track i.e the D3707 that was known to be corrugated, not a good thing when river valleys were around. Along the route we collected wood for our campsite referred to as Visagie’s a spot next to the river with no distinguishing features. It was here that a clandestine party transferred Steven under cover of darkness from his position on Duckie’s bull bar to the more distinguished location of Fearless Leaders bull bar. There were some witnesses to the crime but the culprits shall for this expose remain nameless.

16^th April Friday Kumib (Visagie) to Puros
A further journey down the dry Kumib saw us locating a track away from the river and over the Etendeka Mountains in a really really barren rock strewn environment. The closer we got to the Hoarusib Valley the hotter and barren it got. Entering the Puros reserve we drove over brown boulder beds as far as the eye could see with further dramatic geological surrounds. Multicolour mountains with avalanches of decaying dark rock within red masses, light colours interspersed.
Having reached the Hoarusib, the heat was intense (50 degrees) and wading of the water indicated no way across. My suggestion to ford upstream brought some success when Ian and Richard found a suitable ford (in hindsight the one we had not found first time round) and after lunch under outstretched awnings we crossed the river to the track on the other side the first two vehicles tied by winch rope in the event of one getting bogged in the river. Searching for an overland route on the western side was not considered and option because of topography.
The eastern route was quite pretty with palm trees along the river side until we had to cross again to the western side. This time we located a ford easier with yours truly as for the previous crossing acting a guide standing in the river. By this time experience had taught that tires did not need to be deflated and the time consuming activity of re-inflating after crossing as per the previous crossing was not needed.
The formal campsite at Puros was found without any difficulty and as per our previous formal campsite we could choose any site as we were the only occupants. Again we selected a large Kameeldoring tree and once set up the walkers did their scouting around to the river that showed no signs of abating. A crimson breasted shrike was the cherry on top as we wound our way back to camp for our evening fire and braai.
The next day was to be our next chill day and we were relieved to find that a Herero woman in traditional garb would pick up our dirty washing to be returned the next day. This was the first proper washing service some two weeks into our trip and this certainly lifted all our spirits.
In the meantime observers had noted that Richard had taken on too much heat and some re-hydrate was hauled out for some recovery service.