SPITZ KOFFE, and SWAKOPMUND

Feb 11, 2016

We headed West. The views along the way changed from barren desert with scrub brush and lots of white rocks to hilly desert with beautiful views. The highway was good but we still stopped for the occasional herd of goats or sheep to cross. Villages were interesting. One had fences made of tires stacked vertically, filled with rocks.

The road became rougher and again we were treated to an African massage. We stopped for bushy bushy to mark our territory and later at a road side market where Herere tribal women were selling their wares. These women wear dresses out of the Victorian age and funny triangular hats. Later some visited a market where Himba women sold things. These ladies wear nothing on top. Quite the contrast there. One wears too many clothes, another not enough?

Upon reaching our campsite in Brandberg, we set up for lunch. Some had checked into upgrading to a room. Sue and I didn’t consider it until we heard the prices. Hmmm. We did a quick calculation of the conversion rate and decided for about $15 we could have a BED, a bathroom, air conditioning AND electricity? That’s a no brainer. What luxury!! This place had a huge pool AND good wifi. Nice!

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, lounging and chatting. Around dinner time the temperature actually started to drop so it would have been a nice night for the tent. Oh well. A BED is heaven! We also get to sleep in an extra half an hour as we don’t have to tear down a tent.

Munya out did himself with dinner tonight. Sausage and chicken on the brai (coal bbq), gem squash, sweet potato, corn on the cob and salad.

Feb 12

7 am felt like no big deal when there’s no tent to take down. The drive started out pretty treacherous with the rudimentary road socked in with fog. Manda said the mist rarely makes it this far inland.

The scenery changed to bigger rocks in the semi arid desert as we approached Spitzkopf. Some went on a guided tour of the cave paintings but since we’d seen similar ones in Zimbabwe, Sue and I decided to wander off on our own and climb some rocks. We saw lots of chameleons, other lizards, some rock dassies which were great fun to watch.

Back on the road, the rocks disappeared and it was just miles and miles of flat, dry, semi arid desert. We reached Swakopmund and checked into our accommodation. Adventure Village is just outside the city and the rooms are stacked containers. It was really comfortable and quite nice.

After booking our desert tour for the next day, Sue and I went walking. First stop was lunch at the Village cafe which was really good. Next was a walk on the beach. We ended up at one end where the entertainment was watching a guy take a boat out of the water. It took about 5 guys to do it and there was a trailer hitch on both the front and back of the vehicle. He pulled it out with the front one, then they took it off and put it on the back one. It was a long drawn out procedure and very entertaining.

Later we enjoyed celebrating Jimmy’s birthday at a restaurant with the whole group. I finally got to thank Munya for eating. When we thank him for cooking our meals, he always says “thank you for eating.” Funny fellow.

Feb 13

After enjoying a full breakfast of bacon and eggs, thanks to Munya, Sue and I hopped in a land rover with a guide named Douglas and 5 Germans on a “Living Desert Adventure”. After ascertaining that all the Germans were comfortable with English, Douglas noted that he’d use simple English. It was a great 4 hours with many stops where Chris (another jeep joined us) gave us more information that I could hope to remember and introduced us to the wonders of the Namib desert. He talked a little too much about basic photography to a bunch of people who didn’t seem to care but the other info was amazing. Doublas spoke more German than English so we missed some things but other wise, the tour was worthwhile.

We spent the rest of the day having lunch, an ice cream and a long walk on the beach. For dinner we went back to the restaurant from the previous night as both of us wanted the calamari Wendy, Adeline and Jimmy had the night before. We ended up meeting them and Gina there and enjoyed dinner together. To top it off, a waiter walked around handing out tiny bags of candy hearts to all the ladies.