Namibia

From Maun we meandered around Okavango Delta and enter Namibia through Caprivi Strip -- a 260 km narrow stretch of land protruding into Angola, Botswana and Zambia. Back in the colonial days Germany negotiated with Britain to exchange this strip of land with access to Zambezi river for the island of Zanzibar (ironically Zambezi later proved unnavigable).

Soon after crossing the border we found ourselves on a straight tarmac road that disappeared into horizon and mostly…empty. Namibia, with a population of 2.1 million and land mass of 320,000 sq. miles, has the world’s 2nd lowest population density (after Mongolia). The only vehicles that we came across were almost exclusively those of vacationing South Africans. After spending a night camping by the Okavango river in Caprivi strip we pushed on to Etosha National Park, somewhat underestimating the distance we needed to cover. We arrived after dark, breaking the cardinal rule of driving in Africa. Fortunately we were in Namibia with no other cars on the roads, unfortunately we were in Namibia during South Africa’s school holidays and all the campsite were completely full and I couldn’t persuade luxury safari hotels to let us camp in their backyard. After a few inquiries we were directed to a farm 30 min away from the park and which turned out to be a perfect spot to pitch a tent. We spent 4 amazing days in Etosha. I’ll let the pictures give you an idea of prolific wildlife and stunning landscapes.

After Etosha we continued to the wondrous desert wilderness of Damaraland. On the way we check out petrified tree trunks dating back a whooping 260 million years. Continuing with all things ancient, we stopped off at Twyfelfontein, a site that supposedly contains the largest number of rock engravings in Africa -- artwork of the inhabitants from 6000 years ago. It was surreal to walk among these engravings, trying to imagine what it was like here 6 millennia ago.

The evening we got back to the camp I developed a fever, body aches and flu-like symptoms. Here you instantly assume one thing -- malaria, disease that kills almost a million people every year, majority of them in Africa. In the morning I dug through our medical supplies for malaria test kit to confirm that the parasite was in fact ravaging through my body. I was almost surprised when the test, supposedly 99% accurate, turned out negative. Relieved, but still feeling crappy, I went through the list of symptoms of other possible ailments… dengue fever… sleeping sickness… belhazia… yellow fever… food poisoning… or may be just a little flu? Things didn’t change the next day and I decided to take another malaria test. Negative again. After a while the mystery sickness began to subside, plus I was in high spirits -- we were on our way to the Skeleton Coast.

About 10 days after crossing into Namibia I reached the Atlantic ocean, just over two thousand miles north of Cape Town where it all began. As I filled my lungs with salty air and dipped my foot in the frigid waters I was very moved by this momentous occasion. I crossed the continent from Indian to Atlantic. This was a bittersweet moment, signaling the beginning of the end of this amazing adventure. We hung around the deserted beach, admiring its eerie beauty. This area, known as the Skeleton Coast, derives its name from the treacherous nature of the coast. It’s almost always shrouded in fog and has rocky and sandy coastal shallows, thus a place for numerous ship wrecks. Early Portuguese explorers called this area As Aerieas do Inferno - Sands of Hell. We drove further along the coast to another strange place, the town of Swakopmund, often being described as being more German then Germany. Perhaps a quick history lesson is appropriate at this point…

During the infamous scramble for Africa, today’s Namibia was annexed by Germany towards the end of 19th century, and was named German South West Africa (not very original). Numerous rebellions by the indigenous population was brutally suppressed, in fact resulting in the little known first genocide of the 20th century with the majority of Herero tribe almost completely annihilated. German colonial rule abruptly ended after the WWI. In 1920, the League of Nations mandated the country to South Africa, which proceeded to impose its own laws and from 1948, the apartheid policy.

Today Swakopmund is Namibia’s most popular seaside resort, and a very un-African city. It is an interesting place though, plus it sits right at the beginning of the Namib desert, world’s oldest and driest ecosystem and with some of the biggest dunes. So what does one do in a town like this? You eat schnitzel and zoom around dunes in quad bikes, then gulp down oysters on the beach. Good times.

Our last place to explore was in the heart of the Namib desert, known as Sossusvlei. This is the Namibia of picture books and movies. It’s hard to describe the beauty of this landscape, and the contrasts it presents. Perhaps its best left to photographs.

The last week was sadly spent on selling the car and all of our gear. It was a lot more complicated then I imagined with a myriad laws and regulation prohibiting foreign imports to protect local 2nd hand car dealers (many owned by government officials). Luckily I found a guy who will chop off “Barbie‘s” roof and turn into a safari vehicle for his private game ranch… thereby avoiding the need for elaborate import paperwork.

So this is almost the end… Another few weeks in Cape Town and I will bid a teary farewell to this amazing part of the world.