Namibia Tour: Days 6–8: Windhoek, Spitskoppe, Swakopmund and Walvisbay

 

The Saturday morning in Karasburg was bitterly cold!  We were glad to have a room in a guest house as we patiently waited for the mechanics to finish their work on the bakkie.  Jan, Gene and Anne visited the local cooperation while Lalie and I worked on a draft for Inkululeko’s concert.  Finally we got the good news: the bakkie had been taken for a test drive.  Then the bad news: the new engine was fine, but a crucial pipe was on the verge of bursting.  We decided we could wait no longer, and after some reshuffling we all piled into Gene’s bakkie again.  This time with a proper light for the tent and a seat for everyone!  It was too late to make it to Marienthal as was our plan B, so we again camped in Keetmanshoop!  (Plan C) This time the owner of the Quiver Forest gave us a discount.  We left early the next morning – there was not enough time to wait for the tents to dry – we had to be in Windhoek by 12:30 to meet family.

 

On our way from Karasburg to Keetmanshoop – for the 2nd time!

Our Windhoek nephews, Dawid and Theron Steenkamp with their families.

The Portuguese restaurant where we had a lovely get together with the Windhoek family. 

Theron took us on a Blitz tour of Windhoek on our way to the camping grounds. 

The Freedom Museum (?) and the Christuskirche.  Some of the Steenkamp family got married here.  We also drove past the new state buildings, but were not allowed to take pictures.  As we stopped in the street, security guards warned us not to take photos and to keep on driving, so we drove past slowly, but an angry security official from the top of the hill waved us on, quite angrily it seemed to me.  Apparently these new buildings have been built by Chinese and not local Namibians!  The cherry on the cake was the rather tacky “plastic” wild animals in the gardens surrounding the state buildings. It looked, hmm,  very Chinese!  (We wondered why they were so paranoid about having pictures taken of the new State House!)

The Arebush camping grounds in Windhoek were very clean, but we had no electricity.  And we realised we had left Anne’s ground sheet at Keetmanshoop!  Ours was still in the bakkie.  How to pitch damp tents in the sand without a ground sheet?  How to  open our large mattress bag?  Dawid saved the day: he lent us a massive piece of black PVC.  For the rest of the tour we could pitch our tents right onto it and everything was much cleaner thanks to this ground sheet.  (Do not attempt to camp in Namibia without one!)

The Monday morning in Windhoek was bitterly cold: –2 degrees C!  After some shopping we left for Spitzkoppe via a route south of Windhoek – a very scenic road recommended by the Steenkamps.

The scenic road C28 Hochland route.

However, at the first turnoff, Gene realised we would not have enough fuel to make it to the next definite filling station. After the GPS had sent us on a wild goose chase looking for fuel, we decided to backtrack to Windhoek and to take the road via Okahandja. So we got to see the pass from the other side as well!

We arrived at Spitzkoppe late in the afternoon

We immediately fell in love with the enormous rocks.

We did not have much time to look around: we had to set up camp before dark.  This was really camping in the bush with absolutely no facilities – just SILENCE and a starry sky.  To me this was one of the high lights of the tour.

Of course it helped to have the Aha camper!  It comes with sufficient light, a water tank and everything one needs.

The next morning we spent climbing up those “delicious” rocks! 

As we have wasted much time with the bakkie setback, we could stay there only one night, and only fool around one morning, but it really was well worth it!  Just before lunch, we set off for Swakopmund.

The road to Hentiesbay:  the infamous Skeleton Coast.  As children we were horrified by the stories of ships that got stranded on the dangerous coast – too far to be reached by either truck or helicopter and shipwreck survivors engulfed by ocean and huge desert. 

Swakopmund.  Sadly we could only stay one night and so missed the museum. 

Seagulls in the lagoon at Walvisbay

There were lots and lots of pretty jelly fish at Walvisbay!

Driving through Walvisbay, it was still misty and chilly, but not for long.

En route to our camp in the Namib desert, we stopped at the bakery in Solitaire.  Their renowned apple strudel deserves its fame!   Our next stop was Agama Camp – where the bathrooms are without roof ,affording one the luxury of lying in the bath and looking at the stars!

Thank you God for Namibia!