SOUTHERN AFRICA 4X4 SAFARI: PART 3/4
Into Namibia we head from botswana deep into the desert to stay at the most amazing campsite in the world and then the coast… for fish and chips!
It was just about getting dark as we got into Rundu but we didn't see any signs for a campsite… but next to a scrapyard and a bar pumping out loud music there was a guesthouse with little thatched cottages and so we threw our things down and went off in the gathering darkness to explore the town. A security guard from the fuel station came over to warn us that it was a dangerous place to wonder around but I didn't think so. The worst thing was that some macho guys in the crowd of locals sitting on the side of the street listening to music through crappy car stereos and pissing wherever they saw fit, shouted out some words at us. I have no idea what they were but the tone was unmistakable. I told my friend we'd probably just been racially abused. She thought that was wonderful. And that was pretty much the worst thing that happened for the whole journey. That evening we sampled some local beer sitting at a bar someone had erected a garden fence on for security while locals paid us no absolutely attention as though we were just a couple of people from the same village.
The next day was another mammoth drive through the mostly uninhabited scrub land of northern Namibia. Or destination was Spitzkoppe, a place that is so much more impressive than its name would suggest. The greenery had been getting thinner and thinner all day and by the time we turned off on the dust road towards the towering peaks the scrub had just about given way to full-on desert. The ground at the foot of the otherworldly rockscape is dotted with campsites with fire pits and is by far my favourite place I have ever camped. Even just signing in turned out to be an incredible experience. I'd recently read a book about the development and diversity of the world's languages and there was a part on the Khoekhoe language and how the clicking sounds make it one of the most complicated and difficult to learn. And here the receptionist was speaking it to a delivery guy as we filled in the form. The local culture wasn't exactly one in full bloom though. The grinding poverty was very apparent as the road into the campsite was lined with local trinket vendors sending our their small children to wave wind chimes at us. Their only potential customers were just the people coming in and out of camp.
Once one of the Ironman roof tents was unzipped and unfolded I got dinner ready and the sunset was followed by a fire and some stargazing from on the rocks that were still radiating the sun's heat into the cooling evening. Just about perfect. But not only are these rocks great for camping in they have also borne witness to the history of man as on the underside of a big rock face is some ancient rock art of rhinos and stick figures painted by Bushmen several thousand years ago. The site is not fenced off so any old idiot could just walk up and touch them, so I hope all visitors show respect to such history and keep their distance.
Two nights here and the only puncture of the trip as there was an unseen rock somewhere in the sand that completely took out the side wall, then an easy drive down to the coast and Swakopmund, the first real town we'd seen since Maun, some 1000km away. But as soon as we got to the beach I wasn't in Africa any more. I was taken by the pier and the smell of the sea and was back in North Wales, a summer holiday in Llandudno. I even found a place that sold pie and chips! It was quite surreal. So was the best Full English breakfast this side of the equator in the Village Cafe!
Text and photos by Robb Pritchard Edited by Marina Kosenkova
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Comments (1)
What a road trip!