After a 4 day break in Windhoek we set off tomorrow for Swakupmond and then will drive up the Skeleton Coast to the edge of the remote northern region of Namibia called Kaokoland.  There are no proper roads up there.  Neither are there any people, apart from a few Himba tribesmen living in simple villages. Nor are there any re-supply points for water, fuel or food for 700 miles.  If we break down or have a medical emergency we will be on our own. 

Kaokoland is one of the last remaining strongholds of the rare desert black rhino and the desert elephant. For the first time we will find ourselves in lion country and we will have to sleep in tents for safety at night.  The desert elephant live mainly in the dry river beds, feeding off the vegetation there, and we are told can be aggressive.  We have been warned to stay well away from them so we will camp some distance from their feeding grounds and venture in with caution to view them.



After we leave Swakupmond and head for the interior we will lose all mobile phone contact and will only be able to communicate through the rather expensive satellite phone I am carrying for emergencies.  Updates on my blog therefore may be infrequent but I will try to get my family in England to update the blog for me from my occasional and brief satellite phone calls to them as I travel through the area.