Swakopmund and Walvis Bay - 25 July to 3 August

We are temporarily back near civilisation as we transit eastwards from Kaokoland to Etosha.  After 10 days with no internet or mobile phone signal, we have stopped in a small town for a few minutes to update my blog – see below:

25 July. We reached Swakopmund after a 4 hour drive through the high veldt of Namibia.  Swakopmund is situated at the southern end of the Skeleton Coast, near Namibia’s only port, Walvis Bay.  We arrived in the late afternoon to find high winds and a persistent sea fog which made visibility poor –this is normal at this time of year we were told.  The sea, renowned for it’s treachery in this part of the world, was fairly calm but 2 metre rollers still crashed onto the beach near our camp.  I have to say, we all thought the area was dreadful, with a high humidity which gave a damp feeling to all our clothes and sleeping gear. The locals told us that they experience (in their words) ‘four seasons a day on the Skeleton Coast’.  Over the next two days we would realise what they meant!

26 July After a restless night we packed up camp in heavy mist and explored Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.  Both consisted mainly of single story buildings built with a strong German architectural influence over the last hundred years.  Then, as the day progressed a hot sun came out as we headed north along the desert road up the Skeleton Coast.  Some 15km north of Hentjies Bay, the last place for fuel, we found a primitive but pleasant campsite along the desert shore where we spent the night.  As the rays of the sun lengthened, the winds picked up again and a fog bank grew out to sea and slowly came inland.  Then, as night fell it got colder and colder, making us pull our heavy sleeping bags out again and shiver the night away.  We now realised the rigours faced by the one hundred or more survivors of the Dunedin Star which was shipwrecked further along the coast in 1942 and who were stranded on the beach for nearly two months until rescued by a military convoy – there were no roads in the area in those days.

27 July After over a hundred miles of driving up a rough dirt road along the Skeleton Coast we finally turned inland and made for Palmwag, a small village at the start of Kaokoland Province.  Here we found a delightful camping site by a river surrounded by hills and at an altitude of over 3000 feet.  The days were once again crisp but warm and dry.  This is the area where the last remaining desert black rhino live and the river beds attract the desert elephant too.  We were in lion country for the first time and felt we must be careful.  After a chat with the local wild life manager we realised to our surprise that he would be prepared to issue us with a special permit to drive and camp in this beautiful, protected wilderness which covers over 10,000 square kilometres of uninhabited land.  We decided to take up this offer and planned to set off the next day.

28 July  After a morning of feverish activity filling fuel tanks and spare jerrycans with diesel and collecting a large reserve of water (we were told there would be none in the park) we set off for 4 days and nights of wild camping.  We heard we would be one of only 5 small groups in the concession and must be prepared for all eventualities.   The countryside was beautiful and there were no people around anywhere!  We found gemsbok, springbok, zebra, ostrich, kudu, black backed jackal and a myriad of birdlife on the dry vleis, surrounded by rocky hills.  Elephant and, on one occasion, rhino spoor, were found in the dry river beds.  Surprisingly, some pools of water still existed after Namibia had experienced its wettest season for years.  Normally only 200mm of rain fall each year, but the last wet season brought 800mm of rain.  We camped on the side of a hill overlooking a riverbed and spend a cold, windy night in our tents.

29 July   After a dawn reveille we ate muesli with long life milk and tea for breakfast and then climbed a nearby hill to get a better view of the area.  Everything was so dry.  The grass was a consistent gentle yellow in colour and the few trees are stunted by the eternal wind.  We set off slowly along very rough tracks with the Landrovers in low ratio for most of the day’s drive.  Large rocks and rough dry river beds made me grateful that I had decided to put strong sided cross country tyres on my vehicle – ordinary tyres would have been shredded in minutes.  The Landrovers were in their element and ttook the steep 1 in 2 slopes into and out of the riverbeds with ease, despite being heavily loaded (it has strengthened springs).  Each vehicle weighs nearly three tons.  The extra weight was mainly caused by the 180 litres of fuel in long range tanks and the 80 litres of water each vehicle was carrying, as well as food for six people for a week.  Game became more scarce as we drove deeper into the wilderness, probably due to the scarcity of water.  Vultures a quarter of a mile off the track to one side made us stop and we found a gemsbok carcass in the long grass.  It looked like a natural casualty but we were reminded of the need to watch out for lions as we camped that night by a dry riverbed.

30 July   During last night a dry wind began to blow from the east and by the early hours of the morning it was gusting 50 plus miles an hour.  The tents bowed in the storm and we had to take emergency action to stop them blowing away.  Grass seed got into every nook and cranny in the tents and by dawn the storm was intensifying.  We moved the vehicles and all our belongings into the lee of a large tree and packed up without breakfast, thankful to be back in the vehicles and out of the wind.  We drove off and breakfasted later on a huge plain before dropping down a steep gorge (remember this is all off road!) to the Hoanib river.  Here we found much sign of elephant and saw many gemsbok and giraffe in the dry river bed.  As we turned west, the vegetation gave way to sand.  We were on the edge of the desert again and only some 30 miles from the sea.  It was getting dark so camped on the river bank and went to bed. 

31 July   Just after midnight an easterly wind got up again and by dawn, with gusts once again exceeding 50 miles an hour, we found ourselves in a full blown sandstorm.  Visibility dropped to 50 metres at times and we realised we could not drive in these conditions.  We were experiencing the violent and unexpected storms the Skeleton Coast is so renowned for and which have driven many ships to their doom.  We put plastic bags over the vehicle air intakes to protect them from the driving sand, closed up the tents and retreated on foot into the lee of a large tree with heavy vegetation around its base.  Here we sat all morning with scarves around our heads to protect us from the sharp sand gusts.  By lunchtime the wind had subsided and we returned to our tents to find them full of sand.  In front of one, a small sand dune a foot high had built up in the lee of the tent.  The vehicles were full of sand too - it had blown into every crevice, penetrating the rubber door seals and depositing a layer of sand on the seats, dashboard and steering wheel.  Our bags were full of sand and the top of the engine was coated in sand too.  It is amazing what Landrovers will put up with!  We packed up quickly, brushed as much of the sand away as we could and drove eastwards up the river bed.  A few kilometres later we came to an elephant water hole and washed ourselves down before driving on.  Shortly afterwards we saw an old bull elephant standing in the bushes by the dry river bed and stopped some 50 metres away to watch him, positioning the vehicles for a quick get away. Despite all the warnings that the elephant in the area were very aggressive, he paid us no attention.  We camped again by the river bed that evening in a protective lager and this time were careful to put our tents in the lee of a large hill to minimise the effects of any further winds.  The map showed a deserted village nearby with the ominous wording ‘deserted due to lions’ written beside it, but we heard no roaring that night.

1 August   After a comfortable if somewhat wary night we were away early again driving eastwards up the river bed once more.  The vegetation became thicker and the desert sand less prominent.  Once we got stuck in the soft sand of the river bed but, using low ratio with diff lock and rocking the vehicle forwards and backwards we broke free.  A few minutes later we came upon a small cow herd of elephant some 50 metres to our right, with an attentive bull lagging to the rear.  We stopped to watch for half an hour, leaving the vehicle well placed to make a quick retreat.  Again the elephants paid us no attention but carried on eating reeds on the river bank, the bull at one stage making amorous advances to one of the cows.  Eventually they drifted away into the thick bush and we decided to drive on.  But on engaging first gear the vehicles would not move - whilst we had sat watching the elephant, unbeknown to us, the vehicles had gently sunk into the soft river bed sand!  Eventually, after more rocking and with diff lock on we got going, feeling slightly foolish as we had unwittingly become sitting ducks for potentially annoyed elephants had they decided to come our way.  That night we found a community campsite with showers and a loo and settled in for the night.

2 August   Today was a day of rest and cleaning.  We washed out the vehicles which were filled with dust and grass.  Then laundered our clothes and cleared the grass seed out of the vehicle radiators to prevent overheating.  Tomorrow we leave for Kamanjab, en route for Etosha National Park.

3 August   A short four hour drive brought us to Kamanjab and we were back on a tar road for the first time in a nine days.  Kamanjab consists of a shop and a petrol station and nothing else, but we found a campsite run by a South African couple with clean showers and cold beers – the first for a week and very enjoyable.  The temperature in the low veldt over the last 10 days has hovered in the mid thirties centigrade and was still hot at night.  Now we are back in the high veldt at nearly 5000 feet it is a bit cooler and I expect will be cold tonight in our tents.  Tomorrow we continue our transit drive east to Etosha, stopping overnight at Outjo for the night before entering the National Park on 5 August.