Namibia - March 2011

Namibia March 2011

This trip was planned by Fips Becker and we were very fortunate to be invited to join him and his wife Dorothee and daughter Svenja. (I think Fips thought I would be far nicer to travel with than I was as a result of him being foreign and just really having seen some of my posts on the Land Cruiser web page.)

I asked Fips for his comments on this page, if any, and he replied "Happy, that finally our trip is documented – I will always remember it as one of the best I ever did – even with you in company." (This is actually most generous of him and I am grateful for his generosity of spirit.)

When we arrived in Botswana we camped at Kalahari Rest Camp near Kang. After that we proceeded to Etosha where we camped outside the park. We had been to Etosha in the dry season in 2010 and the waterholes attracted many animals. At this time of the year we saw far fewer animals but it was interesting to see the different scenery.

There had been a lot of rain in the area and we often saw dark clouds and at times we were caught in the rain. The Kunene River was high and we thought we could get through to Epupa along the river from Ruacana. Well we saw lots of places and only gave up when the road really ended in the river and the locals told us we would be doomed if we proceeded. There was one particular water crossing that I was very concerned about because we would have been in real trouble if we got stuck there and having to do it twice was a bit nerve wracking. Fortunately I drove and Sylvia walked in the water (crocodiles in the Kunene) to test the depth of the water.

Fips's planning was wonderful and we went to many really lovely places and stayed at lovely places overnight too. The rain meant that sometimes we decided to stay in lodges instead of camping. However at some places the price difference for what we were offered helped us to decide to camp - downpour or not!

Epupa had always been a really magic place for me - and here everything went wrong. I stuffed up the trip from there by lounging in the water at the pool while Sylvia packed thinking we were going that day. Communication collapsed and after that things were not the same. Since then I have never ever been near a pool on holiday alone for fear of what misunderstanding will certainly arise. Depression has lasted almost a year - but on the bright side I am happy to accept death at any time from now and have let everyone know I want to be cremated and have my ashes flushed down the toilet - friends and many enemies can remember me how they like from there.

Onwards. From there I let Sylvia drive - and onwards we went - in the wet sand - and Sylvia did very well. Van Zyl's pass was easier than we remembered but the path leading up to it was worse. According to the camp registers about two vehicles had been though each preceding month.

A special thanks to Tracks4Africa http://tracks4africa.co.za/ without whose help it would have been much more difficult to proceed. There were places where the track had completely disappeared and worse in some places the washaways had left big drops into now dry river beds where the banks had been washed away.

At the Aba-Huab Rest Camp S20.54900 E14.39851 we split up and Fips and his family escaped from us.

From there Sylvia drove to Brandberg White Lady Lodge S21.02204 E14.68263. This was also a lovely route and we met some people who told us we would not be able to cross the river later on. However when we got there the river was dry again. This was not really a good route to break down on when alone as we were.

From there we drove to Gross barmen Hot Springs (which was closed for renovations).

MataMata is where we headed for and we managed to get into the Kalagadi Transfrontier Park. At Twee Rivieren/Two Rivers we got bookings for Mabuasehube. They were very kind to us at the Botswana booking office and on one of the days there was no space at Polenswa (just one vehicle in the camp when we arrived and remained so) so they allowed us to camp at the rangers camp in the open bush.

After the Kalagadi we returned home via Upington.

The pictures are held on Picasa at https://picasaweb.google.com/100212136101166492201/NamibiaMarch2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJPPoeu72sn1nQE and by clicking on that link you can choose to see smaller thumbnails or enlarge the pictures.

The trip route

No room for extra passengers

The camp site at Kalahari Rest Camp

Fips on the roof - this happened quite often - he seemed to like the view from there.

It was wet

Storm clouds ahead

Mural at the guest house

Fips deciding to do some vehicle washing.

Our pop-up in blue with fips behind in gold while Dorothee and Svenja enjoyed the roof.

Fires are not that exciting when it is wet.

Gemsbok - in Etosha now

Giraffe

Impala ram

It was wet in Etosha

Yippee - lions - always nice to see.

Fips doing the roof bit again.

and again

This bird was far away and I was happy to get this shot.

Hopefully we will see some.

This is style - table cloth makes the scene.

Mopani worm - people eat them - I am not about to bite it.

Lazy $%t

Cheetah at the cheetah farm - this one in a natural enclosure.

Firewood can be difficult to come by and here Fips shows his keenness.

Place mats

Sylvia on high

Interesting succulent

A stop in the shade

Time to let the tyres down.

Owl with unfortunate chameleon.

When it rains and the water flows it can erode the banks of a river (dry now) - just imagine driving above in tall grass and suddenly coming across that drop.

Alone here you can suffer.

And you can get stuck faster than you expect.

Return of favour.

Where we were.

You can get stuck in a second.

Stopping to see what the prospects are for getting through.

Bad bad bad - at one place here where it looked quite shallow I sank to the thighs in sand the moment I stepped into the water - Hoanib River S19.30641 E13.94846.

At Ongongo Hot Spring S19.14076 E13.81904.

Terrapin that I saved from the jaws of a larger one that was trying to devour it.

Me - weakness for warm water - useless ^%^t.

The roof is a popular place.

Ruacana Falls.

Sylvia doing a depth and underwater surface test.

Coming through.

Oh ^&%t.

Potentially very dangerous.

This is as far as we can go.

Camp site on then banks of the Kunene River.

Some camp sites are under water.

Fips blowing the flames by machine - cooking needed to take place so a little wind was required.

Sunset over the Kunene.

We tried to assist but after pulling them along for a very short distance realisesd that a flat bed was needed before we destroyed the vehicle and just broke it apart.