Namibia with Steve

Windhoek-Etosha-Swakopmund-Sossuvlei. To view more pictures go to Facebook(You don't have to join to view).After arriving rather late at the Windhoek airport, our first night was spent at the Villa Verdi, a lovely guest house in Windhoek. We were provided with a simple breakfast and coffee on a covered porch overlooking the garden, after which we headed out for Etosha National Park, a several hour drive north of Windhoek. Etosha means “great white place” and it is just that, a great, white place. The park is dominated by a large salt pan (natural depression in the ground) formed by a dry lake bed. When you are actually out on the pan, having taken the 3km road to the lookout, the sand takes on a greenish tint. Driving by it in the distance it appears white and beachy and you are almost sure you have reached the ocean.panning on the pan
You start to wonder where the water is. Grass lands are sparse in the park and we marveled that animals were able to survive here at all. We spent 2 nights in the park, at a different lodge each night, and drove the twisty, turny side roads wherever possible. We would go miles extended periods without viewing even a bird and then come upon a watering hole or a grazing area filled with the archetypal African scene of grazing kudu, zebra, hartbeast, giraffe, etc.
The first lodge we stayed in, Mokuti Lodge, provided us with a spacious 2-bedroom bungalow, complete with kitchen and barbeque area (neither of which we were inclined to use, preferring the ease of a large buffet). There are no ATMs in the park, but fortunately they take credit card for pretty much everything you might need. After dinner we walked out to the watering hole, separated from us by a few yards and a fence, where we watched elephants, jackals, giraffe, and various antelope quench their thirst.

night drinking
The second lodge, Halali, was a little less luxurious, albeit quite nice (especially relative to my living quarters for the past 3 years), but was located in a dry, parched area where the sun pounded the ground mercilessly and moving about in the daytime was cumbersome. We retreated to the air conditioned interior of the car and spent the day on back roads. We came upon one small waterhole unexpectedly where we were suddenly within yards of a single robust female lion hunched over and taking her fill. I got a little nervous being that close to a large predator with an open window between us, but she was not the least bit interested, barely acknowledging our presence before taking her fill and slowly moving away. We took a drive out to the “ghost tree forest”, one of our favorite spots in the park.


ghost trees
These are alien looking trees with misshapen and bulbous trunks that grow in Africa, north-eastern Africa, Madagascar and India. We saw quite a number of them knocked over on their sides, their short roots exposed, like bloated tipped cows. In the evening we went out to the view the waterhole at the lodge, a smaller version than the night before but set high in a nicely laid out rocky area a bit further away from the animals. The night was dark and we watched as a large group of rhinos lumbered in, hearing them before we actually saw them. The viewing area was crowded but relatively hushed, quiet enough to hear the butting of heads between 2 large rhinos. A small African Wildcat slinked its way quietly to the water’s edge but was spied by one of the large rhinos who chased it away. A group of sinister looking hyenas arrived like evil shadows on the periphery of the waterhole, edging up to drink after the rhinos had disappeared.
Swakopmund
The third day we headed out on the long drive to Swakopmund, a seaside resort on the Altantic Coast. On the way out of the park we were lucky to happen upon a pride of 7 lions lounging just off the side of the road.

We arrived in Swakopmund to find a beautiful, modern little town heavily influenced by European design sitting just off a palm lined, beautiful blue ocean. In all of the towns we passed through or visited in Namibia, it was difficult to get a sense that we were still in Africa. Nambia was colonized by the Germans and the European influence predominates here. For anyone visiting Swakopmund, the Brigadoon guest house is a small but sweet guest house a block from the beach. They deliver breakfast to the patio just outside your room at a time predetermined by you, tapping lightly on your door to let you know the meal has arrived. They start with the cold items, cereals and breads, to give you time to wake up and get settled before the eggs arrive. What it lacks in ocean view it makes up for in charm and top notch service.
It is a long and empty desert drive out to the dunes at Sossusvlei from Swakpmund. On the way to the turnoff from town, you come upon majestic red dunes just abutting the ocean. The view is breathtaking- blue sky and sea, rust colored dunes, picture postcard perfect, which is nice because, for miles and miles afterwards, all you get is flat dusty desert with hardly even another car in sight. At some point you leave the paved road; however, the dirt road is wide and tightly packed and we lost no speed from the transition. All of the lodges near the gate to Sossusvlei Park fill early during the month of October, so we had to settle for Solitaire Country Lodge about a 90 minute drive north of the park. In one of the brochures we read, the town of Solitaire was billed as “mystical.” In reality, the town consists of little more than a gas station, store, and lodge that, together, resemble something out of a B grade Western film, but in a good way.

Namib Balloon Safari
We rolled out of bed early to arrive at the Sossuvlei gate in time to be met by Namib Sky Balloon Safaris for our early morning balloon ride over the desert. This was a first for both of us and, although a little pricey at USD 400 each, the panoramic view as we drifted along high above the hills was worth the expense. Although the brochures show the balloons floating over the red dunes, we did not reach the dunes which we could see in the distance. But floating over mountains surrounded by early morning mist was sufficiently ethereal and, after a scrumptious meal laid out on tables in the desert by the balloon trip organizers, the dunes were only a short drive away.

Deadvlei
The dunes of Sossuvlei are everything the books and postcards depict. They are massive and burn bright red against a cloudless blue sky. It was like being transported back to the Sahara desert in southern Morocco, that mystical magical vastness which leaves one inclined to believe in something larger than oneself. At the car park for 2 wheel drives, several kilometers from the largest dunes, we hopped on one of the shuttle busses that take you out to an area where you can hike around and climb dunes if you are so inclined. We hiked out to an area called Deadvlei, a small copse of petrified trees left to die when the river changed its course. It was an eerie place perfectly suited for science fiction scenarios- dark dead trees rooted in a lake of dry white sand surrounded by the red dunes.
After a second night in mystic Solitaire, we headed back to Windhoek on a road that wound through hills sprouting high desert vegetation and loaded with wildlife at each turn. We had enough time in Windhoek to stop for a cappuccino in an outdoor café before heading for Daan Viljoen Nature Reserve, a jewel of a surprise just outside of town where you can take a several kilometer hike among wildebeest, antelope, warthogs, zebra, giraffe, etc. We got to the airport in plenty time for my evening flight out.
Six days is not enough time to see Namibia, nor is it sufficient time to get a sense of the African cultures that gave rise to this diverse and extraordinary country. Unfortunately, a century of colonial rule followed by inclusion under South Africa apartheid, saw the widespread extermination of many indigenous tribes and the forced assimilation of others. In 1904, under German rule, an edict was declared that, “All form of tribal organisation must be stopped. Tribal groups deep in the bush which try to escape political supervision will not be tolerated. They would only serve to provide memories of tribal life and the days when the Africans owned the land." Consequently, although a few small groups were able to seek refuge in the bush and survive in small numbers, outside of museums it is difficult to get a sense that this country was home to a large variety of different tribes with unique cultural practices and beliefs. The San bushmen, probably the best known of these groups, still exist in Namibia but, with the exception of a cultural village that would have cost us 400 USD to visit, they are, according to meida accounts, “marginalized and landless.” Nonetheless, with its copper, zinc, lead, manganese, uranium, and diamond mines, its seaports and fishing, and its tourist attractions, Namibia seems prosperous relative to many African countries with an emerging and larger black middle class than most other places. An encouraging trend but at a high price.
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