We woke at The Stiltz, in Swakopmund, with a view from the large glazed bedroom window of the Atlantic Ocean. The accomodation was great with a large open plan living and dining area with clay chiminea for the evening, a great break from the confines of a tent. Swakopmund is an old colonial German Town, with many people still speaking German and it is one of Namibia's holiday destinations with quite a selection of shops and restaurants.
Following a well earned lie in, we just about made it in time for a good breakfast of fresh fruit followed by scrambled egg and bacon and then met Margaret, the manageress, who helped us sort out a couple of activities for the duration of our stay. This afternoon we were off quad biking in the Dunes, which the children were very excited about, following which Margaret kindly booked us an appointment with the local doctor, to get Fred's foot checked out and tomorrow morning we were heading to Walvis Bay for a boat trip to see the sea lions, dolphins and Pelicans. She also knows Duane from Safari Drive, so kindly calls him to see what he is planning to do about the Land Rover electrical problem and he suggests going to a local garage to have the batteries checked out first. I drive into town with Harry to check this out and find that the fridge battery is good although the car battery is coming to the end of its life and really needs replacing. This might explain some of the problems we were experiencing but I don't think it was quite as simple as that. We agree to get the battery changed the next day.
Imogen trying Mums bike out for size!!! ....................... Harry getting bogged down!
...................................................................................... so whats keeping you all!
At lunchtime we get picked up by Johnny, from 'Desert Explorers' for our quad biking expedition in the dunes. The company appears quite professional and Jo is pleased to see the signed photo of Brad Pitt, as a recent client, who was clearly following us around on our trip!! ................... have a feeling he doesn't have a tent on his roof though!!! ................ he doesn't know what he's missing! We organise our bikes, Jo and I jump on manual 250cc bikes, whilst the children on automatic 125cc bikes. ............ Now quad bikes are not a favourite of mine from a safety view point, but Imogen and Fred have a little trial run to see how they get on and alhtough both are keen to have their own Quad Bike, we agreed with Johnny that if they have difficulty in keeping up when we were out they could simply leave the bikes to be picked up later and get on with us. Johhny was happy with this arrangement and it wasn't long before Fred was on with me and Imogen was on with Jo. It was a big thing for both Fred and Imogen to be initially on their own, but it was hilarious to watch as we all travelled in one line to suddenly see Imogen take a sharp right, in the middle of the desert and head off into the distance, in completely the wrong directon, before stopping. ................ you couldn't help but look in complete puzzlement at the situation ................ it reminded me of the Only Fools and Horses christmas sketch, when Del -boy is on the jet ski and doesn't know how to stop it as he heads of into the distance! ................. We spent our time buzzing around the dunes, like demented flies, hurling ourselves up the steep sided slopes of the dune, turning at the top and bombing down the same side, only slowing down as we climbed another dune. There were screems of excitement from the children, as if they were on a roller coaster ride, however, towards the end Fred and I were coming up a smaller dune behind our faithful leader, Johnny, when he put his arm out to tell us to slow down and wait for Jo, with Imogen up front then Harry. We duly slowed down but not realising they were only seconds behind, Jo came hurtling up the dune, unable to see us at the top and hit the back of my Quad bike! .... as she turned to avoid me the quad bike turned over on top of her and Imogen!! .................. I knew there was a reason I didn't like quad bikes! Fred and I had no idea what had just hit us and turned round to see Jo's bike overturn. We jumped off and uprighted the bike as quick as we could, all seemed ok but Jo had a few cuts and bruises and had jolted her arm and as Imogen was in front both the bike and Jo landed on Imogen. They were both shaken, and Imogen had taken most of the fall on her left hand and was holding her wrist, which was in pain. I didn't look broken as she could still wiggle her fingers, but it did look a little more than sprained! .......... It needed to be checked out and luckily we had Fred's appointment booked for 4 pm today so we could slip Imogen in at the same time!
So Harry! .................. in which paticular dune did you park the bike??
fractued arm!!!! ...................... merely a scratch!
We all got back on the bikes after a small break and Johnny took us for a bit of dune boarding, which was basically climbing the highest dune and lying down on a bit of waxed hardboard and throwing yourself off the top at high speed ........... even Jo had a go!!! it was great fun but their were only a limited number of times you could climb back up that dune!! Back at base we grabbed a drink, the children played with the two friendly parrots, one called 'maxi' who was very tame and quite happy to sit on your shoulder and chew your ear! ..... then headed back to The Stiltz. We freshened up and drove into town and I took Fred and Imogen into the doctors whilst Jo and Harry stocked up on supplies before coming back over to meet us. Basically, both Fred and Imogen had suspected fractures or possible breaks and needed x-rays at Hospital and as we were only in Swakopmund one more day it was going to be tight!! ................ I said that I would miss our planned boat trip the next morning and get them sorted out, but the doctor said "don't miss the boat trip for the hospital ............ its a great trip, the children will love it!! ............. go to the hospital in the afternoon and then come back to see me and I will sort it out". ................... if only it was that simple with the NHS!! ............ However, it wasn't free! ........ and Swakopmund wasn't exactly a huge metropolis!
We are picked up the next morning, again by "Ocean Adventures", who just happen to be the 'wet' part of "Desert Explorers" ................. and head off to Walvis Bay for the boat trip to Pelican Point. ................... so having been travelling now for nearly 4 months, with little going wrong medically, the last 3 days have seen two potential fractured bones!! ................. they say things happen in three's so perhaps on this 'ocean' trip we would re-write the 'Jaws' script and call it ............. 'Seals' !!! ......... not quite the same ring to it! .... or 'The Pelican' - the new movie in 3D, starring Brad Pit as ........ 'the Pelican', George Clooney as ............. 'the man that gets eaten by the Pelican!!' .................... maybe not one to invest in!!
ok ........ it was a pretty unadventurous excursion from the blood curdling death perspective, but on the whole a very enjoyable trip!!
Imogen suddenly disappears!!! ....................... glad I wasn't wearing a 'kiss me quick' hat!!
The boat was fairly large and comfortably took about 25 on board and we had no sooner travelled out of the dock when an extremely large male seal, ............ that's not a US Marine by the way! .......... jumped on the back of the boat to take a look around! ... It was quite amusing to watch this black, silky, rotund creature, waddling his way to the front of the boat, resembling a very overfed General, with wiskers, arrogantly pushing his way passed unsuspecting subordinates to get to the pork pies! ..... Our Captain explained that this particular seal, although living completely in the wild, he has known for many years and as a result it is very used to people and quite calm. ......... As if to prove a point, we all sat on the front of the boat as our friendly Skipper persuaded the perfectly willing seal to literally climb over the top of us, poor Imogen disappearing under his front flipper ........... and practically give me a kiss!! ................. now I've kissed a few sea fairing maidens in my time, some, admittedly, not as nice as others! but that was a long time ago and those whiskers were a bit much to handle!!
Harry at the wheel! ................... Freddie considerring his chances at getting a coke before the Seal!
The children couldn't believe how friendly this seal was and even Fred managed to get an unplanned cuddle!! Harry managed to talk his way into driving the boat for a while as our Skipper decides to call over to the Pelicans, to come down for a few fish!! .......... I didn't realise they understood the Queens English!! ....... but what do I know? .... come down they did!!! Not appreciating that we were clearly on board with 'Dr Doolittle', the pelicans came down one after the other to feed, sitting on the boat and getting almost close enough for a game of draughts!! .................... it was quite unbelievable! .................................. and those Pelican haircuts were absolutely amazing!!!
Heading out to Pelican Point we now started to see dolphins, zig-zagging in front of the boat, within millimetres of the bow, the precission of their timing being quite an amazing show to witness and further out to sea they would perform acrobatic leaps, to loud cheers from all on the boat. As we approached the end of the sand spit, there were literally hundreds of seals both in the water and on land, the aroma being less than favourable, .... unless you were a seal, and those in the water all fast asleep with their flippers sticking vertically up out of the water; as apparently they can only sleep on their backs, and as the boat slowly sliced its way through this sleeping commune, the seals would be rudly awakened at the last minute before becoming bow fodder, creating a large sudden splash as they dived for cover.
Sleeping seals!
On the way back the trip was concluded by a wonderful array of food including plates of fresh oysters, being opened from the back of the boat washed down with a glass of bubbly. Clearly the children needed to taste fresh oysters and as Harry managed a couple with ease, having tried one before, Imogen was next and bravely after the count of 3, slid the oyster into her mouth, professionally moving it around and chewing it to get the full flavour before finishing it off!! ........... very impressive!! ................. and the next amazing experience for every one on the boat was watching Fred trying to tackle this very ugly little critter!! ........... As he was now the only young boy around the table and with his enthusiasm for nature, this ugly sea creature needed to be fully examined before it was to enter his mouth, complete with a running commentary of just how disgustingly ugly it was! .............. which with sea food generally is never a good idea! ................. Oysters certainly don't get any prettier the longer you look at them!! ......... Anyway the build up was soon getting quite intense and more and more people were now keen to witness this dramatic event. .................. there was a lot of deep breathing as the oyster almost met with its death, ...... but then it would be saved as once again Fred couldn't quite complete his mission, the immense ugliness of the oyster growing to epic proportions as it was brought closer to his eyes. ............... "don't look at it Fred, don't look at it, just close your eyes and eat it!!" ... I would tell him. ............... finally after about ten minutes a few of us started a coutdown! ..5,4,3,2 ........1 .................... my goodness, its gone in!! ....... there was a large round of applause as Fred seemed to be rolling it happily around his mouth before swallowing. ............... "well done Fred!" ..................... However, the smile slowly disappeared from Fred's face, as did the colour, which now resembled that of the oyster he had just put in his mouth! ... as he suddenly realised the magnitude of what he had just done and no amount of swilling this slimy creature around in his mouth was going to make the thought of swallowing it any easier. .............. He suddenly broke into a bout of audible convulsions and ran as fast as he could to the side of the boat to wretch and release this very lucky, ............... but now homeless oyster, back into the sea ............. much to the enormous amusement of everyone on the boat. Well what a morning! ... it doesn't get much better than that!
Back in Swakopmund, we made our way to the Hospital and Fred and Imogen were duly x-rayed (all very easy, no waiting around) where confirmation that a few fractured bones had been identified! .......... so back to the doctor in town we were informed that Imogen had a green fracture of the wrist and would need her arm in plaster for 3 weeks, whilst Fred also had a possible fracture but he recomended that his ankle be strapped for 4 weeks instead of plaster and as they were both young they should heal up fairly quickly. Luckily we were travelling in the Land Rover so the injuries wouldn't really hinder the travelling and Imogen was feeling quite happy with herself as she now had something to bash her brothers with if they got out of hand!! ........... or lions and hyenas for that matter, who would be foolish to attempt to tackle her with such a weapon!
Later that evening we went into town to stock up on supplies and had then planned to eat at a restuarant, but unfortunately our faithful Land Rover refused to start outside of 'shoprite', in the dark and after being hassled by a few locals for food, we eventually got Duane on the phone, who called Margaret, from the Stiltz. She very kindly came out to help us by taking Jo and the children on to the restuarant to eat, while I tried to get the car going and after about 45 minutes, as happened before, the car suddenly decided to fire up and I drove it back to the Stiltz, after which Margaret gave me a lift to the Restaurant to join Jo and the cildren. Duane set off from Windheok that night with a replacement Land Rover, which would take him some 4 hours to get here and would take this one back to be repaired and return it to us somewhere on our journey at a later date. The following morning we spent a couple of hours changing vehicles, which meant puting both roof tents up and transferring the bedding etc, before departing from The Stiltz and heading for our next destination, Spitzkoppe, via a lunch stop in Town. All in all a very pleasant stay, apart from the Landy hickup and the fractured bones!!.
Imogen: - "it is a fantastic place and I really enjoyed the boat because the seals and pelicans came on the boat and the seals actually climbed over me and I could almost touch the pelican - I thought quad biking was amazing going up and down the side of the dunes really fast! - everything was fun apart from when me on mums quad bike coming up a hill crashed into dad and fred!!!!!!!!!!"
Freddie: "it was all amazing the quad bikes in the dunes and the seals climbing all over us the pelicans and the dolphins but I can't believe dad tricked me into having one of those horrible, ugly little oysters!"
The Land Rover change took a good couple of hours and with a stop in Town we were going to struggle to make Spitzkoppe before dark! ............. especially as it was about a three to four hour drive along salt and gravel roads, as we wanted to make a detour via Henties Bay along the Skeleton Coast. Hetsie and Kobus, from Patensie, had told us that the drive to Henties Bay was very different and worth the detour ..... and they were not wrong! This never ending salt road, running parallel with the Atlantic coast was like being on a different planet; the road and surrounding white emptiness, as far as the eye could see, with the roar of the most harsh coastlines I have ever seen, constantly in the background, was quite amazing. To put it in perspective, it is classed as one of the worlds last wilderness areas and whilst we were there, they were using this inhospitable landscape as the film set for the new 'Mad Max III' movie! Driving took a lot of focus as slightly too fast and the Land Rover would easily slide on the smooth, damp surface. Changing our camping plans to stay just before Henties Bay called 'Jakkalsputz', which the Lonley Planet describes as ... camping like no where else you will have camped before, ... and they were not wrong. As darkness set in, we pulled off the road and headed toward the sea along a sand track, the noise of crashing waves getting louder and louder. We came across a small makeshift bungalow and what looked like old shower blocks and with the wind howling we met a local man who came out to see us. 'Camp anywhere' he said, as it became obvious we were the only people here!!! The pitches were literally on the beach, metres away from the crashing waves ........ in fact it seemed too harsh to even call it a beach! ..... it was a stretch of beaten white mucky sand, that ran for miles either side and was undoubtedly one of the most bizarre environments I have ever been in. The shear noise of the waves could only be descibed as sleeping next to the roaring jet engine of Boing 747. There was no other form of life in view, apart from evidence of Jackles, which appeared plentiful. It was dark, noisey, windy and exceptionally eyry, bringing back all those memories of the horror movies you used to watch as a teenager!! Freddie Cruger in Friday the 13th!! ................. At least we had Imogen with a plaster cast!!! ........... not to mention the 'machete' I had purchased on the way through!! ....... just in case?!
Tents, fire, food and bed!!! ............ but not a lot of sleep!
We quickly put up the tents, got a fire going and heated up the left over Pizza we had from the night before as a very quick bit of food before getting to bed! ............ We had already passed a shipwreck on the way, a couple of miles down the road of an Angolan ship which was being towed and broke lose to find its fate on the rocks of the coast some 4 years ago. I understand that the two crew members on board were left there to fend for themselves in what must have been the longest night of their lives before being rescued the next day! ............. Well, not a lot of sleep tonight but it really was quite a bizarre but amazing place to stay!!!
Fred contemplating life!
Still in one piece the next morning!
moving out!
The Angolan Shipwreck, now 4 years old!
We headed out of Jakkalsputz Camp in the morning and from Henties Bay travelled east along a small gravel road for about 100 km to Spitzkoppe and Bushmans Paradise and here he scenery would become completely different to the lost world of the Skeleton Coast!
Anybody out there!!!! ...................
Mel Gibson! .......................... is that you?!
I'm sure I saw something move?
well ................. maybe not!!!
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