Day 115 - 119 - Spitzkoppe, Bushmen and petrified goats!

Our next destination is Spitzkoppe, which from Swakopmund is about 120km along the B2 tar road then 30km on Gravel, but we had decided to travel North along the C34, the less travelled route, about 180km via Henties Bay, following the Skeleton Coastline, along the wide open and barren white salt road. It is like driving through another world! Jakkalsputz Camp, where we stayed last night, is some 60km along this route, approximately 12km from Henties Bay. Having packed up from this extremely wild camping pitch, where our nights sleep was somewhat limited, as literally sleeping next to the deafening sound of these crushing Atlantic waves, of this extraordinary coastline, you literally felt as though you would simply be completely engulfed during the night and spat back out on the beach in the morning! ..................... mind you, ... looking in the wing mirror of the car the next morning? ..... maybe it had actually happened!!

Entering another world!! ............

Henties Bay ........................................................... it even has a golf course!

After driving through the wide open plains of .......... nothing! ......... we come across Henties Bay, which is a small town, on the southern edge of the Skeleton Coast. We stop for a bit of brunch and as it gets cold on a night, we stock up on a few small bottles of Amarula, Port and Ginger liquer, for 'medicinal' hot toddies and a few snacks, as well as filling up with diesel. Henties Bay is a very hospitable community, but set in one of the most inhospitable places I have ever been! It is an exceptionally strange site to see! ...... Especially this time of year when the sea is unbelievably rough and high levels of sulpher wash up hundreds of square metres of yellow 'wobbling' foam on the beach! .............. There are retirement bungalows being built all over the sand, with large signs enticing you to 'come and retire by the sea!' .......... with the defening noise of this coastline, their target market is obviousy retired, non-swimming, insomniacs!! ......... and there is one thing for sure, if you're brave enough to take a plunge in the ocean for your morning work out, at least you don't need to worry about sharks!, you would be crushed to death by the waves long before they got a look in! ........... in fact they are probably all back at your place enjoying a Campari and Soda by your pool!! Henties Bay appears to be a small green shoot of life, hidden in this intergalactic, barren world of salt, sand and Jackals! .......... infact it wouldn't have suprised me to bump into a couple of Jedi Warriors and Obi Wan Kenobi walking down the high street!! ................ However, at the cafe, 'Princess Leia' was extremely hospitable and the food was both edible and enjyoble and once we had been 'beamed' back to the 'Starship Land Rover,' we set the dials to 'warp speed' and headed 100km East along the small D1918 salt and sand road to Spitzkoppe, hoping to stop for tea and scones on the way, with Mad Max! ....................... instead we passed a local 'crystal stall,' some 50km on....... a small wooden stick table in the middle of nowhere and a place where local people obviously lived! .... the boys persuaded us to stop and look at these glistening gems and a few purchases were made, but instead of money they wanted to barter for food!! ........... a soberring and humbling moment, understanding the harsh reality of life that some people have to face! ............ Harry traded a packet of weetabix, bar of chocolate and punctured football (which they said they would repair) for a well cut amethyst, that she was asking N$100 for (about 10 pounds) and various other food from the drawer such as bread, flour, potatoes, carrots and milk were traded on, as Fred and Imogen fought for equality!! .............. and when food is short, it looks as if the dogs go hungry!!

crystal trading .......................................................... and hungry dogs!

Bushman's Paradise ................................................. 'Bushman!'

Hold on Harry ....... will be with you in a minute! .................... the steep climb down!

Arriving at Spitzkoppe.

We eventually made it to Spitzkoppe; which is described as one of the most beautiful areas of Namibia and had wandered into a completely different world from the coast. Spitzkoppe is community land, run by the community, with profits going back to the community and once inside the gates, we headed for what they call 'Bushman's Paradise', where there is evidence of ancient rock drawings and 'Bushmans Paradise' itself. This comprises a small oasis of plants and trees high up in the mountains, which was a favoured spot for the ancient bushman to live, hunt, find water and live off the fruits of the garden. We literally bumped into a guide that was acompanying another group and he agreed to take us, after after a quick lunch snack, to see the sites. It was a reasonably high climb to get there, but very informative to see, not only how the early bushman lived, but to also to see how the cave drawings were used as knowledge of not only the location of various animals to hunt for food, but also as an educational tool for the younger 'bush-children' to teach them to recognise certain animals that were edible and the dangers they might impose. Apparently the front of each animal drawn, would always indicate the direction in which it had been seen.

Following our spontaneous, educational tour, we jumped back into the Land Rover to find a quiet camping pitch, some four or five kilometres further on, amongst the huge orange, granite, rock outcrops, bursting out through the vast, sage green and yellow, open plains; slightly resembling a smaller version of 'Ayres Rock' in Australia. We just have time to unpack the tents, get the fire going for food and sit down for a relaxing few sundowners, watching the sun slowly setting in the distance.

The camping pitch comprised a small clearing and a fire pit, ............... that was it, no water, no electricity and no toilet, just the bush, the rocks and a favourite place for Leopards and nobody else in sight. We ate well around the camp fire as the noises of the night started calling and all slept well. Following a quiet night, I decided to take the children for a climb halfway up the mountain to the rear of us, amongst the 'rock hyrax", but avoiding the snakes, to a spectacular wiew point. Imogen still in plaster and Fred slightly hobbling, they did very well and enjoyed the climb.

After spending the morning exploring the rocks we enjoyed a late breakfast and then headed out of Spitzkoppe, north, along the sand road to Madisa Camp in Damaraland. Damaraland is known for its majestic flat-topped mountains, spectacular gorges, wide open plains and art treasures inherited from the earlier inhabitants.



suppose we had better make a move! ..................



We eventually found our way out of Spitzkoppe, following a sand track through the bush for many kilometres before thankfully finding the main road and once on that road, .......... that is a 'sand' road, ....... to Madisa, the D1930, we had a five hour drive to reach our destination, dusty, bumpy, although the roads are fairly straight and manageable, providing you don't hit the constantly moving sand and gravel ridges and roll the Land Rover! Along the way Harry spotted a huge bird on the side of the road, so we quickly pulled over to take a closer look and the bird took flight, its wing span must have been at least a metre and a half. We later found out it was the Kori Bustard, the heaviest bird capable of flight, in the world! .......

Shortly before reaching Madisa we met up with a few relatives .................. don't they just get everywhere! ... I didn't realise we had family in Namibia!! ..... I suppose Fred's and his bare feet were the give-away!

Family photos! ................. (Jo has now gone Native!!!) ....................... The Himba Tribe.

Madisa Camp ............. our pitch with shower block to the right

We eventually made Madisa before dusk and settled in to one of the furthest camping pitches in time to get the braai going for some assisted cooking by the children, to enjoy Oryx fillet in mustard sauce. ...... we'll make cooks of them yet, in fact they were all getting very handy and keen in the food department.

The facilities at the camp were bordering on luxury! ......... we had a braai, a kitchen area, a table and benches beneath a 'stick' shade that could double up as a classroom! ..... we even had a seperate bathroom with 'al fresco' shower and toilet and open basin to the front so that you could watch the elephants whilst cleaning your teeth! .......... it was great, the walls of the bathroom were literally 'plastered' with Elephant poo! ........... and the shower had hot water!! ........ well we had to collect the fire wood and stoke up the braii, as the small hot water tank was literally above the fire!

We had 3 nights at Madisa and very much chilled out, using the table facilities to catch up on journals and school work. There were fresh elephant tracks just outside the camping pitch and in the dry river bed immediately behind us, so we would go walking to try to track them and catch a glimpse, climbing rocks to get a better view, although it was such a huge area, sitings would be difficult. It wasn't really going to be until Etosha National Park that we would be seeing more dangerous game, as the south and middle of Namibia was more of a place of diverse landscapes, although Leopards were quite prevalent, as well as Oryx, Zebrra, springbok and giraffe.

catching up on journals.

On the second day we took a visit to the 'Petrified Forest'. This was an area of land where ancient trees had been uncovered, predominantley due to natural errosion, and had literally been turned into stone. It inspired visions of the Snow Queen and The Tales of Narnia amongst the children and all seemed a little strange. However, when we met our guide and took a closer look at these trees it was absolutely amazing and one of the strangest things we had ever seen! .............. We were literally standing on a fallen tree trunk that was completely stone! ..... even the tree knots had turned into crystalised rock! Archeological work was currently in the process of being funded but these trees were some 200 million years old!!! ............. and were believed to have come down from somewhere in Angola during the great flood after the ice had melted and covered in sediment before being more recently exposed by natural erosion. There were pieces of this 'petrified' timber everywhere and you could clearly see the bark, the kots and the rings of each tree! .................. highly recomended visit. We also came across 200 year old plants with tap routes that extended to some 30 metres below ground in search of water.



Following our trip to the petrified forest we headed back to camp for supper and after the children retired to bed we sat up beneath some of the brightest stars we had seen, with The Milky Way visible across the night sky and a barrage of shooting stars piercing the stillness of the sky like huge sparks from the fire. ........ we later heard that we had been witnessing a meteorite shower that had been forecast for a few days.

We also made the trip out to Twelfontein to see the ancient rock carvings, they are very similar to the bushman paintings but are actually etched into the stone itself, on the lee side so they have survived for centuries in the open. Again they provided valuable information for the bushman in both hunting and educational terms, very similar to the previous paintings.

Well ,,, things are looking up for supper! .... Damaraland, where men are men ... and goats are scared!!

Madisa was a very enjoyable and relaxing camp, after which we started to head north to Etendeka, a most wonderful spot in the mountains and completely in the middle of nowhere. Here we were saying in a tented camping facility with all food and drink included ............... sounds great!

Hartmans Mountain Zebra .......... they have stripes all the way down their legs.

The road to Etendeka was long and dusty and it was easy to get over-comfortable with the gravel roads and slowly increase your speed, but once out of control there is not a lot you can do to correct the situation! The wind had picked up whilst we were driving through the vast open plains, with distant mountains , of Damaraland, with a reasonable load on the roof, I could feel the car being pushed to the left. At one stage a large gust of wind hit the car, enough to push my wheels onto the main gravel ridge in the road and immediately I had lost control. It was as if we were travelling on ice! The Land Rover started sliding sideways along the track and suddenley started to topple, with the roof weight, as it turned. ............. I think we all thought it was about to roll!! ........ I quickly oversteared in the opposite direction and the Land Rover span around, now travelling sideways in the other direction ............. I didn't think I was going to keep it upright, but not daring to touch the brake, I remembered the words Richard, on our short 4x4 instruction, at the start of our journey - 'if in trouble, power out' and with that I put my foot hard on the throttle, whilst trying to steer out and the Land Rover responded by getting traction and the sideways movements eventually decreased until we were back driving straight!! ............ How it stayed on the road, I'll never know, but that short period of complete silence in the car was certainly a lesson learnt! it was quite a sobering experience and I certainly took it a bit easier after that, not appreciating the strength of the cross wind on the plains. We arrivied at the 'Vets Gate' at Palm Way at about 3.30 pm. From here we turned off right and the last hour of the journey was a 20km rough track, through the bush, only accesable by 4x4, taking us to this remote mountain camp. This part of the drive was slow but a good 4x4 track and much more enjoyable, especially as we saw giraffe, zebra, springbok and impala on the way, crossing water and various other obstacles, but we made it in time for welcome drinks at the bar, a good hearty supper and sundowners on the nearby ridge overlooking the most amazing view of the distant plains and mountains.

The 20km bush track off the main road to Etendeka!

The middle of nowhere! .......................... and what a stunning place that is!

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