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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Day 112 - 114 Sand, Seals and Shipwrecks on the Skeleton Coast.

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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