53. Finally: welcome to Namibia!!!

It takes us one and a bit day of driving to get to the border of Namibia.  Nice and boring driving: the scenery is nice but not the most exciting, the roads are straight, the tarmac is good and most of all the car is running so smoothly that we have nothing to say about making it the 850 km to Namibia. Don’t you just love it when all goes well and you have nothing to tell?!!! The only thing we should mention for Ruth ‘s conscious is that we did a little stop for her. The first time we were driving up was with her. After the car showed signs of serious problems we ended up spending the night at a place were they had rooms and the possibility to camp. Ruth eventually ended up sleeping in the car and Kosta and I in her room. I am sure up till now Ruth is still grateful for the mosquito net we have in the car, and for us sleeping in a room without. LOL Anyway, in the morning we get everything ready to leave. As this is the first night we actually camp with Ruth she has no idea what is ours. So Ruth puts away our cutlery, our plates and two coffee mugs that were in the room. When we later discover her kleptomania we promise to return the mugs if we ever make it back on that road to Namibia.  And so we did. : )

IMG_8096_thumb1

For Ruth: returning ‘the stolen’ goods

Six weeks later than we thought we are finally welcomed to Namibia! Our first stop is a campground not far from the Ai-Ais/Richersveld Transfrontier park. It is still early afternoon and we decide to rest our heads here for the afternoon as the lodge with facilities for campers also has a swimming pool. And not just a pool, no, a pool to my liking: a hot one! The water comes from the hot springs and has the feel of a bathtub that never turns cold. I never understood how some people can just soak for an hour in their tub while it gets cold. Ok, they add hot water after a while but its not the same, really. How relaxing is that when the hot water turns lukewarm all the time? But this is just great! The water is warm but not too warm, a little breeze cools you down but not too much. Yes, we have arrived in pool paradise! We stay in the water until we are as wrinkled as we won’t even be when we’re old. This is what they call an afternoon of relaxation.

IMG_8109_thumb1

But Kosta and I are eager to travel on with The Cruiser so next day we leave the pool for what it was and drive up to the park, only 20 km from the campground. We don’t go into the Ai-Ais hot springs (Ai-Ais meaning scalding hot in Nama) but we come to see the impressive Fish River Canyon, a canyon measuring 160 km in length and up to 27 km in width. The inner canyon has a depth of 550 m. There is a famous and very popular five day hike you can do here in the canyon. Because it is a very strenuous hike this excursion of 85 km requires you to have a doctor’s certificate of fitness issued less than 40 days before the walk.  As the route is only open from May till end of September we can unfortunately (ooolé, olé, olé, olé) not do the hike.  So we enjoy the canyon the healthy way: by going from viewpoint to viewpoint in the car! LOL

IMG_8141_thumb1

Fish River Canyon

Now one thing you should know about Namibia before you pack your bags is learning how to read a map. I’m not talking about knowing where you are driving to, no I talking about realizing that that little town mentioned on your route map might not be identified as what we actually define as a town. As we drive out of the park we make our way down to Sossusvlei. That still being a bit of a drive we first have to stop somewhere to get money out, buy a bit of stuff and get fuel. Next town on the map: Bethany. Not only is this ‘town’ on the map, it is also signposted along the road. When we get there, however, all we see is a hotel and two other houses. Yes people, that is Bethany for you! Our hopes are on the next possible stop indicated on the map but well, it might be ‘bigger’ but everything is closed as it is Saturday afternoon. With almost no money left nor food, we decide to bush camp a bit further and come to the little supermarket that is open on Sunday morning. It will take us a bit of a detour towards a proper town that has a tiny bit bigger dot on the map to find cash the next day. Along the way we pass many ‘towns’, signposted on the streets, sometimes on the map, sometimes not. Nothing more to be found there than a couple of houses representing ‘the city’. Consider yourself warned. : )

IMG_8170_thumb1

The hotel of the big town Seeheim

1 comment:

  1. Me like the pool too...very much!!!! Hope you enjoyed it xxx

    ReplyDelete