Sometimes you go see something of which deep in your heart you already know you are not going to be impressed by. Rock paintings is for us one of those things. As we are passing near it, we decide to walk and see the White Lady of the Brandberg, a 40 cm figure that is part of a painting that depicts a hunting procession. We thought we would just arrive there, park the car, walk 5 minutes and quickly have a look before driving on. But oh no, it takes us a 40 minute walk under the blistering sun to see it. In total we are gone for two hours without enough water but thank goodness enough sun cream. But like I said, it is really not interesting, the walk is nicer than the actual goals we were walking to (well, except for the fact that we did not carry enough water LOL) That same day we make our way down to the Burnt Mountain, a volcanic clinker that appears to have been exposed to fire. Again, not impressive. We do however enjoy the Organ Pipes very much. It is a stretch of a 100 metre with dolerite columns that are about 4 meter high.
‘White Lady of the Brandberg’…. you see what I mean
On ‘Burnt Mountain’
At the Organ Pipes
And then we arrive at the entrance to our most northern destination: the Kaokoveld. How is this part of the world described in a guide book? Well, it goes like this: ‘… It is one of the least-developed regions of the country, and is often described as one of the last true wildernesses in Southern Africa’. More than enough reason for us to go there! It is also part of the region where the Himba people live and that would be great to see. The Himba women are known for smearing themselves with a mixture of ochre, butter and bush herbs. This dyes their skin an orange/red-like colour. It serves as a natural sun block and insect repellent. They also style their hair with ochre and oil so it looks like they have dreadlocks. These ladies never shower, no really, never. And an important detail for women-lovers amongst us : the Himbas barely wear any clothes and walk around bare-breasted, but trust us, that is not necessarily a treat to the eye. ; )
In the Kaokoveld
Living in the middle of nowhere
Abandoned Himba house
For two days we drive in the blistering heat, in the middle of nowhere. The scenery is amazingly beautiful. We could take pictures all day but none of them would show the true beauty of this part of Namibia. Unfortunately we barely see any Himbas. We do meet them however in Opuwo, the city known as the capital of the Himba culture. Loads of them are walking the streets. We don’t have any picture to show of them though and that for two reasons. First of all I don’t want to push my camera in their face. Second of all we are not interested in doing a ‘tour’ of a Himba village. For us, it would feel like being in a zoo. We prefer just to look at them while they smile at us on the street. Ok, we admit, we were hoping for a Himba that would be hitch-hiking but in spite of the car being ‘Himba-ready’ we had no lift to give.
In the ice cold infinity edge pool
Infinity edge pool
After the search for the Himba we start our search for the animals in Etosha National Park. Etosha means ‘great white place of dry water’ and I can understand where that comes from. It is sooooo hot here! For once we actually also spend the night at the campground of a park. The only reason we’re doing this is to go to the waterhole near the campground in the evening. The waterhole is lit up at night so you have the opportunity to watch the animals drink. We’re lucky to see not only giraffes and zebras drink, but also to watch 3 thirsty rhinos and an elephant. What we see during the day disappoints me however. We spot a couple of elephants (3 out of the 2.500!) and lions but unfortunately no cheetahs, the only animal still on my wish list. We do see a thousand springboks and zebras. My goodness, they really are everywhere! It seems to me they are an excellent pray for the cheetahs but nope, no hunting cheetah to be seen…. Damn! (Is this cruel of me? LOL)
At the waterhole
The King just walking by, 5 meters from the car
and totally not interested in us
A long drive brings us from Etosha to the capital, Windhoek, where we stay for a couple of days. We visit the city, we catch up with friends via the internet and more important, we have a nice evening out eating game at a restaurant. After seeing so many of them we want to try gemsbok and kudu. And we have to say, that my friends is good meat! We are completely stuffed when we walk back to the guesthouse. And yes, we actually walk back. People in Africa are a bit paranoid about this. In the evening, once it gets dark, barely anybody walks on the street. They all think it is dangerous. That kind of makes it safe for us as there is barely anybody else walking around. ; )
Windhoek
After Windhoek we want to relax am afternoon in some hot springs. As they are closed, we end up spending a couple of hours at the Hardap dam where they also have a game park. It is a beautiful area with no other tourist. When we drive out of the park we find ourselves a fantastic place to sleep. We spend the night on a hill from where we can see the dam, and where baboons are looking down on us. Fortunately they can’t climb down to steal our food as it is too steep. : )
And then, after three weeks in this beautiful country, we start cruising to South Africa again….
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