Our last morning in Etosha N.P. found us bummed because we really enjoyed our visit here. We were supposed to stay only 2 nights, but early on the first full day we decided we wanted to stay longer, so we would skip our overnight in Damaraland, just driving through it on our way to Swakopmund on the coast. So that was our plan after we packed up our site. We prepared breakfast and took it with us as we walked to the waterhole to catch early morning action, and indeed there was plenty of that. No larger mammals, but the numbers of zebra, springbok, kudu, and even some Oryx were impressive as they are rarely seen at the waterholes at night. Nighttime is elephant, giraffe, rhino, and predator time. As we watch from our bench on this chilly morning, small twigs and pieces of grass would occasionally fall on us from above as social weavers furiously worked on their communal nest hanging from the tree nearby. It was huge, looking like it could house 30 or 40 of the little fluttering builders. It was tiring just watching them. Eventually we had to tear ourselves away from this wonderful setting that we could stay at all day, and head south as our next destination was a longer distance due to our decision to stay another day in Etosha N.P., so our stopover point which was almost dead set in-between Etosha and Damaraland was now just a pass-through point.
By noon we were at Khorixas where we got gas, which is not too far from our original destination in Damaraland named Twyfelfontein. Another 90 minutes and we found ourselves where we wanted to be. We stopped at a camp and asked the young lady where we could find the place called Organ Pipes. I found it on the internet and wanted to visit it as we passed through. We had also passed an attraction named "Damaraland Living Museum" which was tended by a young, attractive, topless woman who sat in a small booth at the entrance. She said it would take several hours to see the presentation depicting life for the Damara people, past and present. No, to those of you wondering - I DID NOT have trouble maintaining eye contact with her. But I can say that a brassiere would benefit her and her triple D's that were making their way down to her belly button! And she couldn't have been more than 20 years old. I was later informed she was single, but had plenty of interested "boys". Yeah? No doubt! Anyway, it looked really interesting, but we didn't have the time to devote to it. We also had to pass on the main attraction of the area, the UNESCO ancient rock paintings. After we visited Organ Pipes, we found ourselves back in the parking lot of the museum, facing a dilemma. We both really liked the area and wanted to explore what it offered more than we were able to under the current circumstances. My position was Swakopmund was mainly a resting point and where I was going to try my hand at sand boarding (where you use a snowboard and slide down the huge sand dunes). I was willing to give that up and eat the cost of our camping fee to stay overnight here in Twyfelfontein and stay only 1 night in Swakopmund (it was originally planned for a 2-night stay). Radhika agreed, so we went to Aba-Huab Camp down the road from the museum where Radhika told the young woman at the counter in reception that we were thinking of staying overnight and what availability did they have. The young woman looked puzzled by Radhika's use of "thinking", and I interjected that we "were" staying and wanted a site. After a brief chuckle, we secured a campsite and decided to visit the rock engravings with the rest of the afternoon and save the museum for tomorrow morning. So the last few hours of the day were spent hiking over rocks with Honey, who was our guide, learning a little about the people who left these pictures 6000 years ago. It was interesting and the terrain was beautiful. We were the last visitors to leave, and several of the workers started walking back to their village, which wasn't too far from our camp. We piled as many as could fit into our truck, telling the others we could come back for them. After the 10-15 minute round trip, we picked up more, who had been walking along the dusty road. We still couldn't fit everyone, so the final 2 continued to walk, saying they would get a ride with someone as they passed by, as we made another trip to the village. It was almost dark now, enough to need my headlights. Radhika and I debated the odds of them getting a ride out here in the middle of nowhere (which describes many places we had and would visit), so we decided to play it safe and drive out in their direction one more time. As we did we passed a vehicle, but it was too dark to determine if the final two were inside enjoying a ride home. We didn't see them on the road where we calculated they should be, so we returned to our campsite. After borrowing towels from the camp, we took showers under the starry, desert sky. We forgot to pack towels and had been using "Magic Towels" that we bought in Amsterdam that came in a package the size of a half dollar coin and a little under an inch thick. When you open the package the towel eventually opens to the size a little larger than a washcloth. I was happy to use a real towel even if it was just for one night. As I dropped off my towel and soaps, a German woman came out of her shower without any modesty. Gotta love those Germans! She left as I came back with my pj's that I had left in the truck. After my shower I stepped out to find her back in the shower area (there were 3), and she asked me if I had seen her coat. Uh, can I get my towel and no, I didn't see your coat in my shower (the one she used was 2 over). Guess she feels we are even now in the "seeing you naked" category!
After I got my jammies on, we made some sandwiches, bought some drinks and looked for a place to eat. The same young woman from reception said we could eat in the restaurant area, which was really nice of her. So we ate upstairs in our pj's and enjoyed some cool beverages to end our only night in this area. Definitely want more - some other day, perhaps. I stayed up as Radhika went to bed, setting my camera up in a good place to get some time lapsed work on the night sky. There was one artificial light I had to avoid, but the cool thing was it was throwing some light on a tree that I decided to place in the lower portion of the frame. After a couple of 15-20 minute exposures, I was ready for bed, and crawled up the ladder. It was a warm night, which was nice after slightly chilly ones in Etosha.
The next morning we were up early, had our breakfast and went off to visit the museum after paying our bill. We spent almost 3 hours there, leaving a little after 11am. We learned how they settled internal tribal disputes, natural remedies found in the area to treat various physical ailments and injuries, from ground ostrich egg shells for colicky babies, to dried elephant dung for joint pain. The former is taken internally; the latter applied externally to the painful area, just for those of you wondering. You don't want to get those two confused! We learned how they hunted, celebrated, played, interacted, and so many other things. We watched a ceremonial dance, the shaman "cured" a patient, they demonstrated how to start a fire, set a trap, etc. It was cool! They made buttons, beads, prepared hides, used the first sunscreen - did I already say how cool and interesting it was? They have been doing this for only 3 months with this new museum, but I hope they are able to sustain it because it was one of the most interesting experiences we had on our trip. We had to get to Swakopmund, and the young lady at our camp said it would be 6 or more hours. I couldn't see how, I was thinking more like 4, but we got on the road by noon and stopped only briefly once or twice. One time was when we were about 2 hours into our drive. We passed a Himba woman and man on the roadside selling what would be considered trinkets. But she was the thing of most interest. Himba's are mostly found to the north, so it was fortunate to see them here. We bought several items to wear, then got back to our journey to Swakopmund. But I felt I hadn't made enough images of her and it was bugging me. Radhika said I should decide to continue on or got back before we traveled too far, so I stopped and whipped the truck around. The somewhat comical thing about it was we had to pass a man who was selling things of his own on the side of the road, and every time we passed him, he came out into the road holding up some of his wares. I felt a little bad for the guy because he looked so hopeful each time we passed. We pulled up, parked, and I paid her directly to make some more images of her. She loved it! Her boyfriend seemed quite proud too, but keeping an eye on me to a degree I sensed, even though Radhika was with me. We loaded up again, passed the guy on the roadside on more time, and kept on. At some point, we took a road that was shorter in distance (and time we had assumed), but it probably didn't save us any because it was almost a "non-road". The trails in Moremi were more "road" than this was! Hell, I couldn't determine where I should be following at one point as we passed some houses and huts as there were no tell-tale tire tracks. I just winged it and rolled the dice in my head, luckily coming upon a better-marked path along the way. We eventually came back upon the more primary-type road, and we determined that we will not take any more "D" roads. "B" indicated a paved road, "C" a dirt/gravel secondary road. We saw some demarked as "F" roads that seemed to go out into pasture, so I designated that F as farm! You're wondering where "A" roads are? Good question - so were we. Never saw one.
We got to the coast by 4pm, seeing the clear skies of the desert recede and give sway to thick fog and chilly, biting winds. We headed south along the dunes on our left and waves on our right. I saw one of the few shipwrecks that remain stranded along the coast, so I pulled us onto the beach engaging 4WD. I made some pictures out in the cold blustery wind, and jumped back in to warm up and drive off to reach our destination only a few kilometers more south. Getting stuck in the sand was not in the plan, but that didn't matter. Florida-boy got stuck. I dug a lot of sand out, and got the truck to move out only to bog down again. Now the tide was coming in too close to the truck, it was getting later, and I was concerned. I saw some fishermen in the distance, so I ran over to them and asked for their help. One said he would be buy in a little bit, so I ran back and unloaded the heavier cargo in the back of the truck. After a few minutes, the older German gentleman came up in his Toyota, got out, tied a tow rope to the back of his truck and told me to tie the other end to our truck. He then got into our truck, changed the 4WD gear from Hi4W to Lo4W, told me to untie the rope that I had just attached to the front, and he drove it out with a little effort. Remember the guy in Moremi who told me NEVER to use Lo4W? Well, I didn't even consider trying lo in this situation! I thanked the guy twice; we loaded the stuff back into the back, and got the hell off that beach. Next stop - Alta Bruke campsite in Swakopmund. No more pussyfooting with any side trips! And the weather was already bumming us out, going from sunny heat to overcast gray windy cold! Plenty of that shit in Amsterdam come winter (and part of fall and spring too!). After the fact, removing a day here and spending it in Etosha was a freaking stroke of genius I wish I could take credit for. Swakopmund became a resting point between 2 far apart destinations, where we did laundry, charged batteries and cell phones, got a decent restaurant meal, pulled out more cash, took great showers in the nicest, cleanest camping facilities we would enjoy on this part of our trip, and bought a few more provisions for our time in the desert to the south where the internet indicated there would be no groceries to buy. After a slightly chilly night in our tent, we left the next morning for Sesriem several hours due south. But not after I handled a decision in the most wishy-washy of ways.
Gas. There was between 1/4 and 1/2 a tank of it showing on the gauge. I figured we could make Solitaire, where the map indicated we would find gas stations. As we left Swakopmund, we didn't directly pass a gas station. As a matter-of-fact, we were looking for one at one point, because we couldn't find the road we needed to take to head south. If we had found one for directions, we would've killed two birds with one stone and filled up the tank, as well. I was also factoring in the spare tank of gas we had in the back that we had been traveling with since the 2nd (it was now the 7th). Anyhow, Radhika became very nervous about the state of our available fuel once we were on our way and many kilometers out of Swakopmund. Then I became more nervous and less sure of my decision. So the safe decision was made, and we turned around after some hard moments in the truck. Luckily we didn't have to go all the way back to Swakopmund, but could get gas in Walvis Bay, which was closer to us and would figure again later into our adventure. We were delayed probably an hour due to my indecision, but it was better get there later than desired than be on the side of the road with an empty tank. If I had been by myself, I most likely would've pressed on. And now knowing the route and distance, I'm completely confident we would've made it to Solitaire by using the spare tank.
Anyway, we're on our way to Sesriem, the closest camp site to the park entrance, where we need to be to get a "first thing in the morning" start when the gates open and we can get the sunrise experience of the worlds tallest dunes. That will be picked up in the next post.
The album for this post can be found at:
http://www.photoshop.com/user/johndp/?galleryid=bccd0ceeb0864e0dbb98941821fed66f&rlang=en_US&trackingid=BTAGC&wf=sharegrid
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