Two amazing weeks in Namibia!

From the 29^th of April until the 14^th of May we travelled in Namibia. We had high expectations of this country, because everyone we told that we were going to Namibia, reacted like: “Oh, wow, really, Namibia? That's awesome! I would love to go back! I am sure you’ll enjoy it there!” After our road trip of two weeks in our 4x4, we can conclude that we totally agree with all these people. And now we tell other backpackers we meet that are planning to go to Namibia: “Really, Namibia? Wow, you should really go!” 

Namibia is really one of the most beautiful countries we have visited in terms of nature. Why nature? Well, because it’s a pretty big country, while there are only about 2.2 million residents. So you don’t meet a lot of people, and there are hardly any big cities. However, the nature is amazing and very diverse, as you will see in the pictures below. What was also quite special about Namibia is the fact that it is one of the former German colonies. You still feel the German influence everywhere in the country (food, architecture and names of towns/streets). We're still undecided whether this is a good or a bad thing... ;-) The map below roughly shows the route that we travelled in Namibia:

We crossed the border between South Africa and Namibia at Nakop/Ariamsvlei. Luckily enough, the border crossing went really fast, probably because our car had a Namibian number plate (another advantage of our new 4x4!). :-) We quickly had lunch at the side of the road before we headed to the Canon Roadhouse: our first stop in Namibia. A South African couple recommended this place to us, when we were at Augrabies Falls NP. It was indeed a unique place with antique German cars and motorcycles, very kitsch, in the middle of nowhere. We did not book a campsite in advance (we never did in Namibia – we always just go with the flow), and we were happy that they had availability at their “overflow” where we stayed for two nights. We also had dinner at the roadhouse, where Erik had oryx steak and I had a springbok steak with chips and salad. Jammy, very tasteful!

First picnic in Namibia

Canon Roadhouse

Roadhouse from the inside

Our camp spot at the Roadhouse 

The next day we visited Fish River Canyon, the second-largest canyon in the world (after the Great Canyon in the United States). The canyon is 160 km long, up to 27 km wide and 550m deep and part of the Ai-Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park. We first drove to the Main Viewpoint and made a small hike to Hiker’s Point. Afterwards, we drove to several viewpoints to get a better impression of (a small part) of this large and impressive canyon. We also had lunch at one of the viewpoints, and we just finished it in time (before the monkeys reached us)! We ended the day with a nice “braai” (barbeque) and fire at our campsite.

Fish River Canyon

Small hike to Hiker's Point

Enjoying the spectacular views!

Selfie

Making our own lunch at the main view point

Small hike to another view point at the canyon

Making a fire for the braai

Mais, patato and lamb on the menu tonight!

Next destination was Lüderitz, a town quite a long drive via Gaogeb and Aus. We left early morning and had lunch in Aus at a typical German restaurant that had amazing reviews on Tripadvisor. And yes, the food was indeed very nice! 

Road from the Road House

We both love driving these roads

Deserted train station

The German art nouveau architecture in Lüderitz was beautiful; it felt like a village in Bavaria, although a very quiet one. We arrived at a Sunday afternoon and almost all restaurants, bars, and shops were closed. Therefore, we were a little bit disappointed. Especially Erik was feeling sad when he realized that we were not going to have schnitzel or bratwurst with weisbeer that night. ;-) We cooked our own meal and spend the night at the Shark Island Camp Site instead.

Main street in Luderitz

Typical German architecture

View from our tent at Shark Island Camp Site

The next morning we woke up early, did our shopping for the next couple of days in the Spar Supermarket, fueled up the car, and drove to Kolmannskuppe. This ghost town once was a flourishing diamond mining city. It had a casino, a 'kegelbaan', even a theatre and beautiful houses. However, the town was deserted by 1956, left to the sifting desert sands. It’s a bit of a surreal place, but great to explore during an early morning walk.

Entrance of Kolmannskuppe / Kolmanskop

Sanddunes and the deserted houses

You could clearly see that the houses were beautiful at the time

Sand everywhere: dunes taking over

Then we continued our drive to Sossusvlei, a beautiful (gravel) road to drive. We had a picnic on the way and there were many animals that we spotted, just in the wild (so not in a National Park). Some were even crossing the road in front of our car, including gemsbok, zebra’s and springbok. I think that this is only possible in this part of the world! :-) We both really enjoyed the drive.

Having a picnic at the side of the road...

...and off we go again! 

Gemsbok on the way

Typical roads in Namibia

Change of driver!

When we arrived in Sesriem, the Camp Site was fully booked, but luckily there was some place for us at the overflow! The advantage of this camp site was the location: this was the only camp within the park gates and allowed us to be in the park before sunrise the next morning. We decided to go to Elim Dune for the sunset, before we pulled up the tent. We really enjoyed the sunset with a cold beer, after a long day of driving. This was absolutely one of the most beautiful places on earth! Back at the camp, we made a fire/bbq and enjoyed our dinner under the sky full of stars. 

Parking at Elim Dune

Walking up the dune while the sun is setting

Making a fire / bbq at the Camp

Next morning, we woke up at 5 am, had a quick breakfast, and drove to Dune 45 at 5.30am (it was still dark). It was beautiful to watch the sunrise from this large orange dune. The color of the sand changed every minute, and because we were so early, not many other people made it to the top of the dune when the sun came up. It was just amazing!

Walking up Dune 45

Sunrise

Yes, he's happy! ;-)

Beautiful how the wind plays with the dunes 

Do you see me? :-p

Enjoying the views

Highest point of Dune 45

Erik ran down the dune (150 m) and then we continued our drive to the Dead Vlei. This was a very special place, with dead trees and just full of nothingness…

Erik running down the dune

Ostrich

Dead Vlei

Amazing scenery

We just loved this place

Around 10am we left the National Park, because it became simply too hot. We quickly visited the Sesriem Canyon (not so special), fueled up the tank and continued our drive. We stayed that night at the campsite of a luxurious lodge (Namib Desert Lodge), where we could make use of all facilities, including the swimming pool. That was a welcome treat, with nice fluffy towels! :-) We relaxed, read our book, and cooked our own dinner before we went to sleep.

Relaxing at the swimming pool of the lodge

Book tip: "Ik ben pelgrim"

The next day was again a beautiful driving day through Namib-Naukluft Park and the Kuiseb River. The distances in Namibia are quite considerable, but the landscapes are very beautiful and diverse! However, most roads that we travelled in Namibia were gravel road, and it came not as a surprise that we got a stone on our windscreen in Namibia. A truck was passing us on a gravel road from the opposite direction with about 80 km an hour, and a stone came on our windscreen, causing a large crack (of about a 2 euro coin). Unfortunately, this was not covered by the car insurance, but we knew that this is the risk of driving more than 2000 km off road. ;-) Shit happens…

Crack in our windscreen

Picnic at Carp Cliff Viewpoint

Selfie

Our lunch

The scenery

Where we were :-)

When we arrived at Walvis Bay, we checked in at a campsite, after which we made a small walk to the waterfront where we enjoyed a nice burger. We also enjoyed watching the sunset (and we even saw two dolphins)!

Walvis Bay

Waterfront

Beautiful sunset

Two dolphins!

The next morning we drove from Walvis Bay to Swakopmund, a nice (and again very German) town. We visited the tourist information, made a short walk around town and enjoyed a good cup of coffee at Slow Town coffee shop. We really liked this coffee bar, and bought coffee for our own percolator as well as a t-shirt. We then continued our drive up the Skeleton Coast. It has its name because of the many ships that sink on that part of the coast. We had our picnic close to one of the more recent (2008) shipwrecks.   

Leaving Walvis Bay

Swakopmund

Enjoying a coffee at Slowtown

Such a nice coffee bar!

Picnic at the Skeleton Coast

After about 100 km on paved road, it was time to reduce our tire pressure again since a couple of hundreds km of gravel road were waiting for us! :-) We drove from Swakopmund to Brandberg, and we stayed at the White Lady Lodge. This was again a very nice campsite, where Erik made me a hot shower with the remaining glowing charcoal of our braai. That’s love, itsn’t it?

Deflating our tires to two bar

Almost at Brandberg 

View from our camp site

Next morning I was the barista, opened our own (Slowtown) coffee bar, and made a very nice coffee for my dear husband. We then continued to the Brandberg itself (Namibia’s highest mountain: 2573m), where the famous ‘white lady’ - a prehistoric rock painting - was waiting for us. We made a hike with a guide to the Tsisab Ravine, where the rock paintings can be seen. It was quite funny to learn that the ‘white lady’ is not actually a white lady, but a medicine man. You can totally imagine that bushmen were living at this place. However, it is crazy to realize that these paintings are so incredibly old. Our guide was very friendly, and apart from the information he provided us about African rock art, and Namibian history, we also had interesting discussions about life in Namibia nowadays in general.

Barrista Anna: making a coffee early morning

Having scones for breakfast (mit wild preiselbeeren) ;-)

Quick break on our way to the mountain

Short hike with our guide

Very dry landscape

Rock paintings

Famous 'white lady' in the middle

More paintings

Bushmen

After Brandberg we drove to Twijfelfontein, where we also visited rock engravings. It was interesting to learn that the engravings were not only a way of cultural expression, but also a way to communicate.  A complete map was found for example, and the circles represented permanent and temporary waterholes. The animals engraved were not only animals in the neighbourhood, but also animals that they saw much further away (for example penguins and seals). After the rock engravings we decided to make a last quick visit two other ‘highlights’ of the area called the ‘organ pipes’ and ‘burnt mountain’. We were not too impressed, maybe because we already saw so many beautiful things that day.

We carefully looked, but didn't see the desert elephant ;-)

But we saw many ostrich on our way

Erik and our guide at Twijfelfontein

Rock engravings: giraffes are a request for rain

Map of the area with waterholes marked

So many animals engraved on this stone

Spring of Twijfelfontein

Organ pipes

Next day we drove to Palmwag. It was a very bad road, but at the same time also beautiful and we also saw giraffes in the wild again! We were lucky, because we didn’t book anything in advance, but there was still one camping spot available at Palmwag Lodge. We arrived quite early and enjoyed half a day at the pool, since it was a very hot day (about 33 degrees). After a beautiful sunset we cooked dinner and went to bed (because the nights were very cold!).

Taking a break: the road was so bad...

Giraffes on our way 

Pool at Palmwag Lodge

Restaurant at Palmwag Lodge

Beautiful sunset

Our next destination was Etosha National Park. We drove via the Grootberg Pass to Kamanjab (we had to put our car in 4x4, otherwise we wouldn’t make it). In Kamanjab we made the necessary fuel stop (like all people - it was quite busy at the Shell station) and continued to the Galton Gate at the western side of the park. We were greeted by a big kudu, and soon after we watched a bit elephant family at a waterhole. On our way to Olifantsrus Camp Site we spotted many more animals, as the pictures below will show. The Camp Site was very new, and included a waterhole/viewpoint where we could quietly sit and watch animals passing by.

Giving some apples to kids from the villages

Grootberg Pass

Busy at Shell Kamanjab

Inflating the tires again!

Big kudu welcoming us in the NP

Big group of elephants 

Playing with each other

Springbok (one of the very many) ;-) 

Zebra's

Boardwalk at Olifantsrus Camp Site

Spotting wildlife

Our camp site

Sunset

The next morning we woke up at 5.30am. As soon as the gate was open, we left for a full day of game driving. We were very lucky, because we saw so many animals (including many lions!) in the morning as well as in the afternoon. So impressive! We drove from Olifantsrus to Halali Rest Camp, passing many waterholes. It was so much fun driving around ourselves, spotting wildlife. At Halali we quickly made pasta and went to the waterhole close to the camp at night. We watched a rhino and a big group of elephant’s drinking water, before we went to bed.

Hello, I am a 'Kori bustard'

Zebra

Red hartebeest

Two lions chilling at a waterhole

More lions (1 male and 2 females)

One more lion 

Same as above 

Wildebeest 

You should always stop for a zebra, right?

Most beautiful place of Etosha

So many different animals!

A crime scene: two lions in the middle...

...another lion there...

...and the remainings of a giraffe killed by these lions.

Etosha pan: so beautiful!

Secretarybirds (they're eating venomous snakes!)

Suricate / Meerkat 

Group of elephants drinking at night at Halali

Black rhino at Halali

The second day in Etosha started less successful. Early morning, when we were checking waterholes, we didn’t see many animals (apart from springbok, zebra’s, wildebeast and one elephant). However, when we drove at the Fischer’s Pan, we spotted a rhino! There was no one else, just us, and the rhino. It unfortunately did not have his horn any more (and therefore a little bit less impressive), but nevertheless it was a very special moment. Afterwards, we saw at one of the waterholes giraffes and zebra’s, elephants taking a bath and another rhino just before we left the park!! We were so happy – and so close!!

Group of zebra's

Springbok

The Etosha Pan viepoint

Only with heavy rain filled with water

Etosha pan tosti :-) 

Elephant

it was so big!

Landscape in Etosha

Group of wildebeest

Rhino we spotted (without horn)

Waterhole with giraffes and zebra's drinking

So cute, little elephants drinking water

And playing with the water

Dombo... how cute?!

Black rhino we spotted just before we left the NP

It was coming so close

Our camp site just outside the NP

The next day was a driving day again. We left our camp close to Etosha, drove via Tsumeb to Grootfontijn, where we did our shopping, fueled up the tank and drove to Roy’s Bush Camp. It was a very artistic and creative place that we really liked.

Roy's Camp: chatting with my mum via WhatsAp!

About one hour drive (80 km – in the direction of Tsumkwe) from the camp was a so-called ‘living museum’, where San people (the original bushmen) demonstrate the way they live, and the way they have lived in the past. The next day we decided to visit this village and we are so happy we did. It was a very interesting and memorable day. We first could see how the San people are currently living and our guide introduced his family to us. He showed us his little house and introduced us to the rest of the village, including the vegetable garden, the primary school and the borehole.

Our guide showing his village

Family of our guide

Houses in the village

Women making handicrafts

Boy carrying water

Vegetable garden (sponsored by the EU)

Afterwards, we made a traditional bushwalk with the San people. It was great to see how proud they are and how important their culture is to them. At the same time, it is also a very sad story, since the bushmen are originally nomads who are hunting and living from everything that is provided by the bush (nuts, fruits, etc.). Now they only have a small piece of land and they are not even allowed to hunt any more. They don’t have the financial means to buy cows or land, and we could really see that they are very poor and have hardly enough food to eat.

Making a fire

Almost there!

Smoking a traditional pipe

Explaining tips and trics of the bush

Colorful powder

Explaining how to find water in the bush

Bush walk

It felt like going back in time a couple of thousand years

Living museum

Our campsite at Roy's Camp

Our breakfast every morning

Fire in the donkey for hot water!

The last two days in Namibia were driving days (drove about 850 km) in the Caprivi Strip (via Rundu to Katima Mulilo), because we were on our way to the Victoria Falls. The Caprivi Strip is an odd-shaped piece of Namibian land as a result of the colonial history. The nice thing about this piece of land is that it is – especially compared to other parts of Namibia – highly populated. It was great to see the small villages, settlements, schools and ‘Namibian life’ when driving this road. We really enjoyed it. During the night we stayed at a nice campsite close to the Zambezi river in Katima Mulilo. We quickly made ourselves dinner and sat at the bonfire with the other camping guests, where we enjoyed nice conversations and our gin/tonic. The next day we would cross the border with Zimbabwe, but we'll tell you all about that in our next blog! ;-)

Picnic along the road

Nice facilities in Namibia!

Tosti-time!

Our last camp site in Namibia, next to Zambezi River

All in all, we really enjoyed Namibia. It was truly a spectacular country to be. It was great (but also necessary) to be here with a 4x4 vehicle. We enjoyed driving all these kilometers in our Nissan double cab, we enjoyed the landscapes and the wildlife. So, if you ever think about visiting an African country, you should really go to Namibia! :-)

Big hugs and kisses,

Erik & Annemarie