Namibia

(w)
namib photos (black & white) (color)
etosha national park photos
namibia vlog

After spending few weeks in Cape Town with my childhood friend Neb, I’ve decided to take action and continue my trip as planned. Last few days were quite cold and it was raining almost every day. I went to a Flight Centre travel agency near Long Street in Cape Town and booked my ticket to Windhoek, the Namibian capital city. The flight was short, only two hours, and from the airplane window I was able to see some pretty rigid landscape and dry river beds. I was on the way to the land of the oldest and most beautiful desert in the world.

We had a rough landing but it was compensated by a very smooth immigration process. First thing to do was to get myself a local phone number and rent a car for my expedition. Shortly there after I was on my way cruising with a Toyota Corolla towards the capital city located about 50 kilometers west from the airport. Yes, I am not kidding, it was a brand spanking new, silver Toyota Corolla.


namib photos (black & white) (color)
etosha national park photos
namibia vlog

First impression, the surrounding area was surprisingly mountainous but covered by a short steppe grass and few bushes scattered around. It looked rainless for the last few years. Just before I entered the Windhoek, I’ve noticed few baboons running across the road. I felt I was about to have some of the best times of my life. The Republic of Namibia is huge, like France and Germany put together. It is sparsely populated and situated along the south Atlantic coast of Africa. The roads are fabulous and some travelers even drive up from South Africa. Before the independence in the early nineties, Namibia was known as South West Africa. The oldest desert in the world, the Namib Desert, (SEE PHOTOS- b/w, color and MOVIE) stretches along the whole west coast of the Africa and it ends in the south of Angola. Namibia is also famous for the Etosha National Park and the Skeleton Coast.

So, I arrived to Windhoek, got myself few local maps and set down in a German bakery to have some strudel and coffee. Namibia is very, and I mean VERY German. Some people said it is more German than Germany. I thought South Africa was great and major credits go to German shops that are all over the place. Same thing here in Namibia; bratwursts everywhere! Anyway, the plan was to drive up to Etosha National Park, spend 2-3 days in the park then drive south to Swakobmund to see the Namib Desert and have some fun ATVing the oldest sand dunes in the world.


namib photos (black & white) (color)
etosha national park photos
namibia vlog

Etosha is about 500 kilometers north from the capital. I took off to try to make it to the park the same day. The roads were excellent, well maintained and on average people were driving 150kmph. I stopped by in few places for a break and to get some gas. The gas stations are no different from western counterparts. The Etosha Pan is believed to have originated over 10 million years ago as a shallow lake. The Etosha Park is also well recognized as being one of the last wild sanctuaries of the endangered black rhino which you may even find in my movie special. There are three rest camps, Okaukuejo, Halali and Namutoni.


namib photos (black & white) (color)
etosha national park photos
namibia vlog

While entering the Etosha National Park about 20 minutes before sunset, I’ve realized that I had to make to Okaukuejo ("the place of the women"), the western resort in the park before the sunset otherwise I would have to come back tomorrow morning. The thing is, no one can enter/leave the park at night. I stepped on my gas pedal after I signed the entrance sheet hoping to make it to Okaukuejo. This was the end of the pawed road and a great time for me and my Corolla. I was quite confident that we can pull this one together. On the way I’ve noticed humongous termite mounds, some small antelopes and wild boar. On my right I’ve seen six giraffes having their dinner snack. Immediately after, two huge lions jumped right in front of my Toyota and attacked my vehicle. My body instantly froze. I was alone in the car, scared as one can be, luckily with my windows rolled up. I thought if adrenaline was worth something I would be a millionaire by now. This was nothing like a ZOO, trust me.


namib photos (black & white) (color)
etosha national park photos
namibia vlog

I did not have much time to get to the first camp. I was getting little nervous as I could see the sun already sinking in behind the bush. The lions were hungry and on the way out hunting for their next kill. I passed them on my right side and suddenly I have realized what I was getting myself into. I was here, my favorite channels, Discovery, National Geographic and Animal Planet all together. I was in a wildlife reserve territory and I felt very vulnerable.

Few minutes later I made it to the Okaukuejo rest camp and checked in at the reception. It was not as expensive as I thought it would be, so I had few beers and a cigar to celebrate nothing else but me. Yes, I was celebrating the survival of a lion attack and my reincarnation, or whatever. The interesting thing about Okaukuejo is that the camp has a lighted waterhole, meaning I was able to see the animals in action at night. This was so much fun. National Geographic live!


namib photos (black & white) (color)
etosha national park photos
namibia vlog

The waterhole had a stadium size lights and one can see the other side where the animals are coming from. Rhinoceros’, lions, elephants, zebras, antelopes, wildebeest, ostriches, storks, and giraffes and many other animals were trying to make it to the waterhole. It was amazing, that’s all I can say. Mosquitoes and other annoying insects were all over the place obstructing my observation of a Rhino face off and an unsuccessful lion hunt. It was already 2am; hyenas were cynically laughing in the background; exhaustion was kicking in so I decided to go back to my hut to get some sleep. This was one of the most amazing days of my life.


namib photos (black & white) (color)
etosha national park photos
namibia vlog

Next morning I’ve checked out and left Okaukuejo behind. Again, try to imagine me driving this mid size Toyota Corolla through a park filled with all kinds of animals that I felt could break this little car into peaces. Some people said that Etosha has the tallest elephants in Africa, measuring up to 4m at the shoulder. Anyway, the plan was to get to Halali camp, about 100 km east of Okaukuejo and half way to Namutoni. While driving through dusty roads I stopped by many waterholes and seen some amazing wildlife. Zebras were all over the place and not in fear of my Corolla. I wanted to stay for a night at Halali but once I got there I decided to move on and drive to Namutoni. Namutoni is a former German fort and it has a good sunset view from the ramparts and tower. The resort also had a very nice waterhole for night viewing so I stayed for the night. Namutoni was a quite busy stop where I’ve met few European travelers, mostly Italian and German.

In the morning I paid my park dues and drove to a city of Tsumeb. There was not much there and it was quite early in the morning so I followed my gut feeling again and decided to drive straight to Swakobmund. After I purchased some petrol, water and some snacks for the road I was approached by a hitchhiker. This redneckish old man, an obvious pipe smoker with a checkered shirt and rough hands looked like he was a construction worker. I thought he definitely worked with his hands. His name was so long and complicated for me to pronounce that even after I politely asked his name few times I was still not able to remember it. Believe it or not, he was hitching all the way to Swakobmund. Later I have learned that he is 70 years old, car salesman and his grand-grand parents came to South Africa from Holland. He drove almost 600 km to sell a car in Tsumeb and now he was on his way back home to his wife.

I eventually agreed to his company and we were on our way to Swakobmund. He voluntarily chipped in N$100 for the gas and shared his stories of the wild Namibia which made the trip even more interesting. Some hundred kilometers later he took over my Toyota and drove all the way to Swakobmund with the average speed of 180 kmps (110mps)! This was one crazy old man flying through the desert. I dropped him of at the local gas station in Swakobmund and immediately took off to see the Namib dunes.


namib photos (black & white) (color)
etosha national park photos
namibia vlog

As I was driving on a highway to Walvis Bay, some 30 km south of Swakobmund, I had an experience that I was waiting for my entire life. The Namib Desert on my left and the Atlantic Ocean on the right, working in perfect harmony with the wind blowing from the ocean. The dunes were huge, almost surreal, actually the only sand mountains in the world. If you use Microsoft Operating System such as Windows XP or Windows 2000 you’ve probably seen the Namib as one of the default desktop background pictures of the dunes. Well, this is where I was now.

I stopped by the Dare Devil Adventures to schedule some dune boarding lessons or any desert activity. Fortunately, there was a small group about to leave on a sunset trip to the Namib Desert interior. At this point I was out of cash. Thanks to my American Express, I was able to put in my credit card and had a blast cruising through these magnificent dunes. I was stopping whenever I could to take pictures and movies but this place I certainly recommend for a live visit. The desert is quite cold. My hands were freezing. The temperatures can drop down to almost freezing at night while it gets unbearable hot during the day. We encountered a well camouflaged snake while finding our way to the “Half an Hour” Dune to see the sunset. The sand was so fine, almost like powder. It messed up both of my digital cameras but it was worth every second of filming.


namib photos (black & white) (color)
etosha national park photos
namibia vlog

That night I’ve spent a in a German owned, well secured hostel and had some sort of antelope steak for dinner. In the morning I went back to Windhoek. The fog was so thick that at one point I had to drive 20kmph. Three hours later I arrived to the airport, hopped on a plane back to Cape Town and fell asleep before the airliner’s security demonstrations. Namibia was just like a dream. Hope to be back someday.

On the way back to South Africa...

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