Good Food, Amazing Scenery & Plenty of km’s – Namibia Pt 1 7th May 2010

Date: Wednesday 2nd June, 2010 | Country: Namibia | Tags: africa, blogsherpa, Caprivi Strip, Grootfontein, Katima Mulilo, Namibia, Ondangwa, Solitaire, Swakupmond, Tsumeb, Walvis Bay, Windhoek | 17 Comments »

After 18,000 miles of driving through some very densely populated countries, to enter African country no.17 that is over 800,000 sq km and has a population close to around 2 million people you enter with a sense of curiosity as to what this country has to offer and what lies in store.  I am breaking Namibia into 2 parts, the first being the towns that we went to along the way and the second being some of the places of interest that Namibia has to offer outside of these towns.

Border

The border on a Friday afternoon was busy but was not the kind of headache inducing offices that I have encountered before, you are asked to simply fill in one page of information as to what your purpose is and some personal information and then one of a few people behind the glass window processes your visa.  I had read that as a Brit that my visa would be for free and I could ask for a 90 day visa there and then if I wanted to.  Reka had before she left England read somewhere on the internet that a Hungarian should also have the same luxury as us Brits.  Everything seemed to be going well, my passport received the 60 days that I was looking for (I didn’t want to be too greedy!) and then Reka received the same lovely stamp in hers, that was until the officer who just stamped her passport looked closely at the her nationality, looked at a board that listed those Namibian friendly countries and after a good look realised that Hungary was not listed…ooops!  I had a good look at the list and for sure Hungary was not one of the 30 or so countries on there, even when I explained that Hungary was part of the EU which also threw the officer out a bit, and after a few repetitive conversations with some of his colleagues told me that he could not give Reka her visa and that she would have to go back to Angola to obtain one before being let in.  The problem was that we only had a 5 day visa for Angola and this was the last day and it was a Friday afternoon now approaching closing time at both borders!  Reka then came in and within their office tried her best to explain the info she had been given and eventually their chief of operations got involved and called their head office in Windhoek (the capital).  Initially he told us that we could get the visa here but their office were closing and we would have to wait till Monday, I told him that we would then have to camp in their compound until Monday for this to happen and I think he felt sorry for us as after another call to their offices in Windhoek he gave Reka a stamp which allowed her 7 days entry into the country with a note saying that she must proceed directly to Windhoek to sort this issue out, problem solved, for now anyway!

History

The farming and agriculturalists Gokomere bantu speaking people that moved into Nambia from Zimbabwe as well as the Kho Khoi people that also raised livestock displaced the nomadic San people and became the dominant group of people around 1500.  During the 16th century the Herero arrived in Namibia from the Zambezi valley and occupied the north and west of the country.  Conflict arose due to rights to the best grazing lands and water sources and eventually nearly all indigenous groups submitted to the superior strength and numbers of the Herero.  As Namibia has one of the worlds most barren and inhospitable coastlines it was largely ignored by the European nations until relatively recently.  The first Europeans here were Portuguese mariners looking for a route to the Indies but it was confined to pure navigational aids along the coast.  It wasn’t until a last minute scramble for colonies in the late 19th century that Namibia was annexed by Germany.  The Germto thier an colony abruptly came to an end when its forces surrendered to a South African expeditionary army also fighting on behalf of the allies.  At the end of WWI, South Africa was given the mandate to rule the territory then known as South West Africa by the League of Nations.  Following WWII, the mandate was renewed by the UN who refused to sanction the annexation of the country by South Africa.  Undeterred, the South African government tightened it’s grip on the territory and, in 1949, it granted parliamentary representation to thewhite population.  The bulk of southern Namibia’s viable farmland was parcelled into some 6000 farms owned by white settlers, while indigenous families were confined by law to their ‘reserves’ mainly in the east and far north of the country.  Forced labour had been the lot of most Namibians since the German annexation and this was one ofthe main factors that led to mass demonstrations and the development of Nationalisation in the late 1950’s.  By 1960 most of these parties had merged to form the South West People’s Organization (Swapo) which eventually took the issue of South African occupation to the International court of justice.  The outcome was inconclusive but in 1966 the UN General Assembly voted to terminate South Africa’s mandate and setup a council for South West Africa (This was renamed to Namibia in 1973).  Fighting between Swapo and the South African government then led to thousands of activists being arrested during demonstrations.  A number of Alliances were established and dissolved over the next 17 years and it could have been the white Namibians themselves that grew tired of the war and the economy failing that brought the South Africans to the negotiating table.  Under the watch of the UN, the USA and USSR a deal was stuck between Cuba, Angola, South Africa and Swapo, in which Cuban troops would be removed from Angola and South African troops from Namibia.  In Nov 1989 Swapo collected a clear majority of votes and a constitution was adopted in 1990 under the presidency of the Swapo leader Sam Nujoma.  In 2004 Nujoma after 3 terms stood down in favour of his chosen successor Hifikepunye Pohamba.

Ondangwa

By the time we had driven from the border to the nearest town of Ondangwa it was getting dark and in most other countries we had struggled sometimes to find a decent place to rest for the night without some serious searching for cheap accommodation.  One of the first people we asked there pointed to a place not so far away and drove ahead of us to show us exactly where the campsite was.  Campsites have been far and few between in West and Central Africa and when we entered to see that there was a bar and restaurant and showers all close by I think both Reka and I were able to relax as we were now in a country that was setup for travellers such us ourselves where affordable campsites would be widely available.  In Oshikango we went to a supermarket where we stoked up on booze and some very good looking meat which I haven’t seen that often in a while and in the campsite I setup a fire and Braii’ed (bbq’d) some amazing pork streaks that were cheap as chips.  Like Angola, the weather now was much more enjoyable as the nights and early mornings in May are cold and the rest of the day is normally drenched in warm sunshine, my days of sweating and lack of sleep due to humidity were over!

Above: Ondangwa Camping

Around 50km outside of Ondangwa we were cruising along on some lovely road when a woman in a blue uniform came running to stop us from a small shaded area on the side of the road.  She was quite frantic but I thought nothing of it and continued driving, when a few minutes later a car pulled ahead of us blinking it’s siren and asked us to pull over.  A traffic policeman then got out and proceeded to tell me that I had been driving 70km in a 60km per hour zone and that we had to pay a fine for the penalty.  We drove back to where his speed camera was stationed and I asked him to prove that it was my car and not the car ahead of me or behind me that caused the offence as we all were travelling at the same speed but he couldn’t and continued to talk at me rather than to me.  His female colleague was also talking at the same time and I told them to speak one at a time so I could follow what they were saying, they didn’t like that!  After I had given them my drivers license (a laminated copy) they also told me that I should give them my passport and then go and pay a fine at a police station before returning to collect my passport.  I told them that I was not going to hand over my passport but if they gave me the ticket I would then go and talk about this at their police station.  They refused to give me a ticket without my passport and I asked them to show me where it stated that I should leave my passport with them but they couldn’t show me anything.  Even after I asked them to come with me to the station they said they they could only do this after they finished their shift!  We weren’t getting anywhere with them so we got the directions to the nearest police station a good 40 km back from where we had come from and went inside the station.  The officers inside the station were very nice people and as it was the weekend it seemed very chilled (maybe that was every day in Ondangwa!) and they tried to see what they could do for us without the speeding ticket and proceed to wait a few hours while one phone call led to another.  The two traffic police officers then arrived at the station and began to talk quite rudely in front of Reka and I about how we refused to give them our passports and that we should stand in the area where ‘suspects’ should remain, I then told him that I didn’t like his attitude and he was being unprofessional and that I wanted to speak to his boss.  He didn’t like this and told us to pay and that he’d be back in a few hours to check we had sorted everything out.  As the police station couldn’t do anything we waited around for another 10 minutes and then left hoping that the officers had driven in another direction, luckily for us they had and all I lost out of all of this was time and my copy of my drivers license!

Above: Debating the technical accuracy of a speed gun

Windhoek

As Reka had to proceed to the Immigration office in Windhoek to sort out her visa we decided to leave Etosha National Park till a later date and visit there on our way back out the country.  It was very clear that Namibia is a popular tourist destination with Europeans as well as South Africans and people from Botswana as I saw thousands of rented 4×4’s that on the whole were kitted out with roof tents and had most of the essentials that we had brought for our overland journey.  The scenery through Tsumeb and Otjiwarongo was absolutely stunning as you drive through large expanse open spaces and the scenery never disappoints along the way.  We entered Windhoek on a Sunday but honestly with a population no more than 500,000 a big city seems very chilled whatever the day you arrive!

Above: The road to Windhoek

I managed to collect my refrigerator at a backpackers in Windhoek that had been left by Joe and Christine here a few week back.  I lent them the fridge in Ghana as I didn’t see much use for it in West Africa as camping was not always that easy and my secondary battery that ran it was dead and so Namibia seemed like a close place to be rekindled with it.   We then found a nice backpackers to stay the night in called Chameleon backpackers, we camped there in our tents but it was in a small parking area but they also had dormitories and rooms but were all fully booked out.  It was here at the bar that I met Sid an American guy that had been in Botswana volunteering his services as a doctor, Jan a German carpenter that is travelling through Southern Africa but as part of his tradition can only pay for his travels through the paid work that he gets as a carpenter in that country and a Swiss guy (can’t remember his name right now) that was helping a friend build a school in Cameroun and is now travelling to South Africa.  It was a strange mix but for one night we all stayed drinking till late in the Chameleon bar and then went in search of more booze through the streets of Windhoek, apart from a few casino’s we couldn’t find any late night drinking places until a cab driver took us to a night club where we could get beers and have a good time in an Namibian club.  I had drunk a lot that night due to the ciders I started on, the Swiss guy buying me some whiskeys during a few games of pool, a few bottles of red wine followed by several beers and so the next morning I wasn’t in the best of shape!  The next day we stumbled into the Immigration office in the centre of Windhoek and after being sent to various booths finally found the correct officer who told us the guys at the border were wrong to let Reka in without the visa but after speaking to a few of his colleagues told us to return the next the next day and she would have to submit her application for a visa and it should be ok tomorrow.  Maggie had still been experiencing oil leakages on the front left hand side the tyre and so we went in search of a mechanic of which I was told there were a few in Windhoek but all we we went to were fully booked fixing Land rovers and Land Cruisers, one mechanic told me to come back in a month!  It could wait till another city in Namibia so we left it at that.  Windhoek is a nice city (sorry no photos for some reason) and it has all the kinds of things a large city should have, its easy to travel round the city and seems very safe and relaxing.  The only thing it lacked in the centre was a decent place to camp as space is obviously costlier to have in the city so we met a guy called Frikkie who ran individual safari’s through Southern Africa and he took us to a place 10km outside Windhoek where we could camp more in the wilderness and have a camp fire and access to a shower and not be far from the city so for that thanks Frikkie! (his website is www.big5experience.com) The next day after a few hours Reka had paid for her Namibian visa and had the same 60 days that I had so we were able to set off again.

Grootfontein

This town lies 300km north of Windhoek and seems to be a good resting point for many travellers either heading to Etosha National Park or coming from there going to Windhoek.  It’s a small town but like many other towns in Namibia has all the essentials that you will ever need.  The SPA supermarket is well stocked up on all kinds of meats and goodies needed for your camping needs and like all other towns there are at least 2 petrol stations. We stayed in Grootfontein a couple of days on separate occasions and stayed just outside Grootfontein at a great camping site called Maori run by some crazy German Namibian fella who is on another planet but has a lovely camping area that is peaceful and like most campsites in Namibia has clean showers with hot water and cost £5 a night.

Above: Grootfontien, Bottom Right: One of Many Overland Trucks taking tourists from the UK to South Africa

Tsumeb

A town that lies 60km away from Grootfontein would normally be for a traveller somewhere that you visit for a day before you move to other destinations such as Etosha National Park but as we had done a few loops in Namibia for one reason or another we always found our way back here and after a few visits you felt like a resident here as everyone knew you and the roads become very familiar very quickly!  One time I lost my roof tent cover while driving near Omaruru as the winds were strong and my roof tent which is a well used tent from the last few owners had been well used so things were always looser than I would have liked.  The roof tent cover had blown off during one of our drives and after spending a few hours searching for it along the road we were resigned to the fact that it had blown miles away from the roadside or someone had collected it.  When I searched for a replacement I realised how expensive these things were as the price for a new cover starts around £80 so I went through the pain of ordering a new one from a shop called Cymot.  It was here that I had bought a new battery to charge the Fridge and seemed like a decent retailer of camping equipment.  I had to wait for a few days for the arrival of the tent cover and tried to collect it in the Tsumeb branch, but when it arrived it was not the right cover so I had to order another one but after one complication to another the company couldn’t send the right product so in the end I paid £20 for a second hand cover that does the job from Cymot so thanks to the staff there for being flexible and apologetic through their own ordering system but a great bunch of people to work out an alternative in the end.

Above: Tsumeb

It was in Tsumeb that Reka and I met Ian and Mick a couple of Bikers from the UK and Denmark that were riding from the UK and Spain and had met on a overlanding forum called Horizons Unlimited and after meeting up in the Gambia had been riding together for the past 3 months together through Africa and were both heading to South Africa in the next couple of weeks.  Ian a fireman had already done a world trip on his bike and Mick was planning on shipping his bike to South America and continuing his journey there.  Ian’s blog can be found at: www.iansrtwtrip.blogspot.com and Mick’s at www.mhoey.eu

It was clear that these guys were top notch fellas and after sinking a few beers together we all agreed to find a campsite that evening and sink some more beers and cook some nice food all together.  That evening we found a great place from Tsumeb heading to Grootfontein there is a campsite called Bushbaby just 10km before Grootfontein.  There we had a large grassed campsite with a braii area in the middle and they supplied their own wood which was a bonus.  With some pork steaks, roasted pumpkin and kebabs and plenty of beer we had a great night with these guys chatting about all sorts of stuff and I wish them good luck on the rest of their journey.  Ian, I hope we can meet up in the UK sometime for a beer, and Mick in Capetown if the timing is right!

Above: Ian & Mick the bikers , Bottom left: Mick giving grace before a full English breakfast.

Omaruru

There isn’t much to say about this small sleepy town except for the exceptional wood carving workshop that you see as you enter the town from Karibib, all sorts of animals are being expertly carved from huge trees and chunks of wood, of course I’d love to bring one back, but a) the roof rack could take the weight and b) it would look ridiculous in my garden in Brockley!

Above: The amazing giant animal wood carvings in Omaruru

Otjiwarongo

Sounds like a creature from a Rohald Dahl book but no it’s a town in Namibia and it has plenty of supermarkets and butchers to keep the camping easy, it was here that I got my secondary battery from Cymot to kick the fridge into action as well as we found a nice mechanics called Hoffenfess that fixed Maggie’s back door that was slowly coming off it’s hinges and he did the work with a colleague for free (thanks Hoffenfess!)

Above: Minor tinkering with Maggie

Swakopmund & Walvis Bay

On the western coastline lies 2 towns that ooze a heavy German influence in its architecture and seems to be a popular holiday destination for Namibians as well as those tourists interested in quad biking and other adrenalin inducing activities. They are on the coast but also surrounded by a dry arid dessert so the drive through the west coast is a very bizarre one with dunes on one side and a glimmering ocean on the other.  I found Swakopmund to be a chilled seaside town but accommodation is fairly expensive for those on a budget and the only place I found to stay was close to the beach in a camping/chalet park on the edge of the town.

Above: Swakopmund

It was here that we met Dietmar an experienced Land Rover mechanic who not helped us replace the Break callipers that had been damaged recently and also rectified an oil leak on the back tyre of Maggie and him and his wife Dagmar invited us to have a coffee with them and we chatted about their business and their experiences of Namibia as well as sharing some of the adventures that we had been through so far.  They were extremely busy with work but went out their way to make sure we could get on our way within a few hours of turning up.  Dietmar’s love of vehicles also went further than Land Rovers as seen in some of the photos below.  He also ran the most professional garage I have seen where staff were rewarded (via bonuses) for good work and the opposite for slack work and his guys were on the ball and needed no direction.  At the end the bill was a lot smaller than I had reckoned and Dietmar’s whole service including the advice about where to stay and camp in Namibia was amazing, so thank you Dietmar and Dagmar for that.

Above: Dietmar & Dagmar’s Autofleiss, Swakopmund

Walvis Bay is an even more chilled out smaller version of Swakopmund and has an exceptional view of hundreds upon hundred of Flamingos that are attracted to the salt pan’s around this area.  Many people also come here to do some shoreline fishing which seems to be very popular and you’ll see many vehicles carrying their rods on the front of their cars.  There is also a fantastic German Butcher here that sells nearly every type of meat included game (Eland, Kudu, Springbok etc) and we got some wonderful pork neck chops amongst other meaty goodies here!

Above: Walvis Bay

Solitaire

If you do not want to pay extortionate camping prices at the Sossusvlei (see part 2 of this blog) entrance gate then make your way after visiting the dunes to a wonderful remote place called Solitaire where nothing except a couple of camping places exist and we stayed at the Solitaire guest farm where you will find a wonderful camping area for 3 or 4 vehicles and the owners made us feel welcome.

Katima Mulilo & The Caprivi Strip

The north east of Namibia is a very different place to the rest of the country as the land becomes lush and green as you get closer to the Zambezi river.  The drive to Rundu from Grootfontein is long and straight and requires patience to get through it but there are many spots along the way where you can stretch your legs and have a rest for a while.  We stayed a night at the Rainbow campsite just near Popa falls and you’ll find a wonderful peaceful place to camp overlooking the Okavango River.

Above: The stunning surroundings of the Rainbow Campsite near Popa Falls

Once you enter Kazonga you immediately drive through the Bwabwata National Park but there is a tarred road that bisects the park and you do not have to pay any entry fee to get through it, along the way to Katima Mulla encountered a number of huge elephants that are simply crossing the road one way or another and they are not too aggressive here as long as you pay them enough respect.

Above: A few encounters along the road in Bwabwata

Before Entering Botswana we stayed at a campsite on the road to Kasane that sat on the Zambezi river and it was there that we encountered a juvenile hippo that we were told has grown up amongst the campers and at night he seriously munched his way through most of the campsite grass so if you want a cheap lawnmower this is your chap!

Above: I now know why the game ‘Hungry Hippo’ was given that title!

Guess what, another trip to a garage this time for a rattling noise which seemed to be getting worse the more we drove and on closer inspection a screw that was holding in the front left spring was loose and the thread worn out so the Zambezi Mechanics in Katima Mulilo sorted this out after a few hours of tinkering without removing the spring.

Above: Left – Maggie getting some TLC Right – The owners baby pit-bull that became my Playmate and ripped part of my shirt in the process!

Hope you enjoyed this post and please leave a comment if you did, coming soon PT 2 to Namibia

Noel

Reka – HUN: Kedves mindenki! Az en beszamolom majd a masodik reszben, mindenrol egyszerre… Udv, csok!

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