Date: Wednesday 28th July, 2010 | Country: Botswana | Tags: africa, blogsherpa, Botswana, Chobe NP, Gaborone, Khubu Island, Kuru SAN Art, Maun, Moremi NP, Shakawe | 5 Comments »
‘Not far’ as many people would tell me when asking where places were even if it actually took 10 minutes or 10 hours to get there, well using this common phrase, we are ‘not far’ from South Africa as we enter Botswana, African country no 18 via the Caprivi strip. The weather is still cold during the starts and ends to each day with some glorious sunshine during the middle part of each day. I am several weeks behind with updating the blog so apologies for the delay! The following blog gives an account of the places I visited and in the chronological order of them.
History
The British Government put "Bechuanaland" under its protection on 31 March 1885 after Tswana inhabitants were facing hostile movements by various tribes as well as the Boer’s and asked the British for their assistance. When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910 out of the main British colonies in the region, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, Basutoland (now Lesotho) and Swaziland (the "High Commission Territories") were not included, but provision was made for their later incorporation. However, a vague undertaking was given to consult their inhabitants, and although successive South African governments sought to have the territories transferred, Britain kept delaying; consequently, it never occurred. The election of the Nationalist government in 1948, which instituted apartheid, and South Africa’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 1961, ended any prospect of incorporation of the territories into South Africa. In June 1964, Britain accepted proposals for a democratic self-government in Botswana. The seat of government was moved in 1965 from Mafikeng in South Africa, to the newly established Gaborone, which sits near its border. The 1965 constitution led to the first general elections and to independence on 30 September 1966. Seretse Khama, a leader in the independence movement and the legitimate claimant to the Ngwato chiefship, was elected as the first president, re-elected twice. The presidency passed to the sitting vice president, Quett Masire, who was elected in his own right in 1984 and re-elected in 1989 and 1994. Masire retired from office in 1998. The presidency passed to the sitting vice president, Festus Mogae, who was elected in his own right in 1999 and re-elected in 2004. The presidency passed in 2008 to Ian Khama (son of the first president), who resigned his position as leader of the Botswana Defence Force to take up this civilian role.
Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. It has held free and fair democratic elections since independence.
Geographically the country is flat and up to 70% of Botswana is covered by the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It meets Zambia at a single point.
Border
Everything went very smoothly at the border that leads you into Chobe National Park. On the Namibian side there we were the only people waiting to exit the country so after filling out our VAT returns which they told us would be returned to my account within a few weeks we were able to leave Namibia and on the Botswana side we were given a 90 day entry visa that was for free as well as obtain their car insurance for the same period which cost £12 or 150 pula and everything was done within 30 minutes of arrival. The only thing here is that Botswana is a massive beef exporter to the EU and other areas round the world and they made myself and Reka disinfect our flipflops as well as made Maggie drive through a pool of disinfectant no doubt trying to prevent foot and mouth into their lands, while we were doing this, one lady was curious as to the colour of my skin and she couldn’t believe that I was brown and she started checking me up and down and even pulled my trousers up to see my legs if they were the same colour as the rest of my body! It was all done in jest and we all had a good laugh about it.
Chobe National Park
The idea of a national park to protect the varied wildlife found here as well as promote tourism first appeared in 1931. The following year, 24′000 km² around Chobe district were officially declared non-hunting area; this area was expanded to 31′600 km² two years later. In 1967, the reserve was declared a national park.
A note about national parks and reserves in Botswana, a few years ago they were run by the government parks board but in the last year and a bit the government have been cordoning areas of to private concessions with their reason being keeping the footprint of tourists to an acceptable number each year, but the reality from my perspective is that they are probably earning a fat wedge of cash from these private companies and eventually the average income family will be priced out by the smaller number of rich people that fly into Bots, see the wildlife that they want and then fly out again. As a result of this privatisation, you cannot simply arrive at any park and then pay your park fees and drive in unless you are not intending to sleep in one of the designated camping areas. Due to the size of these parks it almost makes it virtually impossible to drive for the day and leave without having to sleep in either a camping area or a hut/lodge. So even though we entered Bots via one of the gates to Chobe, we actually had to drive to the closest town called Kassane to book our 1 night in Chobe. That night we slept in a nearby campsite in Kasane which was reasonable enough at 60 pula each (£5) and the next day went to their offices in the town. The cost of the park entry fees are 120 pula each (£10) per day and the camping a very reasonable 30 pula each (£2.50) but we had to tell them when we wanted to go. The staff in the office were not helpful at all and looked like they would rather be somewhere else than here but we found all the info we needed to know from some other tourists also visiting the park. Nevertheless, the next day we were in Chobe and the route we chose was along the Chobe river (didn’t have much choice by the way) but it was well worth it. The roads consist of thick sandy tracks that only a 4×4 can traverse through and it all added to the charm of the place trying to avoid large tour guided 4×4’s carrying expectant tourists on the back seats while trying to spot some animals in the process. Actually spotting animals wasn’t that hard as herds of Elephants would cross your path, followed by Giraffes, Buffalo, Springbok and over by the river you could get good viewing spots for watching Hippo’s and the odd croc.
Above: Chobe National Park
If you are camping in Chobe, be prepared to bring food and firewood as there is no small shop that you sometimes find in national parks but there are shower and toilet facilities here. The campsite is secluded and situated on the banks of the Chobe river and a magical setting that you could easily spend days here watching the wildlife just near you, hippo’s distinctly grunt your way, fish eagles perch high up on trees, monitor lizards trundle through the grass and we even had an army of huge ants invade our campsite looking for something and these guys were huge!
Above: Camping in the Chobe
I have been lucky enough to visit a lot of national parks in Central, Southern Africa and East Africa and the Chobe comes highly rated as a must see place if you are into your wildlife, you are unlikely to see lions and leopards unless you are fortunate unlike the great plains of the Serengeti or the red dunes of the Kalahari but for an experience in itself the Chobe National Park is a special place and I hope that the Botswana government change their current privatisation plans to stop this becoming a place that only rich tourists can visit as the park is huge and I would have like to see more than the full day that I was there.
Nata, Elephant White Sands
On our way to Maun we stopped over in Nata, it’s a small dust bowl of a town but there is a campsite there 30 or so km before you hit the town called Elephant Sands and aptly named as the campsite is covered in White sand and guess what, there are plenty of Elephants that every day move through the campsite to get to wherever they are going. We ended up staying there a few nights as the place was so magical it would have been rude to leave after one night! The campsite had it’s own supply of wood for guests to the campfire was always roasting hot during the cold wintery nights. At one point the Matriarch of the dozen or so elephants that passed through the campsite smashing there way through the trees in their path stopped and checked Reka and I out and she must have been literally 20 metres away, to be that close to an amazing animal is exhilarating and something that is difficult to ever forget.
Above: Getting close to nature
It was also here that I said a fond farewell to 2 of my closest items of clothing, my flip flops and my shorts, they had both been lovingly worn throughout the 8 months of my travels but were at the stage that they had been through several repair jobs via Reka and myself and shoe repair people along the way and they finally had to be put down!
Above: We’ve been through a lot together my friends, farewell!
Maun
We went to Maun specifically so we could vist another national park in Botswana called the Moremi game reserve. Similar to Kassane for Chobe National Park, the town is teeming with tourists that are going as part of a guided tour or via their own hired vehicle. Kassane and Maun both have a similar infrastructure in that there are plenty of supermarkets and bottle stores with many lodges and backpackers situated in or near both towns. The only problem with this was to find a campsite where you weren’t falling over other people I had to find a campsite that was further out of town and after booking our one night in the Moremi we found a campsite about 40km away from the national park that was reasonable and chilled. Maun wasn’t my cup of tea but there is one food shop in town which serves a great array of meat and fish as well as their own preservatives such as homemade jams and chutneys and well worth a visit if you are ever there, can’t remember the name of the place but it’s a small town so won’t be hard to find. Oh also had to replace 2 wheels that were on there way out due to wear and tear so bought a couple of new tyres from a tyre shop in Maun, he was the most reasonable but still double the price of what you would expect to pay in England and there aren’t many places in Botswana that sell second hand tyres which is a shame. Also had to visit another mechanic but this time of the welding kind as my fuel tank was starting to leak so found someone that could remove the tank and find the problem (a small hole no more than a pin head) that was located and repaired after 3 hours of them bumbling around trying to remove the fuel tank in the first place.
Above: Lovely food shop, New tyres and Fuel Tank repair!
Moremi National Park
I’ll be short and sweet about this Park, there had been recent rains in the area and more than expected to point of areas being flooded so much so that only certain routes in the park could have been done, I saw more wildlife outside the park on the way into the gate than I actually did in one day within the park (we were treated to seeing a herd of around 150 elephants outside), everything was overgrown and made it difficult to see any wildlife and for whatever reason maybe due to a number of factors such as timing and the recent rains I personally did not enjoy going to the Moremi, I’m sure others have had better experiences.
Above: Nothing to see in Moremi!
John & Heather, Shakawe
My friend Alan that I had met in Lagos in Nigeria had passed me the contact of one his good friends that he used to know when he lived in Botswana. As we were heading to the North western side to go and see some San rock paintings which were in the nearby vicinity we made our way to Shakawe where John lives. On the way there we stayed in a campsite that had recently been flooded and the only way to get there was to drive through a river where the water had reached the height just below the bonnet of Maggie. It was a first for me to drive for what seemed like 5 minutes through this level of water, it was exciting but at the same time a little bit scary but with Maggie in low range and the pressure of the water against the vehicle stopping anything coming inside we made it to the other side.
Above: Testing Maggie’s Waterproof capabilities!
The next day we headed to Shakawe which on first impressions is a dust bowl of a town, it has one supermarket, one bank (a Barclays mobile home) and a couple of bottle stores, people wander the streets looking like zombies that have just woken up from a zombie coma and there is a feeling that nothing actually ever happens here. Bear in mind this was Reka and my impression as soon as we got there. I tried calling the number given to me for John and if he didn’t answer or it was the wrong number, we would have left Shakawe minutes later. John did answer and as soon as I told him it was a friend of Alan he gave me directions to come and find him and he even drove out some of the way to make sure we found the right place. As we drove closer to his house, there was a sense of relief as the dustbowl transformed into a wooded haven and his house was metres away from the waters that form the Okavango Delta. John greeted us as if we were old school friends and from that moment onwards I can clearly say that I had one of the most amazing weeks of my life (in Shakawe!). John and his wife Heather have lived a colourful life, John originally from Malawi where his father had a farm moved to Zambia where John and Heather then had their own farm for a long period of time and then moved to Gaborone in Botswana and after working hard running their own garage they moved to Shakawe to be by the delta and be in a place that they can relax and build their own house and be self sufficient (John and Heather, I hope most of this is correct!).
Above: John & Heathers front garden and pets
One of the first things that we did with John and Heather was to take a ride on the Okavango delta in Johns boat. Just a little bit of info on the delta itself:
The Okavango Delta is produced by seasonal flooding. The Okavango river drains the summer (January-February) rainfall from the Angola highlands and the surge flows 1,200 kilometres in approximately one month. The waters then spread over the 250 km by 150 km area of the delta over the next four months (March-June). The high temperature of the delta causes rapid transpiration and evaporation, resulting in a cycle of rising and falling water level.
The flood peaks between June and August, during Botswana’s dry winter months, when the delta swells to three times its permanent size, attracting animals from miles around and creating one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife.
The delta is very flat, with less than 2 metres variation in height across its 15,000 km².
The reality is that being on the delta, slowly taking in this giant ever changing wilderness is an experience that I wish everyone could get to see. It’s a magical place and dangerous as well due to the hippo’s that reside along the banks as well as the crocodiles amongst other wetland creatures as well as a number of deadly mamba’s. John has traversed this part of the delta for sometime and yet he even admits that he can get into tricky situations if he doesn’t read the channels and sometimes the movement of islands that sometimes occurs. It is times like this that I truly understood why I travel and the rewards of unknown places that blow your mind.
Above: The Delta in all its glory
For the next few days we spent our time either on the delta, braai’ing outside or warming up chatting rubbish over a hot fire, helping John clear out some overgrown bush in a School garden so that a function could be held there and discovering some of the nicer parts of Shakawe and it’s nearby attraction. It was a holiday within a holiday for me and if it’s possible to be even more chilled than I normally was, it was here that I reached the nirvana of chillness!
Above: Drotsky’s Cabins for sundowners
Above: John & Heather taking us to a place signposted as Paradise!
Above: the kids playing Marimba at Bana Ba Metsi that schools troubled kids originally thrown out of previous schools
The photos above are of the school Bana ba Metsi. The school teaches kids practical skills and they all participate in one form or another in either building part of the school, teaching them mechanics, the sale of chickens and eggs via their own chicken farm, cooking for one another plus the normal syllabus to ensure these children that have previously been isolated from further education a better chance in life through an environment that allows them to grow without being shunned due to circumstances in their own personal lives. The photos above are of some of the kids that have formed a band that play their own composed songs in a style known as Marimba, and the sound is wonderful and shows how much talent is waiting to be harnessed within them. They played wonderfully and as it was unplanned so it was special.
As Shakawe is a small place there are only so many social circles in the town and John and Heather happen to be very good friends with the Manager Sammy of the only bank in town which happens to be Barclays. She is a lovely person and we had some nice chats with her over a fire at Johns place.
Above: Sammy the Shakawe Barclays Manager
Fishing the hard way
One thing I have never tried before but always wanted to try was the sport (yes, it is a sport, just like darts) was learning how to fish. John is an experienced fisherman probably fishing in some of the wildest and richest (for fish) areas of Southern Africa in Malawi & Zambia amongst other places. His fishing kit is a complex maze of hooks, lines and all sorts of tackle that looks very impressive but meant nothing to me until John explained the qualities of all these lures. John explained that fishing on the delta is one of the hardest places to fish due to the reed system that allows thousands upon thousands of under reed networks that may house fish plus a plethora of other marine life. Fish in the delta range from Tigerfish, Bream (a few variations), Babel (Catfish) to a number of smaller species and John was kind enough to take us out on his boat on a few occasions while we were there for a week and casting out into the pockets of water that lie along the reed bank and the idea was to cast the lure into an area no more than 30-40cm wide and let the lure sink for a few seconds and then slowly reel in the line and hope for a Bream to catch the lure and dinner is then ready, all easy in theory but the difficulty is the lure has large hooks on the end and the reeds near these pockets easily catch the lure and once you get snagged the boat then has to be positioned over the pocket that you were casting into and as John puts it, you ‘close the hole’, throughout the week I tried my damned hardest to catch a fish but had no luck, John did managed to catch the one Bream which we filleted an hour later and had it for breakfast which was amazing, and after a few days of fishing or should I say my very first day, I was hooked and fell in love with being on the delta as well as fishing! Thanks John for the lessons and for getting me addicted! Heather, thanks for making me feel welcome in Shakawe and as you know I’ve already been back but will no doubt be back many other times after this and appreciate your hospitality.
Above: Fishing for Bream
Tsolido Hills, San Rock Art
Before I had met John and Heather the reason why we had been up the north western side of Botswana was to go and see Tsolido Hills a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was inscribed in 2001 due to its unique religious and spiritual significance to local peoples, as well as its unique record of human settlement over many millennia. It contains over 4,500 rock paintings in an area of approximately 10 km² within the Kalahari Desert. There are 4 hills, commonly described as the "Male", this is the highest, the "Female", "Child" and an un-named knoll. These hills are of great cultural and spiritual significance to the San peoples of the Kalahari. It is believed that the caves and caverns of the "Female" hill are the resting places of the deceased and various gods who rule the world from here. The most sacred place is near the top of the "Male" hill, where it is said that the First Spirit knelt and prayed after creating the world. The San believe that you may still see the impression of the First Spirits’ knees in the rock. As you arrive you are taken through a small museum of photos of the surrounding area as well as artefacts and information on the founders of this site as well as local people that have helped preserve the area, for a small fee you can then take a guide as we had done to take you through one of the many routes that you can choose, we took a 2 hour hike through the female hill and it’s advisable to bring water and a good pair of hiking boots due to the terrain that you will go through, it’s a beautiful place to walk and although the guide was very robotic in his delivery of what we saw it’s still useful to have a guide to ensure you see some of the more interesting rock art paintings that aren’t isn’t obvious if you are by yourself.
Above Right: Interpreted as a drawing of a Whale and a Penguin which could have been seen via travels through what is now known as South Africa.
Above: Tsolido
San Contemporary Art
When leaving Shakawe we passed D’kar which is near Ghansi and were told to pop into the Kuru Art centre which is an art collective setup to help local San artists to create and sell there art. It was an interesting place but all the work being produced were along the same lines except for one artist in particular, it was this artist that I connected with and was able to buy a piece of his collection without paying the extortionate prices that the centre had put ontop of the artists original price.
Above: Kuru Art Centre
Conclusion
Well there is more to come from my travels in Botswana, in the last couple of months I have actually been back to Botswana 3 times for various reasons but mainly because I love being here and so part 2 will round up the rest of my travels so far in Botswana and apologies for not updating the blog sooner.
Look forward to hearing from you
Date: Tuesday 15th June, 2010 | Country: Namibia | Tags: africa, blogsherpa, Brandberg, Etosha, Namibia, Naukluft Mountains, Petrified Forest, Skeleton Coast, Sossesvlei | 13 Comments »
Ok I am going to start with my least favourite place leading to my most favourite place in Namibia that I visited with my reasons behind this:
Petrified Forest
This site near Khorixas has a few dozen petrified tree trunks that date back to around 260 million years ago. We had a guide who could churn out his spiel in his sleep he has done this 15 minute walk that many times, I found the whole experience dull and realised there are petrified logs in various other parts of Namibia that you don’t have to pay to see!.
Hoba Meteorite
Still on the subject of rocks/geology we visited the Hoba Meteorite which is a gravel road not far from Grootfontein/Tsumeb, it was discovered in 1920 and named the ‘fallen star’. I read that every year something in the region of 10,000 meteorites fall due to the earths gravitational pull, not many are investigated and those that are not many of them are that large as a lot are broken on impact. This meteorite is 60 tons in weight and is the largest recorded meteorite on earth. The meteorite comprises 80% iron, 16% nickel and small amounts of other minerals and is around 80,000 years old. It’s worth a visit if you are in the area as we were but after seeing the meteorite for 5-10 minutes I got bored and so it felt like a tick in the box that I had seen the largest meteorite but nothing more than that.
Above: It came from outer space
Sossesvlei
Situated on the eastern side of Namibia near Serisem we heard that the dunes of Sossesvlei was the place to be. A place of towering dunes that form part of the Namib desert which stretches 2000km along the coast the Oliphants river in South Africa all the way to Southern Angola.
When we arrived at the entrance to the national park there is a campsite and a number of rooms that are expensively priced for long distance travellers. The camping area was 125 Namib dollars (£12.5) per person which is double the price of a normal campsite and you are herded into a small area if the campsite was fully booked like it was when we rocked up as it was overrun by overlanding trucks and coach loads of people. Luckily after paying for the campsite and then realising that we were assigned an overflow area with other vehicles when asked for a refund the staff didn’t bat an eyelid so we ended up camping in Solitaire around 80 km north from here. The park itself costs xx to enter and you are then on a straight tarred road in the middle of copper red dunes either side of you. This was bizarre for me to be in such a remote place but to see coach loads of people racing down the road all following each other to be able to climb one of a handful of designated dunes. We ended up at a point 60km into the park whereby only 4×4 could drive beyond that point and drive a further 5km to a place called Dead Vlei. The road wasn’t tarred anymore and instead was thick sand that had several paths that people had driven over the years and it made for an enjoyable drive trying to avoid the possibility of getting stuck which one vehicle had done so along the way. The timing of seeing the dunes is important and stupidly we had arrived at the dunes at the peak sunshine hours during the midday and in flip flops trying to climb a dune that is scorching hot to touch is something that I wouldn’t advise, it would have been better to be here during the early hours of the morning or around sunset but such is life. Don’t get me wrong, the setting is stunning but with the excessive crowds of tourists whizzing down the road it felt like the wilderness of this area is slowly being taken away but each to their own. I worked and lived in the Kalahari and I suppose I am comparing what I have been too and seen to before and this wasn’t my cup of tea.
Above: Sossesvlei
Brandberg
The Brandberg or Fire Mountain is named for the effect created by the sunset on it’s western side, it is Namibia’s highest peak at 2573m. It’s a pleasant drive to see the mountain and we stayed in a nice campsite called the White lady that was very busy due to a school holiday. It’s also in this area that you sometimes might be able to see Namibia’s desert Elephants that sometimes show themselves.
Above: Brandberg
Naukluft Mountains
Again as with most places that have amazed me, I haven’t really searched for them but they have simply been on the way through my travels and the Naukluft Mountains was no exception, this area is a high-plateau area cut around the edges by a complex of gorges. It’s an area popular with hikers as there are a few walking trails within the Namib-Naukluft park and some trails are for people wanting to do a 4-8 day hike and has simple facilities for people to be able to do this but looks highly worthwhile if that’s your thing. From the gate to get to the campsite you are privileged to drive through some spectacular scenery and along the way to the camp we were lucky enough to see mountain zebra, kudu, springboks and some klipspringers which was a welcome surprise to an otherwise already beautiful place. The camping area was basic but perfect for the setting and we even had a resident Genet check out our food at night. Highly recommended for those that want a chilled drive through some rocky scenery without getting in peoples faces.
Above: Naukluft Mountains
Namib-Naukluft Park
The drive through this area is absolutely magical and the land is full of slate formations that you can get out and investigate closer and is highly recommended for a different type of drive through something that is a little wilder than most places on this earth.
Above: Location, Location, Location
Etosha National Park
To those people that have been to many Southern Africa national parks they will have either heard of Etosha or will have at some point visited this park. I had heard many people tell me about Etosha from their travels through to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park when I volunteered there several years ago. Etosha NP takes in around 20,000 sq km of land that forms part of the white coloured Etosha pan. It was setup as a reserve in the 1900’s to protect the diminishing animal numbers and over time the boundary had been altered from a 100,000 sq m to it’s present 23,000 sq km. The entry fee per person was 120 Namib Dollars or £12 and is reasonable for a National Park.
Above: Etosha
I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this park, in one respect as the park is one massive pan (mainly dry) with little or no bushes or trees in the majority of areas you are guaranteed to see some wildlife in all shapes and sizes and that is never a bad thing. We saw some beautiful herds of springboks and zebras together with many different bird species such as the Lilac breasted roller and the black shouldered kite (the last 2 photos above). I have visited many national parks in Southern Africa and East Africa and I think that this park is perfect for the novice nature lover that has never seen many animals in their own natural habitat before but for me the park never changed in it’s terrain as you drove from one gate to another and so was not so special for me because of that. We did have the luck to see a cheetah about 50 metres away stalking a couple of springboks in the tall grass but sadly for us the springbok were onto him as they stood still for a good hour and the cheetah wasn’t going to rush his attempted dinner so he patiently waited in the long grass enough for us to make a move before the gate closed and not see what actually happened in the end. Moments like this are rare but exciting if you are lucky enough to see them and that’s why visiting any national park is always a matter of luck but you can be treated to some very special moments.
Above: Cheetah Hunt
Cape Cross Seal Reserve
We visited this breeding reserve which has on and off several thousand cape fur seals. You pay a small entrance fee of 60 Namib dollars (£6) to enter and you are then treated (depending on how you see it) to a view that you would normally only be likely to see on a documentary of seals, gazillions of them all sounding like goats believe it or not and if you have the time you can see all sorts of behaviours amongst them. Yes it’s bloody smelly but getting close to several thousand animals of any species is not going to be a bed of roses! Hopefully you’ll get the idea from some of these photos.
Above: Having a Sealy good time (poor I know)
Skeleton Coast
Around a 100km north of the cape cross the road passes through into the Skeleton Coast park. It’s a magical stretch of coastal wilderness that I cannot speak more highly about than you simply must see this place if you ever visit Namibia. It’s like driving through part of the moon but to one side you hear the roaring sea in amongst all this darkened brown sand. It’s free to enter and at there is a free camping site at the springbokwater gate with toilets and shower so no need to worry about accommodation if it gets late like it did when we were there. It’s a gravel road that is in an ok condition but my wheels had taken a beating over the last seven-eight months and it was inevitable that a puncture would be round the corner only having one previously in Ghana. It happened at around 4pm in the park and we had a couple of hours to change the tyre and get back out the gate which sounds easy but the puncture happened on a sandy road and the wheel had punctured so badly that Maggie was deep in the sand on the punctured side, the high lift jack was getting buried when we tried to jack her up and so we eventually had 2 jacks on the go and after several attempts and a few scratches later we were able to change the tyre around, again like most issues they are learning encounters and this was no different!
Above: Skeleton Coast
After a good nights rest in the nearby campsite we set off again within the park and this time I was in search of a ship wreck which this stretch of coast was meant to have many of from years gone by, it’s something I have never seen before and was always curious as to what you might find depending on the ship, some are signposted and others not so it’s all about how much time you have in the park determines how much exploring you are willing to do.
Above: if you enjoy remoteness, you’ll love this place!
…Oh and the Tropic of Capricorn!
We passed through the Tropic of Capricorn and nothing changed in my life from one step to the other but we did manage to graffiti the board as have several hundred others (before anyone tells me off!).
Border with Caprivi at Ngoma
Absolutely no problems here, the border office is chilled and after submitting our Vat returns and a paper of info as to where we were heading we were able to leave.
A couple of helpful hints for those travelling through Namibia:
1) Keep all your receipts for goods and services that you have bought as you are able to claim the VAT at the Border when exiting Namibia, so camping, food, new tyres, battery etc is all claimable and at the border you fill in a sheet with all the amounts and the vat as separate items and submit this to customs with the receipts themselves. They said that the VAT will be transferred to my account within a couple of weeks.
2) Drive to the speed limits as unlike West Africa the traffic officers and drivers stick to the actual limits!
3) When crossing into Botswana make sure if you have meat bought at supermarkets or a butchers that this is hidden as at the border they check the contents of your fridge and vehicle as meat is not allowed into their country, or don’t bring in any at all
4) You can change all your Namibian dollars for South African Rand at any bank at the border, we did this in Katima Mulilo and it was a 1-1 exchange, there is an ATM at Kassane in Botswana for Pula, we didn’t encounter any money changers at the Namibian or Botswana border here.
Conclusion
We drove over 3000 miles in Namibia and I have to say that every mile was worth it, it’s a country that seems to be gaining an ever increasing number of tourists whether it be by Overland truck or a self-drive hired vehicle. This country has an amazing array of places to visit and this is matched by the friendliness of the people that live here as well as the varied camping sites that you’ll find along the way. Many people might have visions of camping being a very formulaic place but the only common factor I found in all the camping sites I stayed in were the cleanliness and sometimes luxurious bathrooms whereas everything else seems to be the personal choice of the owner as to how the layout works and this makes every night an experience, also the cost on average of camping in Namibia is around £6 per person a night which is very reasonable I think. After travelling through West Africa and Central Africa which sometimes didn’t always offer up a wide range of food depending on where you are to be confronted by some of the best cuts of pork, goat and beef that I have ever tasted before and at a reasonable price is something that I’ll never forget, braaing (bbq’ing) them over some hot coals. I did see that many of the big business owners where white Namibians/Germans and this I found a little strange but then again independence from South Africa wasn’t that long ago compared to most countries so there plenty of time for this to be a bit more balanced. I cannot say anything except churn out superlatives for Namibia and if you never go then you are simply missing out! Oh and I got my camera fixed in good old Tsumeb so happy days!
Look forward to hearing from you if you enjoyed this blog, thanks
Noel
Reka – HUN: Ahogy azt az angolai blog vegen emlitettem, altalaban nem tul szerencses a hatarra pentek delutan erkezni, bar ez esetben pont ez volt a szerencsenk. Ugyanis en, naiv azt gondoltan (nem tul megbizhato forrasokbol), hogy mint EU-s allampolgarnak, nekem sem kell vizum Namibiaba. Noel volt a soros a hataratlepesben, ugyhogy miutan fel oras varakozas utan sem jott meg ki a hivatalbol, elkezdtem aggodni. Mint kiderult, a hataror eloszor mindkettonknek beutotte a 60 napos pecsetet, de sajnos utana tuzetesebb vizsgalodas utan rajott, hogy az enyem nem brit es sajnos Magyarorszag nem szerepel a vzummentes orszagok listajan, ugyhogy ugyanazon laza mozdulattal ervenytelenitette a pecsetet. Pentek delutan leven mar senki nem volt, aki a vizumot ki tudta volna allitani, igy hat azt javasoltak, hogy menjek vissza Angolaba, persze ez nem volt kivitelezheto, miutan a vizumom aznaplejar; vagy varjak a hataron hetfoig…Majd hosszas gyozkodes utan sikerult egy hetes belepesi engedelyt kicsikarni a bevandorlasi hivatalnoktol, de csakis azzal a feltetellel, hogy egy heten belul a windhoek-i bevandorlasi hivatalban beszerzem a rendes vizumot.
Sajnos ezzel az a tervunk, hogy rogton a hatar utan az Etosha nezeti parkba tartunk egy kisse megvaltozott. A hatartol nem messze vegre egy igazi kempingben toltottuk az ejszakat. Meleg zuhany es fott etel vegre egy het utan! Aztan masnap elindultunk a park fele, mert ugy dontottem, hogy majd a parkhoz kozeli varosbol en elbuszozom, megszerzem a vizumot a fovarosban, es csatlakozom ismet Noelhez a parkban, mert nem akartam, hogy feleslegesen autozzunk 800 km-t… Uton a park fele egyszer csak egy kek ruhas no rohan ki az utra es idegesen integet utanunk, mire a tukorbol latom, hogy a kollegaja mar kovet is minket szirenazo rendorautoval. Noel kb. 2 km-rel lephette at a sebesseghatart, amit parsze miutan visszakisertek minket a tett helyszinere sehogy sem tudtak bizomyitani, mert az itteni elavult rendszer csak a szamot rogziti, de nincs hozza fenykep, hogy az tenyleg te voltal-e. Meg is akartak birsagolni, de Noelnek ott kellett volna hagyni az utlevelet, amig mi visszamegyunk a 40 km-re levo rendorsegre es fizetunk. Na azt mar nem, ugyhogy a mar jol bevalt laminalt jogsit hagytuk inkabb ott helyette. De mivel az utlevel nelkul nem akarta a buntetocetlit kiallitani, igy papir nelkul vartunk a rendorsegen vagy ket orat, mire a jaror is befutott es kovetelte az utlevelet ismet. Mi meg gondoltuk, hogy ennek soha nem erunk igy a vegere, ugyhogy megigertuk nekik, hogy elmegyunk a 120 km-re levo fokapitanysagra, hogy tiszta vizet ontsunk a poharba, ugyanis nem vagyunk hajlandoak fizetni olyasmiert, amit nem tudnak bizonyitani hogy elkovettunk. Igy hat hatrahagyva a hamis jogsit olyan gyorsan hajtottunk el ellenkezo iranyba, ahogy csak tudtunk. Hal’ Istennek (igy utolag), a hataron kifele sem volt semmi gaz, tehat nem csinalt nagy ugyet belole a rendor es adta le Noel nevet…
Az ejszakat Grootfontein mellett toltottuk az “orult nemetnel”, ahol olcso kempingre es igazi bogaras tulajra leltunk, a pasibol kb. egy oramba telett kicsikarni a kemping arat, mert folyamatosan csak azt mondogatta mindenre, beleertve a bemutatkozast is, hogy “ja, ja”. Aztan masnap reggel Noel ugy dontott, hogy megiscsak egyutt menjunk Windhoekba, mert a kocsit is meg kellett nezetni, mert szegenybol mar megint csopogott valami. Az ut a fovarosig gyonyoru volt, es vegre nem kellett azon aggodnunk, hogy az ut egyszer csak elfogy vagy eidami sajtta valik, ugyhogy igazi elmeny volt vezetni. Windhoek-ban a Cameleon nevu hely mellet dontottunk, mert az isszes tobbi szallas vagy nagyon draga volt vagy csak egy betonozott udvaron satorozhattunk volna; mig itt volt uszomedence, meg bar hideg sorrel es billiard asztal is. A tarsasag is igen vegyes volt, taklalkoztunk egy amerikai vesedoktorral, egy nemet “utazo asztalossal”, aki a hagyomanyok szerint Europan belul nem fizethet sem etelert, sem utikoltsegert, minimum 3 evig es egy napig kell utaznia, minden varoshazan bepecseteltetnie az utikonyvebe, es alkalmi munkakbol tartania el magat. Ja, es egy meglehetosen nevetsegs nepviseletet kell hordania minden nap. Ugyhogy a mi kis szines tarsasagunk ugy dontott, hogy este 10-kor, amikor a bar bezar, mi meg nem voltunk eleg faradtak, ugyhogy nyakunkba vettuk a varost es az egyetlen fellelheto diszkoban kotottunk ki. Masnap meglehetosen neheznek talaltam a bevandorlasi hivatalnokkal alkudozni; aki szerint nem kellett volna az orszagban lennem es mindenfele papirok beszerzese utan, majd talan 2-3 heten belul megkaphatom a vizumomat. Aztan masnap visszamentem a kitoltott papirokkal, es elmagyaraztam neki, hogy legalisan nem varhatok ket hetet, mert akkor mar tenyleg illegalisan tartozkodnek az orszagban, ugyhogy megigerte, hogy masnapra meg lesz a pecset. Igy is volt, ugyhogy megkonnyebbultem. Ido kozben megkaptuk egy Swakopmound-i szerelo szamat, aki allitolag az egyik legjobb az orszagban, ugyhogy delnek indultunk.
Az az igazsag, hogy Namibiaban kozel 5000 km-t autoztunk, igy a sorrendre mar nem igazan emlekszem (es lusta vagyok kimenni a kocsihoz terkepert), meg nem is egyszer korbe-karikaba jartunk helyeket, ugyhogy tobbek kozott Tsumeb-ben kb. otszor is megfordultunk… De egy tucat csodas elmenyben volt reszunk. Mindenek elott, minden este friss hust sutottunk, meg hajaban sult krumplit vagy sutotokot salataval, meg hideg sorokkel, ugyhogy szerintem mindketten igen hamar vsszaszedtunk majdnem minden egyes kilot, amit eddig fogytunk.
A Naukluft nemzeti parkban lattam meg az elso zebrat, meg kudut (bocs, de a vadallatok nevet csak angolul tudom, mert Noel rendes, es megtanitott rajuk, meg vettem egy konyvet is, de a forditas sajnos ratok marad – kiveve persze az egyertelmueket pl. elefant hahaha). Aztan vacsora utan egy genet is hozzank csapodott, illetve sokkal inkabb erdekelte, hogy mi a maradek.
A “kove dermedt erdo” is erdekes allomas volt, ugyan meg most sem ertem, hogy is kerult ide egy kisebb erdonyi fa Del-Amerikabol es maradt meg az ocean alatt es valt kove. Sossesvlei szinten igeretes volt a csodalatos narancssarga homokdunekkel, de amikor az allitolagos majdnem vilag vegen is aszfaltos uton vezetsz 60 km-t, hogy ott leparkolj es csak ugy odasetalj az egyik megmaszhato dunehez a tobbezer elotted ott jart turista labnyomat kovetve, akkor mar mindjart nem annyira romantikus az egesz. De szerencsere meg idoben rajottunk, hogy nagyon nem szeretnenk eleg sok penzert az igen zsufolt helyi kempingben maradni, ugyhogy miutan visszakaptuk az elore kifizetett dijat, egy kevesbe latogatott szallashely utan neztunk. Egy Solitaire nevu helyen taboroztunk, ahol a kempingben egy felig-meddig szelid springbok ugrandozott, csak a tulaj elfelejtette az egyik szarvat megszerelni (leesett rola a gumigolyo), ugyhogy egy kicsit veszelyes volt, amikor az amugy jatekos bok felenk bokott egyet-kettot.
Swakopmound a masodik legbagyobb varos Namibiaban es a konyvunk szerint nemetebb, mint Nemetorszag maga. Szerintem meg egy afrikai varos, ahol nagyon sok a nemet leszarmazott, meg egy-ket epiteszeti elem is megtalalhato, de a vizpart meg a lakossag miatt soha nemhasonlitanam Nemetorszaghoz. Miutan elkepeszto arakkal szembesultunk – szallast illetoen – a helyi onkormanyzat bungallojainak egyiket vettuk ki. Ket szoba, furdo konyha kb. 9000 Ft egy ejszakara. Masnap meg elmentunk a szerelohoz, hogy Maggie-t megggyogyitsa. Az elozo beszamoloban talaltok kepet a kedves hazasparrol, meg a muhelyrol is.
Mivel meg mindig nem adtuk fel, hogy megnezzuk a legnevesebb namibia parkot eszakon, visszafele indultunk, de most a parti utat valasztottuk. A “Csontvaz partra” eleg keson ertunk, de az or szerint meg eleg idonk volt, hogy megnezzunk a kb. 100 km-re levo hajoroncsot es visszaerjunk a bazisra naplemente elott (Afrika deli orszagaiban ez egyebkent altalanos szabaly, hogy a parkok nepkeltekor nyitnak es naplementekor zarnak). Az ut meses volt, bar egyeseknek ugy tunhet, hogy az eg vilagon semmi sem volt ott a homokot es vizet kiveve, de eppen ez az, amitol elkepesztoen csodalatos. De nem jutottunk tovabb, mint 30 km, amikor a bal hatso kerek egyszeruen lefoszlott az abroncsrol. Homokban meg egyikunk sem cserelt kereket, es ez sajnos meg is hozta az eredmenyet, mert az emelo (mindketto) egyszeruen csak belesullyedt a homokba. Mire aztan rajottunk, hogy talan eloszor is ki kene ekelnunk a kerekeket, hogy Maggi ne mocorogjon miutan megemeltuk, meg az emelo ala is elkene valami stabil (mondjuk a falap, amit pont erre a celra tartottunk). Igy aztan kozel ket oranyi kuszkodes utan sikeresen feltettuk az uj kereket es irany vissza a kemping.
Masnap aztan nem csak a hajoroncshoz jutottunk el, de a Cape Cross-i foka rezervatumba is, ahol tobb, mint 200,000 foka el. A kepek magukert beszelnek es hal’ Istennek nem szagos kepek; irgalmatlanul budos volt, de megerte. Egesz nap el tudtam volna nezni ezeket a csodas lenyeket.
Uton Etosha fele vadsztunk is. Ne aggodjatok, nem allatot vadasztunk, hanem Noel satorfedojet, amit ket falu kozott valami csoda folytan sikerult a szelnek lefujnia. Az 50 km-es szakaszt ketszer is vegigpasztaztuk, de nem jartunk sikerrel. Aztan a legkozelebbi nagyvarosban a kemping boltban kiderult, hogy ezek a satortakarok majnem £100-ot ernek, ugyhogy egybol vilagossa valt miert is tunt el az utrol nyomtalanul. Rendeltunk tehat egy ujat, amit egy par nap mulva Tsumeb-ben vehettunk at.
De nem jo meretet kuldtek, ugyhogy meg egy-ket napig idoztunk Tsumeb-ben (illetve annak kornyeken kulonbozo kempingekben), itt talalkoztunk Ian-nal es Mik-kel (angol es dan motorosok), akik ket honap alatt tettek meg az utat Europabol. Es meg mondjatok, hogy nem semmi az, amit mi csinalunk! Ja, Noel fenykepezogepet is sikerult megcsinaltatnunk, ugyhogy vissza a minosegi fenykepekhez.
Az Etosha park varakozasainkon alul teljesitett. Illetve inkabb Noelet, hiszen nekem ez volt eletem talan harmadik nemzeti parkja, ugyhogy ne szoljak egy szot sem, csak oruljek annak, hogy mennyi csodaszep allatot lattunk. De a szakertonek abban igaza van, hogy a kornyezet nem tul valtozatos, vagyis annak ellenere, hogy nagyon konnyu meglatni a vadat, nem annyira izgalmas, mint ha a terep nem csak nyilt magasfold lenne. Viszont az elmeny leirhatatlan, nagyon kozel voltunk zsirafokhoz, zebrakhoz, lattunk nagyon sok antilop-fajtat (springbok, impala, wildebeast, gemsbok, ealand stb.), meg madarakat (ne nevessetek ki, de kipipaltam a fajokat, amiket lattunk a madaras konyvemben… ciki?)
Namibiabol mar csak az 500 km-es eszaki sav maradt, a Caprivi strip, ami Angola es Botswana koze ekelodve eri el Zambiat a nyugati hataron. Olyan volt, mint ha egy masik orszagban jarnank, a hagyomanyos vajogkunyhok es a zoldello folyoparti taj egy kicsit Nyugat Afrikara emlekeztetett. Utolso namibiai szallasunkon egy bebi hippo majszolta a fuvet iszonyatos tempoban olyan kozel a satramhoz, majd az asztalunkhoz, hogy ha nem lett volna meg igy bebikent is irgalmatlan meretu, ezert veszelyes, akkor meg is simogathattuk volna. Masnap aztan irany a hatar, uton a 18. orszag, Botswana fele.
Remelem, hogy a beszamolo hossza ellenere elveztetek. Udv. mindenkinek! Reka
