On the Road Again

Apologies for the long delay between posts!

So now let’s pick up where we left off – our day with the Himba people near Epupa Falls on the border of Namibia and Angola.  The next segment of the trip was through the Namib Desert, a desolate but spectacular place, filled with purple, orange and brown hues, and a vastness that cannot be captured in photographs.

We stopped along the roadside for a cup of delicious tea that Jamie had sent from San Francisco and to experience the energy of the desert. 

There was not a thing growing that we could see other than the mysterious Welwitschia.  Up close these plants are not much to look at but with close observation reveal a self-contained ecosystem in a harsh climate that begs for rain which sometimes does not come for years.  Some of the plants have been estimated to be more than 1,000 years old.

Welwitschia

We entered the Namib Skeleton Coast Park through the back entrance and stopped to look at a table full of geodes and other assorted desert treasures included a set of springbok horns which Marius could not let pass.  They made the perfect hood ornament!!

Back entrance to the Skeleton Coast

Marius with his new hood ornament

Springbok Radar

Kalima in the Namib

Chris -  the Sean Connery look!

We made our way to Terrace Bay for a couple of days of Atlantic Ocean fishing.  Marius with his fishing pole and Chris and Kalima with their surfboard which had traveled all the way from Cape Town. 

Terrace Bay was a diamond mine funded by Aristotle Onasis in the 1960’s.  They never found anything of substance and it was abandoned.  The Namibian park service took it over in 1977 and took a gamble that it might become a successful fishing destination.  After more than 30 years it is now a primo spot for the Manly Men fishing trip. 

Remains of the abandoned diamond mine.

The place was completely booked and I was one of two females present.  However, the second of the female gender was truly a fisher”MAN”.  She was someone not to mess with and was there with 5 other rotund manly men totally focused on fish.

Chris caught a couple of waves in the 55 degree water much to the surprise of the fishermen observers (unfortunately I didn’t get a photo). Marius caught two fish, a Kabeljou and a Steenbras, which we fried up fresh from the sea just the way cousin Tommie Ferreira showed me when we stayed at Cape St. Francis during the first month of our trip.

Kabeljpou

Fresh fish for lunch!

At Terrace Bay the cafeteria provides breakfast and dinner in a large dining room.  Over the years visitors have written messages that cover every inch of wall space.  Of course we had to leave evidence of our presence but all that remained was the ceiling tiles.  So up onto the table I climbed to leave our unique signature for future visitors to see. 

After our departure we made our way down the Skeleton Coast to Swakopmund.  There wasn’t much to see but sand and ocean but the emptiness of it all was the experience we sought.  We passed an abandoned oil-rig that looked like a Mad Max movie set and found this, appropriately named fishing spot, St. Nowhere.

Oil rig resembles a Mad Max movie set

A lot of nothingness...

How appropriate??  St. Nowhere

Just before we arrived at Cape Cross, Marius suggested that I learn how to drive the Cruiser in the deep sand.  Needless to say I got stuck but he was able to get us out with ease and demonstrated the process.  Chris and Kalima also got very stuck which I think was the plan in order to try out the super duper winch system on the Cruiser’s front end.  We had a good time and the equipment worked exactly as it should.

Cape Cross brings us back to the Portuguese explorer Diago Cao, who was the first to set foot here in 1486 and erected a cross marker.  Cao preceeded Bartolomeu Dias (who passed Cape Cross and landed at Mossel Bay).  When the Germans took over South West Africa they removed the original cross, moved it to Germany and replaced it with one of their own.  Later someone discovered that the Germans had placed their own cross in the wrong spot, so an exact replica of the original was made and positioned correctly.  Now there are two crosses marking the spot that Cao landed.

Cape Cross is also famous for its large colony of seals.  I had never seen so many in one, concentrated location.  I was also impressed with their mastery of Yoga!

Hohenzollern House - 1906

Swakopmund is a beautiful German town, very clean with great restaurants and historical buildings.  






We stayed at this great place called The Alternative Space B&B which we highly recommend: 

Disclaimer: "the accommodation at the Alternative Space B&B is NOT RECOMMENDED for those who are miserable, or find pictures of nudity and mixed race relationships, offensive." 
www.thealternativespace.com

We also rented quad bikes just outside of town and went tearing around the dunes for an hour and a half.  It was great fun!  We learned that Brad Pitt was a frequent visitor to this same concession and went sand cruising 13 times during one visit to Swakopmund!

One of the activities while planning our trip was watching Voetspore – a men’s travel, cooking and survival show in Afrikaans.  During one of the episodes 4x4 Pizza was featured.  Naturally we had to try it and Marius put Chris in charge of the process.   He got up very early on the day we were to leave Swakopmund to prepare all of the ingredients and assemble the required materials.  The instructions are as follows:  take a loaf of unsliced bread, cut in half and scoop out the insides, fill with choice of pizza toppings, place top half on bottom half and wrap in foil.   Preparation took place without a hitch and it looked beautifully delicious.

Step 2 4x4 Pizza

We proceeded out of town for Step 2.  Put foil wrapped loaf into a plastic bag and drive over it (very slowly) with front tire of vehicle.  The process and conversation went something like this: 

Flattening the 4x4 Pizza

“Chris don’t you think you need to leave an opening in the bag for the air to get out?”

“No, it will be okay.” 

Plastic bag placed under the tire.  Drive forward.  Plastic bag explodes with a pop and the pizza ingredients shoot out the bag covering the tire and the ground.

OH NOOOO!!

Susan and Kalima stand with arms folded observing.  Susan looks at Kalima and says, “Well that was a major - - -  up.”  Kalima says, “Hmmmm”.  Marius remains silent.

Chris jumps out of the car and sees the result.  “Oh NOOOO!”  He salvages the remains and moves on to Step 3 which is to take the foil wrapped loaf (what remains of it) and place it on the vehicle manifold for heating while driving a long distance.

The plan is to have hot pizza upon arrival at destination.  Needless to say that although most of the ingredients were missing the 4x4 Pizza was a tasty success for four hungry travelers.  And, we had a very good laugh as we headed toward Sossesvlei.