Surf and Turf in Namibia

5 Mid-sized Backpackers and their trusty Yaris!
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We apologize ahead of time for this lengthy blog. You might want to grab a drink and a snack...

Now in Namibia - a country that was occupied by South Africa (with British pressure) in 1914 at the beginning of WWI and gained independence only 18 years ago. We have spent a little over a week exploring much of what this giant 'sandbox' has to offer and the hospitality we have received from the friendly Namibian people has made the travel very enjoyable.

This was not a pleasant surprise for the 5 mid-sized backpackers with their 5 backpacks, tents, and 5 days worth of food.

Namibia's Dune 45
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The fact that Namibia was colonized by Germany is evident not only by the German names of towns, streets, and the building structures, but also by the large Hansa Brewery we are sitting beside as we write this blog.

We left Cape Town on a bus that would arrive in Windhoek, Namibia 21 hours later. It was actually quite luxurious and we got to watch Titanic during the trip. We thought that this was an odd choice of movies to show while driving towards such an arid country. Anyways, by the time we reached the Namibian border we had picked up 3 other travellers (Jess-a Brit, Eli-a Jewish American, and Kristoff-a German) and together we hatched a plan to rent a car in order to venture out into Namibia's deserts. We felt like "Kings of the World! <- horrible Titanic quote.

Dead Vlei
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Although Windhoek is the Capital of Namiba as well as it's largest city (this does not say much as there are only 2.1 million people in all of Namibia) there wasn't a lot to see or do and all the rental cars were spoken for so we jumped into a minibus and pushed on towards Swakopmund - the adventure sports capital of the country, which is also dubbed as being more German than Germany. It was here that we reserved a mid-sized Toyota Corolla and enjoyed a quick adrenaline fix driving 15 minutes out of town for some Sand Boarding (Snowboarding on 100m sand dunes). It was a LOT of fun - Thanks Chris and Sayaka. Swakop is a lively town where sand dunes meet the ocean and is quite attractive in its German way.

The Deadly Skeleton Coast
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We got up the next morning with sand still coming out of who-knows-where and got to the rental car location to find that they didn't have the mid-sized Corolla but had substituted it with the only other car they had on the low... a Toyota Yaris! This was not a pleasant surprise for the 5 mid-sized backpackers with their 5 backpacks, tents, and 5 days worth of food. A quick re-pack and a visit to the storage unit and we could fit. There just wouldn't be many wardrobe changes during our 5 days in the desert.

Springbok in the Wild
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The bottomed-out Yaris took to the rock/sand/gravel/salt roads nicely (although the re-sale value probably plummeted). We arrived in Sesriem and Sousussvlei after a days drive. The sand dunes were exceptionally red and the time spent around this area was highlighted by the erie "Dead Vlei", which is a small area of dried white clay filled with about fifty dead craggy blackened camel trees surrounded on all sides by bright red sand dunes. Very cool place! Actaully, this was topped only by the group of 8 ostriches that decided to summit the highest of the dunes in the area. For such a large bird they don't have a lot of brain power on their side.

The Lone Ostrich after he kicked all his friends off the Dune
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From there our trip took us past numerous wildlife (Springbok, Oryx Gazelle, Kudu, wild horses, and donkeys) and small villages to the 200 million year old petrified forest and the deadly Skeleton Coast. On route we also encountered many roadstands and stopped by one to be greeted by three members of the Himba tribe as well as a Herero woman in her traditional dress, which includes a hat shaped like cattle horns.

The petrified forest was the main reason Matt wanted to visit Namibia and upon seeing the '"Dead Vlei" Matt thought that it was odd for one country to have two exceptional attractions that resemble each other so closely. Well... Matt was mistaken on the names and his "petrified forrest was actually the "dead Vlei" and the real 'petrified forrest' looked nothing like Matt had expected and was less than awe inspiring (this after a day-and-a-half of driving along with a flat tire). Likely the low part of this road trip. The Skeleton Coast however was very worth while.

Alisa holding what she will look like after another week in this dry desert
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The Skeleton Coast is an area known for it's shipwreck causing fog and it's deadly black desert that greets any surviving sailors. It is truly other-worldly as it lacks colour so much that it was almost like we could only see in black and blinding white. True to its name we discovered the skeletal remains of various mammals strewn along the tops of the dunes. No, we did not find any human remains but there were plenty of washed up bottles (no messages though).

Still in the Skeleton Coast (approximately 200kms from the next town of Swakop) we realized that we may add some skeletal remains to the coast as our trusty Yaris drank thirstily through our gas. There was no possible way we could make it and quickly realized the seriousness of the situation when considering we had not passed an on-comming car all day up to that point. Luckily, we were able to coast in on fumes to a tourist lodge some 100 stress filled kms later. Paying a premium for the ten litres to get home was well worth it. Home,sweet home!

Up Close and Personal with an Oryx
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Enough with the sand, now it's time for our first Safari in Etosha!

Alisa's Bug Update:

So, I have not encountered many critters so far - mainly the common house flies and moths. I did however, see 4 secada's (awful looking flying beetle things that make noise similar to electric currents - which I stood a GREAT distance away from) and 3 legs of what looked to be a large spider behind a painting on a wall. So far so good. I am surviving and for those of you in the "When will Alisa fold and come home" betting pool.....After two weeks, I'm still going strong and have not faltered yet.