The long road to the end of the world.

After having completed a first draft of our mining report, Julian...sorry Captain J...and I decided that it was time to take our project to the next phase.  We wanted to understand how the mining and environmental laws were working in practice. Who better to ask than the mining industry leaders themselves.  There began our mission to contact private mining companies who were willing to share their experiences with us.

First on our list was the one active mining company in Skeleton Coast National Park (SCP) (witholding names for privacy reasons). Our question: What is it like to mine in SCP? Fortunately, we were received graciously by the mining company, who told us about the insurmountable hardships (for most) of mining in the SCP. The harsh conditions include the shortage of water, difficult dry river beds, possible quicksand, lack of people, and pains of accessing petrol/gas. Of course, we had to see it for ourselves.  While we were at it, we decided to see a Uranium mine near the Namib-Naukluft National Park as well.  By Thursday, April 16 we had rented a toyota venture, stocked up on water, filled our food bins, organized maps/guidebooks, bought permits, and started towards the coast.

Our combined murky sense of direction led to Captain J's opaque decision to night roam near the tall, wild animal filled grass (despite my scorched earth stance against doing so) to determine whether or not any other vehicles had recently used the road.

Thursday night was spent in Swakopmund for the second time.  And like last time, nothing about the town seemed special. A nice dinner and a drink at the Action Pub was about it.  On Friday morning, Captain J and I embarked on a four hour tour of the Rossing Uranium Mine.  What I learned is that the mine is a 365 meter hole in the ground that uses 3 million cubic meters of water per year.  Operations may last for another 50 years which makes me wonder how big that hole will be by then.  Rumor has it that in lieu of filling the hole back up it will be made into a museum one day.  I'll have to come back and check that out...assuming the hole has not sucked up Namibia entirely. Go nuclear energy.

After our tour we began driving north along the coast. Namibia's coast is known for being mineral rich, and much of its talked about crystals lay right on its surface. From a distance it looks like flat white sand, but when you pull over and walk the land you'll find thousands of sparkly rocks all over the place.  I searched for my pink diamond in vain, but I did pick up some other cool rocks.

Our campsite called Mile 72 was on the beach.  We were the only campers....or people for that matter (besides the half drunk camp ranger) for miles and miles.  So we had a whole beach to ourselves (and some jackals).  The sky was amazing with the milky way shining in all its glory, clear as crystal. Between the two of us, we must have seen at least 15 shooting stars.

Waking up to the crashing waves was nothing short of awesome.  After a breakfast of champions (dry cocoa pops) we were off towards SCP.  On the way, we stopped to visit a seal reserve at Cape Cross.  Imagine 10,000 loud, smelly seals in one place with no other soul around.  The seals were very fickle and would panic as soon as we jumped over the guard rail.  (Hey, it is not my fault the rangers weren't anywhere to be found.) We chased a few hundred seals into the water.  Not my most mature moment, but it was definitely a memorable one.

Finally, we reached the SCP, only to find the entrance distinguished by two large skulls.  The ranger unlocked the chained gate and sent us off with one piece of advice, "when you go through the dry river beds....go fast."

Our first visit within the park was the wreck of the South West Sea.  Before modern navigation techniques and GPS receivers were in use, ships often crashed along the shallow skeleton coast (hence the name).  I'm sure many a good sailor died wandering the lonely, harsh desert.  The wreck was from the late 70's and was mostly buried in the sand. We also visited an old abandoned oil rig from 1960.  It is a huge metal beast of a thing which we deemed "Tentanus City" only after I cut my sandal clad toe on a piece of wire protruding from the sand. Good one Linda.

We didn't see much wildlife going along the coast. Actually, we saw no life.  At one point we came across some random tall grass (at least 7 feet tall), and I felt compelled to take a picture of it because surely it was an act of God for it to be there.  Otherwise we saw one stray springbok.  The landscape on the other hand is INCREDIBLE.  It is indescribable.  The type of sand dunes/rock formations constantly changes.  I've never seen anything like it, and there were many instances when we could only describe it as bizarre but beautiful.  We almost made it to the furtherst point accessible to tourists (Terrace Bay) without any problems.  Unfortunately, we got stuck in the Uniab River bed only to be rescued by a tractor who was passing by en route to Swakopmund. Very lucky for us....very lucky indeed. I would hate to know what dying in a desert is like.

Terrace Bay was a nice resort area with an accessible beach.  We played in the water a bit, while I secretly hoped to come across a brown hyena. After a one night stay we decided to head towards Damaraland.  Unfortunately, not before dealing with hiccup number two.  There was no gas.  Four men tried to get the machine going with no success.  Finally, a kind soul cyphened gas out of a pick up truck for us.  We were thankful for the 15 litres but knew that we would have to go out of our way to the next gas station. As a side note, i'll give due credit to Captain J for making it across the Uniab river the next day.  Of course, we first got out of the car and slowly planned out our alternate route (where it was less sandy). I'll admit that I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth the whole way across because I didn't want to get stuck again, but in all fairness I knew he could do it.

Damaraland is east of SCP.  At the SCP gate, we learned that a herd of at least 30 elephants were spotted about 45 minutes in the direction we were headed. Sadly, by the time we arrived the elephants had already crossed the mountain. We did see plenty of ostriches.  We visited the Twyfelfontein world heritage site where we saw 2000-6000 year old rock art. Less impressive but worth noting, quick stops were made at the Organ Pipes and Burnt Mountain as well. Damarland's green mountain landscape was a drastic change from the SCP, but a welcomed one nonetheless.  As we passed small farms, goats, donkeys, and cows were everywhere.

As time got away from us, we were unable to make it back to Windhoek. To be honest we weren't even close. Eventually it got dark, and we took a wrong turn.  All we could see in the road were beady glowing eyes running in and out of the tall savannah grass. It was so dark and remote that we actually stopped, turned off all the lights, covered the clock light, and peered out into the night hoping to find a glimmer of life. Our combined murky sense of direction led to Captain J's opaque decision to night roam near the tall, wild animal filled grass (despite my scorched earth stance against doing so) to determine whether or not any other vehicles had recently used the road.

As all fun stories should end, we did find our way to Uis (the nearest town), after I determined our error (Guess that makes me Co-Captain).  A restcamp was nice enough to take us in after hours. After peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a dance/bar party with the chef, bartender, and bell boy we went to sleep soundly. Who said small towns don't know how to entertain?

All in all, the Skeleton Coast/Damaraland trip was like none other.  We have not developed all of our pictures yet, so you'll have to stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy the four available.