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We (Cor and Grietje van NoFear Travel), travel with our Toyota Hilux 4×4 camper. The African continent is the Mecca for 'overlanding' with many challenging routes and beautiful destinations. The first African country we visited during our trip to South Africa is Morocco, followed by MauritaniaSenegalMaliGuineaSierra LeoneLiberiaIvory Coast en Ghana. After a stopover in the Netherlands, we continue our overland journey through Africa. We drove on TogoBeninNigeriaCameroonGabonCongo-BrazzavilleAngolaZambia en Botswana.

We continue the second part of the overland tour Namibia (you can do the first part here read back). As you are used to from us, you now start watching the video again.

Part 2 took a while

After having to stay in the Netherlands for a while for medical reasons, we are picking up where we left off Windhoek. We parked our camper there not far from the airport. Storing a camper or overland vehicle is no problem. Covered, ventilated, safe areas where the owner sometimes starts the car or charges your household battery. So well organised!

Carnival 

In Windhoek we first spend the night for two days Urban campsite, where we have been before. The annual carnival is underway in Windhoek. A festival that is mainly celebrated by the German/white population. The Germans introduced the tradition about 70 years ago.

We witness the float parade, which is actually more of an advertising procession. Handfuls of candy are thrown from the wagons into the public along the road. The many children, but also adults, fill their pockets with it.

A lot of fun.

Carnival parade in Windhoek
Marjorette in Windhoek

Then we drive on to Swakopmund on the west coast. This time we choose the 380 kilometer long asphalt road.

Maintenance 

Located in Swakopmund Namib campers, a German-run camper company, for both maintenance and new construction.

Here we have some maintenance carried out and new solar panels installed, so that we never have to use shore power again. Provided the sun shines a little, of course.

While the camper is at Namib campers, we spend the night in a B&B. A bit of an alternative location with super friendly owners. Our room consists of a room with a bath in the middle and a shower on the side.

"The Alternative Space”, for those interested.

Alternatives

Cape Cross, huge seal colony

Along the Skeleton Coast, heading north, we pass a colony of seals at Cape Cross. We are amazed, 80.000 seals together! The smell that the animals produce is striking. A large part is on land, another part is fishing. We also see many young animals that were born in December and are often still nursing from their mothers. There are many dead little ones who have been rejected by their mothers. They lie rotting among the rest or are food for seagulls again.

While we stand with our mouths open watching what is happening here, many tens of thousands of cormorants fly over the coastline in a northerly direction. An impressive event!

Packed together
Seals and cormorants

Messum crater 

On the way from the coast to the Brandberg we pass through the Messum crater. A collapsed volcano from 130 million years ago when South America and Africa were still connected. A stony path straight through a dry river leads us there.

The contours of the crater are clearly visible on geographical maps or satellite photos. In practice, this is disappointing due to its enormous size. The diameter of about 20 kilometers makes it a mysterious whole. On the other hand, the landscape is breathtaking. It is so desolate, remote and dry that you feel like you are on another planet. People rarely visit, animals can hardly survive there. As it gets dark we enjoy the spectacular night sky. Many thousands of stars and quarter moons watch over us tonight.

The vastness of the messum crater
Sunset
Hill in fog and sun

Middle of nowhere

After we leave the Messum crater behind us and the Brandberg comes closer and closer, we realize how remote the area is.

Except for a few birds, we haven't seen any signs of life for a while. Yet the outline of a building looms in the distance. As we get closer we even see a number of people walking around the house. The residents are four adult men who live there. They are miners. They are engaged in searching for gemstones, amethysts. They say that they have a “hard and tough life” here. It is far from civilization, they sometimes shoot a gemsbok and the drinking water is delivered by truck every now and then.

Absolutely nothing and then a few miners

Petrified wood

Further north we pass a place that they call “petrified forest” literally “petrified forest”.

It is a government-run and protected place where petrified pieces of wood, stumps complete with knots and bark can be found. For a fee you can take a half-hour tour of the area. 

The guide explains that the petrified tree stumps are 280 million years old.

They have been preserved and fossilized under enormous pressure over many years. Floods and ice ages would have transported the petrified stumps here. All difficult to understand, it is beyond our understanding.

Warnings
With passion
Long, petrified tree trunk

Riverbed (4×4 track)

From the town of Sesfontijn we take a special route westward. From here the track runs through the deep sands of the dry Hoanib River. The path then crisscrosses via the left bank, then again via the right bank, but usually in the middle. Sometimes it is a bit wider, then narrower again, while the high peaks rise stiffly into the sky next to us, or a little further a large open sandy plain. The surroundings are breathtaking and enjoyment knows no bounds.

The river is bone dry most of the time. But when we are there, it has flowed recently. Apparently with considerable force, judging by the branches and tree stumps that were dragged along.

Quite a few trees grow in the river, some of them centuries-old. And where there is green, there are animals. We spotted springboks, giraffes and ostriches.

We stop halfway through the track and spend the night under, once again, a clear starry sky. Well, at a higher location, you never know when the river suddenly starts flowing.

Branches that have been dragged along
View from our overnight spot

Waking up in the river

After having fun for a while last night with a cape fox that kept hanging around the camper, we wake up this morning - when the sun is just breaking over the mountain tops - in a breathtaking world of tranquility.

After breakfast we continue our way through the river.

We are soon surprised by a desert elephant, a smaller type. We witness how he easily breaks off a branch of about 15 centimeters in diameter and starts eating the leaves.

A little later we spotted giraffes that can reach the top leaves without destroying the tree.

We drive on and come to a spot called Amspoort, on the border with the Skeleton NP. The National Park is a prohibited area here in the northern regions and so we cannot go any further.

We drink coffee here in a very special place. From our seats we see baboons, a gemsbok and a herd of springbok. The youngest monkeys are playing and rolling down the sand dunes. The morning can't go wrong for us anymore, it can't get any purer.

Desert elephant
Giraffe in dry river

Himbas

On the way to the village of Opuwo we take the D3707, a road along the Hoarusib river. Because the road is in any case numbered, we think of a road with a kind of basic quality. Well, not so. We ford the slow-flowing river several times, driving over rocks and deep sand. A decent 4x4 is an absolute must here. We haven't seen anyone for a few days now, until a herd of goats suddenly appears in front of us. And where there are goats, there are people! We drive a little further and see a settlement where Himba live. The Himba are originally a semi-nomadic people, but have now settled down more firmly. Most striking are the women who are always traditionally dressed/decorated. They rub fat and ocher in their hair and on their skin. Their breasts are exposed. They live off their goats and very occasionally go to the town of Opuwo, which is 141! kilometers away, our navigation tells us. Some men dress casually, trousers and a t-shirt, but traditional men only wear a loincloth or even a mini skirt. We get a tour (a young man speaks a few words of English) through their living environment and thank them with a T-shirt, a pair of slippers, paracetamol and saline solution for a sick child.

Woman with child
Under a tree
Pregnant woman

(Photos published with permission of those involved)

Hereros and other tribes

We continue and later stop at the river for a cup of coffee. Then we see that we have a flat tire for the first time in 110.000 kilometers. No wonder with the conditions here! Sharp stones are definitely the cause. Because it is a very small hole, we can inflate the tire ourselves with our own compressor. We repeat this every 20 kilometers and so we reach Opuwo. There we immediately found a workshop where a few young boys repaired our tire very efficiently in 20 minutes! It saves us having to use the spare tire at 43 degrees!

Expert assistance
Signboard

Various traditional tribes live together in the town of Opuwo. In addition to the Himba's described earlier, you also see many Herero's here. A people whose women, entirely according to tradition, dress themselves most strikingly.

We take a tour through the village and speak to various people. It appears that the various different tribes live together here pleasantly and peacefully. Someone in a poor suburb tells us that men and women from different tribes marry each other. His mother is a Himba and his father a Herero.

Epupa falls (waterfalls)

On the way to Epupa we stop for a lunch break under a large tree and eat a sandwich with men from the local Zemba tribe.

Lunch

In the far north of Namibia, where the Cunene River marks the border with Angola, we visit the Epupa waterfalls. The water falls about 37 meters. Waterfalls are always spectacular, including this one.

There are a number of well-equipped campsites around the waterfall. The local population, which also consists of various tribes, benefits from the increasing tourism around the waterfalls.

Our enthusiasm increases the next morning when we take a walk through the area at sunrise. What natural beauty. We briefly speak to a local and he says that they want to keep tourism on a small scale. The entourage here does not lend itself to enormous commercial exploitation, but let's hope that the area retains its original splendor!

50 Namibian dollars
Overview
Baobab
Morning sunshine

Etosha NP

One of the most famous African parks, the most famous in Namibia. Of course, we cannot skip the national park with Africa's largest surface area. Many tourists think this way too and so we expect a lot of crowds. But in a park as large as half of the Netherlands, it divides quickly.

Our first impression of Etosha is that everything is (well) arranged.

The gravel roads are in good condition as are the signage. In practice, this means that there are hardly any adventurous side paths, everywhere you go it is heavily traveled. Nothing is left to chance at campsites and luxury resorts. If you drive from accommodation to accommodation and from waterhole to waterhole, you will always meet the same people.

No, you shouldn't be in Etosha for an exciting adventure deep in the bush.

Yet there is much to enjoy. You will find enormous numbers of wild animals, especially at the watering holes. Gemsbok, kudus, zebras, wildebeest, elephants and giraffes in large numbers to name a few.

On the large plains we see enormous herds of springbok and at a waterhole a “black backed jackal” is hunting birds. Another waterhole called “Olifantsbad” lives up to its name. Countless elephants, including very small ones, drink and play here. A magnificent spectacle.

Shorty
Extensive salt pan
Rhino after sunset
Fight or play?

And then…just before we left the park we spotted a cheetah. He/she is relaxing under a tree. We are silent for a moment. Wow…a real cheetah.

Cheetah 1
Cheetah 2
Cheetah 3

Kamrav guest farm

On the way to our next destination, the Waterberg Plateau, we will spend another night at a farm. Wow, what a different setting than the commercial campsites in Etosha. We are welcomed by the lady of the house with coffee and cake as if we were family. We can stand on her well-maintained yard, which is located on a slight hill. There is a swimming pool here and absolutely fantastic views towards the 2000 hectares of land she owns.

From our relaxing chair and from the swimming pool we see various wild animals drinking at the drinking trough.

View from breakfast table

Waterberg Plateau

After a cool night we wake up to the smell of the donkey boiler (= wood-fired metal barrel, sometimes old gas bottle, in which water is heated) and start with a dip in the pool. What a paradise here.

After a nice hot shower we have breakfast with the most fantastic view you could wish for.

But, we think it's time to move on. We visit the Waterberg Plateau, an elevated landscape with steep rock walls that rises about 200 meters above the rest of the landscape.

Both black and white rhinos live in the protected park. We stay at a private lodge and take various walks both with and without a guide. The area is much wetter than other parts of Namibia due to the natural water sources. As a result, many plants and trees grow that we had not seen for a long time. A true oasis!

Waterberg 1
Waterberg 2
Waterberg 3

On the way to Fish River Canyon

We take a big step and drive via Windhoek to the far south of Namibia, where the second largest canyon in the world is located...Fish River Canyon. Only the American Grand Canyon is bigger.

On the way there we spend the night near the Nauta Dam, a water reservoir southwest of Keetmanshoop. The sky is so clear here that we have never seen so many stars… thousands of them! The dam was built as a water buffer for surrounding farms. There is a huge date plantation.

Spend the night at the Nauta Dam
Sunset Nauta Dam

Fish River Canyon

The Canyon runs from north to south and ends at the town of Ai-Ais. The water of the river flows into the Oranje River, which in turn forms the border with South Africa. There are several viewpoints. 

Every time we see a geological phenomenon like this, we become silent for a moment. The history here goes back 2000 million years, when Africa and South America were still connected. We cannot imagine it. We enjoy even more what the erosion has done to the earth here, unimaginable, how beautiful!

At the last viewpoint - where hardly any tourists come - we eat our lunch with a delicious cup of coffee and a sublime view.

Fish River Canyon 1
Fish River Canyon 2
Fish River Canyon 3

Orange River

We continue our route south through breathtaking landscape. The Fish River Canyon may have its name, but the road to the Orange River is just as spectacular. 

And then suddenly, from the bone-dry landscape, green grape fields suddenly appear. Straight plots along the river. Yes, people here make good use of the available water.

On a hill that we can reach with our 4×4, we have a fantastic overview of the area and we spend the night.

We exchange Namibia for South Africa via a bridge over the Orange River... with a little pain in our hearts. On to a new adventure!

Last overnight stay in Namibia

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