Spent the early evening with the couple next door on this very posh campsite, Alte Brucke, in Swakopmund.
.... that's more or less what we did today. We think we have found someone who can help and we're going back with the patient on Wednesday to discuss.
Spent the early evening with the couple next door on this very posh campsite, Alte Brucke, in Swakopmund.
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We're here - we haven't been able to update the blog for the last few days, so this is just to let all know that all is well, we've had a few minor adventures and we'll fill in the gaps over the next couple of days!
The first 3 hours of the drive from Solitaire were through spectacular scenery: first through enormous dry grassy plains with millions of small birds lifting as we rumbled through; then through weird rocky hillocks leading to a steep windy pass. Unfortunately no pictures were taken because the road was truly dreadful - rock hard corrugations with deeper ruts in the dry river beds. By the time we got through the pass we were ready to stop for a rest and coffee and pulled into a car park/ viewpoint. Other vehicles were doing the same. A number of vehicles had problems. The hasp on one of our big heavy storage drawers had popped all its screws out and was hanging open: Barney had fixed that with much longer screws by the time I had our coffee made. Outside a chap was rummaging around under his landrover with spanners etc. B offered help, but he didn't need it. This couple gave us some very useful info about travels further north, which was great. A tour minibus had shattered its windscreen with the vibrations. After about an hour of fixing and chatting, we set off, but very soon encountered Franz and Hennie who had a very broken wheel. We stopped to see if we could help, it turned out that their front suspension had broken - the lower ball joint having been wrenched out of its socket. We tried to jury-rig it to get them moving but without luck. As we were wondering what to do next a car pulled up and out jumped 3 guys - it turned out that Franz is a pastor in a church and two of the newcomers were pastors in the same church! The third person was apparently a famous South African rugby player (their equivalent of Johnny Wilkinson? - but we obviously had no idea whatsoever but had a long chat with him about our trip) - they had contacts back in Walvis Bay and organised a rescue mission. We said our farewells to Franz and Hennie who are absolutely charming and set off West again towards Walvis Bay, the road improved but the scenery gradually became very very bare and desertic. As the light faded the colours of the desert and the road all started to blend into a single monotonous creamy-grey and it became difficult to read the road surface, but after a couple of hours we passed Walvis Bay airport and finally hit tar again. We quickly(!) zipped up to Swakopmund to find the Alte Brucke campsite who luckily still had a place for us - this campsite was another good find - it's like an oasis in the desert with green grass to camp on, individual ablution blocks for each site and good security - just what we needed after the last few days. We quickly got to know Steve and Connie(sp?) - a Scot/German couple camping in the spot next to us who are spending three weeks touring Namibia with a rented 4x4 camper and who have given us some useful information on the north. As we were late arriving we decided to treat ourselves and eat out - we chose "the restaurant that the locals would recommend" (the Tug) and went straight there - we must learn to read between the lines of guidebook comments as the service was poor, the price expensive and the food only average. Ho hum. As we were waiting for our food we got a call from Franz and Hennie to confirm that they had got back to Walvis Bay safely and were with their friends - we were glad to know they were safe. Ian's Day After yesterday’s problems with lack of information from the “friendly” (not) staff at Sossusvlei reception, we should have known.... We got up before 5am in order to be at the gate by opening time to drive the 65km to the 2-wheel-drive car park before taking the 4-wheel-drive sand track to Sossusvlei– dawn viewings being advertised as a “must”. We quickly calculated that at the speed limit in force in the park it would be impossible for anyone to actually get to the vlei in time for dawn. This explained why so many cars seemed to be travelling a tad over the 60kph limit! As we only travel at 70kph max anyway, we virtuously rolled on at the legal limit and watched the dawn break some 10km away from the start of the sand track. When we got there, a sign indicated that it was for 4wd only – that’s ok as that’s exactly what we are...off we go. The sand was deep and soft, the Mog slowed in 5th gear to a crawl, putting it into 3rd resulted in a slow but very positive forward motion which we kept up for most of the 5km to the 4wd car park – until one of the park’s shuttle drivers in a Landrover came the other way and warned us“that lorries aren’t allowed – you’ll be fined if you continue”. A quick debate and we did a U-turn in the sand and returned to the 2wd carpark muttering oaths about the repeated lack of any information provided by the park. We therefore had to take the shuttle (evidently at additional cost...) – it dumped us at the 4wd carpark with a general indication of “Dead Vlei that way, Sossusvlei that way”. The driver did give us one valuable piece of advice – go to Dead Vlei first before it gets hot. This we did – initially climbing the ridge of a rather large, very red sand dune. As we climbed the wind increased until it was whipping the sand from the spine of the ridge from beneath our feet. Sue didn’t feel at all comfortable so we took the short cut to the bottom – down the lee side of the dune straight to the surface of the Dead Vlei itself. The Dead Vlei is basically a salt pan surrounded by dunes with dead trees dotted around – it seems to have been once a pool of water where trees could thrive, but at some point has dried up – however (and this seems to be a recurrent theme in Africa so far) – no information of any kind to explain what is being seen was available. Having photographed many of the photogenic dead trees, we decided that as the heat (and wind) was rising, we would head for Sossuslvlei – we headed off across another mini Vlei in the general direction of the carpark –having crossed the vlei and another two small dunes we found no carpark, no Sossusvlei – lost in the Namib! Watching the shadows we guessed which direction to take, crossed a large dune and there was the carpark. Ouff! Only problem was that on reaching the car park (you’ve guessed it!) – no indication at all which direction to take to find Sossuslvlei (the driver had vaguely waved his hand“over there” and indicated “500 metres”. The wind had increased, blowing fine sand everywhere, the sun was now beating down, the air feeling like a dessicator. We didn’t want to repeat the last episode – luckily we found another driver who indicated how to find Sossusvlei – we headed off following wheel tracks through fine sand, heavy going – until finally we found it – a pool of water at the foot of a dune. Impressive, but Dead Vlei was certainly more so. Sue spotted a few more birds on and around the pool, but by this time we had just about had enough so decided that it was time to leave by taking the shuttle back to where we had parked the Mog. Our conclusions on Sossusvlei were that although it is a very good experience, the effort to reach it and the total lack of any information, help or greetings (apart from in relieving us of money) from any of the staff made the experience less than worthwhile. We drove the 65km back to the campsite, filled up with fuel and left for a campsite at Solitaire on the way to Walvis Bay/Swakopmund. Here we’ve met a good selection of other travellers who have shared their recent experiences of Namibia – it seems that blown tyres are extremely common nowadays in Namibia, that the Government isn’t funding road repairs in Western Namibia and that therefore the roads are in a pitiful state. This explains what we’ve seen, and the vast number of tyre carcasses by the roadside. It also seems a little short-sighted as all of the tourist areas in Namibia are in the West – we’ve met a huge amount of foreign tourists struggling with the roads here, they will surely be telling people back home not to bother and to go somewhere else.... Anyway, we’ve got a Mog, so no change to our plans – except to build in extra time –lots of it! Thought I would do a different kind of blog today and do a sort of timetable of my day (Barney’s day would sound a bit different). It wasn’t a typical day by any means, but then I don’t think we really have typical days. Here we go: 6am: Alarm goes off. Put heater on. 6.30: Get up and wrap up warm. Make the coffee. Put up the table (inside). Have breakfast with B, visit ablutions block and ask member of staff to light donkey so B can have a shower. Have a quick wash in the kitchen sink and dress. Tidy away stuff we have left around inside and out. Dry the dishes etc and put them away. Collect dry laundry from line, fold and put it away. Put drinks and other items for the journey into “cab-bag”. Do my bits of the “pre-flight checks”. Put on boots and visit the bathroom. 8.45: Set off. 8.50: See pale chanting goshawk and a striped polecat eating roadkill. 9.03: See secretary bird. All day - clouds of small birds lifting up as we passed. Think they are mostly sociable weavers. Huge weaver nests/colonies in many of the trees. 9.06: First springbok sighting of the day. This group all start pronking (look it up) as we go by. Start to see a few random red dunes. All day beautiful arid vistas. Purple road, bleached grass, dotted green trees. Horizon of hazy rocky hills. Road signs saying “wind”, “sand”. Farm animals. 9.11: First ostrich sighting of the day. 9.45: Junction and a discussion about route. We take the C27. Terrible road: bumpy and noisy – we can’t hear each other speak. An endurance test. I have to hold on to my boobs. 10.10: Now in the rocky hills. Pee and drink stop outside Toekoms Farm. 10.22: First oryx sighting of the day. 10.35: First zebra and kori bustard sightings of the day (private reserve). Enjoying the beautiful wilderness but aware that B is working hard driving and keeping us safe. Interesting whorls in the rocky hills. 11.10: Drink stop (impossible for B to drink while driving). 11.20: We turn towards red dunes in the distance. 11.35: See ostrich family with 9 chicks. Arrive at Sesriem about 12 midday. Decide to camp inside the park gates as then our permit will cover tomorrow as well. The camp is apparently full, although it doesn’t look it, but we accept a place in the overflow camp, which is basically a tree with a number nailed to it. The toilets and showers are a walk away, but we can use ours if we want to. Return to gate-man and tell him what we are doing, show him our permit. Park up. 1pm: Make coffee and lunch. Wash up. Read guide book. Visit shop and buy fruit juice –nothing much of use to us in the shop. Pop into bar – see loaves of bread and ask to buy one. Yes, it is for sale! Check location of ablutions. 2.15: Take a few photos. Shave legs (very rare occurrence) and put on shorts as it is hot for a change. 2.45: Tidy up. Do pre-flight checks. 3pm: Set off for Sossusvlei. Realise that it will be impossible to enjoy sunset at the vlei and get out of the park gates by closing time, so decide to go only as far as Dune 45 instead. 3.40 Stop to take photos of dunes etc and look at ripply pebbles all over the place. 3.55 Park at Dune 45 (we thought at the time). We walked the few hundred yards to the dune, looking at various animal tracks in the sand and generally admiring the scenery and the colours changing as the sun dropped down. 5.08pm Set off back to the campsite 40ish km away and continue to enjoy the deepening oranges and reds, which eventually changed to pastel shades after the sun was really gone. Today's phrase "Ooh! It's sooo beautiful!" 6pm: Exit the park and head straight for the ablutions, hoping to get there before the hordes of people on the tour buses. Just in time in my case, as the next people into the showers seemed to be running out of hot water. 6.40: Had a glass of something refreshing and looked at the day's photos on the laptop. 7.15: A lazy supper of tinned tuna, Smash with salt and butter, and a bit of salad. Pudding of ginger cake for B and dates for me. 7.50: Wash up and put away. Slather myself with E45 as my skin is all dried out. 8.30pm: Bed and sleep. We are getting up at 4.45 tomorrow. We got up early this morning so that we could head off for a 240km drive on gravel roads to Sossusvlei, hoping to get there in time to sort out the campsite and then head into the vlei for sunset. Best laid plans.... The road from Helmeringhausen north is not bad, it’s not good either, best described as a bit of a bone-shaker. It passes through some pretty magnificent scenery though, real Africa, with acacia trees, huge tracts of grassland and distant hills and mountains, all with a crystal clear sky with blinding sun. The road changes colour every now and then, it can be grey, white, red, purple, yellow –the rocks here are different from those yesterday, the hills have changed too. There were very few people or vehicles on the road – in fact for the first hour we saw no-one, just some smoke rising from what looked like a small farmstead. All was going roughly to plan when after about 100km, on passing a gate in the road, the engine just died leaving us coasting quietly (if there is such a thing in a Mog) down a gentle slope. We stopped, stunned. Nothing like this has ever happened or even threatened to happen before. Now what? Ahead was empty, behind was empty – the GPS indicated a junction in the road about 20km further on, nothing else. A quick look under the bonnet showed that the fuel pump didn’t seem to be pumping anything –the manual pump just seemed to be acting on air, not fuel. There was no vacuum in the fuel tank, so no problem there - I got under the truck to look at the fuel pre-filters, no water was in the bowls. At this moment a tour bus (basically a truck with a passenger-carrying body on the rear) pulled up behind us – we were on the tourist trail! The drivers of these tour buses seem to always stop for overland trucks (many of them are ex-overlanders or would like to be) – he told us that there was a service station at the junction, while he was with us I re-tried the manual fuel pump, it started to pressurise, so I tried the starter – we had life again. Off we went, we had power but it was difficult to work out if we had full power or not, but lo and behold, 20km further on there was a large “Caltex” sign – a small fuel station at a place (basically it seems to be a single farm) called Betta complete with coffee shop, provisions – and a camp-site! We pulled up on the forecourt and enquired if they had a mechanic – they’re all away at an auction today – would you mind if I do some work on my truck here? – no problem! So – after about 2 ½ hours work in the midday sun the pre-filters had been changed (cutting one open showed the filter to be BLACK with something), the main filters inspected (all ok) and the whole system including the injector pump bled. Would it start? It did – now would it run? We went for a test drive– up the road, down the road, up the road – all seemed well. Now what to do, it’s gone 2pm, it gets dark at 6pm, it’s another 140km to Sossusvlei on gravel (so maybe 3 hours) with still some doubts in our minds as to how the truck is going to run – we erred on the side of caution and camped at Betta. Tomorrow we’ll really see if it’s fixed. I strongly suspect that we picked up some bad fuel at Ai-Ais a week or so ago and that is the source of this problem. We’re intending doing some other work on the Mog at Walvis Bay when we get there, I’m tempted to drain the fuel tank completely and clean it out while we are about it. The campsite here was a bit of a find – it’s really quite good – each stand has its own shade, sink, braii and elevated sunset-viewing platform! We watched the sun go down behind distant hills while we waited for the water to be heated by yet another donkey. The campsite seems to have its very own crow – it walks around approaching within inches – and even tried to climb the steps into the Mog at one point. It doesn’t seem able to fly but doesn’t seem to be hungry. Odd. Well, the picture says it all. The tyre arrived and was duly mounted on the roof-rack. We parted with an eye-watering, stomach-lurching sum of money and were on the road by 9.30am. Bumped into Raimie at the garage and had a chat and a less tearful goodbye. We travelled from Keetmanshoop to Helmeringhausen, about 220km, 80 of those on a good gravel road. On the tar road I decided it was time for my first unimog driving lesson since two years ago (and about time too!). I was OK with some wooden blocks to raise my feet up so I could depress the pedals, but the next step will be to adjust the seat, which I was finding very awkward. B admitted that it wasn't really right for him either. At least I have started driving the truck - hence the promise of a Yorkie (for anyone not English - Yorkies are chocolate bars supposedly eaten by truck drivers!). Helmeringhausen was a bit of a surprise. After 220km of dry scrub scenery, one suddenly arrives at farm and nice hotel with a beer garden (green) and waiter in a white jacket. Unsurprisingly, we had a beer and a very nice lunch while the truck cooled off in our camping spot round the back, close to a pen with goats and new-born kids. The ablution block also very nice with hot water from a donkey. After our showers we took the sundowner trail to the top of the ridge and sat on some rocks to enjoy the sunset. Saw a fox or jackal in the distance. Bird news: saw a kori bustard on the way here, which I was very pleased about. Now Wednesday morning. Yesterday we received a phone call to tell us that TWO tyres had arrived in Windhoek and so we could buy them both at a slightly reduced price (which would still make you gulp!!!). We can't accommodate more than one as our other spare is still unused, so had to decline. Our tyre should have arrived in Keetmans last night, so fingers crossed for the off today. Tuesday Morning: grocery and other shopping - actually managed everything on the list except for an extra storage bottle for the fridge, factor 15 suncream, ryvita and lacto-free milk. Also diidn't buy tinned tomatoes as far too expensive, or wine as the pricing in Spar was too annoying and confusing. Afternoon: at the campsite - B reading the workshop manual and doing "stuff" on the truck and me reading the guideboook and scribbling on the map. We bought an icecream from the fuel station next door and tried to feed pieces of carrot to the horse here (could be a pony for all I know). This was a bizarre experience as the poor horse obviously had never seen carrot before in its life and wouldn't take it. It just kept sniffing the carrot and me over and over. I even tried eating the carrot to demonstrate. Eventually after a lot of talking the horse allowed me to stroke it, but continued sniffing. I can report that horses have lovely soft nostrils! Even the goats in the same paddock didn't eat the carrot, so it's obviously foreign to them. Evening: tea and biscuits at Ramie's house. Another really lovely evening together but rather a tearful one as well, as we don't know whether we will see each other again. |
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