Namibia.

NAMIBIA 28.10.2006 Entry Namibia - well we also made it to here! We heard from a lot of people, that this country would be quite different than the others, at least those in the southern part of Africa, but read yourself. The entry again naturally caused no problems here, everything was performed quickly, and we only had to pay 90 Nam$ dues, equivalent to 10 €. This was something like administrative charges. Then we pulled out, the first kilometres on a good red terrestrial road. The first craft we met was an Overland truck, which we should meet quite often in the future. What we had not expected was the green of the countryside! Everywhere trees, which carried their „green dress“. We were very pleased, as we thought, the land would be pure desert and dry. So you will be surprised again and again, and the pictures you had made up in your mind of the particular country not always prove true. This first day in Namibia we drove many kilometres, to be exact 550 km. It was very hot and more often we almost fell asleep. Fortunately every couple of kilometres there was a small rest area, where we could stretch on a bank and have little sleep. The route led to Grootfontein, situated in the north close to the Etosha parks. We took a room, refreshed a little bit, watched TV and had a very good sleep. 29. - 30.10.2006 Meteoroid and the small town Tsumeb As we had that many kilometres yesterday, we intended to go about it easier today and only drive to the next village. Before we started we wanted to watch the meteoroid “Hoba”. This meteoroid is the biggest ever found on earth. The information about the weight vary from 50 to 60 tonnes. Its volume amounts to about 9 cubic meters. It banged into the earth about 80.000 years ago. Its age ranges between 190 and 410 million years. We had to visit this meteoroid and touch it. No sooner said than done. On good terrestrial road we quickly rolled along, some warthogs raced with us and soon we stood in front of the meteoroid. It is quite impressing, especially thinking of its age. From there we rode through a scenery nice, hilly green area to Tsumeb. We again had chosen the best day to get into a town: Sunday!! All stores closed. Fortunately a tourist agency opened for a short time, as customers were picking up a car. We sneaked into the office with them. We waited awhile and then were addressed in German. It obviously was true, that many persons still speak our speech. Funny. From now on we had to be careful backbiting…. hihi! We soon were in agreement. We needed a car for the next three days, as we planned to drive into the Etosha National park. We had a good offer, all kilometres free, fully insured for 40.00 € a day. We booked the car right away starting next day. As it was possible to stay overnight, we booked a room, bought something to eat, the supermarket was open, and made a delicious fresh salad for supper. Next day we explored the town. As a matter of fact there are signs in German, German stores and many persons speak German. Otherwise it is a dozy town and after one hour we had explored everything. We waited for our car in the travel agency, which we accepted about 3:00 pm, and then left the town towards national park. 30.10. - 02.11.2006 Safari in the Etosha National Park There were three wonderful days with many animals! Still outside the park some giraffe crossed our way. Directly after the gate a minibus stopped us and told us, before paying the entrance fee we should rush to the Namutoni waterhole. There are two lions having their meal. Well, they did not have to tell that twice, we turned around right away and rushing to the water hole. Inside the park all streets are terrestrial roads, well maintained and you can go anywhere with a normal passenger car. At the water itself we quickly saw them: two lioness, which alternately pleasurably satisfied themselves with a warthog. One of the lioness had a red face smeared with blood. That looked weird, but on the other hand impressing. After we watched them for sometime we drove to the camp. We paid our entrance fee for three days and one night tenting and pitched up our tent right away. As it was already late and you had to be back in the camp 7.00 pm, we took off again. Again we saw many giraffes, zebras, gnus and waterbucks. The two lioness still were on the water hole. We then made a small round track, but nothing crossed our route. Being on the way back there was a traffic jam. Some cars parked on the street and everybody looked into one direction. And then, we too, saw them: the two lioness drinking out of a puddle, lees than 20 m away from us. Beautiful! Well, that was a real good start for a safari! Now back to the camp, which was fenced and closed 7:00 pm. But we could go to a water hole, which even was lit up. Here we sat down after sundown for an hour, but no animal showed up and we ("dog-tired") entered our tent, and slept deep and firm. The next morning we got up 5:00 am, once more we walked to the water hole - no game - and accurate 6:30, when they opened the gate, we left the camp. We drove along several water holes, but most of the animals we saw right next to the street. At the very beginning we met adult lions, which lay lazily in the sun. As it was early in the morning they did not take shelter in the shadow. During the safari we saw herds of zebras, gnus and finally the famous “oryx-antelopes”, bustards(birds), springboks, impalas. On one water hole we even could watch a herd of zebras drinking. How they reflected in the water was very picturesque! The landscape within the park, too, is very interesting, many wide areas alternate with green bush land. The Etosha plateau itself stretched till the horizon and shimmered white in the distance. On an other round track a small herd of elephants crossed our route - they were the only ones we saw during our stay. During the day we drove west to the second in the park, the Halali Camp. It was close to noon and it became hotter and hotter. That meant no more animals to be seen. Shortly we arrived Halali Camp we got surprised: 7 lions (youngsters) were laying next to the street in the shadow. They were more than lazy and even did not rise their heads. Anyway an adventure, as we could get very close to them. In the camp we put up our tent and were almost unable to move, because of the heat. As we learned from the lions we lay down in the shadow. Before that we took a shower, sadly enough the water was not too cold. We were waiting for the afternoon, to start another game-drive. In the meantime heavy clouds had been developed and it was already raining further away. At the beginning we did not meet any animal, instead nice countryside in thrilling colours. Specially the thunderheads in the distance gave fantastic photo-motifs. An hour before the gate of the camp got closed, we headed for the last water-hole of the day. Shortly before we quipped around, how nice it would be, we, getting to a waterhole all by ourselves and no other cars, would find lions drinking out of the puddle. We turned around the last corner and did not believe our eyes, our wish had become true. Nine (9) lions were standing directly in front and besides our car and were unhurriedly drinking water. Wow, we really had not counted on that. Then one after the other backed out and we continued to the waterhole hoping to find all of them again. Still no other tourists around. That was super! Now we had to drive to the camp, not to be to late for the gate to be closed and eventually to have to pay a fine. But shortly before the gate again a group of cars. Lions again! Obviously the 7 male-lions from the morning, which now were laying on the street, running around on the street or pushing each other away while lying down. We really could not believe it, having seen today that many of those majestic animals. What an adventure! But it EVEN became better! This camp, too, had an illuminated waterhole, where you, if you want to, could sit down all night long. Even slightly elevated, a fantastic view. So we sat there and waited,and waited. Till 9pm nothing happened. Except the heavy lightning in the distance nothing could be seen. We just were ready to go, when Chri suddenly whispered: “ there is a rhino coming!!” Oh yes!? And real it was rustling in the bushes and a big black rhino was coming along to the water, followed by another big specimen and a youngster. All three of them drank, whereas one of the big ones always was looking around. They gave a very nervous impression. Soon they disappear again in the bushes, but not definitely, as you could hear them blowing and rustling. Consequently we kept seating and saw 3 hyenas coming to the waterhole. Later on the rhinos increased by one (total 4) showed up again. This time they were not in such a hurry. Maybe they felt the approaching rain and that the humans soon will disappear. Because shortly after that it started raining and we ran back to our tent and it kept raining all night long. We made the experience that our tent again was not waterproof anymore. It dripped into our face, what we did feel funny at all. Fortunately we were on the way by car and could relocate. We tolerated this quite inconvenient position until the rain stopped and moved back into the tent at about 4am. We had to stretch out a little. That night was not recreative at all, but with the reminiscence of yesterday made it forgotten pretty soon. About 7 am the next day we slowly drove towards the third and last camp, the Okaukuejo Camp. Right at the beginning we met again those male lions, we at least think; they were the same from the day before. A neat jackal crossed our route and a little later the highlight of this day: a lion-mommy with 5 kiddies! The mommy was laying next to a broken zebra, the kiddies gorged once and then from it, but were more interested in us. They always looked into our direction! What lovely and beautiful photo motives! They really looked to be cuddled. For the rest of the day no more animals could be seen, but we could enjoy more beautiful countryside. Even at the illuminated waterhole left us by ourselves - well, we obviously had seen enough. On the last morning (Thursday) we had breakfast at the waterhole and were rewarded with a huge herd of zebras, gnus and springboks. These tree specimens we saw later on in huge herds during our last tour through the park. We paid a visit to the so called “fairy tale forest”, an area with a specific trees. It is about a collection of the weird looking plant “Moringa Ovalifolia”, which catches your eye because of the bottle like swollen stems. Looked funny. Thus our visit to the Etosha Park was ended - we were impressed and take home a lot of nice remembering experiences and photos. 02. - 06.11.2006 On Tour in the North of the Country Leaving Etosha Park we drove back to Tsumed, to return the car and pick up our bike. We bought a little and drove - again on 2 wheels - towards north, we intended to drive around Etosha Park. On this evening we spent the night on a farm with comfortable camping accommodations. It was wonderful silent, there was beer and we decided to stay here a complete day. Well, Friday was filled up with laundry, writing diary, and maintenance of the moped, cleaning up the cases, route planning etc. Naturally interrupted by several coffee breaks and a short walk. That really was good. On November 4, we drove a lot of kilometres right into the north of Namibia, to the border of Angola. The landscape changed from bush land to sand with many palm trees - quite unusual. In Ruacana we found another nice campground, pitched up our tent, used the pool, to refresh from the long ride and the heat. Later on we had to new neighbours, two Germans with whom we spent the whole evening chatting. It was, as in most cases, interesting to hear different and/or identical experiences about and of Africa. The next day required high concentration, as we had to drive 300 km piste. But it worked out super; the roads in the north are still in a good condition, as not that many cars are using them. Our destination for today was a cheetah farm, where you could watch domesticated and wild cheetahs. The owners of the farm buy up cheetahs from hunters, to save them from sure death. Because these animals will be sold willingly to hunting farms, where they will be forced in front of the guns of those awesome hunters, to be shot. Very sad but true! To have a chance to watch those animals from close up was a real adventure. November 06, led us to the “Waterberg Plateau” - we were told >from several sides that this area is worth a visit. And we were not disappointed! Thus we drove from the cheetah farm via Outjo and Ojiwarongo to Waterberg National Park. The little we saw during the first day did please us. We put up our tent on a campground, where everybody had his own, separated place with fireplace and fire wood. Excellent night. 07.11.2006 Waterberg Plateau Day of rest and walking on the plateau. In the morning we took a little bit care of us and our belongings and defied the heat by among other things in securing the pool. On the afternoon we had booked a guided walking tour, 15 people with guide. In the beginning we marched through a canyon and then it went up onto the plateau. All the time we had wonderful views into the marvellous scenery and enjoy the exciting colours of the rocks. In total it took us 3 hours - it was great to have gotten real exercise again. The evening was planned to stay with the fireplace, but the fire was just lit and the noodles cooked, it started raining. Hm, bad luck. It kept raining all night long, but lucky enough our tent was waterproof again, we sealed it with silicon. 08. - 09.11.2006 Fingerklip, Fosil Forest and the “Pipes of an Organ” The first day was pure driving, more than we had planned. Because we tried a small piste, to shorten the distance. But soon we found ourselves on gravel and sand, in addition heavy wind from aside, so that we were more slinging around than driving. That was too much stress and we were searching for the next tar road. Thus we rolled along, but took a shortcut anyway on piste to the so called “Fingerklip”, a rocky spike, which was pointing towards sky. Impressing area! Impressing colours! Impressing light! Ideal to shoot photos. Driving on the piste was also ok, and thus we arrived safely in Korihxas. Tent quickly put up before the rain shower, the fell asleep deep and firm. Not many kilometres on the second day but on piste. First we arrived to fossil forest. Whereas forest is slightly exaggerated. There were a few stems of trees lying around. For somebody, who never saw something like that before, it is quite interesting. Here we also could see rare plants, which are typical for Namibia: the Welwitschia desert plant. We proceeded towards Twyfelfontein, where you actually can admire petrography of animal species and abstract symbols, which were painted by original inhabitants. But as you had to climb through mountains for 1 ½ hours, and we still had on our entire motorbike gear (boots + trousers), and the temperature was at least 40°C we resigned. Thus we first pitched up our tent and became desperate, because the zipper of the inner-tent partly did not function at all. You cannot close them anymore. We tried it for more than an hour in terrible heat, to close the zipper. Some when we forced it brutally. This side we never will open again. Fortunately there were two entries, although the zipper of the second entry is almost gone. After work done, we still drove to the pipes of an organ (they are called like that because an accumulation of standing basalt columns remind you on pipes of an organ) and to the burned mountain (which is a mountain with a cooled down lava flow). Both were described in the travel guide more interesting as it was in reality, but again the scenery around was gorgeous. On the way back to our campground it was getting rather strong, we almost got thrown off the buck. Arrived at the tent and after a glance into it, we got shocked: inside the tent and spread all over our things there was already a layer of sand - several cm thick. Really great!! The wind got stronger and more sand got blown around. We started to get our tent “sand-proof”. Our towels in front the mosquito net, fixed with clamps. From the outside we weighted the tent with big stones and tried to tighten up, wherever it was possible. Somehow it had improved. Next question: where to cook? We were not interested in “sand-noodles”. We decided for the balcony of the restaurant, which was shielded by a canvas cover to the outside. Such we could enjoy our noodles with sauce and a small beer. While cooking 4 more touris were joining us. All 4 of them out of German countries and hard drinking. While reporting a lot each of us had his/her 4 or 5 beers. Oh man, we were not used to that anymore. In addition it was late, 0/24 o’clock - we really were worn out. But it was a frolic, interesting evening. When we went to bed, the sand storm, too, had calmed down a bit and we had a wonderful view up to a fantastical starry-sky. It was beautiful. 10. - 11.11.2006 Drive to Windhoek Well, these two days driving, driving, driving was announced. The first day a lot of piste, which in parts was rather bad. Furthermore it stayed hot, in consequence it was very exhausting. On the second day we had planned to visit the Tsaobis Leopard National Park and drove 60 km bad piste, to find out at the gate, that the park was closed. They could have announced that 60 km earlier by a sign or something like that. Quite frustrated we decided to take the direct road to Windhoek. Naturally on tar. In Windhoek we took a campground, which we did not like to much. But for one night it is ok. 12. - 16.11.2006 Windhoek, Capital of Namibia As we did not like the campground and we intended to stay longer in Windhoek, we were looking for an other doss. We ended up in Chameleon Backpackers, the first two nights camping, the next two nights in a nice and clean room. We had several things in mind and the days passed by fast. On Sunday actual nothing could be done, except to go to the supermarket. We bought whole-grain bread (almost as at home) and cheese and salad. Already shopping made our mouth water. Such good things we did not have for a long time. We had to make a “Brotzeit” right away! During the next day we strolled around in Windhoek. First we wanted to buy a front wheel tire; Continental only sold car-tires. They told us to go to Yamaha. Well, Yamaha was on the other end of the town, which we had to cross by foot. But anyway we could order the desired tire (TKC 80), but sadly enough for a lot of money (1650 N$ = 175 Euro). But what to do, if you need a new one. Two days delivery time - no problem for us, we anyway had planned to stay so long. Then we went back through the city, here a visit in a shop, there a coffee-break and watching for a new tent. No success. Instead of that we found an internet-café, where we would spend some hours during the next days. On Tuesday, the 14th, we were exactly 8 months en-route!! Not bad! The first deed of today was to get to an outdoor-shop, to buy a new tent. We discovered one and now are proud owners of a 210 x 210 cm big tent, plastic but the zipper are working ok! The old one we sent back home by airmail, it did its job. And we will show it to Daerr. But that is a different story. The afternoon we spent in the internet to update our website. It worked out good and quick. Back in the backpacker we could move into a room, while repacking we saw somebody arrive with a set of moped-tires! Well, if that could not become interesting? Then Karin arrived, unfortunately with crutches. Some days before she got overturned on a piste and her le was broken. Oh dear! Together with her friend Ralf she was en-route already since 15 months, in fact in North-, Middle-, and South America as well as South Africa and a little bit Namibia. Na, there was a lot to talk about! Ralf arrived later on a 1200 GS. Actually the first biker we met on our complete tour! They plan, as soon as Katrin is ok again, to go with their bikes along the east of Africa (just opposite our direction) back to Germany. Thus we could give them some tips. On Wednesday we again had internet on our program. Actually we had to pickup our tires, but we were mean. We did not go there, because Ralf made us an offer we could not refuse. He sold us his new (!) set of tires (Karoo 2) for 1200 N$ and we gave him our tire (8000 km) relative good TKC 80 back-wheel-tire. Unfortunately the tire dealer could not keep up with this price for one tire. Thus, the cow received two new tires at the same time! It did like that! The afternoon and evening we spent with Katrin and Ralf, There was too much to talk about. Sadly enough Katrin has to get a surgery, with a general anaesthesia - but she took it easy. Admirable! On the last day in Windhoek we packed our things and drove for changing tires. That took a while, then we brought our TKC 80 to Ralf, got hooked chatting again, and got ready for starting not until 1 pm. We liked Windhoek pretty much, it is nice small town. The route today led us towards Swakopmund, the first stop we had close to mountain Spitzkoppe. It looked great how the hill shone resplendent in the evening sun. We drove close to its foot, made many pictures and then it went to a campground, where we pitched up our new tent for the first test. It passed the test. 17. - 21.11.2006 Swakopmund, Walvis Bay and Sandwich Harbour During the night it was quite cool, what granted good sleeping for us. Today we should arrive Swakopmund, situated on the ocean. The closer we got to the town the colder it became. It clouded respectively it became foggy. In Swakopmund itself it was sunny but stayed chilly. We took lodgings with a backpacker and explored the town at once. Here everything is German! We went to café “Anton”, where we had German cake (curd cheese- and apple pie. Almost like with our “Detterbek”. Delicious! In the evening we staid in our room, as it was very cold outside. The next day we remained in the town, although there was not much more to be seen, we once more had delicious cake, visited the internet and spent the rest of the day reading. That did us good. On 19th we drove the short distance of only 35 km between ocean and dunes till Walvis Bay. The weather was not too good, rather cold and drizzles. In Walvis Bay it cleared off and the sun was shining upon the lagoon. We already saw some birds amongst others pelicans and flamingos. Just arrived we booked a tour to Sandwich Harbour, situated in the middle of the dune area close to the ocean. You only can get there with 4x4 cars, that is why we did not take the bike. We did not care for the price, we saw pictures and we had to go there in any case. In return for that we found a good and inexpensive room and booked for 3 nights. There we met a German couple, who were on tour for one year, too. Well, what happened? Again we spent the evenings chatting! 20.11.2006 Excursion to Sandwich Harbour - What a nice and exciting day. It already had a good start, as we were the only guests, had the car inclusive driver all by ourselves. We started at 9:00 am; first we drove around the lagoon and along the beach to the harbour. This is a small bayou, which formerly was used as a harbour, as among other things water was found. Thus a small green oasis in the middle of dunes and ocean. We drove along in-between waves and dunes, once in a while the water getting pretty close to the car. Being alone we would not dared to get that close. We passed a lot of living as well as dead seals and a part of a whale, which looked like a rock. The dunes got closer and closer until they showed up as a steep wall left of us! At Sandwich Harbour we drove onto a tongue of land and had a wonderful view onto the dunes. Then we navigated all the way back, the water already had captured more land as we had flood tide! That was a bit fishy to us, but the guide obviously knew what he was doing. Barely escaped the wet ocean, we drove into the thick of the “dune”-ocean. There we really got shocked the first time. We carted uphill onto a small rim, stopped and were asked whether we saw tracks on the right side. We said: No. He said: Ok, then we have to go left. Barely he said that, he accelerated he jetted a super steep dune downhill and uphill again on the other side up. We were sitting in the car screaming; first we only saw sand, then only the sky. More wicked than riding roller coaster, we really got scared. But that was not enough. At full throttle we flew uphill another dune to the edge to the ocean, where he stopped. Oh my goodness! But from here we had a fantastic view to the dunes as they stretch over into the ocean - a marvellous contrast! Blue sea and yellow sand! Wow! And the panoramic view on the “dune”-ocean was not be scoffed at, only sand as far as you can see. Then we kept driving through the dunes until we again stopped at the rim of a steep dune. Our driver slowly drove downhill a bit so we stand aslope. Then he told us to open the window! No sooner said than done! Then he let the car rolling without a running engine. Then we could hear it: a howling or singing or how you could describe that noise. First we thought it would be the wind. But it was the sand, which made those noises caused by the pressure/friction forced on it. That was wicked! That gave us the heebie-jeebies. After that we drove through the yellow ocean, stopped here, and listened to explanations for a plant. To bad that it was to windy to have lunch within the dunes, a meal was included in the price. So we slowly drove back until we found a windless place. Then we had to walk around, while our beloved guide set the table; a table with table cloth, chairs, real dishes and even glasses! We had a bottle of white wine as well as rice salad and a cold vegetable platter. Everything was delicious, and we enjoyed this special dinner. We even managed the complete bottle of wine. Together with the heat it did not do too good. Not to say that we became sick, we only were squiffy. On the back the guide had to show to us, who is master of the car. We drove to a last dune, while talking to us he backed to the edge of the dune and already overshot the rim. We stand aslope and thought he had missed the proper stop... He did not and to the special scare of me (Rita) we drove backwards (!) down the dune. I could not look at it and they were grinning about my anxiety. “Ha Ha” But all the time he had total control about the car and actually it made a lot of fun. This day was super, a thrilling adventure. And we completely tired. Wind, wine and fresh were taking their tribute and this evening we went to bed early!! November 21st we bummed around - after those strains from yesterday we had to recuperate! Not much more to report from this day, we cooked a delicious meal and had a bottle of red wine. 22.11. - 26.11.2006 Tour to Sossusvlei (the Red Dunes) and to Luederitz On the 22nd we departed the ocean and drove towards Sossusvlei. In the heartland it became very hot again and piste, which meant stressfully driving. We used 7 hours for 250 km, as the piste accordingly bad. A lot of loose gravel, sand and deep tracks - this combination made us swing quite often. We (two persons + luggage) are too heavy for such conditions. Not a tricky feeling, but Chri mastered every situation. Accordingly worn out we only drove till Solitaire, where we put up our tent and soon fell into our sleeping bags. The landscape, by the way, was since Walvis Bay beautiful: wide areas with yellow grass added to brown mountains and blue sky. What a beautiful contrast. November 23rd - Today we should arrive in Sossusvlei. This area is in the middle of Desert Namib - and is a clay dip surrounded by mighty sand dunes. The dunes partly reach up to altitudes of 300 m and belong to the highest of the world. Already on the way we caught sight of the first red sand dunes. Unfortunately we not really could enjoy the beautiful landscape, as full concentration on driving was required. In addition we had on this section deep buckle piste. Fortunately we only had to cover a distance of 90 km to the beginning of the dunes. We arrived and it was terrible hot, pitched up our tent, took a bath in the pool and drove in the afternoon towards Sossusvlei. You have to drive 65 km on a small tar-road and during this section already to the left and right red dunes piled up to the sky. Although in a distance but very nice to look at. The dunes were encircled by blue sky, yellow grass and green trees - that really looked fantastic. The last 5 km consisted of pure sand and we could not go further by bike. We transferred to a “taxi”, a 4x4, which carries people in the middle of the dunes. Here we walked into the “Dead Vlei”, a parched river bed with dead trees, and looked at highest dune. Fantastic landscape, beautiful colours and colour-combinations! Whereas we liked better the yellow landscape with dunes at the ocean. Shortly before sunset we backed to the camp (Sesriem) and enjoyed the sunset with a beer in a hand. An enjoyable excursion. On the next day we drove, still on piste, towards south. The condition of the piste varied from solid and well drivable to deep tracks and loose gravel - with the well known result. Our destination today as “Duwisib Castle”. The compact castle was built in 1908 by the German “Hansheinrich von Wolff” in the middle of Africa. However its size is just the dimensions of bigger bungalow and is not worth to be visited. Behind the castle there is a café, where we thirstily drank a cola. In advance we already had decided to stay overnight. We settled in the campground, put up our tent and again enjoyed a marvellous sunset. On 25th , as well, a lot of driving was performed. Mercifully we managed today the last kilometres on piste. The pists in Namibia are not really bad, for bikes with only one person or cars no problem. But for us, two persons with luggage difficult to handle. Therefore we were glad, when we finally had tar again beneath our wheels. The section led from the castle via Maltahoehe and Marienthal to Keetmanshoop. Many kilometres through quite boring landscape in addition heat and sore botty….We were glad, when we finally could get off the bike. We took a fair room in the German “Schuetzenhaus”. For our taste too old-fashioned German: old-German script, German banner, gymnastic club “Zum Heil”, German hits of the 19-fifties in the restaurant - altogether slightly weird. In Germany you would ignore these kinds of establishments. But we could escape the heat a little bit and therefore had a good sleep. Sunday - our favourite day. Again a long driving day, today we rode from Keetmanshoop to Luederitz. Completely on a good asphalt road we rolled through an interesting-nice area. In the beginning hilly, later on flat with yellow grass and far sighted views. In the background consistently mountains and dunes showed up, as well as once in a while a scimitar-horned oryx (antelope). The closer we got to the seaside, the draughtier it became. Sand was blown across the street and we almost off the bike. It also became cooler, a convenient change. Luederitz welcomed us with even more wind and nobody in the streets. Sunday - nothing doing. We had problems to find accommodations, as supposedly on Sunday there is even no work in hotels, pensions etc. Later on we were able to contact somebody and rented an apartment for only 20,00 Euro per night. A real apartment in the house of “Krabbenhoeft und Lampe”: Bedroom, living room, kitchen, bath, patio! And a washing machine! The later we used right away for overdue things; we washed EVERYTHING, what is washable. Among other things our bike gear, the first time since Nairobi, Kenya... 27. + 28.11.2006 Luederitz On Monday we were lazy again. We had visited the town - which did not take long, as it is not very big. The wind still was intense, so we decided, to spend the rest of the day in our apartment. Reading, watching TV, sleeping... That, too, is way to kill time. By the way, we slept wonderful during the nights in Luederitz! The Thursday was dedicated to cultural matters. We visited the bizarre ghost town “KOLMANSKOP”, located 10 km inland. This former small town developed during the time of the diamond fever, when everybody hoped to achieve quickly richness. Here there was a school, a hospital and even a casino. Nowadays the complete village is slowly being covered by sand and this again is weird to look at. Respectively can you shoot super photos. We strolled around for about 3 hours and inspected every house, respectively what was left of it and not totally covered with sand. A real adventure, we were thrilled. The rest of the day was we took it easy and spent our last night in Luederitz. 29.11.2006 Ride back to Keetmanshoop We chose the well known route, because any other alternative would have been piste. In the beginning it still was chilly but about 1 hour after Luederitz we drove against a wall of heat. All of a sudden it was hot, hot, hot. Well no wonder, in Namibia the average temperature in summer is 38° C. Uff… In addition everywhere thunderstorms were building up, thick clouds in the skies and once we were caught by a rain shower. However this was a positive surprise, as the rain cooled us down, at least for a short time. Close to Keetmanshoop we drove to the so-called “Koecherbaum Forest”. That is group of trees, about 250 specimens, a sort of aloe. It grows up to a height of nine meters and becomes more than one meter in diameter. The name refers to the consistence of the wood. As it is easily to be hollowed out, the peoples of the San and Khoi Khoi, formerly residing here, produced quivers out of the branches of the tree. In these quivers they carried their darts. In this area we put up our tent, which should not stand up for a long time. Because the thunderstorms came closer and closer, the wind became stronger and after a first photo-session we found our tent folded. Well neat! Our new tent not being windproof. We tore it down and did put it up again under a roof as a shelter. Chri tinkered a great rope-construction, and now it stood up all night long. In the evening fortunately it cleared up a little bit and we now could make nice photos of the trees in the afterglow. 30.11. – 02.12.2006 Next morning the sun was glaring again from the blue sky, and our last days in Namibia were close. Today we drove till Gruenau, a small nest in the middle of nothing. We again rented a simple room and the rest of the day we took it easy. Wow, now already the November had passed. On December the 1st we took off for the spectacular Fish River Canyon. This I a huge eroded valley, which is the second largest Canyon of the world, after the Grand Canyon. It is about 160 km long, up to 27 km wide and partly 500 m deep. The rock formation cleared at the bottom is up to 1 billion years old. Naturally we could not miss that and were standing quite impressed at the edge of the canyon and admired the fantastic view. The tour there was our last rout on a piste and it worked out quite satisfied. Several passages with sad made us swing but in total we managed it rather well. The last evening in Namibia we spent with the good Namibian beer “Tafel”, we had the last weeks pass along in our mind and again determined that we are quite impressed by this country. Definitely worth at least one journey! On December 2nd we drove the last kilometres towards Upington, South Africa. Exactly after 5 weeks we left this interesting country, border formalities were quickly performed and we were in South Africa.

NAMIBIA

28.10.2006 Entry
Namibia - well we also made it to here! We heard from a lot of people, that this country would be quite different than the others, at least those in the southern part of Africa, but read yourself.
The entry again naturally caused no problems here, everything was performed quickly, and we only had to pay 90 Nam$ dues, equivalent to 10 €. This was something like administrative charges. Then we pulled out, the first kilometres on a good red terrestrial road. The first craft we met was an Overland truck, which we should meet quite often in the future. What we had not expected was the green of the countryside! Everywhere trees, which carried their „green dress“. We were very pleased, as we thought, the land would be pure desert and dry. So you will be surprised again and again, and the pictures you had made up in your mind of the particular country not always prove true. This first day in Namibia we drove many kilometres, to be exact 550 km. It was very hot and more often we almost fell asleep. Fortunately every couple of kilometres there was a small rest area, where we could stretch on a bank and have little sleep. The route led to Grootfontein, situated in the north close to the Etosha parks. We took a room, refreshed a little bit, watched TV and had a very good sleep.

29. - 30.10.2006 Meteoroid and the small town Tsumeb
As we had that many kilometres yesterday, we intended to go about it easier today and only drive to the next village. Before we started we wanted to watch the meteoroid “Hoba”. This meteoroid is the biggest ever found on earth. The information about the weight vary from 50 to 60 tonnes. Its volume amounts to about 9 cubic meters. It banged into the earth about 80.000 years ago. Its age ranges between 190 and 410 million years. We had to visit this meteoroid and touch it. No sooner said than done. On good terrestrial road we quickly rolled along, some warthogs raced with us and soon we stood in front of the meteoroid. It is quite impressing, especially thinking of its age. From there we rode through a scenery nice, hilly green area to Tsumeb. We again had chosen the best day to get into a town: Sunday!! All stores closed. Fortunately a tourist agency opened for a short time, as customers were picking up a car. We sneaked into the office with them. We waited awhile and then were addressed in German. It obviously was true, that many persons still speak our speech. Funny. From now on we had to be careful backbiting…. hihi! We soon were in agreement. We needed a car for the next three days, as we planned to drive into the Etosha National park. We had a good offer, all kilometres free, fully insured for 40.00 € a day. We booked the car right away starting next day. As it was possible to stay overnight, we booked a room, bought something to eat, the supermarket was open, and made a delicious fresh salad for supper.
Next day we explored the town. As a matter of fact there are signs in German, German stores and many persons speak German. Otherwise it is a dozy town and after one hour we had explored everything. We waited for our car in the travel agency, which we accepted about 3:00 pm, and then left the town towards national park.

30.10. - 02.11.2006 Safari in the Etosha National Park
There were three wonderful days with many animals! Still outside the park some giraffe crossed our way. Directly after the gate a minibus stopped us and told us, before paying the entrance fee we should rush to the Namutoni waterhole. There are two lions having their meal. Well, they did not have to tell that twice, we turned around right away and rushing to the water hole. Inside the park all streets are terrestrial roads, well maintained and you can go anywhere with a normal passenger car. At the water itself we quickly saw them: two lioness, which alternately pleasurably satisfied themselves with a warthog. One of the lioness had a red face smeared with blood. That looked weird, but on the other hand impressing. After we watched them for sometime we drove to the camp. We paid our entrance fee for three days and one night tenting and pitched up our tent right away. As it was already late and you had to be back in the camp 7.00 pm, we took off again.
Again we saw many giraffes, zebras, gnus and waterbucks. The two lioness still were on the water hole. We then made a small round track, but nothing crossed our route. Being on the way back there was a traffic jam. Some cars parked on the street and everybody looked into one direction. And then, we too, saw them: the two lioness drinking out of a puddle, lees than 20 m away from us. Beautiful! Well, that was a real good start for a safari! Now back to the camp, which was fenced and closed 7:00 pm. But we could go to a water hole, which even was lit up. Here we sat down after sundown for an hour, but no animal showed up and we ("dog-tired") entered our tent, and slept deep and firm.

The next morning we got up 5:00 am, once more we walked to the water hole - no game - and accurate 6:30, when they opened the gate, we left the camp. We drove along several water holes, but most of the animals we saw right next to the street. At the very beginning we met adult lions, which lay lazily in the sun. As it was early in the morning they did not take shelter in the shadow. During the safari we saw herds of zebras, gnus and finally the famous “oryx-antelopes”, bustards(birds), springboks, impalas. On one water hole we even could watch a herd of zebras drinking. How they reflected in the water was very picturesque! The landscape within the park, too, is very interesting, many wide areas alternate with green bush land. The Etosha plateau itself stretched till the horizon and shimmered white in the distance. On an other round track a small herd of elephants crossed our route - they were the only ones we saw during our stay.
During the day we drove west to the second in the park, the Halali Camp. It was close to noon and it became hotter and hotter. That meant no more animals to be seen. Shortly we arrived Halali Camp we got surprised: 7 lions (youngsters) were laying next to the street in the shadow. They were more than lazy and even did not rise their heads. Anyway an adventure, as we could get very close to them. In the camp we put up our tent and were almost unable to move, because of the heat. As we learned from the lions we lay down in the shadow. Before that we took a shower, sadly enough the water was not too cold. We were waiting for the afternoon, to start another game-drive. In the meantime heavy clouds had been developed and it was already raining further away. At the beginning we did not meet any animal, instead nice countryside in thrilling colours. Specially the thunderheads in the distance gave fantastic photo-motifs. An hour before the gate of the camp got closed, we headed for the last water-hole of the day. Shortly before we quipped around, how nice it would be, we, getting to a waterhole all by ourselves and no other cars, would find lions drinking out of the puddle. We turned around the last corner and did not believe our eyes, our wish had become true. Nine (9) lions were standing directly in front and besides our car and were unhurriedly drinking water. Wow, we really had not counted on that. Then one after the other backed out and we continued to the waterhole hoping to find all of them again. Still no other tourists around. That was super! Now we had to drive to the camp, not to be to late for the gate to be closed and eventually to have to pay a fine. But shortly before the gate again a group of cars. Lions again! Obviously the 7 male-lions from the morning, which now were laying on the street, running around on the street or pushing each other away while lying down. We really could not believe it, having seen today that many of those majestic animals. What an adventure!
But it EVEN became better! This camp, too, had an illuminated waterhole, where you, if you want to, could sit down all night long. Even slightly elevated, a fantastic view. So we sat there and waited,and waited. Till 9pm nothing happened. Except the heavy lightning in the distance nothing could be seen. We just were ready to go, when Chri suddenly whispered: “ there is a rhino coming!!” Oh yes!? And real it was rustling in the bushes and a big black rhino was coming along to the water, followed by another big specimen and a youngster. All three of them drank, whereas one of the big ones always was looking around. They gave a very nervous impression. Soon they disappear again in the bushes, but not definitely, as you could hear them blowing and rustling. Consequently we kept seating and saw 3 hyenas coming to the waterhole. Later on the rhinos increased by one (total 4) showed up again. This time they were not in such a hurry. Maybe they felt the approaching rain and that the humans soon will disappear. Because shortly after that it started raining and we ran back to our tent and it kept raining all night long.
We made the experience that our tent again was not waterproof anymore. It dripped into our face, what we did feel funny at all. Fortunately we were on the way by car and could relocate. We tolerated this quite inconvenient position until the rain stopped and moved back into the tent at about 4am. We had to stretch out a little. That night was not recreative at all, but with the reminiscence of yesterday made it forgotten pretty soon.

About 7 am the next day we slowly drove towards the third and last camp, the Okaukuejo Camp. Right at the beginning we met again those male lions, we at least think; they were the same from the day before. A neat jackal crossed our route and a little later the highlight of this day: a lion-mommy with 5 kiddies! The mommy was laying next to a broken zebra, the kiddies gorged once and then from it, but were more interested in us. They always looked into our direction! What lovely and beautiful photo motives! They really looked to be cuddled.
For the rest of the day no more animals could be seen, but we could enjoy more beautiful countryside. Even at the illuminated waterhole left us by ourselves - well, we obviously had seen enough.

On the last morning (Thursday) we had breakfast at the waterhole and were rewarded with a huge herd of zebras, gnus and springboks. These tree specimens we saw later on in huge herds during our last tour through the park. We paid a visit to the so called “fairy tale forest”, an area with a specific trees. It is about a collection of the weird looking plant “Moringa Ovalifolia”, which catches your eye because of the bottle like swollen stems. Looked funny. Thus our visit to the Etosha Park was ended - we were impressed and take home a lot of nice remembering experiences and photos.

02. - 06.11.2006 On Tour in the North of the Country
Leaving Etosha Park we drove back to Tsumed, to return the car and pick up our bike. We bought a little and drove - again on 2 wheels - towards north, we intended to drive around Etosha Park. On this evening we spent the night on a farm with comfortable camping accommodations. It was wonderful silent, there was beer and we decided to stay here a complete day. Well, Friday was filled up with laundry, writing diary, and maintenance of the moped, cleaning up the cases, route planning etc. Naturally interrupted by several coffee breaks and a short walk. That really was good.

On November 4, we drove a lot of kilometres right into the north of Namibia, to the border of Angola. The landscape changed from bush land to sand with many palm trees - quite unusual. In Ruacana we found another nice campground, pitched up our tent, used the pool, to refresh from the long ride and the heat. Later on we had to new neighbours, two Germans with whom we spent the whole evening chatting. It was, as in most cases, interesting to hear different and/or identical experiences about and of Africa.

The next day required high concentration, as we had to drive 300 km piste. But it worked out super; the roads in the north are still in a good condition, as not that many cars are using them. Our destination for today was a cheetah farm, where you could watch domesticated and wild cheetahs. The owners of the farm buy up cheetahs from hunters, to save them from sure death. Because these animals will be sold willingly to hunting farms, where they will be forced in front of the guns of those awesome hunters, to be shot. Very sad but true! To have a chance to watch those animals from close up was a real adventure.

November 06, led us to the “Waterberg Plateau” - we were told >from several sides that this area is worth a visit. And we were not disappointed! Thus we drove from the cheetah farm via Outjo and Ojiwarongo to Waterberg National Park. The little we saw during the first day did please us. We put up our tent on a campground, where everybody had his own, separated place with fireplace and fire wood. Excellent night.

07.11.2006 Waterberg Plateau
Day of rest and walking on the plateau. In the morning we took a little bit care of us and our belongings and defied the heat by among other things in securing the pool. On the afternoon we had booked a guided walking tour, 15 people with guide. In the beginning we marched through a canyon and then it went up onto the plateau. All the time we had wonderful views into the marvellous scenery and enjoy the exciting colours of the rocks. In total it took us 3 hours - it was great to have gotten real exercise again. The evening was planned to stay with the fireplace, but the fire was just lit and the noodles cooked, it started raining. Hm, bad luck. It kept raining all night long, but lucky enough our tent was waterproof again, we sealed it with silicon.

08. - 09.11.2006 Fingerklip, Fosil Forest and the “Pipes of an Organ”
The first day was pure driving, more than we had planned. Because we tried a small piste, to shorten the distance. But soon we found ourselves on gravel and sand, in addition heavy wind from aside, so that we were more slinging around than driving. That was too much stress and we were searching for the next tar road. Thus we rolled along, but took a shortcut anyway on piste to the so called “Fingerklip”, a rocky spike, which was pointing towards sky. Impressing area! Impressing colours! Impressing light! Ideal to shoot photos. Driving on the piste was also ok, and thus we arrived safely in Korihxas. Tent quickly put up before the rain shower, the fell asleep deep and firm.

Not many kilometres on the second day but on piste. First we arrived to fossil forest. Whereas forest is slightly exaggerated. There were a few stems of trees lying around. For somebody, who never saw something like that before, it is quite interesting. Here we also could see rare plants, which are typical for Namibia: the Welwitschia desert plant. We proceeded towards Twyfelfontein, where you actually can admire petrography of animal species and abstract symbols, which were painted by original inhabitants. But as you had to climb through mountains for 1 ½ hours, and we still had on our entire motorbike gear (boots + trousers), and the temperature was at least 40°C we resigned. Thus we first pitched up our tent and became desperate, because the zipper of the inner-tent partly did not function at all. You cannot close them anymore. We tried it for more than an hour in terrible heat, to close the zipper. Some when we forced it brutally. This side we never will open again. Fortunately there were two entries, although the zipper of the second entry is almost gone. After work done, we still drove to the pipes of an organ (they are called like that because an accumulation of standing basalt columns remind you on pipes of an organ) and to the burned mountain (which is a mountain with a cooled down lava flow). Both were described in the travel guide more interesting as it was in reality, but again the scenery around was gorgeous.
On the way back to our campground it was getting rather strong, we almost got thrown off the buck. Arrived at the tent and after a glance into it, we got shocked: inside the tent and spread all over our things there was already a layer of sand - several cm thick. Really great!! The wind got stronger and more sand got blown around. We started to get our tent “sand-proof”. Our towels in front the mosquito net, fixed with clamps. From the outside we weighted the tent with big stones and tried to tighten up, wherever it was possible. Somehow it had improved. Next question: where to cook?
We were not interested in “sand-noodles”. We decided for the balcony of the restaurant, which was shielded by a canvas cover to the outside. Such we could enjoy our noodles with sauce and a small beer. While cooking 4 more touris were joining us. All 4 of them out of German countries and hard drinking. While reporting a lot each of us had his/her 4 or 5 beers. Oh man, we were not used to that anymore. In addition it was late, 0/24 o’clock - we really were worn out. But it was a frolic, interesting evening. When we went to bed, the sand storm, too, had calmed down a bit and we had a wonderful view up to a fantastical starry-sky. It was beautiful.

10. - 11.11.2006 Drive to Windhoek
Well, these two days driving, driving, driving was announced. The first day a lot of piste, which in parts was rather bad. Furthermore it stayed hot, in consequence it was very exhausting. On the second day we had planned to visit the Tsaobis Leopard National Park and drove 60 km bad piste, to find out at the gate, that the park was closed. They could have announced that 60 km earlier by a sign or something like that. Quite frustrated we decided to take the direct road to Windhoek. Naturally on tar. In Windhoek we took a campground, which we did not like to much. But for one night it is ok.

12. - 16.11.2006 Windhoek, Capital of Namibia
As we did not like the campground and we intended to stay longer in Windhoek, we were looking for an other doss. We ended up in Chameleon Backpackers, the first two nights camping, the next two nights in a nice and clean room. We had several things in mind and the days passed by fast. On Sunday actual nothing could be done, except to go to the supermarket. We bought whole-grain bread (almost as at home) and cheese and salad. Already shopping made our mouth water. Such good things we did not have for a long time. We had to make a “Brotzeit” right away!
During the next day we strolled around in Windhoek. First we wanted to buy a front wheel tire; Continental only sold car-tires. They told us to go to Yamaha. Well, Yamaha was on the other end of the town, which we had to cross by foot. But anyway we could order the desired tire (TKC 80), but sadly enough for a lot of money (1650 N$ = 175 Euro). But what to do, if you need a new one. Two days delivery time - no problem for us, we anyway had planned to stay so long. Then we went back through the city, here a visit in a shop, there a coffee-break and watching for a new tent. No success. Instead of that we found an internet-café, where we would spend some hours during the next days.

On Tuesday, the 14th, we were exactly 8 months en-route!! Not bad! The first deed of today was to get to an outdoor-shop, to buy a new tent. We discovered one and now are proud owners of a 210 x 210 cm big tent, plastic but the zipper are working ok! The old one we sent back home by airmail, it did its job. And we will show it to Daerr. But that is a different story. The afternoon we spent in the internet to update our website. It worked out good and quick. Back in the backpacker we could move into a room, while repacking we saw somebody arrive with a set of moped-tires! Well, if that could not become interesting? Then Karin arrived, unfortunately with crutches. Some days before she got overturned on a piste and her le was broken. Oh dear! Together with her friend Ralf she was en-route already since 15 months, in fact in North-, Middle-, and South America as well as South Africa and a little bit Namibia. Na, there was a lot to talk about! Ralf arrived later on a 1200 GS. Actually the first biker we met on our complete tour! They plan, as soon as Katrin is ok again, to go with their bikes along the east of Africa (just opposite our direction) back to Germany. Thus we could give them some tips.

On Wednesday we again had internet on our program. Actually we had to pickup our tires, but we were mean. We did not go there, because Ralf made us an offer we could not refuse. He sold us his new (!) set of tires (Karoo 2) for 1200 N$ and we gave him our tire (8000 km) relative good TKC 80 back-wheel-tire. Unfortunately the tire dealer could not keep up with this price for one tire. Thus, the cow received two new tires at the same time! It did like that! The afternoon and evening we spent with Katrin and Ralf, There was too much to talk about. Sadly enough Katrin has to get a surgery, with a general anaesthesia - but she took it easy. Admirable!

On the last day in Windhoek we packed our things and drove for changing tires. That took a while, then we brought our TKC 80 to Ralf, got hooked chatting again, and got ready for starting not until 1 pm. We liked Windhoek pretty much, it is nice small town. The route today led us towards Swakopmund, the first stop we had close to mountain Spitzkoppe. It looked great how the hill shone resplendent in the evening sun. We drove close to its foot, made many pictures and then it went to a campground, where we pitched up our new tent for the first test. It passed the test.

17. - 21.11.2006 Swakopmund, Walvis Bay and Sandwich Harbour
During the night it was quite cool, what granted good sleeping for us. Today we should arrive Swakopmund, situated on the ocean. The closer we got to the town the colder it became. It clouded respectively it became foggy. In Swakopmund itself it was sunny but stayed chilly. We took lodgings with a backpacker and explored the town at once. Here everything is German! We went to café “Anton”, where we had German cake (curd cheese- and apple pie. Almost like with our “Detterbek”. Delicious! In the evening we staid in our room, as it was very cold outside. The next day we remained in the town, although there was not much more to be seen, we once more had delicious cake, visited the internet and spent the rest of the day reading. That did us good.

On 19th we drove the short distance of only 35 km between ocean and dunes till Walvis Bay. The weather was not too good, rather cold and drizzles. In Walvis Bay it cleared off and the sun was shining upon the lagoon. We already saw some birds amongst others pelicans and flamingos. Just arrived we booked a tour to Sandwich Harbour, situated in the middle of the dune area close to the ocean. You only can get there with 4x4 cars, that is why we did not take the bike. We did not care for the price, we saw pictures and we had to go there in any case. In return for that we found a good and inexpensive room and booked for 3 nights. There we met a German couple, who were on tour for one year, too. Well, what happened? Again we spent the evenings chatting!

20.11.2006 Excursion to Sandwich Harbour - What a nice and exciting day. It already had a good start, as we were the only guests, had the car inclusive driver all by ourselves. We started at 9:00 am; first we drove around the lagoon and along the beach to the harbour. This is a small bayou, which formerly was used as a harbour, as among other things water was found. Thus a small green oasis in the middle of dunes and ocean. We drove along in-between waves and dunes, once in a while the water getting pretty close to the car. Being alone we would not dared to get that close. We passed a lot of living as well as dead seals and a part of a whale, which looked like a rock. The dunes got closer and closer until they showed up as a steep wall left of us! At Sandwich Harbour we drove onto a tongue of land and had a wonderful view onto the dunes. Then we navigated all the way back, the water already had captured more land as we had flood tide! That was a bit fishy to us, but the guide obviously knew what he was doing. Barely escaped the wet ocean, we drove into the thick of the “dune”-ocean. There we really got shocked the first time. We carted uphill onto a small rim, stopped and were asked whether we saw tracks on the right side. We said: No. He said: Ok, then we have to go left. Barely he said that, he accelerated he jetted a super steep dune downhill and uphill again on the other side up. We were sitting in the car screaming; first we only saw sand, then only the sky. More wicked than riding roller coaster, we really got scared. But that was not enough. At full throttle we flew uphill another dune to the edge to the ocean, where he stopped. Oh my goodness! But from here we had a fantastic view to the dunes as they stretch over into the ocean - a marvellous contrast! Blue sea and yellow sand! Wow! And the panoramic view on the “dune”-ocean was not be scoffed at, only sand as far as you can see. Then we kept driving through the dunes until we again stopped at the rim of a steep dune. Our driver slowly drove downhill a bit so we stand aslope. Then he told us to open the window! No sooner said than done! Then he let the car rolling without a running engine. Then we could hear it: a howling or singing or how you could describe that noise. First we thought it would be the wind. But it was the sand, which made those noises caused by the pressure/friction forced on it. That was wicked! That gave us the heebie-jeebies. After that we drove through the yellow ocean, stopped here, and listened to explanations for a plant. To bad that it was to windy to have lunch within the dunes, a meal was included in the price. So we slowly drove back until we found a windless place. Then we had to walk around, while our beloved guide set the table; a table with table cloth, chairs, real dishes and even glasses! We had a bottle of white wine as well as rice salad and a cold vegetable platter. Everything was delicious, and we enjoyed this special dinner. We even managed the complete bottle of wine. Together with the heat it did not do too good. Not to say that we became sick, we only were squiffy. On the back the guide had to show to us, who is master of the car. We drove to a last dune, while talking to us he backed to the edge of the dune and already overshot the rim. We stand aslope and thought he had missed the proper stop... He did not and to the special scare of me (Rita) we drove backwards (!) down the dune. I could not look at it and they were grinning about my anxiety. “Ha Ha” But all the time he had total control about the car and actually it made a lot of fun. This day was super, a thrilling adventure. And we completely tired. Wind, wine and fresh were taking their tribute and this evening we went to bed early!!

November 21st we bummed around - after those strains from yesterday we had to recuperate! Not much more to report from this day, we cooked a delicious meal and had a bottle of red wine.

22.11. - 26.11.2006 Tour to Sossusvlei (the Red Dunes) and to Luederitz
On the 22nd we departed the ocean and drove towards Sossusvlei. In the heartland it became very hot again and piste, which meant stressfully driving. We used 7 hours for 250 km, as the piste accordingly bad. A lot of loose gravel, sand and deep tracks - this combination made us swing quite often. We (two persons + luggage) are too heavy for such conditions. Not a tricky feeling, but Chri mastered every situation. Accordingly worn out we only drove till Solitaire, where we put up our tent and soon fell into our sleeping bags. The landscape, by the way, was since Walvis Bay beautiful: wide areas with yellow grass added to brown mountains and blue sky. What a beautiful contrast.

November 23rd - Today we should arrive in Sossusvlei. This area is in the middle of Desert Namib - and is a clay dip surrounded by mighty sand dunes. The dunes partly reach up to altitudes of 300 m and belong to the highest of the world. Already on the way we caught sight of the first red sand dunes. Unfortunately we not really could enjoy the beautiful landscape, as full concentration on driving was required. In addition we had on this section deep buckle piste. Fortunately we only had to cover a distance of 90 km to the beginning of the dunes. We arrived and it was terrible hot, pitched up our tent, took a bath in the pool and drove in the afternoon towards Sossusvlei. You have to drive 65 km on a small tar-road and during this section already to the left and right red dunes piled up to the sky. Although in a distance but very nice to look at. The dunes were encircled by blue sky, yellow grass and green trees - that really looked fantastic. The last 5 km consisted of pure sand and we could not go further by bike. We transferred to a “taxi”, a 4x4, which carries people in the middle of the dunes. Here we walked into the “Dead Vlei”, a parched river bed with dead trees, and looked at highest dune. Fantastic landscape, beautiful colours and colour-combinations! Whereas we liked better the yellow landscape with dunes at the ocean. Shortly before sunset we backed to the camp (Sesriem) and enjoyed the sunset with a beer in a hand. An enjoyable excursion.

On the next day we drove, still on piste, towards south. The condition of the piste varied from solid and well drivable to deep tracks and loose gravel - with the well known result. Our destination today as “Duwisib Castle”. The compact castle was built in 1908 by the German “Hansheinrich von Wolff” in the middle of Africa. However its size is just the dimensions of bigger bungalow and is not worth to be visited. Behind the castle there is a café, where we thirstily drank a cola. In advance we already had decided to stay overnight. We settled in the campground, put up our tent and again enjoyed a marvellous sunset.

On 25th , as well, a lot of driving was performed. Mercifully we managed today the last kilometres on piste. The pists in Namibia are not really bad, for bikes with only one person or cars no problem. But for us, two persons with luggage difficult to handle. Therefore we were glad, when we finally had tar again beneath our wheels. The section led from the castle via Maltahoehe and Marienthal to Keetmanshoop. Many kilometres through quite boring landscape in addition heat and sore botty….We were glad, when we finally could get off the bike. We took a fair room in the German “Schuetzenhaus”. For our taste too old-fashioned German: old-German script, German banner, gymnastic club “Zum Heil”, German hits of the 19-fifties in the restaurant - altogether slightly weird. In Germany you would ignore these kinds of establishments. But we could escape the heat a little bit and therefore had a good sleep.

Sunday - our favourite day. Again a long driving day, today we rode from Keetmanshoop to Luederitz. Completely on a good asphalt road we rolled through an interesting-nice area. In the beginning hilly, later on flat with yellow grass and far sighted views. In the background consistently mountains and dunes showed up, as well as once in a while a scimitar-horned oryx (antelope). The closer we got to the seaside, the draughtier it became. Sand was blown across the street and we almost off the bike. It also became cooler, a convenient change. Luederitz welcomed us with even more wind and nobody in the streets. Sunday - nothing doing. We had problems to find accommodations, as supposedly on Sunday there is even no work in hotels, pensions etc. Later on we were able to contact somebody and rented an apartment for only 20,00 Euro per night. A real apartment in the house of “Krabbenhoeft und Lampe”: Bedroom, living room, kitchen, bath, patio! And a washing machine! The later we used right away for overdue things; we washed EVERYTHING, what is washable. Among other things our bike gear, the first time since Nairobi, Kenya...

27. + 28.11.2006 Luederitz
On Monday we were lazy again. We had visited the town - which did not take long, as it is not very big. The wind still was intense, so we decided, to spend the rest of the day in our apartment. Reading, watching TV, sleeping... That, too, is way to kill time. By the way, we slept wonderful during the nights in Luederitz!
The Thursday was dedicated to cultural matters. We visited the bizarre ghost town “KOLMANSKOP”, located 10 km inland. This former small town developed during the time of the diamond fever, when everybody hoped to achieve quickly richness. Here there was a school, a hospital and even a casino. Nowadays the complete village is slowly being covered by sand and this again is weird to look at. Respectively can you shoot super photos. We strolled around for about 3 hours and inspected every house, respectively what was left of it and not totally covered with sand. A real adventure, we were thrilled. The rest of the day was we took it easy and spent our last night in Luederitz.

29.11.2006 Ride back to Keetmanshoop
We chose the well known route, because any other alternative would have been piste. In the beginning it still was chilly but about 1 hour after Luederitz we drove against a wall of heat. All of a sudden it was hot, hot, hot. Well no wonder, in Namibia the average temperature in summer is 38° C. Uff… In addition everywhere thunderstorms were building up, thick clouds in the skies and once we were caught by a rain shower. However this was a positive surprise, as the rain cooled us down, at least for a short time. Close to Keetmanshoop we drove to the so-called “Koecherbaum Forest”. That is group of trees, about 250 specimens, a sort of aloe. It grows up to a height of nine meters and becomes more than one meter in diameter. The name refers to the consistence of the wood. As it is easily to be hollowed out, the peoples of the San and Khoi Khoi, formerly residing here, produced quivers out of the branches of the tree. In these quivers they carried their darts. In this area we put up our tent, which should not stand up for a long time. Because the thunderstorms came closer and closer, the wind became stronger and after a first photo-session we found our tent folded. Well neat! Our new tent not being windproof. We tore it down and did put it up again under a roof as a shelter. Chri tinkered a great rope-construction, and now it stood up all night long. In the evening fortunately it cleared up a little bit and we now could make nice photos of the trees in the afterglow.

30.11. – 02.12.2006
Next morning the sun was glaring again from the blue sky, and our last days in Namibia were close. Today we drove till Gruenau, a small nest in the middle of nothing. We again rented a simple room and the rest of the day we took it easy.

Wow, now already the November had passed. On December the 1st we took off for the spectacular Fish River Canyon. This I a huge eroded valley, which is the second largest Canyon of the world, after the Grand Canyon. It is about 160 km long, up to 27 km wide and partly 500 m deep. The rock formation cleared at the bottom is up to 1 billion years old. Naturally we could not miss that and were standing quite impressed at the edge of the canyon and admired the fantastic view. The tour there was our last rout on a piste and it worked out quite satisfied. Several passages with sad made us swing but in total we managed it rather well. The last evening in Namibia we spent with the good Namibian beer “Tafel”, we had the last weeks pass along in our mind and again determined that we are quite impressed by this country. Definitely worth at least one journey!

On December 2nd we drove the last kilometres towards Upington, South Africa. Exactly after 5 weeks we left this interesting country, border formalities were quickly performed and we were in South Africa.