Three Things Namibia Does Well - Namibia Part 1

The Germans didn't have a presence in South West Africa for long, but they left an indelible mark. There are three parts to this legacy. Almost immediately, you notice the quality of their roads; the system-graded gravel road system is better than many paved roads in Africa. Second, the Germans left their taste for a fine lager or pilsner behind - there are several great Namibian beers (Dunkeshane!) and no beer should be enjoyed without the third great Nambian treat: german-style pastries! Sausage rolls! Apple Schnitzle! It's all here! Hooray!  This is a definite step-up in travel delacies after Mozambique!

The Magic Water of Ai-Ais Hotsprings

The dry, grassy hills of southern Namibia are beautiful and as we roll westward the grasses give way to dark, crumbling volcanic features. We saw several ancient cinder cone volcanoes on the horizon.  Ai-Ais is a not a town (as marked on our map) but a small cluster of buildings that comprise a hotsprings spa, and the perfect place to rest after our push across South Africa. Ever had a camping site with instant hot running water? This place did, actually ALL the water, hot or cold was supplied directly from the srpings. It was very hard water and so not nice tasting. We spent our days alternating between dipping in the soothing hotsprings or lounging by the massive outdoor swimming pool or using this little cove in the red rock as a launch spot for small day trips north to the Fish River Canyon.

The Namibia Loop

This is Road Trip Number 3.  Our plan is to enter Namibia from the South, travel North and then cross in Botswana at the Caprivi Strip, move Southeast across Botswana and back home to Marloth Park. 3000 kilometres, no reservations, no problem.  It took us three days just to cross the northern protion of South Africa, having to push through the Pretoria/Johannesburg traffic skirt the southern edge of the Kalahari region and cross into Namibia at Onseepkans.

Monkey Poo

We made a stop at Augrabies National Park on Orange River in South Africa before crossing into Namibia. It was unbeleivably hot and dry. Just breathing the air made your mouth dry, but sitting on a granite outcrop above the Orange River Canyon and watching the sun set over the desert as a thunderstorm sweeps across the horizon is enough to make you forget about it for a short while.  The campsite also had monkeys - cheeky vervets who subsist on the ill-gotten bounty of tourist coolers!  One brave fellow ran between all four of us and grabbed our loaf bread, running up onto the tree branch above us. I grabbed James' sling-shot and pulled it back to fire when the nasty primate fired a shot of his own. He reached between his legs and launched his own insult, sprinkling monkey poo across me! Monkey 1, Scott 0 (my shot missed). After the laughter stopped (from family AND monkey) I scrubbed it off. Yummy.  I'm sure there is a culture somewhere in the world that considers being sprinkled with monkey poo as a sign of good luck - so I'll consider this a good send off!

Safety Third

Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/116486261622853021292/SATrip2011AndInto2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCPSd8Y2Qs8fw9gE#

The Eagleson has (crash) landed - so I was clearing hornet nests out of the thatch roof after our 2 month absence from Marloth. I have to spray them at night when it's cool so I climbed up the ladder in the dark, with my headlamp on. I was doing fine, until I disturbed one of the nests and they attacked and I was getting stung. "I'd better get out of here" I thought, so I quickly jumped of the ladder. I didn't think it was a big deal, if I had dropped it on a snowboard my brothers (and probably my mom) would have shrugged unamused. Its maybe 3 meters/12 ft. I landed on my feet, but then I just kept going downward...

It hurt, bad, but I thought it was just a nasty bruise and for those of us married to nurses you learn to brush-off compound leg fractures, severed arteries and other minor injuries. So I just had to 'stay off it' for a week. Well, by Saturday morning it didn't look so good. On Sunday, my foot looked like one of those balloon figures you get from street performers. By Monday, Nicola said "ummmmm, time to go to the hospital." So we've been back-and-forth from the private hospital in Nelspruit (Visa=healthcare). I have crushed my right heal inwards cracking the outer shell of my calcaneous (heel bone) like a boiled egg. Bad news: I'm out of commission for 8 weeks at least. Good news: no surgery needed, it will heal nicely and it will still fit in a snowboard/ski boot. That's all I really worried about. The thing is, it wasn't worth the hornet stings, they were gone by the next morning! As James would say: two thumbs down.

This inconvenience does not change our plans too much.  We had come back to Marloth to rest, and get into a routine; read a little, swim a little, get some schooling done. In my opinion, there isn't a better place in the world to rest then right here. I look incredibly casual in my recovery because I always have my one foot proped up on a stool;  when the neighbors go past, all they can see is me with my feet up, on the computer, reading, doing crafts with kids, even cooking on the fire while Nicola walks back-and-forth delivering drinks to me! Either they think I'm a lazy ass or have a acheived a new level in South African male-dom. I just smile and wave.

Mandatory Time Off in Marloth

We just spent two very long days in the truck in an effort to get as far north as possible. We left Hluleka rested but disappointed that we couldn't stay longer, family is coming to the cottage at Marloth and we have to meet them there and get things cleaned and ready.


It was here that we were reminded that trying to rush in Africa is a futile battle. The two hour road into to Hluleka meant at least two hours getting out. We modified our route somewhat to reach the highway (R67) in a different spot. It's slow going so you just have to sit back and relax. Because we were driving in the morning meant that we had to carefully share the road with lots of children walking to school. Life is still oriented around walking distance (to get water, go to school, go to church) and the kids playfully made their way up foot paths and onto the road in their school uniforms. As we drove, we could see our passing into a new school district as the uniforms on the kids streaming along road changed from black to brown to orange. I negotiated the potholed road carefully, the kids waving to everyone as we passed. The rest of the day was spent roaring along the N2 through Durban in bumper-to-bumper traffic at a numbing 120 km/h. Mistakes are dealt with harshly, so we just got through it as gently as possible and crashed in Richards Bay for the night.  Richards Bay has many highlights, including an aluminum smelter! Lovely. We left as early as possible.

GROUNDED
Marloth, our refuge, is a place to rest surround by animals and the African bush. We haven't been very good at sitting - until now. I was on a ladder spraying a wasp nest in the thatched roof over the boma last night. I disturbed the nest and got a sting, paniced, and jumped of the roof rendering my right angle un-useable. Luckily, I bring a nurse with me wherever I go and have been prescribed a large dose of humility and rest. I have my feet up, literally. This sucks.

The Wild Coast - Hluleka Nature Reserve

We descended from the town of Hogsback perched in the mountains above the Eastern Cape and headed north into the old heart of Xhosa territory, spending a very hot day in the truck rolling through soft green hills dotted with pockets of rondovels painted in every imaginable shade of green, red, pink or orange. We left the main highway at Mthatha for the coast. Mthatha was a reminder we are still in rural Africa: a smokey traffic-choked mess strewn with windblown garbage stuffed with people spilling randomly off the sidewalk and zigzagging between the overheating cars.
For the next two hours, in the late afternoon heat, we were punished by some of the crappiest road we have driven in Africa. But WOW was it ever worth it! We rattled and squeaked over the hills into Hluleka Nature Reserve and the most beautiful beach we have seen yet. Overlooking the beach is a small group of attractive, modern chalets that sit unobtrusively in their environment. We shook the dust off our clothes and walked through our chalet with our mouths hanging open in awe of the chrome fixtures, stainless steal appliances and ivory white soaker tubs. In a region where most people still walk to get water this designer refuge seems over the top.

As everyone settled into the opulence of our designer abode I followed the road further along to find a stone house hidden in the trees. Hluleka used to be a privately owned farm and this once magnificent house was its jewel. It was built of cut sandstone blocks, the low sloping metal roof covering deep porches to protect it's occupants from the sun. It was carefully situated on a narrow ridge to maximize perspectives of the sunrise over the small bay or the sunset over the green hills behind. Now the chalets share this ridge. I wonder who lived here? I wonder why they left?

The next day, exhausted from our push to get here, we spent the entire morning on the beach - actually, it was OUR beach. We didn't see another soul, it was ours entirely. Hluleka is perfect and we left too soon.

Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/116486261622853021292/SATrip2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCLL_gbqGtdC63wE

Hanging Out in Hogsback

We have been slowly working our way eastward, from The Cape winding our way through the Klein Karoo, dropping down from the Outeniqua Mountains to Storm River's Mouth. It's there that we camped on the edge of ocean, nothing but a few meters of rough shore separating us from waves that have rolled from the antarctic to explode into spray on the rocks surrounding us.
We also took the time to go to an elephant santuary that temporarily houses "trouble" animals. The kids were awestruck walking up to these gentle creatures and getting to feed and touch them. I ended up with a handful of elephant snot. Yum!

Our strategy of avoiding major highways (major highways start with 'N' here) is paying off and have passed through some beautiful country. We took two days to drive through Baviaanskloof (valley of the baboons) a remote valley in the Karoo that is serviced by a road built by some masochistic englishman. One moment we were bobbing along the countryside with the kids singing in the backseat, the next moment I was in low gear gingerly negotiating washed out roads and river crossings (kids still singing).

We spent a few days in a thatched cottage in Hogsback, a small mountain town full of artists and coffee shops, set amongst massive yellowwood and pine trees. It snows here 11 months of the year - and they had a 50cm drop on them last winter (in July) and there were plenty of snapped trees to prove it; so the climate is rather temperate and we felt quite at home. The area is characterized by it's environment which is full of mountain vistas, cascading waterfalls and deep gorges choked with ancient yellowwood forests. JRR Tolken used to visit this town whilst in SA and the residents like to bragg that it was this striking scenery that inspired the shaping of 'Middle Earth' in his trilogy.
We needed a break from tent life and this was the perfect place to get organized, hang laundry in the sun, and rest. The scenery was having its affect on the kids too: they have convinced themselves (using their own stories) that a battle between delicate fairies and red-eyed wild pigs raged in the forest surrounding our cottage. They have spent hours exploring the thicket and I have armed them with carved wooden assegais (Xhosa spears) for protection. They move through the bush easily, walking almost upright in the underbrush. I look less battle-ready on my hands and knees spitting webs out of my mouth.

Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/116486261622853021292/SATrip2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCLL_gbqGtdC63wE

Christmas in Cape Town

We couldn't stay away. The lure of friends and familiar places was too much. We undertook a massive trek from Marloth in the lowveld, through the rolling hills surrounding Barberton and Ermelo and the breathtaking koppies south of Volksrust, across the rugged beauty of the the Great Karoo, and through a crack in the Swartberg mountains to the rocky enclave of Scarborough on the Cape Peninsula. 1025 kilometers in one day.

We've rented a house in Scarborough near our friends and are enjoying time on the rocky coastline, hopping over boulders between tide pools, searching for bizarre lifeforms. But Christmas without snow is a little disorienting and it doesn't 'feel' like the season.

Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/116486261622853021292/SATrip2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCLL_gbqGtdC63wE#