Photo Album: Namibia Atlantic Coast
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The day started at Uis with a quick trip to the supermarket to pick up some foods for lunch, and above all, a couple of 2 Litre bottles of water for the long dirt road trip ahead.
When I was at the supermarket, some local youths tried to pump up my tyres with their hand pump for some money without asking. Fortunately, I saw that early, and asked them to stop, as I wanted to keep my tyres soft on the dirt road. I gave them some money just to keep an eye on my car instead. There are many unemployed youths loitering around supermarket car parks for looking after parked cars. Annoying it may be, but unfortunately, this seems to be a standard practice in this part of the World. But they were never aggressive.
As I back tracked to the turn off for Brandberg Mountain towards the White Lady Rock Painting, there was this group of kids sitting there, which were not there late yesterday, waving empty bottles and running towards my car. I decided to give them one of my 2 litre bottles, but harboring some doubts as to what is going on here, as they also ask for money and foods.
Some kilometers down the road, I decided to get out of my car to inspect a noise underneath, which turned out to be just a twig got caught under the chassis, a Subaru which followed me stopped by, and enquired if I were in any trouble and needing help.
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It is a common practice in Australia where when one sees a car stopping on a remote road, one would like stop by and see if help is needed. Very good of him. I thanked him and he drove on.
I followed him, until we both stopped at the White Lady's car park.
The car park, like other similar sites run by the Government, has a row of undercover positions for small cars, covered by thatched roofs, come in very handy under the hot African sun, even on a winter day.
The Subaru I met earlier on the road, has two passengers, the driver, a Namibian of Austrian descent and his tourist passenger. We were grouped together to be led by a ranger to show us the secrets lying in the immense Brandberg Mountain.
As we were waiting, the Subaru driver remarked that I should ignore those people waving empty bottles on the road, as we should not encourage such behaviors. There were no shortage of clean drinking water in Namibia and the villages have good basic infrastructures, they really were after some money, and these kids are organised by adults to do just that. This was a bit of a sad news for me, just like in South America, I was advised to not give in to street kids posing for pictures for money.
He also offered the opinion that, while there are a lot of small crimes like pilfering, cheating etc happening in Namibia, there are very few violent crimes or attacks. But countries north of Namibia is a different story, "they are savages", were his words.
Anyhow, here we were, about to hike into a valley of the Brandberg mountain, to uncover her hidden secrets, with a ranger guide. At that point, I was given the option of paying extra to the guide to go extra distance, so to see something more than just the White Lady painting, or to trek back by myself after the end of the "ordinary" tour. I was a bit nonplussed, but nevertheless agreed. I bet the extra money would go into the pockets of the guides.
As we were commencing our walk, the guide pointed out some imprints on the sandy track, was that of a leopard paw.
Yes, there were leopards around, and one was probably already watching us from one of the many rock crevices above us. The guide told us that just two days ago, she saw one perching on a rock during the walk, but it went away real quick. So watch out ! The Subaru driver, being an experienced local travel guide also, was not too worried by it, as he said, leopards are also very selective of their preys, humans, especially in a group, is not something they want to challenge unless they are really hungry. Wonder how hungry were they around here ?!
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| Are there leopards behind these ? |
And we kept zig zagging into the valley, along the dry Tsisab River gorge...
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| Watching out for the odd Leopards ! |
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| A Kink |
where are the leopards ?
After a good 90 minutes of hiking, we reached our first rock paintings. Unlike those in Twyfelfontein, which are engravings, these are paintings done with ochre, earth pigments that were grind to powders and mixed with water, probably using plant twigs or reeds as brushes. They generally are found under rock overhangs or inside open caves, otherwise they would not have stand the weathering of the 2000 plus years, that some of them were scientifically dated.
Similar to other rock arts, in Australia, the Americas or Twyfelfontein, they usually depict what the painter saw or encountered, of animals, ceremonial scenes or daily lives at the time.
depiction of animals
This one, is the signature painting of the site, the White Lady. Initial interpretation was, this depicts a ceremonial scene, led by the central lady like figure painted white in the lower body. However, recent archaeological interpretation seems to incline towards that "she", really was a bush medicine man, a shaman leading a group of tribesman, on a hunting mission.
And we kept hiking and saw more ...
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The odd Gecko |
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| Didn't realise we hiked that far for over 3 hours, up the Brandberg massif a bit. |
After a quick lunch at the White Lady site, I took on the long dirt road trip ahead towards the Atlantic coast, hoping for a glorious sunset over the ocean, my first Atlantic sunset !
With the softer ride offered by the less inflated tyres, it was plain sailing, at some stretches, I was doing close to 100Kph. Then I was met by bitumen on reaching the junction with the coastal highway.
Given that I had made good time, so I decided to go up the Skeleton Coast of Namibia, north towards Cape Cross, to check out a seal colony marked on the map.
As I reached Cape Cross, the only lodging available was Cape Cross Lodge, a very nicely appointed resort, standing alone amongst the nothingless of the wind swept coast. If not for just the one night stand I only have time for, I would have checked into one of the US$400 suites. However, the camping ground was well equipped and protected, with a private kitchen and professionally setup facilities.
Still it was a $40 campsite with no Wifi in the entire facility.
Unfortunately, the glorious sunset over the Atlantic was a non-event, as the cloud closed in and the sun fizzled out. So much for my first Atlantic sunset.
But the a-la-carte dinner was fine, in a quiet candle light setting, and the service was superb. That was more than compensate for the sad sunset and wifi-less environment.
I thought the gate to the seal colony would be opened early in the morning. it was not to be, not until 9 a.m. I must admit, I had never been to any nature sites that only open after 9, but there is always the first time !
So I was left walking along the beaches for a, what seemed ages, long time. Perhaps finding my way to the seal colony? Sure, it could not be that hidden, it must be along the beaches somewhere.
And there were many grave sites, probably of the sailors that had their boats wrecked nearby over the ages.
And I found this lone dead seal, but not live ones, let alone a "colony". Let's hope that this colony is not just a sham, a hoax !
The truth is, the Seal Colony was some 8 Km away from the entrance gate, which is next to the Lodge. And wow, that's what I called a "colony". There were literally thousands and thousands of seals.....and my smelling senses went into overload.
and more are in the water.
And I found this, a memorial of the first European landing at this part of the Namibian coast,
And it was written, "In the year 6685 after the creation of the World, and 1485 years after the birth of Christ, the......."
There seems to be an absolute denial of all the scientific researches indicating the age of the earth is 6-7 billions years, let alone the Universe....
On my way going south, the highway had many unattended tables with what seems like salt crystals, inviting purchases, some with prices listed and a tin can for depositing monies. It seems that good old fashioned honesty system works well here too.
This part of the Namibian coast seems pretty boring and muddy at places. A few ship wrecks can be seen, but nothing can be described as interesting worthy of closer studies.
As I drew close to Swakopmund, it was becoming more interesting and colourful.
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| beachside housings |
Swakopmund seems to be a well developed coastal town, and is well endowed with facilities, even a 5-starred beachside paid bathroom. For $5, one can have a nicely appointed private bathroom for an hour.
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| Some beach side housing |
As I was having a munch in a local park, here they were, a wedding was happening right next to me..
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| See if you can pick out the Couple of the Moment ! |
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| Here they are, the lucky couple with their own shaman and the blessing broom.
And who is this beautiful and majestic lady? A cousin of the bride, of course!
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Here is a small clip of their joyful moments before concluding the proceedings...
After bidding farewell to the joyful family, I went searching for the best road to my next destination, the Goanikontes at Moon Landscape, not too far from town. The map is not so clear about this, as the shortest route all have "Permit Req" indicated, meaning I may need the owner's permission to pass through. And the tourism office in Swakopmund were not of any help either.
I decided to choose a middle approach, if it failed, at least I would have already done a portion of the longest but sure route. No, it did not work, when I reached the property, the owner was not available to let me through. So it was the long but sure route.
As I drove along the final stretch of the long dirt road towards Goanikontes, the landscape was becoming very interesting, I was entering the Namib Naukluft National Park.
I ventured behind some of the sandy hills to have a preview of the what's around, mindful of getting bogged with this 2 wheel drive.
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| my little car on firmer grounds |
As soon as I checked into Goanikonte Oasis, the owner advised me where to go to get some nice sunset pictures of the moon landscapes surrounding the area. He was a very interesting German gentleman, who uprooted his whole family from urban Germany 30 years ago, and migrated to here to set up this paradise oasis on the northern fringe of the Namib Naukluft National Park, away from the hustle bustles of urban life. His happy family of 3 generations is a firm prove of his brave resolve 30 years ago.
The sun was hanging low when I got to the top of the Moon Lanscape,
and in the distance
there was not a moment to lose, and so out came the camera,
As it was calm and mild, I sat down with some dinner atop this beautiful landscape, until the sun waved good bye.
So here I am, finishing another magnificent long day in Namibia, this time in Goanikonte, at the northern fringe of the great Namib Naukluft National Park.
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