Namiba – What is a once a while? Vastness, wilderness and German history. I think this perfectly characterizes the country in southern Africa. One can take hours on dusty roads without encountering oncoming traffic. Then you reach a place that dubbed itself the administrative seat of the district to determine that there is only one village. But most tourists come to Namibia to escape the hectic pace of European daily life.
My journey started in Cape Town, another common starting point is Windhoek. From Cape Town it’s a six hours drive to the north before reaching the Orange River border river. Our first stop was at a campground on the shore. After the swim we relaxed from the drive first, then we took a little canoe trip. There are also several day canoing tours on the Orange River, to be recommended a great . The first highlight in the south of Namibia is the Fish River Canon, which is depending on the way of counting the second largest or largest canyon in the world. Anyway, he is 550 m deep. In the winter months from May to September there is the possibility in the Canon to hike the entire length in the river bed. The rest of the season but it is dreadfully hot and therefore too dangerous.
Once you have left the region of the Canon, we saw relatively quickly the foothills of the Namib Desert. It covers about 1500 km parallel to the sea and has a width of 50-150 km. Namib is translated with “nothing”, contrary to expectations, the desert is uninhabited but not completely. Water comes in part to the interior, by ensuring the prevailing wind flow cold and moist air from sea to land and condenses there. On the coastal strip is often a mist. There are even rivers that lead but most years no water.
Aat a campsite in the Namib-Naukluft Park i realized the first time the special light, which is clearly visible in the photos. We got up before dawn to get on the highest sand dune to see the sunrise. Indescribable, the various facets of light. The ascent is not without, the height is over 100m. Immediately after the descent, we drove to the Sossousvlei. The name means pan and is basically the end of the Tsauchab River, whose water runs dry here permanently. During the summer, here are salt crusts that form along with the red of the dunes and the green of the scattered shrubs a color contrast that is hard to describe. Here pictures say more than words.
A few miles away from the Sossousvlei the Tsauschab has dug up a 30 m deep, sometimes only a few meters wide Canon in the 18 million years old rocks. The drive to Swakopmund, our next goal meant hours of sitting in the vehicle and watch the passing scenery. And then appears out of nowhere, middle of the desert, Swakopmund. A correct expactation of this city I had not, of course I knew German history. What we saw – a mix of colonial Africa with Germany. Everywhere you looked yousaw lovely old colonial houses, built 1900-1910, even a lighthouse. The street names are still colonial, Moltke and Kaiser Wilhelm leave a greeting. I will never forget the conversation with a black natives, who replied in a perfect, but somewhat old-fashioned German. For a change, I booked a quad bike – tour through the desert with the driving on the dune flanks, really awesome. After two days break, it went further north to Spitzkoppe. The mountain is a sacred mountain of the Bushmen. Never forget the camping is in a really wild, with little infrastructure. Here one notices first how many stars there are in the sky, we hardly see them in Europe because of the light. I think the photos show the beauty of the landscape. Near our camp there was a village of the Himba people, which we visited. These people try to find a balance between modernity and tradition to exist. Next destination was the Etosha National Park, the most famous game reserve in Namibia. Unfortunately, it had just rained heavily and extensively, so the animals have had no reason to come to the water holes. We have not seen many animals, but thats nature. You can count on nothing. After visiting the park we went to the north, the destination of the group was the Caprivi – Zipfel and Victoria – Falls. We stayed on the bank of the Kavange – River, the river border with Angola. A beautiful boat ride with short illegal entering Angola were the conclusion of my trip with the group. I was planning on my own to return to Cape Town, the Victoria Falls, I wanted to see later.
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