Namibia
18 October 2004
Everything about Namibia started off great. We got through the border with no trouble and then the gravel road that we had to take was as good if not better than bitumen. Its an open and dry looking place with little livestock. We found a local radio station where the language being spoken was similar to the Kalahari bushmen with clicking from the back of the throat in their speach. It gave us a laugh and we were in good spirits. The country house we pulled into had the best fillet steak possible, good service and charged us next to nothing to stay.
Next morning after a slow start we headed for the fish river canyon for a day trip and then planned to head up some back roads up the coast of Namibia. The 100kms out to the canyon was great with the local music just getting better and better. The fish river canyon is a spectacular multi level area that the river has forged out a winding path. When we got to the edge of the canyon we noticed some water coming out of our radiator. That was the start of a chain of events that led to us damaging the engine. We did have some water issues with the engine previously but now we will need a new one. We arrived back at our motel at about 8pm that night totally exhausted.
The next day was kind of a slow torture with us just hanging around this small place called Grunau with nothing to do. Luckily this aging ex American army guy (Col J.D.Bailey) turned up to the bar with his offsiders which took our minds off our own situation. He owned his own game reserve and talked about everything and I mean everything in his Texan accent. Next day we decided to take off up to the capital 600kms away in huge trucks and our attitude changed straight away and with that so did our luck. During the trip up we had found out that our contacts in Cape Town had pulled a rabbit out of their hat and organised to get our engine fixed.
We got into Windhoek at dark and then after a few places that were full found a backpackers hostel that only had dormitory beds left. No worries we thought. The room had five double bunks, three opposite the entrance door and one on each side of it. There were eight people staying there that night with the double bunk opposite the door being empty. Damien had the bottom left and I had the top bunk. We've been staying mainly in motel rooms up till now so this was a new situation for us. Next morning I got woken up by this guy who went out of the room to the bathroom. He was sleeping in the back right top bunk so I had a clear view of him even though it was still pretty early. When he came back, he started making lots of bodily sounds and not long after, Damien got up and went for a walk. This guy who I ended up calling wit for short then sat up on his bunk and was facing me. The bodily sounds continued but mainly from this drawing back snot through the nose and then clearing his throat. This happened at least twice a minute. It seemed like he had a reservoir the size of Sydney harbour. It was getting hard to handle but I had the thought of him getting up soon. Within five minutes an alarm went off and one person and then the other went to the bathroom. There was just enough light to start reading a book I had at the end of my bunk.
'With less people in the room I was somehow hearing the wits sinuses getting louder and louder. I was trying to read but it was deafening. We all have that point were we get pushed to that it becomes a big challenge to control our actions and I was nearly there. I tried to read but it just kept on coming and if he does that one more ..... Hhhhnnnoouuughhhh!
That's enough. I was there. "Hey!!!" I bellowed so he could see exactly who was talking to him. Then I said words along the lines of "Could you go and blow your nose outside so we don't have to hear it". Shock filled the room and if everyone wasn't awake before then, then they were awake now.
There should be signs in these places that read No offensive bodily sounds. Damien and I spent the day having a look around Windhoek. Its a modern looking city compared to what we have been seeing. Busy, energetic and clean with beautiful looking people. It was a great day in a great city. We found out from the Angolan Consulate that it is possible to get a transit visa which excited us as it can give us the possibility of circum navigating the continent. No doubt there are issues in a few other places for that to happen but Angola is one of those doors that you think is closed and then find out that it can be opened. We don't want to go where we are not allowed to go and yes Angola has had a violent past but so has most other countries in the world.
The truckies that we hitched a ride with told us that Angola is a beautiful country only that if you want to eat chicken, you have to go and catch it, kill it, pluck it and then cook it. We bought some tickets for the night train to the coast to get the Namibian train experience and it sure turned out to be that. Luckily for us it left an hour late as we weren't quite ready to leave. There was one passenger carriage at the end of a thirty carriage goods train. On the ten hour trip we got disconnected and reconnected about six times to drop off goods carriages at stops along the way, getting shunted here and shunted there.
The guy that runs the backpackers in Windhoek, Harry is quite a character. He is a 45 year old well built, bald headed, ex policeman with tatts from South Africa. We later called him Dirty Harry not only for the stories he told us about his policeman days but also for the fact he married a 17 year old Angolan girl who now has a baby.
Off the train we came to a place called Swackopmund which is a holiday style coastal town with a lot of German influence in people and architecture, paved roads and footpaths with the town being jammed between massive sand dunes and the sea. We hung out there for a few days and went to the beach and tried sandboarding which is like snowboarding but of course in sand. Its great but one drawback is it takes a few showers to get all the sand off you.
We hired a car from there and headed north towards the skeleton coast. On the way up we stopped in at a small fishing town called Henties Bay for lunch. As we were leaving Damien went to take some old lunch scraps and rubbish out of the car to put in the bin. A group of kids were near that area and asked Damien for the empty coke bottle that was sticking out of the top of the bag. He gave them that and then they asked for the bag as well, so Damien passed it onto them and then came back to the car. As we were about to drive off we saw six little heads looking into the one bag and then six little hands followed. Just north of there is Cape Cross which has a huge fur seal colony. Thousands of them just hanging around being seals.
Further north we came into the Skeleton Coast National Park. Its named the skeleton coast because its a graveyard for ships as its hard to navigate due to the shifting sands. The rest of the park is nothing like any other place on earth. There is like a eerie lunar ambiance. Nothingness for miles. We thought spaceships might be landing soon. We stayed at a place called Terrace Bay which was an old diamond mining area. At breakfast the waiter came up to us and asked for our orders and Damien ordered omelett. The waiter who was wearing a uniform resembling one worn by an out of date casino workers, just stood there looking at Damien. Damien said again omelett. Still nothing. Damien said again omelett. Still nothing. Damien then said that he will have the same as theirs pointing to someone else's meal. The waiter then said omelett in the same way Damien had bee!
n saying it all along. The look on Damiens face was priceless.
Heading inland on another gravel road we came across an ostrich which we followed for a few kilometres because it didn't want to get off the road. They can run fast and keep their heads really still as they run. Not too far down the road we picked up some hitchhikers. Three boys aged no older than five, seven and nine and took them seventy kilometres into a town. Kids around here have a lot of independence at a very early age. We thought that their mother might have said Jimmy take your brothers to school and I'll see you in a week. Its a big difference to the way we chauffeur our kids around.
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