Namibia 20/1/2005
Namibia is a spectacular country. The scenery is fantastic and on one of our first nights in the country we stopped at Spitzkopper, a large rock formation in the north east of the country. The rocks here are massive orange eruptions coming out of the desert floor. We camped at the foot of one of these rocks ready to watch the sun go down. About half way up one of the rocks was small pool where we were able to go for a dip to cool off after a hot day in the truck – it was much needed. As the evening drew in Jenny was on cook duty but I was free to roam, and roam I did. Dave, Ben and I decided to scale another of the nearby rocks (it was more of a mountain really!) and watch the sunset from there because it was higher than one we were camped beneath. After we’d been walking for twenty minutes we reach the foot of the rock and it looked a lot bigger, and steeper close up. Not to beaten though we started up the bare rock slope. Forty or so minutes later, and about two thirds of the way up, we gave up. The sun was going down and the slope had become more of a shear face, so we found ourselves somewhere to sit (after checking for snakes) and prepared to see a beautiful sunset. In short, we gave up. We got fed up of waiting and realized that we hadn’t brought a torch anyway so waliking home for an hour down a very steep rocjk for an hour probably would end with someone getting hurt. (Probably would have been dave with his record.) We headed back and watched the sunset from the camp instead. Later that evening, after a banquet cooked up by jenny and co., we headed up the closest rock to find somewhere to sleep for the night. Jenny bedded down in the truck, but me and a few others decided to sleep under the stars. The rest of the evening was spent polishing off a significant amount of JD and playing coal cricket (don’t ask, if you don’t know about it you’ll think it’s stupid!). Waking up was really special. My head hurt but I only noticed it for a second because the view was amazing. The dessert stretched out in front of us away in to the distance just punctuated now and again by the massive rocky protrusions. Feeling totally in awe we packed up and left, onward to new and more exciting things.
After spitzkopper we headed for Cheetah Park, a small private holding where a family were taking in cheetahs that would otherwise have been killed as pests. However, the journey was an event in itself. We had pulled off the road to have lunch in a deserted looking patch of verge just off the road. It was hot, I mean really hot. We opened the side lockers to give us some kind of shade, I think is was about 45C of mid afternoon sun. Lunch itself went off without a hitch, but when we tried to back off the verge we got stuck, really stuck. We’d been stuck before but a quick push had sorted us out. This time we had shovels, sand mats, and trowels. It took us about two hours of digging pushing, redigging and more pushing to get out of the sand. It was made harder by the fact that we were only a group of 8 and it was so hot.
When we did, finally, make it to Cheetah Park it was pretty special. The place was only small but it had a pool (bliss) and a bar, so we were sorted! The park owner gave us a brief talk about the park itself and then disappeared to fetch his pet cheetah! The owner had a cheetah he had raised from a kitten and had become his pet – the cats choice I have to add. One minute we were in the bar having a quiet drink, the next thing we know a cheetah is wandering around, brushing against legs and licking people. Like lions they have really rough tongues so it’s like being rubbed with sandpaper! We were able to stroke the cat and it was allowed to come to us. It wasn’t as good as antelope park, but it was close. (I think we might be getting a little spoilt) After the close encounters we set off into the park enclosures to see a feeding. The cats really are fast. As the keeper threw large chunks of meat from the back of our pick up the cheetahs rushed to grab it and then disappeared in to the bush to eat. At one point a chunk of meat was thrown in to the truck with us and up jumped a cheetah – it certainly gave everyone a shock to see a hungry cheetah leaping up toward us!
The few days were spent in Etosha NP, a place that is supposedly teaming with game and is a great place to take a safari. Over three days, two trips a day we saw one lion, a shit load of giraffe and various antelope – not a great safari record. All the waterhole we visited were deserted and the plains were empty. The reason for this was rain. The animals had no need to come to the watering holes to drink because they could find water out in the bush. However, the rain may have deprived us of game but it meant Ben had to run around the campsite naked. He had made a bet that if it rained in Namibia he would do a nude run around the campsite – he didn’t realize Etosha was in Namibia, it rains a lot there at this time of year. As ben streaked around the campsite there were shouts of encouragement and cries of scorn but nothing could prepare us for the revenge of the group of French overlanders in the next campsite. Not only did they send a naked man of their own, they also sent four in line doing the conga. Of all things I’ve seen in Africa that has to be the most scary, four naked Frenchman doing the conga, it gives me nightmares even now!
Mark 2/3/2005
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