I thought long and hard about the title for this post.
I have now spent a total of four and a half months in Lagos, but I still do not have the foggiest idea about real life in Lagos, therefore the addition '- Expat style"
Staying in Lagos as an expat is a world removed from staying in Lagos as a Nigerian. From what I have seen, there are two distinct groups in Lagos: The Haves and the Have-nots.
Like in most African countries the Have-nots outnumber the Haves by far; I do not know the ratio, but from what I see the Haves may be a single digit percentage.
My first stint in Lagos was the three months before Christmas last year. For me it was a hectic period in more than one way, which made the time go quite quickly. I arrived in Lagos at a very active time in the project, working very long hours for a couple of weeks. Even though it was tough it helped to make the time go by.
I have just completed another visit to Lagos. It was supposed to be just two weeks but while I was in Tel-Aviv before going to Lagos, I was told that my visit will be extended by four weeks. My mindset was not prepared for it, but I if you read this I managed to survive.
During the last couple of days I had opportunity to move through some of the areas where I have not been before. It just made me more aware of the fact that I have not experienced Lagos like the locals.
I have a slight dilemma to deal with regarding this blog. I started witing the orinal blog in Casablanca because I had such a lot of experiences I wanted to share.
This Bunduboere blog also started because Regina and I had such a great opportunity to see Namibia and wanted to share our experiences.
In Lagos my experience in general was not positive. I did not want to write about all the negative things I saw and experienced because I have made a couple of great friends among the local people with whom I worked, and I did not want to offend them.
After discussions with some of these local friends I will try to express my feelings as honestly as possible but still try not to be insulting about their culture and country.
There are a number of issues that will always come to mind when I think about my time in Lagos. And now you have to bear a bit of the negative.
One of the things that I will always find difficult to get used to is the dirt. In Durbanville, where I live, one would immediately notice litter like a couple of papers in the street. We would moan about someone dropping leaves or sand in the street.
In Lagos one sees litter and rubbish around every corner. I have seen dustbins, but they are often broken or overflowing with rubbish that is rotting from a week ago.
Lekki Phase I, as the area we stay is known, is one of the more up market suburbs of Lagos. Houses, that belong to the Haves, of around US$ 10 million is not uncommon, but around the corner from our apartment is a public dump where once a week somebody set the rubbish on fire. In the first place it stinks to high heaven, it is filthy and when it burns it creates the most awful smoke and pollution. As we say: TIA - That is Africa.
The second most frustrating thing to me must be the traffic. To give you an idea how bad the traffic is, today one of the local colleagues said that he stays at the office till after 20:00 to miss the traffic. When I asked him how far he lives from the office, he said that it takes him three hours to get home. He did not have any idea how many kilometers it is. He only knows that if he leaves the office around 18:00 it could take him five hours to get home, and he uses his own vehicle, not public transport.
One of the reasons that traffic is so horrific is what I would call Competitive Driving. Every driver on the road, whether it is an Okada (a motorcycle used as taxi) or a huge tipper truck, or anything in between, tries to fill up the gap in front of himself as quickly as possible. The result is that nobody voluntarily gives way to anybody, resulting in the most ridiculous traffic jams wherever there is a reduction in the number of lanes or sometimes just at a turn in the road.
Traffic circles also become a joke. According to European law one has to give way to a vehicle in the circle “without let or hindrance”. In Lagos that could be as little as 30 cm while driving 60 km/h. Often the traffic just grind to a halt because the people entering the circle does not even attempt to give way to those inside.
Apart from the traffic, the roads are also something out of a Rocky Horror movie, all pun intended. Last year Regina and I travelled 6,000 km on Namibia dirt roads, as described in this blog. In all that time we never came across any road as bad as many of the streets in Lagos. Right here in Lekki, the last 100 meters of street to our apartment is best travelled in a 4x4, and that does not even take into consideration the dams that form in the potholes during the torrential summer rains.
Whenever we travelled from our apartment in Lekki to Victoria Island, 8.5 km away, I noticed that depending on the driver, and time of day, we will take different routes to avoid traffic jams. Sometimes the road the road that a particular driver would take is so bad that the only place to drive is the one surviving pavement. They would prefer bouncing along through potholes rather than spending up to 2 hours on that 8.5 km
The whole Victoria Island business district and Lekki Peninsula residential area are all less than about 5 meter above sea level. When it rains the water has nowhere to go and therefore it stays in the street. On top of that some of the streets were apparently made by amateur road builders with the result that potholes develop in tarred streets that are big enough to park my Fortuner in.
I still have lost more on my heart, but now the best thing about Lagos is about to happen. I am busy packing my last stuff and will be leaving tonight.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
In The Holy Land
I was recently offered a choice between a job with an Israeli company in Gauteng or another year in Lagos. It felt like having to choose which of my big toes I was willing to cut off.
After much prayer, and support from the members of our Community at JoshGen, I accepted the job in Gauteng.
An exiting part of the job is that much of the training I require is presented in Tel-Aviv, Israel and also in Bucharest, Romania. As it turned out, my first day at the Israeli company I had to report to the head office in Tel-Aviv.
Getting to Tel-Aviv was an ordeal in its own right. Since the training was scheduled to start on Sunday, I had to be in Tel-Aviv on the Saturday. El-Al, the Israeli airline, does not fly on Friday, their Schabbat. The only available flight was with Ethiopian Airlines.
After a sleepless night on very hard seats, and a 3 hour stop in Addis Ababa, I arrived in Tel-Aviv around 4 o'clock on Saturday. I checked into an hotel right next to the company office and went to sleep.
The part of Tel-Aviv where I stayed and worked for the week was part of the commercial hub of the city. Lots of office buildings and restaurants line the street.
The course was attended by people from various continents. We had Ricardo from Uruguay, Baljit from USA, Nick from Canada, Daniel from Philippines, Deepak from India, Allesandro from Italy, Dan and Liviu from Romania and your's truly from South Africa.
Some of the other guys were in their late twenties and early thirties. They were very adventurous and visited some of the night spots of Yafo, the coastal part of Tel-Aviv, till early in the emornings
I had a lot to absorb about the training and also the new company, so I did not join in the fun, but used the time to prepare for my upcoming visit to Nigeria.
On Friday, my last day in Israel, Nir our Team Leader, offered to take Deepak and myself out to see Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. I was very excited to get such an opportunity and looked forward to it.
Jerusalem is an important place in the history of Christianity but also plays a big part in the future, according to prophecies in the Bible. It was absolutely awesome to see the Western Wall of the temple.
What really struck me was the fact that for the first time in my life I was walking in a place where Jesus also walked, and seeing things he also saw.
Today many people come to the wall to pray and in one can see them reading from the prayer books while swaying back and forth. They also write messages or prayers on pieces of paper in stick it in the cracks between the stones.
To these people it is a real religious duty, but because it is such an historic place, many tourists are also walking through and talk while others are praying quietly. Like most religious places, men and women are separated by a wall.
Nir also read from one of the books and even put on a Tefilin to show us what it looks like. It is two small black boxes containing verses from the Torah, that observant Jews strap to their forehead during morning prayers.
From Jerusalem we went to the Dead Sea. En route we passed route indicators with names like Qidron, Yericho, Ein Gedi, Qumran and Masada. Even though the spelling was unusual, I was very much aware of the fact that these are names I have previously only seen in the Bible. Now I was there and experienced it all first hand. I always believed the Bible but now it gets a different context.
Swimming, or rather floating, in the Dead Sea was a very strange experience. It is really impossible to sink. The place is 400 meter below sea level resulting in water only flowing into the Dead Sea, and nothing flows out. The salt content of the water is so high that the water feels oily and tastes horrible. It is extremely difficult to get one's feet down to the bottom, and require extreme concentration, because your feet keeps floating to the surface.
I heard that the water has wonderful healing capabilities and experienced it myself. I had a skin irritation because of the dry air in Israel, but after the visit to the Dead Sea, I never felt it again.
I really enjoyed the time in Israel, especially the day in Jerusalem and at the Dead Sea. The only missing element was my wife, Regina. Next time she has to come with.
After much prayer, and support from the members of our Community at JoshGen, I accepted the job in Gauteng.
An exiting part of the job is that much of the training I require is presented in Tel-Aviv, Israel and also in Bucharest, Romania. As it turned out, my first day at the Israeli company I had to report to the head office in Tel-Aviv.
Getting to Tel-Aviv was an ordeal in its own right. Since the training was scheduled to start on Sunday, I had to be in Tel-Aviv on the Saturday. El-Al, the Israeli airline, does not fly on Friday, their Schabbat. The only available flight was with Ethiopian Airlines.
After a sleepless night on very hard seats, and a 3 hour stop in Addis Ababa, I arrived in Tel-Aviv around 4 o'clock on Saturday. I checked into an hotel right next to the company office and went to sleep.
The part of Tel-Aviv where I stayed and worked for the week was part of the commercial hub of the city. Lots of office buildings and restaurants line the street.
The course was attended by people from various continents. We had Ricardo from Uruguay, Baljit from USA, Nick from Canada, Daniel from Philippines, Deepak from India, Allesandro from Italy, Dan and Liviu from Romania and your's truly from South Africa.
Some of the other guys were in their late twenties and early thirties. They were very adventurous and visited some of the night spots of Yafo, the coastal part of Tel-Aviv, till early in the emornings
I had a lot to absorb about the training and also the new company, so I did not join in the fun, but used the time to prepare for my upcoming visit to Nigeria.
On Friday, my last day in Israel, Nir our Team Leader, offered to take Deepak and myself out to see Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. I was very excited to get such an opportunity and looked forward to it.
Jerusalem is an important place in the history of Christianity but also plays a big part in the future, according to prophecies in the Bible. It was absolutely awesome to see the Western Wall of the temple.
What really struck me was the fact that for the first time in my life I was walking in a place where Jesus also walked, and seeing things he also saw.
Today many people come to the wall to pray and in one can see them reading from the prayer books while swaying back and forth. They also write messages or prayers on pieces of paper in stick it in the cracks between the stones.
To these people it is a real religious duty, but because it is such an historic place, many tourists are also walking through and talk while others are praying quietly. Like most religious places, men and women are separated by a wall.
Nir also read from one of the books and even put on a Tefilin to show us what it looks like. It is two small black boxes containing verses from the Torah, that observant Jews strap to their forehead during morning prayers.
From Jerusalem we went to the Dead Sea. En route we passed route indicators with names like Qidron, Yericho, Ein Gedi, Qumran and Masada. Even though the spelling was unusual, I was very much aware of the fact that these are names I have previously only seen in the Bible. Now I was there and experienced it all first hand. I always believed the Bible but now it gets a different context.
Swimming, or rather floating, in the Dead Sea was a very strange experience. It is really impossible to sink. The place is 400 meter below sea level resulting in water only flowing into the Dead Sea, and nothing flows out. The salt content of the water is so high that the water feels oily and tastes horrible. It is extremely difficult to get one's feet down to the bottom, and require extreme concentration, because your feet keeps floating to the surface.
I heard that the water has wonderful healing capabilities and experienced it myself. I had a skin irritation because of the dry air in Israel, but after the visit to the Dead Sea, I never felt it again.
I really enjoyed the time in Israel, especially the day in Jerusalem and at the Dead Sea. The only missing element was my wife, Regina. Next time she has to come with.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
In the Mean Time
It is still going to take me some time before I can write something satisfactory about Lagos. I will therefore first try to fill in the gap between the two trips to Lagos.
I left Lagos just before Christmas looking forward to spend three glorious weeks out of this place. Three months was just too long. It actually went quite fast with all the hard work that went into the project, but I started getting even more grumpy than usual towards the end of my time.
Everything started out as planned. I arrived home a day before Christmas and had time for a quick lunch at Hartenberg with my friend Andrè and daughter Cecilia.
Christmas day Cecilia and I had a lovely lunch next to the sea at the Brass Bell in Kalk Bay. After I had most of a bottle of Hartenberg Cab-Shiraz, Cecilia had to drive and we spent the rest of the day just lazing around the Peninsula. The time just seemed to fly and before I knew it, it was my sister Kittie's 60th birthday. We had a huge party at her daughter Ilse's place in Somerset West, where we saw lots of Kittie's friend and our family.
The next day I left to visit Regina who was at that stage staying with our son Marthinus in Nelson, New Zealand. After the twins, Leon and Alex, were born in Dubai in November 2008, Marthinus and Nicola decided to move to Australia. After I left for Lagos, Regina went to help look after the twins in Sydney.
About a month after Regina arrived in Sydney, they decided to move to Nelson, where Nicola's parents stay.
I arrived in Nelson after nearly two days on the road (or in the air), on New Year's Eve, to what can only be described as a Culture Shock. The only thing Nigeria and New Zealand have in common is the fact that there names start with an "N".
It was really the best antidote for the three months in Lagos. Nelson is just the most perfect spot to forget about the troubles of Africa. Just imagine; the most dangerous creature we encountered was a Sand Fly! There are no snakes, no natural thorns and apparently only one poisonous type of spider. When Marthinus' in-laws asked Regina if we are planning to move to New Zealand, she said that she would feel guilty because life would be too easy, compared to South Africa.
We spend 10 lazy days in and around Nelson and were treated to lots of Kiwi hospitality. Paul, Marthinus' father-in-law took us for a trip on the Marlborough sound with his big motor yacht. We were rocked to sleep on the waters of the sound that night.
One of the highlights was a trip with Nick, Marthinus' brother-in-law, to West Port, his hometown on the West Coast of the South Island. Just the trip to West Port was already spectacular as we drove through about 200 km of lush green mountain passes, winding around a river. Imagine Bloukrans Pass in the Eastern Cape stretching for 200 km; absolutely stunning.
Nick showed us the area where he grew up and took us to eat the pies and fish and chips he remember from his youth. It is a day we will remember for a long time.
It was also great to get to know our grandsons a little. It is interesting how they already show such different personalities at this young age. At least now they know that Oupa and Ouma does not only live inside Skype.
Unfortunately all good things come to an end and Regina decided to go back home with me. Just before we left New Zealand I was told that there were problems with the project in Lagos and I would not be returning there soon. Unfortunately it was tro late to change our flights and we arrived back in Cape Town on the 10th of January, tired but happy to be back on home turf.
I worked out that since I left Lagos I had traveled about 41,000 km to get back to Cape Town; about the same distance as the circumference of the earth.
Then the Big Wait started. I have been waiting for nearly 4 months for the project in Lagos to get back on track. In the interim I have been working at our office in Cape Town, with the knowledge that I could anytime be called on to go back to Lagos.
I have since been made a job offer by an Israeli company to work in Southern Africa from an office in Centurion, Gauteng. I started with a week's training in Tel-Aviv and now I am back in Lagos.
But more about all that in the next installment.
I left Lagos just before Christmas looking forward to spend three glorious weeks out of this place. Three months was just too long. It actually went quite fast with all the hard work that went into the project, but I started getting even more grumpy than usual towards the end of my time.
Everything started out as planned. I arrived home a day before Christmas and had time for a quick lunch at Hartenberg with my friend Andrè and daughter Cecilia.
Christmas day Cecilia and I had a lovely lunch next to the sea at the Brass Bell in Kalk Bay. After I had most of a bottle of Hartenberg Cab-Shiraz, Cecilia had to drive and we spent the rest of the day just lazing around the Peninsula. The time just seemed to fly and before I knew it, it was my sister Kittie's 60th birthday. We had a huge party at her daughter Ilse's place in Somerset West, where we saw lots of Kittie's friend and our family.
The next day I left to visit Regina who was at that stage staying with our son Marthinus in Nelson, New Zealand. After the twins, Leon and Alex, were born in Dubai in November 2008, Marthinus and Nicola decided to move to Australia. After I left for Lagos, Regina went to help look after the twins in Sydney.
About a month after Regina arrived in Sydney, they decided to move to Nelson, where Nicola's parents stay.
I arrived in Nelson after nearly two days on the road (or in the air), on New Year's Eve, to what can only be described as a Culture Shock. The only thing Nigeria and New Zealand have in common is the fact that there names start with an "N".
It was really the best antidote for the three months in Lagos. Nelson is just the most perfect spot to forget about the troubles of Africa. Just imagine; the most dangerous creature we encountered was a Sand Fly! There are no snakes, no natural thorns and apparently only one poisonous type of spider. When Marthinus' in-laws asked Regina if we are planning to move to New Zealand, she said that she would feel guilty because life would be too easy, compared to South Africa.
We spend 10 lazy days in and around Nelson and were treated to lots of Kiwi hospitality. Paul, Marthinus' father-in-law took us for a trip on the Marlborough sound with his big motor yacht. We were rocked to sleep on the waters of the sound that night.
One of the highlights was a trip with Nick, Marthinus' brother-in-law, to West Port, his hometown on the West Coast of the South Island. Just the trip to West Port was already spectacular as we drove through about 200 km of lush green mountain passes, winding around a river. Imagine Bloukrans Pass in the Eastern Cape stretching for 200 km; absolutely stunning.
Nick showed us the area where he grew up and took us to eat the pies and fish and chips he remember from his youth. It is a day we will remember for a long time.
It was also great to get to know our grandsons a little. It is interesting how they already show such different personalities at this young age. At least now they know that Oupa and Ouma does not only live inside Skype.
Unfortunately all good things come to an end and Regina decided to go back home with me. Just before we left New Zealand I was told that there were problems with the project in Lagos and I would not be returning there soon. Unfortunately it was tro late to change our flights and we arrived back in Cape Town on the 10th of January, tired but happy to be back on home turf.
I worked out that since I left Lagos I had traveled about 41,000 km to get back to Cape Town; about the same distance as the circumference of the earth.
Then the Big Wait started. I have been waiting for nearly 4 months for the project in Lagos to get back on track. In the interim I have been working at our office in Cape Town, with the knowledge that I could anytime be called on to go back to Lagos.
I have since been made a job offer by an Israeli company to work in Southern Africa from an office in Centurion, Gauteng. I started with a week's training in Tel-Aviv and now I am back in Lagos.
But more about all that in the next installment.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Hey, what happened?
I had high hopes of writing a couple of blog posts during my initial stay in Lagos. Unfortunately it did not happen.
The title for this blog comes from the "Zap-it in the Zibby" advert from my youth.
I started writing my first blog (Boer in Casablanca) during my stay of 9 months in Morocco. I just saw and experienced so much and even though some of my experiences were spiritually depressing, the overall picture I have of Morocco is still very positive.
When Regina and I went to Namibia we knew from the outset that the experience will be positive and therefore I started with this blog when we left Cape Town en route to Namibia.
Our Namibian excursion lived up to all our expectations as I trust you would have gathered from earlier posts. It was however cut short when the opportunity to work in Lagos, Nigeria came up.
My expectations of Lagos was not very high and when I arrived I saw things that were really disturbing. I expected that I would have a lot to write about, but for a number of reasons I never managed to put it in this blog.
One of the main reasons why I could not write about Lagos was the fact that my previous blogs were the result of mostly positive experiences and memories about the places that I visited. In Lagos there is in my mind not much positive to write about. Most of the experiences I had in Lagos were in some way clouded by something negative.
For example, we stayed and worked in one of the best suburbs of Lagos, but travelling the less than one kilometer to work was stressful because everybody drive like maniacs. Also, the road between the apartment and office was so bad, that even in this upmarket suburb eight cars got stuck in the potholes in the street.
I also felt that it would not be courteous to my Nigerian colleagues to relay these negative experiences in a public blog.
Then my stay in Lagos was cut short due to contractual problems between the company I work for and the operator in Lagos. When I left Lagos just before Christmas I was expecting to be back in three weeks for another three months stint. It took more than four months before I eventually returned.
Having been away from Lagos for four months gave me time to reflect on the time I had here and I actually managed to find some positive points. For example, this is one of the few places where I have been where I do not have chest problems. Not much but something positive.
A lot has happened to the Bunduboere in the months since the last post in October. I will try to relate some of these experiences in the next posts.
Hope to be back soon.
The title for this blog comes from the "Zap-it in the Zibby" advert from my youth.
I started writing my first blog (Boer in Casablanca) during my stay of 9 months in Morocco. I just saw and experienced so much and even though some of my experiences were spiritually depressing, the overall picture I have of Morocco is still very positive.
When Regina and I went to Namibia we knew from the outset that the experience will be positive and therefore I started with this blog when we left Cape Town en route to Namibia.
Our Namibian excursion lived up to all our expectations as I trust you would have gathered from earlier posts. It was however cut short when the opportunity to work in Lagos, Nigeria came up.
My expectations of Lagos was not very high and when I arrived I saw things that were really disturbing. I expected that I would have a lot to write about, but for a number of reasons I never managed to put it in this blog.
One of the main reasons why I could not write about Lagos was the fact that my previous blogs were the result of mostly positive experiences and memories about the places that I visited. In Lagos there is in my mind not much positive to write about. Most of the experiences I had in Lagos were in some way clouded by something negative.
For example, we stayed and worked in one of the best suburbs of Lagos, but travelling the less than one kilometer to work was stressful because everybody drive like maniacs. Also, the road between the apartment and office was so bad, that even in this upmarket suburb eight cars got stuck in the potholes in the street.
I also felt that it would not be courteous to my Nigerian colleagues to relay these negative experiences in a public blog.
Then my stay in Lagos was cut short due to contractual problems between the company I work for and the operator in Lagos. When I left Lagos just before Christmas I was expecting to be back in three weeks for another three months stint. It took more than four months before I eventually returned.
Having been away from Lagos for four months gave me time to reflect on the time I had here and I actually managed to find some positive points. For example, this is one of the few places where I have been where I do not have chest problems. Not much but something positive.
A lot has happened to the Bunduboere in the months since the last post in October. I will try to relate some of these experiences in the next posts.
Hope to be back soon.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Picking up the Story(line)
Yes, the BunduBoere have not been eaten by a lion or some cannibals. We are still very much alive.
Much has happened since the last post on our blog.
I had to go to Gaborone, Botswana for some work and decided to drive up so that Regina could go with me. Just as well because instead of the planned 4 days my stay was extended to 10 days. We stayed in very beautiful accommodation, on a small holding south of Gaborone. Regina became quite a boffin on the birds of Gaborone because she spent most of her time at the bungalow.
In the mean time I was offered a contract to work in Lagos, Nigeria. So the Saga continues. I arrived in Lagos on Saturday night andd have been working from 0800 to well after 20:00 most evenings.
I can already see that I will have lots to write about here. For example, I stay with a number of colleagues in a very nice apartment, attached to a huge villa, in one of the better areas in Lagos. In contrast to that the road that we travel to our office, just 1 km away, is so bad that in places one really need a 4x4 to get through.
The temperature varies between a night-time low of about 23 and high of 35 degrees Celsius. The humidity is so high that my glasses fog up when I leave an air conditioned building.
The traffic can be quite horrific. We sometimes have to travel to remote sites to telecoms sites. A trip of just 5 km can take more than an hour because here are no enforceable traffic rules. We have drivers that take us where we need to be and they drive much more aggressive than any taxi in South Africa can ever hope to. However, in the couple of days that I have been here, I have not yet seen any accidents.
As you can see there is much to write about. More about Lagos at a later stage.
Much has happened since the last post on our blog.
I had to go to Gaborone, Botswana for some work and decided to drive up so that Regina could go with me. Just as well because instead of the planned 4 days my stay was extended to 10 days. We stayed in very beautiful accommodation, on a small holding south of Gaborone. Regina became quite a boffin on the birds of Gaborone because she spent most of her time at the bungalow.
In the mean time I was offered a contract to work in Lagos, Nigeria. So the Saga continues. I arrived in Lagos on Saturday night andd have been working from 0800 to well after 20:00 most evenings.
I can already see that I will have lots to write about here. For example, I stay with a number of colleagues in a very nice apartment, attached to a huge villa, in one of the better areas in Lagos. In contrast to that the road that we travel to our office, just 1 km away, is so bad that in places one really need a 4x4 to get through.
The temperature varies between a night-time low of about 23 and high of 35 degrees Celsius. The humidity is so high that my glasses fog up when I leave an air conditioned building.
The traffic can be quite horrific. We sometimes have to travel to remote sites to telecoms sites. A trip of just 5 km can take more than an hour because here are no enforceable traffic rules. We have drivers that take us where we need to be and they drive much more aggressive than any taxi in South Africa can ever hope to. However, in the couple of days that I have been here, I have not yet seen any accidents.
As you can see there is much to write about. More about Lagos at a later stage.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Back home again
Yesterday we arrived back home after our visit to Namibia was abruptly interrupted. I had to go to Gauteng for urgent business and Regina had to get to the Eastern Cape to see her mother and sister in Patensie.
Regina left Windhoek the previous Thursday morning and traveled the 2,000 km to Patensie in two days. I managed to get a flight to Gauteng on that Saturday night and spent the week Centurion.
I got a flight to Port Elizabeth on Friday night and spend Saturday with Regina at her family's farm in Patensie. On Sunday afternoon we arrived back home.
At the moment we are not sure exactly what is going to happen in the next week, but we might be going back to Namibia in the near future.
It is really good to be back home. Today I drove on the new bridge between the N1 and M5. Yes, we missed all the World Cup excitement. We heard a couple of Vuvuzelas in Windhoek and saw some of the last matches on TV.
I still plan to post some of our other interesting photos but will need some time to select and place that.
Till next time.
Regina left Windhoek the previous Thursday morning and traveled the 2,000 km to Patensie in two days. I managed to get a flight to Gauteng on that Saturday night and spent the week Centurion.
I got a flight to Port Elizabeth on Friday night and spend Saturday with Regina at her family's farm in Patensie. On Sunday afternoon we arrived back home.
At the moment we are not sure exactly what is going to happen in the next week, but we might be going back to Namibia in the near future.
It is really good to be back home. Today I drove on the new bridge between the N1 and M5. Yes, we missed all the World Cup excitement. We heard a couple of Vuvuzelas in Windhoek and saw some of the last matches on TV.
I still plan to post some of our other interesting photos but will need some time to select and place that.
Till next time.
Monday, July 12, 2010
A mystery debunked
The last two weeks were very hectic with the installation part of the project starting. We all have lots to to and with us on the road most of the time, the places we visited did not have Internet access, so I can only update the blog now.
Back to the story.
During my high school career I travelled to, what was then called, South West Africa. We visited Windhoek, Swakopmund, Ai-Ais Hot Springs, Etosha Game Park and my dad’s relatives who lived on a farm between Outjo and Kamanjab. That, and the fact that we were pulling a caravan, meant that we stayed mostly on the main roads and never ventured into the deep interior parts of, what is now called, Namibia.
Somewhere in this same part of my life I read books about the country and always wanted to visit two specific areas. One of these is the Brandberg and the other is Spitskoppe.
Brandberg had special significance because I read that a rock painting was discovered depicting a white women and the author left the impression of this lonely white women that must have lived with the local tribe and was therefore drawn by a local artist around 2000 years ago. Spitskoppe is a rock formation that rises out of the level ground to enormous height and is apparently something to behold.
I still have not been close to Spitskoppe and would very much like the opportunity to go there if the official part of my job affords me the opportunity.
During the previous week Regina and I were however given the job to go and visit the Brandberg White Lady Lodge, the only lodge in the Brandberg conservancy area. I was really exited because at last I was able to visit that part of Namibia.
We had a very warm and friendly reception at the lodge and ended up spending two nihts at the lodge. Aubrey de Jager, the owner, as well as all his staff, really make an effort to let everybody feel at home and have a good time. The result is a relaxed atmosphere where adults and children relax.
Aubrey told us that he believes the name of the Brandberg (direct translation: Fire Mountain) is derived from the fact that the mountain is coloured red by the rising sun. We got up early the next morning and managed to get a couple of stunning photos of the mountain at sunrise. I stitched together this one to give you an idea of what we saw. It was just much more spectacular than the picture manage to reflect.
We also took photos late in the afternoon to show what the mountain look like under different lighting.
After breakfast we went to see the White Lady of the Brandberg. We were warned not to go to late in the morning since it is a stiff walk of about 2.5 km from the parking spot to the site of the rock paintings. Even in winter it can get very warm in the ravine where one walk.
In earlier days people apparently poured water on the paintings to make it more visible, with the result that the main figure is now very faded. Since the site has been declared as a Namibian Heritage, visitors are only allowed to view the paintings when accompanied by a guide.
On the forty five minute walk to the site, the guide told us that the whole thing is actually a misnomer. The White Lady is neither white nor is it a lady. He gave us a long explanation about various people that visited the site from around 1917/18 to 1947 and published documents about the paintings. You can read the story on wikipedia.org but I have my own interpretation.
I believe that the drawing depicts a hunter who told the story of the day’s hunt and coloured his legs and lower body to represent an antelope, perhaps a springbok, which he shot during the hunt.
This picture shows the White Lady in the lower left corner with, what appears to be, a springbok just above it. Note the white legs and tummy of the springbok. In the top part of the photo is an antelope with legs like a human, also in white.
There are lots of controversies surrounding these drawings because it apparently dates from different times, about 3000 years apart and some are in brown monochrome while others are in three colors. Different people claim that it was painted by their ancestors but it looks very much like Bushmen/San paintings to me.
All I will remember about the outing is that the whole mystery turned out to be just somebody’s flight of fantasy. It also did get pretty uncomfortable on
Now I just need to get to Spitskoppe.....
Back to the story.
During my high school career I travelled to, what was then called, South West Africa. We visited Windhoek, Swakopmund, Ai-Ais Hot Springs, Etosha Game Park and my dad’s relatives who lived on a farm between Outjo and Kamanjab. That, and the fact that we were pulling a caravan, meant that we stayed mostly on the main roads and never ventured into the deep interior parts of, what is now called, Namibia.
Somewhere in this same part of my life I read books about the country and always wanted to visit two specific areas. One of these is the Brandberg and the other is Spitskoppe.
Brandberg had special significance because I read that a rock painting was discovered depicting a white women and the author left the impression of this lonely white women that must have lived with the local tribe and was therefore drawn by a local artist around 2000 years ago. Spitskoppe is a rock formation that rises out of the level ground to enormous height and is apparently something to behold.
I still have not been close to Spitskoppe and would very much like the opportunity to go there if the official part of my job affords me the opportunity.
During the previous week Regina and I were however given the job to go and visit the Brandberg White Lady Lodge, the only lodge in the Brandberg conservancy area. I was really exited because at last I was able to visit that part of Namibia.
We had a very warm and friendly reception at the lodge and ended up spending two nihts at the lodge. Aubrey de Jager, the owner, as well as all his staff, really make an effort to let everybody feel at home and have a good time. The result is a relaxed atmosphere where adults and children relax.
Aubrey told us that he believes the name of the Brandberg (direct translation: Fire Mountain) is derived from the fact that the mountain is coloured red by the rising sun. We got up early the next morning and managed to get a couple of stunning photos of the mountain at sunrise. I stitched together this one to give you an idea of what we saw. It was just much more spectacular than the picture manage to reflect.
We also took photos late in the afternoon to show what the mountain look like under different lighting.
After breakfast we went to see the White Lady of the Brandberg. We were warned not to go to late in the morning since it is a stiff walk of about 2.5 km from the parking spot to the site of the rock paintings. Even in winter it can get very warm in the ravine where one walk.
In earlier days people apparently poured water on the paintings to make it more visible, with the result that the main figure is now very faded. Since the site has been declared as a Namibian Heritage, visitors are only allowed to view the paintings when accompanied by a guide.
On the forty five minute walk to the site, the guide told us that the whole thing is actually a misnomer. The White Lady is neither white nor is it a lady. He gave us a long explanation about various people that visited the site from around 1917/18 to 1947 and published documents about the paintings. You can read the story on wikipedia.org but I have my own interpretation.
I believe that the drawing depicts a hunter who told the story of the day’s hunt and coloured his legs and lower body to represent an antelope, perhaps a springbok, which he shot during the hunt.
This picture shows the White Lady in the lower left corner with, what appears to be, a springbok just above it. Note the white legs and tummy of the springbok. In the top part of the photo is an antelope with legs like a human, also in white.
There are lots of controversies surrounding these drawings because it apparently dates from different times, about 3000 years apart and some are in brown monochrome while others are in three colors. Different people claim that it was painted by their ancestors but it looks very much like Bushmen/San paintings to me.
All I will remember about the outing is that the whole mystery turned out to be just somebody’s flight of fantasy. It also did get pretty uncomfortable on
Now I just need to get to Spitskoppe.....
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Scenery
As we traverse Namibia, one thing about this strangely beautiful country that keeps on amazing us is the variety of scenery that flash past our Fortuner's windows.
I grew up in Riviersonderned, a small town near Caledon in the Overberg. We used to call it the "Platteland" in Afrikaans. Directly translated it means "Flat Country" in English. I could never really understand this notion of it being flat because we were surrounded by hills and even had a very high mountain within 10 km from our home.
Here in Namibia the idea of the Platteland makes more sense to me; in some areas this place is FLAT. I must admit that here are more mountains than I expected but my lasting impression of the rural areas are that it is flat.
Sometimes when we come over a rise in the road we are absolutely speechless with the panorama that unfolds in front of us. The problem with trying to catch it on camera is that, with large parts of the country being fairly flat, is that the picture one is trying to take is also so big that it is virtually impossible to capture a scene in one photograph. Sometimes the scene that one would like to capture has already passed by the time we realise that it was worth taking.
The following are a couple of the scenes that we did manage to capture and would like to share with you.
On our way into Damaraland, close to a place called Bergsig, we saw what from afar looked like ground cover planted in a garden. It is actually fairly large rocks with shrubs in between.
The next photo is one of those where the camera is not capable of capturing the scene we saw. These mountains in Damaraland look so much more spectacular when you see in t in person, but here is a little glimpse of it. To see the real thing you will have to come look for yourselves.
We visited a farm called Rustig Toko, named after the Red Hornbill bird, and were taken to spot from where we saw this lush scene, looking towards the lodge. The farm is about 15 km south of the Etosha Pans and the recent rains also provided welcome relief in this area.
The mountains in the Sussosvlei area are also very spectacular but difficult to effectively capture on camera. The next couple of photos are all from this area.
The following picture reflect a little bit of the beauty that we saw. What I especially liked was the black band in the middle. We later saw that it shows up on top of the mountains to the right in the picture.
At Sossusvlei Desert Lodge Regina took this photo. Note the ancient dunes of the Namib on the right and the mountains on the left.
Sometimes we do manage to capture the essence of the scene as in the following photo. It gives a feeling of the stretched out country side and the never ending mountains that we saw.
On our way to Zebra River Lodge we drove through this unusual canyon. It was about 25 km off our the main roads but well worth the effort.
One of the trips took us down to Ai-Ais in the far south of Namibia. We went there just when the cold front hit Cape Town on Monday 14 June. As we approached Ai-Ais we could see the clouds building up and cast their shadows on the landscape.
Just as we got close to Ai-Ais it started to rain. I always enjoy driving in the rain but winter rain in Southern Namibia is very special. Fortunately we did not have to sleep in the rooftop tent that night because it came down in bucketfuls.
This last one made me chuckle. I work for a company that focus mainly on wireless communication systems suck as WiMAX, Wifi and VSAT. The following photo shows why wireless communication is very popular in Namibia. The nests on top of each telephone pole are built by communal weavers (afr.: versamel voeëls)
Next time I will put up some interesting photos we took that does not involve landscapes.
I grew up in Riviersonderned, a small town near Caledon in the Overberg. We used to call it the "Platteland" in Afrikaans. Directly translated it means "Flat Country" in English. I could never really understand this notion of it being flat because we were surrounded by hills and even had a very high mountain within 10 km from our home.
Here in Namibia the idea of the Platteland makes more sense to me; in some areas this place is FLAT. I must admit that here are more mountains than I expected but my lasting impression of the rural areas are that it is flat.
Sometimes when we come over a rise in the road we are absolutely speechless with the panorama that unfolds in front of us. The problem with trying to catch it on camera is that, with large parts of the country being fairly flat, is that the picture one is trying to take is also so big that it is virtually impossible to capture a scene in one photograph. Sometimes the scene that one would like to capture has already passed by the time we realise that it was worth taking.
The following are a couple of the scenes that we did manage to capture and would like to share with you.
On our way into Damaraland, close to a place called Bergsig, we saw what from afar looked like ground cover planted in a garden. It is actually fairly large rocks with shrubs in between.
The next photo is one of those where the camera is not capable of capturing the scene we saw. These mountains in Damaraland look so much more spectacular when you see in t in person, but here is a little glimpse of it. To see the real thing you will have to come look for yourselves.
We visited a farm called Rustig Toko, named after the Red Hornbill bird, and were taken to spot from where we saw this lush scene, looking towards the lodge. The farm is about 15 km south of the Etosha Pans and the recent rains also provided welcome relief in this area.
The mountains in the Sussosvlei area are also very spectacular but difficult to effectively capture on camera. The next couple of photos are all from this area.
The following picture reflect a little bit of the beauty that we saw. What I especially liked was the black band in the middle. We later saw that it shows up on top of the mountains to the right in the picture.
At Sossusvlei Desert Lodge Regina took this photo. Note the ancient dunes of the Namib on the right and the mountains on the left.
Sometimes we do manage to capture the essence of the scene as in the following photo. It gives a feeling of the stretched out country side and the never ending mountains that we saw.
On our way to Zebra River Lodge we drove through this unusual canyon. It was about 25 km off our the main roads but well worth the effort.
One of the trips took us down to Ai-Ais in the far south of Namibia. We went there just when the cold front hit Cape Town on Monday 14 June. As we approached Ai-Ais we could see the clouds building up and cast their shadows on the landscape.
Just as we got close to Ai-Ais it started to rain. I always enjoy driving in the rain but winter rain in Southern Namibia is very special. Fortunately we did not have to sleep in the rooftop tent that night because it came down in bucketfuls.
This last one made me chuckle. I work for a company that focus mainly on wireless communication systems suck as WiMAX, Wifi and VSAT. The following photo shows why wireless communication is very popular in Namibia. The nests on top of each telephone pole are built by communal weavers (afr.: versamel voeëls)
Next time I will put up some interesting photos we took that does not involve landscapes.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Hot and Cold
This week saw us making a quick dash down to the far south of Namibia to visit a couple of the Canyon Lodges, part of the Gondwana Collections group as well as Ai-Ais.
On Sunday we left Windhoek and stopped over in Keetmanshoop. En route we heard that a cold front has swept over South Africa and was on it's way to us. Fortunately we managed to find reasonable accommodation in the At Home B&B. The cold front hit us that night with a fury. Temperatures plummeted and we needed extra layers of cloths when we got up for breakfast on Monday morning.
We had to wait for a local representative to accompany us on our journey and walked around Keetmanshoop to get breakfast and managed to find a beany to protect my head against the cold at night.
We left Keetmanshoop around 11:00 and headed towards the canyon. We had three stops before we got to Ai-Ais around 17:00. Because of the project we are busy with, we managed to get a room for much less than the regular rates.
The last time we visited Ai-Ais was in the mid 1990's. Marthinus and Cecilia were just in their teens and we were reasonably impressed with the facilities offered at the resort.
Apparently the whole place was upgraded last year and the improvement from last time is obvious. The furnishings from the bedrooms to the indoor pools are stunning and the restaurant is very tastefully furnished. We treated ourselves to Eland steaks and a glass of Tall Horse Shiraz each. Afterwards we managed to expel some of the cold with two lazy hours in the indoor pool. Regina managed a couple of laps in the short space available while I just soaked up the heat.
After breakfast and the official part of the visit were completed, we headed east and north on the dirt roads for our next stop at Aroab.
Now please allow me to digress again for a little while.
We have a couple of dear friends from the time we stayed in Hermanus. Zoon and Stella Snyman both grew up in the Upington area and still love the Kalahari. Zoon always used a specific expression to describe a very busy place: "Dis soos nagmaal op Aroab" (eng.: "It is like communion in Aroab") Ever since the first time I heard Zoon say that, I had visions of what Aroab would look like; usually something to do with a bunch of ox wagon camped on the town square next to an old white-washed church building.
Yesterday those visions could make way for reality when we eventually reached Aroab for the first time. While I was doing the official part of our visit Regina took some photos.
The church is everything but old and white-washed.
And I saw no ox wagons, just Toyota bakkies of all ages. This one was taken at one of the other sites we visited. It is of a 1973 Toyota Hilux bakkie in excellent condition and Simon, its proud owner.
We did not get "nagmaal" (direct translation: "evening meal") because it was not Sunday; we did not even get an afternoon meal because, like many towns in Namibia, the whole place shuts down between one and two for a lunch siesta.
At about 13:30, after filling the Fortuner up with Diesel, we left for Windhoek via the shortest route (read: dirt roads) and reached our temporary home in Windhoek just before 20:00 on Tuesday night. We covered a total of just more than 950 km of which only the last 260 km were on tarred roads.
During the past 6 weeks since we left Cape Town we have driven a total of 9,500 km of which about 5,500 km were on dirt roads. The red lines on the map on the left gives an indication of the roads we have covered.
We are now back in Windhoek for a couple of days admin and some training for the implementation part of the project.
I will soon try to put together a page about some of the beautiful landscapes and rock formations we have seen on our travels.
On Sunday we left Windhoek and stopped over in Keetmanshoop. En route we heard that a cold front has swept over South Africa and was on it's way to us. Fortunately we managed to find reasonable accommodation in the At Home B&B. The cold front hit us that night with a fury. Temperatures plummeted and we needed extra layers of cloths when we got up for breakfast on Monday morning.
We had to wait for a local representative to accompany us on our journey and walked around Keetmanshoop to get breakfast and managed to find a beany to protect my head against the cold at night.
We left Keetmanshoop around 11:00 and headed towards the canyon. We had three stops before we got to Ai-Ais around 17:00. Because of the project we are busy with, we managed to get a room for much less than the regular rates.
The last time we visited Ai-Ais was in the mid 1990's. Marthinus and Cecilia were just in their teens and we were reasonably impressed with the facilities offered at the resort.
Apparently the whole place was upgraded last year and the improvement from last time is obvious. The furnishings from the bedrooms to the indoor pools are stunning and the restaurant is very tastefully furnished. We treated ourselves to Eland steaks and a glass of Tall Horse Shiraz each. Afterwards we managed to expel some of the cold with two lazy hours in the indoor pool. Regina managed a couple of laps in the short space available while I just soaked up the heat.
After breakfast and the official part of the visit were completed, we headed east and north on the dirt roads for our next stop at Aroab.
Now please allow me to digress again for a little while.
We have a couple of dear friends from the time we stayed in Hermanus. Zoon and Stella Snyman both grew up in the Upington area and still love the Kalahari. Zoon always used a specific expression to describe a very busy place: "Dis soos nagmaal op Aroab" (eng.: "It is like communion in Aroab") Ever since the first time I heard Zoon say that, I had visions of what Aroab would look like; usually something to do with a bunch of ox wagon camped on the town square next to an old white-washed church building.
Yesterday those visions could make way for reality when we eventually reached Aroab for the first time. While I was doing the official part of our visit Regina took some photos.
The church is everything but old and white-washed.
And I saw no ox wagons, just Toyota bakkies of all ages. This one was taken at one of the other sites we visited. It is of a 1973 Toyota Hilux bakkie in excellent condition and Simon, its proud owner.
We did not get "nagmaal" (direct translation: "evening meal") because it was not Sunday; we did not even get an afternoon meal because, like many towns in Namibia, the whole place shuts down between one and two for a lunch siesta.
At about 13:30, after filling the Fortuner up with Diesel, we left for Windhoek via the shortest route (read: dirt roads) and reached our temporary home in Windhoek just before 20:00 on Tuesday night. We covered a total of just more than 950 km of which only the last 260 km were on tarred roads.
During the past 6 weeks since we left Cape Town we have driven a total of 9,500 km of which about 5,500 km were on dirt roads. The red lines on the map on the left gives an indication of the roads we have covered. We are now back in Windhoek for a couple of days admin and some training for the implementation part of the project.
I will soon try to put together a page about some of the beautiful landscapes and rock formations we have seen on our travels.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Where would this Road take us?
We covered some rather "untraveled" roads this week. Here is Regina's impressions of one such a trip:
Wednesday we drove from Rundu to Tsumeb. It sounds very simple and in effect only 430km. But that is only the short of it. The sweet? My dear Dirk enjoyed driving on/in the road. Like he says; for the first time since we drive the Fortuner we really, REALLY needed the 4x4 function. This redeem us from so often you will hear the accusation: most of your city dwellers do not need a 4x4 vehicle, it’s just show off.
Firstly, this is a new road that they are busy building to the north of the country. A statistic; 70% of Namibia’s population stays in the northern part of the country. If you look on the map you will notice the B1 and B8 are tarred and a short road 300km (compared to rest) from Ondangwa to Ruacana. Therefore they need to upgrade and increase the roads to meet the needs of the people in the northern regions.
I was only hanging onto my seat for dear life. The real experience of driving the road was Dirk’s privilege. I will leave the description of the experience to him.
While I was hanging on to my seat, I had a lot of time to look around and perceive the environment. When we left the Cape, my friends encouraged me to journal as we are travelling – we realized I will have a lot of time to kill. Sitting in the passenger’s seat leaves you with a lot of “nothingness” to do. So what does this looking around entail?
The saying that jumps to my mind is, “window of opportunity”. Looking out of the vehicle’s windows is not much experience but an opportune time to take pictures and show the environment as it shoots past you. We have seen mountains with the most extraordinary rock formations, sand dunes of different structures and color, vegetation that varies from sparse ground coverings, to lush forest type of growth.
When we came close to Grootfontein on Tuesday, we drove over a hill and suddenly this vast, stretched out landscape of just trees enfold in front of us. From the West to the East the skyline is just one line drawn by trees of various heights and shapes but not a mountain of any sorts. For us Capetonians that was a sure first.
Dirk's version:
When you have to choose between a 550 km round trip on tar roads and a 110 km bash through unknown terrain on an unmapped road.... Not much of a choice, we go the unmapped road!!
On one map it was indicated as "Road under construction" but boy, was that an understatement, as we saw this road in all stages of being constructed, from just two fences indicating the outline of the road, through various stages of preparation all the way to eventually a tar surface. The best part of this for me was the fact that the access road, on which we drove, turned out to be a very challenging track through the sand. The road starts 25 km south of the Angolan border and runs perpendicular to a series of small dunes. That gives you a fairly solid hill followed by various grades of soft sand. Many places it was possible to travel in forth gear at about 80 km/h. Some places I had to shift back to lower gears, even first, but the Fortuner kept going.
Unfortunately all good things eventually come to an end. That night we camped in Kupfer Quelle Resort, a campsite in Tsumeb, on the road to the south. It must count as one of the best, if not the best, campsite I ever stayed in. Everything is of a very high quality and very well maintained.
On Thursday we headed east via Grootfontein and visited places like Tsumkwe, Gam and Eiseb. We finished in Eiseb,7 km from the Botswana border at 16:45. There was no camping facilities so we decided to head south west towards Harnas Lion Farm, about 100 km north of Gobabis. It was still about 200 km and we headed down a road that was not indicated on any of the maps or even on Google Earth. It turned out to be the best dirt road we traveled on this whole six weeks in Namibia. While it was still light enough I managed to drive over 120 km/h without ever feeling worried.
We reached Harnas at just after 19:00 and managed to get campsites for the night as well as dinner and breakfast. At night we were treated to a host of wildlife noises,such as a pride of lions roaring close to the campsite, albeit behind electrified fences, warthogs, baboons and various night birds.
It got so cold at night that Regina got a very bad cold which she is now nursing from our ample medicine chest.
Today we only had one official visit to do and in the process met a very friendly and generous Oom Johannes Jacobs, alias Boerbok, even though very few people will call him that to his face. Once again we had to travel a couple hundred kilometers to see one site but managed to reach the place where we stay in Windhoek at 16:40.
Next week we plan a short trip to Ai-Ais and vicinity but more about that later.
Wednesday we drove from Rundu to Tsumeb. It sounds very simple and in effect only 430km. But that is only the short of it. The sweet? My dear Dirk enjoyed driving on/in the road. Like he says; for the first time since we drive the Fortuner we really, REALLY needed the 4x4 function. This redeem us from so often you will hear the accusation: most of your city dwellers do not need a 4x4 vehicle, it’s just show off.
Firstly, this is a new road that they are busy building to the north of the country. A statistic; 70% of Namibia’s population stays in the northern part of the country. If you look on the map you will notice the B1 and B8 are tarred and a short road 300km (compared to rest) from Ondangwa to Ruacana. Therefore they need to upgrade and increase the roads to meet the needs of the people in the northern regions.
I was only hanging onto my seat for dear life. The real experience of driving the road was Dirk’s privilege. I will leave the description of the experience to him.
While I was hanging on to my seat, I had a lot of time to look around and perceive the environment. When we left the Cape, my friends encouraged me to journal as we are travelling – we realized I will have a lot of time to kill. Sitting in the passenger’s seat leaves you with a lot of “nothingness” to do. So what does this looking around entail?
The saying that jumps to my mind is, “window of opportunity”. Looking out of the vehicle’s windows is not much experience but an opportune time to take pictures and show the environment as it shoots past you. We have seen mountains with the most extraordinary rock formations, sand dunes of different structures and color, vegetation that varies from sparse ground coverings, to lush forest type of growth.
When we came close to Grootfontein on Tuesday, we drove over a hill and suddenly this vast, stretched out landscape of just trees enfold in front of us. From the West to the East the skyline is just one line drawn by trees of various heights and shapes but not a mountain of any sorts. For us Capetonians that was a sure first.
Dirk's version:
When you have to choose between a 550 km round trip on tar roads and a 110 km bash through unknown terrain on an unmapped road.... Not much of a choice, we go the unmapped road!!
On one map it was indicated as "Road under construction" but boy, was that an understatement, as we saw this road in all stages of being constructed, from just two fences indicating the outline of the road, through various stages of preparation all the way to eventually a tar surface. The best part of this for me was the fact that the access road, on which we drove, turned out to be a very challenging track through the sand. The road starts 25 km south of the Angolan border and runs perpendicular to a series of small dunes. That gives you a fairly solid hill followed by various grades of soft sand. Many places it was possible to travel in forth gear at about 80 km/h. Some places I had to shift back to lower gears, even first, but the Fortuner kept going.
Unfortunately all good things eventually come to an end. That night we camped in Kupfer Quelle Resort, a campsite in Tsumeb, on the road to the south. It must count as one of the best, if not the best, campsite I ever stayed in. Everything is of a very high quality and very well maintained.
On Thursday we headed east via Grootfontein and visited places like Tsumkwe, Gam and Eiseb. We finished in Eiseb,7 km from the Botswana border at 16:45. There was no camping facilities so we decided to head south west towards Harnas Lion Farm, about 100 km north of Gobabis. It was still about 200 km and we headed down a road that was not indicated on any of the maps or even on Google Earth. It turned out to be the best dirt road we traveled on this whole six weeks in Namibia. While it was still light enough I managed to drive over 120 km/h without ever feeling worried.
We reached Harnas at just after 19:00 and managed to get campsites for the night as well as dinner and breakfast. At night we were treated to a host of wildlife noises,such as a pride of lions roaring close to the campsite, albeit behind electrified fences, warthogs, baboons and various night birds.
It got so cold at night that Regina got a very bad cold which she is now nursing from our ample medicine chest.
Today we only had one official visit to do and in the process met a very friendly and generous Oom Johannes Jacobs, alias Boerbok, even though very few people will call him that to his face. Once again we had to travel a couple hundred kilometers to see one site but managed to reach the place where we stay in Windhoek at 16:40.
Next week we plan a short trip to Ai-Ais and vicinity but more about that later.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Flashback
Today my memory was given a jerk and I was taken back to November 1983.
We were living in Hermanus at the time and Regina was three months pregnant with Cecilia. One morning I got a call, the one that all guys who were still doing camps dreaded. The voice on the other side identified himself as a corporal from the regiment I was affiliated to. He then asked: "Why are you not there?" I replied: "Where is there?" "Rundu" was his terse reply.
It turned out that they used my old address in Pretoria to call me up for a three months camp in Rundu on, what was then, the South West African northern border. I was then promptly rerouted to the next camp which started that same week in Messina, close to the Rhodesian border in Northern Transvaal. I missed the best 3 months of Regina's pregnancy with Cecilia as well as all our family birthdays, Christmas and our anniversary.
Well enough of the past. Tonight we sleep in Rundu! That is why I went down memory lane. We arrived here at 18:30 when it was already dark so we did not see much. When we went to the restaurant at the Kavango Sands Lodge, where we stay, we heard a hippo grunt down at the river. Tomorrow morning we will have breakfast again overlooking the Okavango river.
We left Windhoek at 12:00 today and traveled through an unusual landscape. After Grootfontein the horizon kept falling away below the tree line. It created the illusion of a never ending see of trees. Because it is so flat the road is straight and level all the way to the horizon.
Tomorrow we start with another round of work in this area and should be back in Windhoek on Friday.
We were living in Hermanus at the time and Regina was three months pregnant with Cecilia. One morning I got a call, the one that all guys who were still doing camps dreaded. The voice on the other side identified himself as a corporal from the regiment I was affiliated to. He then asked: "Why are you not there?" I replied: "Where is there?" "Rundu" was his terse reply.
It turned out that they used my old address in Pretoria to call me up for a three months camp in Rundu on, what was then, the South West African northern border. I was then promptly rerouted to the next camp which started that same week in Messina, close to the Rhodesian border in Northern Transvaal. I missed the best 3 months of Regina's pregnancy with Cecilia as well as all our family birthdays, Christmas and our anniversary.
Well enough of the past. Tonight we sleep in Rundu! That is why I went down memory lane. We arrived here at 18:30 when it was already dark so we did not see much. When we went to the restaurant at the Kavango Sands Lodge, where we stay, we heard a hippo grunt down at the river. Tomorrow morning we will have breakfast again overlooking the Okavango river.
We left Windhoek at 12:00 today and traveled through an unusual landscape. After Grootfontein the horizon kept falling away below the tree line. It created the illusion of a never ending see of trees. Because it is so flat the road is straight and level all the way to the horizon.
Tomorrow we start with another round of work in this area and should be back in Windhoek on Friday.
Kruis en Dwars
Regina het hierdie een in Afrikaans gedoen
(Ons het Vrydag al in Windhoek aangekom maar was besig om admin op datum te kry. Ons vertrek later vandag weer op pad na Tsumeb en Rundu en wou darem net so iets oor laasweek sê)
Ons is weer terug in Windhoek. Ons was vanaf Maandag tot Vrydag op die pad. Dit was ‘n goeie 2 060km en het ons net mooi oor die breedte van die land geneem. Sossusvlei aan die Weste en Kalahari in die Ooste. Weereens is ‘n mens sterk onder indruk van toerisme en dat baie van die land se bedrywighede daarom draai. So onherbergsaam soos die landskap lyk, so kontrasterend luuks is die akkomodasie. Dis wel pragtig gekamofleer in boustyl sodat dit werklik pragtig met die omgewing saam smelt. Ja, dit beteken baie klip word vir mure gebruik en strooi vir dakke. Dit sit ook tussen rotse en duine versteek, sodat dit jou aan wegkruipertjie laat dink. Omdat klip en strooi gebruik word wat ‘n baie aardse karakter aan die buite kante van die geboue gee, is die binne kante ‘n verrassing. Keurige en stylvolle materiale en meubels word gebruik om die interior mee te versier. Die vermoeide toeris moet die ervaring van ‘n oase beleef.
Die volgende ontbyt was werklik ‘n besonderse ervaring. Nou moet ek ook sê, ironies genoeg het ons ‘n smaakliker ontbyt by ‘n minder luukse hotel gehad, nl by Stoneys Country Lodge op Gochas. (in die aand dink jy die naam moet goggas wees, want sowat van ‘n vlieende insek en motte geroesemoes het ons lanklaas beleef((Dirk voel die noem van muskiete moet ook ingevoeg word))
Ons het by Sossusvlei Lodge ontbyt gehad. Wel-wel, die gebou se styl het ons baie aan Morokko se boustyle laat dink. Dis in die rooisand van die Namib woestyn genestel. (Die woord nestel pas pragtig hier, want dit lyk of die sand die plek omvou. Omdat hulle dieselfde rooi kleur van die woestyn sand vir hulle mure gebruik, is dit ‘n in-een-vloei van gebou en woestyn)
Ja, die gebou se beskrywing en atmosfeer kan my nog ‘n hele rukkie besig hou. Natuurlik is daar ‘n swembad en as jy daarin sit is dit so gelee dat die uitsig daarvan jou in een laat vloei met die droe rivierbedding en woestynsandwalle, maar as jy verder om jou kyk is dit groen gras en heerlike koelte sambrele met palms. Verder is daar ook fontein met lopende water geskep om die koelte van die water in die gebou in te bring. Die eet-area is hoofsaaklik vir buite ingerig. Ook die stoep se randmuurtjie is van so aard dat jy die kleinvolk(akkedisse, grond-eekorings, allerhande voels, ens) van die woestyn kan dophou terwyl jy eet.) Maar nou moet jy die kos sien om dit te waardeer, moet ‘n mens besef, 99% van die produkte moet aangery word en dit klink my die meeste kom van SA af. Daar is jou gewone spek, eiers, wors en ontbytgrane, maar beslis meer van ‘n keuse as die normale. Vars vrugteslaai en om die keuse groter te maak, ook ‘n verskeidenheid van ingelegde soorte vrugte. Yoghurt, omtrent 4 geure om van te kies. Dan het jy die koue vleise en ook salm en nog ‘n vis wat ek nie ondersoek het nie. Die kase is die soorte waarvan die Europeers hou, soos bv. Emantaller, ens. Die brode is dan ook tenminste 5 verskillende soorte om van te kies. Die bruin en wit is nie hierdie vierkantige skoenboks soorte nie, nee, heerlike ovale, rondes en wat nog. Tot rog en hierdie donkermele soos die Duitsers van hou. Natuurlik vrugtesappe en weereens kan die Europeers nie kla nie, want die koffie is voortreflik. Natuurlik is die rooibostee ook orals en veral in hierdie deftige plekke, is dit ook nog in ‘n verskydenheid van keuses. Nou ja, toe ons daar klaar was, nodeloos om te sê, ons was amper pe geeet, maar darem goeie krag ingekry om die dag verder aan te durf.
Dit was ‘n rowwe dag, want ons het 7 punte besoek en opgeskryf. Die ritte tussen elkeen was nooit minder as ‘n 20+ kilos nie en sommige tot 80 km(die afstand is nie so indrukwekkend nie, maar dis paaie wat jy dikwels nie vinniger as 60km per uur op kan ry nie.) En die sand/stof is later net mooi oral in en oor jou. Genoeg dankbaarheid vir ‘n “aircon” kan ek nie hê nie. Groot was ons dankbaarheid toe ons by die laaste besoekpunt van die dag kom. Ons het gereken om te kamp, m.a.w. in die daktent slaap, maar toe bied hulle vir ons ‘n kamer aan teen kamptariewe. Mensig is dit ‘n verligting as jy nie eers kamp hoef op te slaan voordat jy die nag tot ruste kom nie.
Ons Fortuner gedra hom baie goed en ons het alles en nog ‘n klomp onnodige goed. Ons het alreeds twee van hierdie ammobokse in Windhoek gelos en na hierdie rit gaan ek nog twee verminder en ook hier in Windhoek los. Op die oomblik beteken baie van die goed net ‘n onnodige spasie vullers en dat jy so baie goed moet verskuif as jy kamp opslaan. Omdat ‘n mens die meeste van die tyd in sand en grond staan, probeer jy om die goed in die Fortuner te hou, maar dit laat my dink aan hierdie speletjies soos tetris, jy skuif die een ding om in ‘n ander se spasie te pas en netnou moet dit weer in ‘n ander spasie om iets anders oop te kry. So op die ou end voel ek soos ‘n veldmuis, voortdurend besig, maar daar gaan werklik min aan.
Dirk is in sy element - mensig, ek het net nog nie so iets aanskou nie. Ek wonder of ek al veel meer as ‘n 500km van die 5 000+ km gery het (by gesê, dit was hoofsaaklik net teerpaaie), want Dirk sou nie graag van sy grondpaaie wil afstaan nie. Gister het ons ‘n roete gery wat net gery kan word as jy ‘n 4x4 voertuig het. Dit was ‘n kortpad en glo my, die waarheid oor die hoeveelheid minder kilos of ure is nie debateerbaar nie. Dit is ‘n regte duine pad, die ene sand en net ‘n twee-spoor. Die aankomende verkeer het hulle eie spoor wat ‘n goeie paar meters weg is en net so hier en daar met mekaar kruis.
Nadat ek vir Dirk die stuk tot sover gelees het, was hy baie ontsteld oor my weergawe van hoeveel hy my toelaat om te bestuur. Regstellende aksie, ag ek meen, net regstelling (daardie stukkie is sommer net om te wys ek is nog ‘n Suid-Afrikaner in denke.) Iets wat ek nog nie gese het oor hierdie rondte nie, is dat Geoffrey, een van plaaslike manne, saam met ons moet ry. Omdat ons Fortuner so volgelaai is, moet hy in ‘n aparte voertuig ry. Hy ry hierdie paaie al baie jare en het etlike honderde duisende kilometers op Namibië se gronpaaie gery; hy kan sonder ‘n GPS die meeste plekke vind, en het dus baie gehelp deurdat hy voor gery het en so die paaie aangewys het. Nou hier kom Dirk se verweer; Geoffrey het selde minder as 100km per uur gery en dikwels 120, dit beteken jy moet jou ry ken – want dis GRONDPAAIE..... Nou ja, ek wou nie regtig meer bestuur het nie.
Ek het net weer soveel waardering vir vleis gekry. Eerstens pas dit my o-pos bloed so menu-pas as wat jy kan kry. Dit kan gedroog, gevries, gaar en klaar opgedis oral saam met jou gaan. Groente en vrugte kan nou maar net nie soveel “hammering” op ‘n lang-, rowwe-, stof-pad vat nie. En niemand gee om, om na ‘n uitputtende dag op die pad nog ‘n vuurtjie aanmekaar te slaan nie. So, het ons dan van die dae net op biltong, droewors, en braaivleis geleef; ons het darem moeite gedoen om drinkwater ook te he. ‘n Dieet van vleis en water, en dit doen ons nog net goed.
Vir my is dit ‘n paar dae van terugkeer tot normaal. Ek sal jok as ek se dis net lekker om so te ry. Verstaan my reg, die natuur is pragtig en wonderlik en om al die verskeidenheid te sien en te ervaar, maar dis vir baie kilos aan-een dieselfde. Ek voel soms verveeld en het nou al gevind dit werk ook nie om iets soos lees, skryf, rekenaarwerk, ens te doen nie. Wel, so is daar altyd iets om aan te werk.
(Ons het Vrydag al in Windhoek aangekom maar was besig om admin op datum te kry. Ons vertrek later vandag weer op pad na Tsumeb en Rundu en wou darem net so iets oor laasweek sê)
Ons is weer terug in Windhoek. Ons was vanaf Maandag tot Vrydag op die pad. Dit was ‘n goeie 2 060km en het ons net mooi oor die breedte van die land geneem. Sossusvlei aan die Weste en Kalahari in die Ooste. Weereens is ‘n mens sterk onder indruk van toerisme en dat baie van die land se bedrywighede daarom draai. So onherbergsaam soos die landskap lyk, so kontrasterend luuks is die akkomodasie. Dis wel pragtig gekamofleer in boustyl sodat dit werklik pragtig met die omgewing saam smelt. Ja, dit beteken baie klip word vir mure gebruik en strooi vir dakke. Dit sit ook tussen rotse en duine versteek, sodat dit jou aan wegkruipertjie laat dink. Omdat klip en strooi gebruik word wat ‘n baie aardse karakter aan die buite kante van die geboue gee, is die binne kante ‘n verrassing. Keurige en stylvolle materiale en meubels word gebruik om die interior mee te versier. Die vermoeide toeris moet die ervaring van ‘n oase beleef.
Die volgende ontbyt was werklik ‘n besonderse ervaring. Nou moet ek ook sê, ironies genoeg het ons ‘n smaakliker ontbyt by ‘n minder luukse hotel gehad, nl by Stoneys Country Lodge op Gochas. (in die aand dink jy die naam moet goggas wees, want sowat van ‘n vlieende insek en motte geroesemoes het ons lanklaas beleef((Dirk voel die noem van muskiete moet ook ingevoeg word))
Ons het by Sossusvlei Lodge ontbyt gehad. Wel-wel, die gebou se styl het ons baie aan Morokko se boustyle laat dink. Dis in die rooisand van die Namib woestyn genestel. (Die woord nestel pas pragtig hier, want dit lyk of die sand die plek omvou. Omdat hulle dieselfde rooi kleur van die woestyn sand vir hulle mure gebruik, is dit ‘n in-een-vloei van gebou en woestyn)
Ja, die gebou se beskrywing en atmosfeer kan my nog ‘n hele rukkie besig hou. Natuurlik is daar ‘n swembad en as jy daarin sit is dit so gelee dat die uitsig daarvan jou in een laat vloei met die droe rivierbedding en woestynsandwalle, maar as jy verder om jou kyk is dit groen gras en heerlike koelte sambrele met palms. Verder is daar ook fontein met lopende water geskep om die koelte van die water in die gebou in te bring. Die eet-area is hoofsaaklik vir buite ingerig. Ook die stoep se randmuurtjie is van so aard dat jy die kleinvolk(akkedisse, grond-eekorings, allerhande voels, ens) van die woestyn kan dophou terwyl jy eet.) Maar nou moet jy die kos sien om dit te waardeer, moet ‘n mens besef, 99% van die produkte moet aangery word en dit klink my die meeste kom van SA af. Daar is jou gewone spek, eiers, wors en ontbytgrane, maar beslis meer van ‘n keuse as die normale. Vars vrugteslaai en om die keuse groter te maak, ook ‘n verskeidenheid van ingelegde soorte vrugte. Yoghurt, omtrent 4 geure om van te kies. Dan het jy die koue vleise en ook salm en nog ‘n vis wat ek nie ondersoek het nie. Die kase is die soorte waarvan die Europeers hou, soos bv. Emantaller, ens. Die brode is dan ook tenminste 5 verskillende soorte om van te kies. Die bruin en wit is nie hierdie vierkantige skoenboks soorte nie, nee, heerlike ovale, rondes en wat nog. Tot rog en hierdie donkermele soos die Duitsers van hou. Natuurlik vrugtesappe en weereens kan die Europeers nie kla nie, want die koffie is voortreflik. Natuurlik is die rooibostee ook orals en veral in hierdie deftige plekke, is dit ook nog in ‘n verskydenheid van keuses. Nou ja, toe ons daar klaar was, nodeloos om te sê, ons was amper pe geeet, maar darem goeie krag ingekry om die dag verder aan te durf.
Dit was ‘n rowwe dag, want ons het 7 punte besoek en opgeskryf. Die ritte tussen elkeen was nooit minder as ‘n 20+ kilos nie en sommige tot 80 km(die afstand is nie so indrukwekkend nie, maar dis paaie wat jy dikwels nie vinniger as 60km per uur op kan ry nie.) En die sand/stof is later net mooi oral in en oor jou. Genoeg dankbaarheid vir ‘n “aircon” kan ek nie hê nie. Groot was ons dankbaarheid toe ons by die laaste besoekpunt van die dag kom. Ons het gereken om te kamp, m.a.w. in die daktent slaap, maar toe bied hulle vir ons ‘n kamer aan teen kamptariewe. Mensig is dit ‘n verligting as jy nie eers kamp hoef op te slaan voordat jy die nag tot ruste kom nie.
Ons Fortuner gedra hom baie goed en ons het alles en nog ‘n klomp onnodige goed. Ons het alreeds twee van hierdie ammobokse in Windhoek gelos en na hierdie rit gaan ek nog twee verminder en ook hier in Windhoek los. Op die oomblik beteken baie van die goed net ‘n onnodige spasie vullers en dat jy so baie goed moet verskuif as jy kamp opslaan. Omdat ‘n mens die meeste van die tyd in sand en grond staan, probeer jy om die goed in die Fortuner te hou, maar dit laat my dink aan hierdie speletjies soos tetris, jy skuif die een ding om in ‘n ander se spasie te pas en netnou moet dit weer in ‘n ander spasie om iets anders oop te kry. So op die ou end voel ek soos ‘n veldmuis, voortdurend besig, maar daar gaan werklik min aan.
Dirk is in sy element - mensig, ek het net nog nie so iets aanskou nie. Ek wonder of ek al veel meer as ‘n 500km van die 5 000+ km gery het (by gesê, dit was hoofsaaklik net teerpaaie), want Dirk sou nie graag van sy grondpaaie wil afstaan nie. Gister het ons ‘n roete gery wat net gery kan word as jy ‘n 4x4 voertuig het. Dit was ‘n kortpad en glo my, die waarheid oor die hoeveelheid minder kilos of ure is nie debateerbaar nie. Dit is ‘n regte duine pad, die ene sand en net ‘n twee-spoor. Die aankomende verkeer het hulle eie spoor wat ‘n goeie paar meters weg is en net so hier en daar met mekaar kruis.
Nadat ek vir Dirk die stuk tot sover gelees het, was hy baie ontsteld oor my weergawe van hoeveel hy my toelaat om te bestuur. Regstellende aksie, ag ek meen, net regstelling (daardie stukkie is sommer net om te wys ek is nog ‘n Suid-Afrikaner in denke.) Iets wat ek nog nie gese het oor hierdie rondte nie, is dat Geoffrey, een van plaaslike manne, saam met ons moet ry. Omdat ons Fortuner so volgelaai is, moet hy in ‘n aparte voertuig ry. Hy ry hierdie paaie al baie jare en het etlike honderde duisende kilometers op Namibië se gronpaaie gery; hy kan sonder ‘n GPS die meeste plekke vind, en het dus baie gehelp deurdat hy voor gery het en so die paaie aangewys het. Nou hier kom Dirk se verweer; Geoffrey het selde minder as 100km per uur gery en dikwels 120, dit beteken jy moet jou ry ken – want dis GRONDPAAIE..... Nou ja, ek wou nie regtig meer bestuur het nie.
Ek het net weer soveel waardering vir vleis gekry. Eerstens pas dit my o-pos bloed so menu-pas as wat jy kan kry. Dit kan gedroog, gevries, gaar en klaar opgedis oral saam met jou gaan. Groente en vrugte kan nou maar net nie soveel “hammering” op ‘n lang-, rowwe-, stof-pad vat nie. En niemand gee om, om na ‘n uitputtende dag op die pad nog ‘n vuurtjie aanmekaar te slaan nie. So, het ons dan van die dae net op biltong, droewors, en braaivleis geleef; ons het darem moeite gedoen om drinkwater ook te he. ‘n Dieet van vleis en water, en dit doen ons nog net goed.
Vir my is dit ‘n paar dae van terugkeer tot normaal. Ek sal jok as ek se dis net lekker om so te ry. Verstaan my reg, die natuur is pragtig en wonderlik en om al die verskeidenheid te sien en te ervaar, maar dis vir baie kilos aan-een dieselfde. Ek voel soms verveeld en het nou al gevind dit werk ook nie om iets soos lees, skryf, rekenaarwerk, ens te doen nie. Wel, so is daar altyd iets om aan te werk.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
More than Just Tourists
We have now spent four weeks in Namibia and about a week ago we started behaving less like visitors and more like residents.
Regina gets upset because I comment on some of the drivers doing things in a different way to what I expect them to do. Granted that I am not the most considerate driver, I find that local drivers have a very different perception of their personal space on the road. They will think nothing of it to pull into a street a couple of meters in front of me, but another time will start blowing their hooter when I pull into the road with, what I thought, ample space.
All things considered we are having a great time, except that the Stormers lost against the Bulls in the Super 14 Final last night. I found it interesting that Namibians have adopted the South African rugby teams and are very vocal supporters. Yesterday morning many were out in the malls and on the street with Bulls and Stormers kit and flags. You also regularly see Bafana and Springbok jerseys.
Our time in Windhoek will come to an abrupt end tomorrow morning when we leave for a couple of days to do field work in the Sossusvlei area. We are planning a five day trip to places with beautiful names like Solitaire, Sesriem and Wolwedans.
We should be back in Windhoek for the next weekend but I will try to update the Blog as we get Internet Access along the way.
Regina gets upset because I comment on some of the drivers doing things in a different way to what I expect them to do. Granted that I am not the most considerate driver, I find that local drivers have a very different perception of their personal space on the road. They will think nothing of it to pull into a street a couple of meters in front of me, but another time will start blowing their hooter when I pull into the road with, what I thought, ample space.
All things considered we are having a great time, except that the Stormers lost against the Bulls in the Super 14 Final last night. I found it interesting that Namibians have adopted the South African rugby teams and are very vocal supporters. Yesterday morning many were out in the malls and on the street with Bulls and Stormers kit and flags. You also regularly see Bafana and Springbok jerseys.
Our time in Windhoek will come to an abrupt end tomorrow morning when we leave for a couple of days to do field work in the Sossusvlei area. We are planning a five day trip to places with beautiful names like Solitaire, Sesriem and Wolwedans.
We should be back in Windhoek for the next weekend but I will try to update the Blog as we get Internet Access along the way.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Marking Time
After our last, very long post, this will be a very short one.
We are at present holed up in Arebbusch Travel Lodge south of Windhoek. I am spending some time at our office in town to catch up on admin and helping to sort out some IT issues. Regina has been visiting a couple of friends we met at Lewende Woord Bediening, a church quite close to where we stay.
The official part of our trip has been put on hold until further notice. The whole process seems to be like Elephant Sex; a lot of noise at a very high level and you have to wait for ever for the outcome.
This coming Wednesday we are planning to go to Swakopmund for a couple of days to complete another project that was started on my previous visit in March.
In the mean time, except for missing our family and friends, we are enjoying the weather and in general having a good time.
We are at present holed up in Arebbusch Travel Lodge south of Windhoek. I am spending some time at our office in town to catch up on admin and helping to sort out some IT issues. Regina has been visiting a couple of friends we met at Lewende Woord Bediening, a church quite close to where we stay.
The official part of our trip has been put on hold until further notice. The whole process seems to be like Elephant Sex; a lot of noise at a very high level and you have to wait for ever for the outcome.
This coming Wednesday we are planning to go to Swakopmund for a couple of days to complete another project that was started on my previous visit in March.
In the mean time, except for missing our family and friends, we are enjoying the weather and in general having a good time.
Friday, May 14, 2010
First time into the Bundus
On Tuesday we left Windhoek on our first mission into the unknown, at least it was unknown to us. We started on the road North via familiar towns like Okahandja, Otjiwarongo and Outjo.
From Outjo we followed the GPS directions to our first stop and headed west. We saw amazing landscapes and rock formations. One that we will remember for a while is the one remaining Vingerklip (Rock Finger) of Namibia.
On this picture it looks more like an upside-down canyon.Trying to reach our first official stop at Okonguarri, we were reminded that one cannot trust in only a GPS’s directions. The GPS sent us on the road closest to the farm but we could not find an entrance road. When we did find an entrance the roads became un-drivable, even for our trusted Fortuner. After battling for a couple hours to find the correct entrance, we realised that we need to get to a suitable camping site before dark.
We drove 25 km back to the Vingerklip Lodge to enquire about accommodation and were shocked at the rates; definitely aimed at attracting Euros rather than Rands. The only camping site was about 30 km away and it was getting dark, so we decided to bite the bullet and spent the night in style. We both agreed that it was well worth it.
After hobnobbing for a night we had to get back to reality and after a couple phone calls we found the missing farm and completed our work around midday. Our next official stop would be Mowani Mountain Camp in the Twyfelfontein area, about 120 km further west but more than 200 km per dirt road.
The road took us through Khorixas (pronounced: Korrigas) and past the Petrified Forest . We just had to find out what the tree were petrified of, so we made a quick stop and found a number of huge trees that were turned into rocks when they were buried between 2,000 and 6,000 years ago.
We were also surprised to see many Welwitschia plants dotted around the area.
When we arrived at Mowani Mountain Camp it was getting late and we immediately asked for a camp site to prepare for the night. The camp site was placed behind a hill of huge boulders, far from the lodge and was really stunning. We set up our field office and though we had good cell phone signal, could not connect to the Internet.
On Thursday, after taking care of the official business at Mowani Mountain Camp, we headed for the Twyfelfontein area where we visited the Twyfelfontein Country Lodge and also the Twyfelfontein Namibian Heritage site which is renowned for its extensive collection of rock paintings and engravings.
Our next stop was a little village called Bergsig where we met Pia Isaacks, a community councillor, who was very helpful. From here we headed West on the C39 to Springbokwasser, the gate to the Skelton Coast National Park. Once again we were surprised at the multitudes of Welwitschias next to the road.
At Springbokwasser we found very friendly officials at the gate and was offered a free camp site for the night. They have a fully featured campsite since the gate into, and out of, the Park is only open during daylight hours; travellers who arrive outside these hours are then usually given free camping for the night.
We managed to find a spot behind a pole fence where the wind was less severe. We set up camp and while preparing some steaks and a lovely vegetable stew, we enjoyed the changing colours of the setting sun. That night after midnight it got really cold; apparently it gets worse as you get closer to the coast.
After completing our business the next morning we headed back east on the C39 to Wêreldsend, where the IRDNC (Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation NGO) have a facility where the promote rural involvement with conservation. On the way there we saw some tracks in the road and later realised that is was Black Rhino spoor.
The road to our next stop, at Palmwag, must have some of the most amazing scenery for somebody who loves the rugged beauty of Namibia. I always thought these remote areas of Damaraland and Kaokoveld are more or less flat. In fact there are some stunning table top and sharp hills.
The region recently had extensive rains and most of the streams have left their mark on the roads. At Palmwag we set up camp for the weekend and got time to recuperate from all the driving on some very bumpy dirt roads. Our campsite had a shade net and we managed to make a private living area.
During the weekend we managed to bake a bread and banana bread in our metal box oven, as well as real vetkoek.
When we eventually left Palmwag on Monday, we stayed on the better roads and headed for Kamanjab. We were very impressed with the Sentra shop where one can find most things one might need on a trip into Damaraland. We stocked up on blitz, cool drinks, tin foil and yoghurt.
Our first official stop was south of Kamanjab on the Huab river and from there we went to Otjivasandu, a ranger station inside the restricted area of the Etosha Game park. Usually only registered tour operators get access to this part of Etosha. We were quite amused at some of the warning signs along the road.
From Otjivasandu we went looking for our next stop which was supposed to be 9 km away but found that we had to drive a 100 km detour to get there. We fortunately had another option and were greeted with open arms by Dano and his mother Suzaan at Rustig Toko Lodge. They insisted that we stay in a room and gave us a home cooked dinner and their special hospitality. We were treated to a sundowner trip and enjoyed the changing colours of sunset of the plains.
Our next journey took us on the back roads, about 10 km South of the Etosha Game Park’s southern fence to Eagle Tented Camp and Epacha Game Lodge. Once again we were surprised by the luxurious finishes of these lodges, so far from civilisation, as we know it.
We spent the night at Etosha Safari Camp, about 10 km South of the Andersson Gate into Etosha, and headed back to Windhoek the next morning. Thursday was a public holiday in Namibia, which gave us time to catch up on some admin.
We are staying at Arebbusch self catering chalets, on the outskirts of Windhoek, till we are sent on another excursion into some part of this spectacular country.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
On the Road
Since Sunday we could not post anything because we did not have Internet access at where we stayed.
On Sunday we left Springbok on our way to Windhoek. Crossing the border into Namibia was very easy. My Work Permit is still valid till mid June and Regina was given a Visitor's Visa for 90 days without much effort.
At the border we also discovered that Regina left her watch in the bathroom at the Kokerboom Motel. Fortunately Jeanine at reception was very helpful. She found the watch and will keep it in the safe till we return.
Rykie, our sister-in-law, give us some valuable tips learned from their many travels through southern africa. One of these tips became a reality to us on Sunday. She said that one should fill up with fuel where fuel is available; you never know if the next town or village will have any. We still had adequate fuel when we went past Noordoewer and headed for Grunau. When we stopped at the pump in Grunau we heard that they were fresh out of diesel!
The next diesel pump on our road was at Keetmanshoop, 170 km away. We had no option but to push on. Regina was driving and did her best not to exceed 100 km/h.
We eventually reached Keetmanshoop with 15 liter diesel to spare after a trip of 940 km from Durbanville.
We arrived in Windhoek later on Sunday.
We did not have proper cell phone reception or other Internet access at the B&B where we stayed so we could not update the blog.
Monday was spent at our office in Windhoek and managed to get a new bucket to use as a washing machine. On Tuesday morning, which happened to be a public holiday in Namibia, Regina and I left for a trip into parts of Damaraland and Kaokoveld.
So much for getting to Namibia. Now the fun started. We had nine lovely days in the real bundus of Namibia (apologies to the places we stayed over).
I will update the blog with information on the past week's travels as soon as we have proper Internet access again.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
The Begining
Yes, it eventually happened!
We started our journey to Namibia today at 12:00 SA time. It was two hours later than we would have preferred but still not bad compared the two months delay.
As we left Durbanville today we realised that our lives have now been reduced to all we could fit into and onto the Fortuner. It is amazing how little one require to live a reasonably normal life.
Our first pit-stop was at Kardoesie Farm stall in Piekeniers Kloof Pass before Citrusdal where we each enjoyed a late breakfast sandwich and freshly squeezed orange juice. Here we made the sad discovery that our washing "machine" (rectangular bucket with tight fit lid) as well as all our tupperware, that was inside it, had freed itself from underneath the tie-downs on the roof rack.
The story of this washing machine/bucket is worth a mention. Regina decided that we require a bucket with a TIGHT-FIT-LID. This would allow us to fill the bucket with water, soap and laundry, to be washed while we drive, by the motion of the vehicle.
Against all my expectations we found bucket with a TIGHT-FIT-LID at Plastics Warehouse that was so effective that nobody could open it, not even the manager at the shop. He told us that these buckets are used for mayonnaise in restaurants and they also battle to open it.
This lead to our friend Andre Nel and myself inventing a TIGHT-FIT-LID-BUCKET-OPENER. It is too complicated to describe but believe me it works. Regina firmly believes that I have been saved from using the TIGHT-FIT-LID-BUCKET-OPENER because only Andre and myself could use it. (Regina said she cannot use something if she cannot open it)
So, here we are in Springbok now with everything except our TIGHT-FIT-LID washing bucket and tupperware.
After a excellent steak at Tauren Steakhouse we have set up our first camp in Kokerboom Motel's caravan park next to the N7. After a tiring day we are now ready for bed.
We trust that our next post will be from Namibia.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Before it all Happens
We are about to embark on a rather exciting adventure. Part of the excitement stem from the fact that we have been waiting nearly two months to get going on this adventure and now it appears to be about to happen. More about the adventure later.
First a short explanation of the title and name of the Blog.
I always used to joke that if I ever write my memoirs it will be called: The Tale of the Pale Male. In South Africa the Afrikaner/white/pale male has gone through various stages of relevance to the community and I have experienced a couple of these stages. The new adventure we are about to embark on, fortunately includes my wife Regina as well and therefore the title: Tales of the Pales.
The name BunduBoere also has a bit of history behind it. My previous attempt at a Blog was done during my short stay in Casablanca, Morocco and was called Boer In Casablanca and I went under the name BoerInCasa.
BunduBoere refers to the the places where this upcoming adventure can take us. We have been given a job to be part of a telecommunication project in Rural Namibia. Some of the places we have to visit are really off the beaten track.
For most of the next six months we will be traversing the Rural areas of Namibia with our Toyota Fortuner which has been prepared for the occasion with a special load bay, where the second row of seats were. We now have space for eight ammo boxes and a fridge. We also have a roof-top tent where we plan to sleep most nights while on the road. Hopefully some customers will have pity on us and give us a room once in a while.
Part of the current excitement arise from the news that the trip could become a reality in the next week. We have been ready to embark on this adventure for about six weeks now. Every week there was some reason why it had to be postponed. Now it all appears to have been resolved and we plan to leave Cape Town for Namibia on Wednesday morning.
We hope to publish the next post when we are on the road.
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