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Up at 5 AM for the start of our 20 day overland camping trip from Cape Town, South Africa to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, 15 of those days will be spent in Namibia. We have booked our passage with the African Routes tour company. African Routes is described as a large 'alternative travel' company and is based in Durban, South Africa. the cost of the trip is approximately 30$ per day per person for all equipment, transportation, and most food. We selected this method of travel to Victoria Falls because it seemed an easy and fun way to travel through remote and hard to get to areas of Namibia and Botswana.
Scooter and I are the first out to the specially converted bus, we meet Dylan, our driver/guide and Dizzy, our cook/Dylan's girlfriend. We decide that we will be in very capable hands as this is Dylan's fourth year with African Routes. As I mentioned our rig is a converted bus, on the roof rack are our tents and spare tires, in the back is our gear storage and under all the seats is food and cooler storage. Most of the other overland companies use specially converted Mercedes trucks. Imagine a brand new oversized garbage truck that has had windows and airline seats installed. The crew consists of 15 campers, two people short of a full bus. Staying at the St. John's Waterfront hostel last night were a couple from Germany, Torsten and Sabine, Jill and Ann from the US and Jan a Brit living in Amsterdam. On a trip like this, one of the most important and unpredictable elements are your fellow travelers--spending 20 days with 15 people is not to be taken lightly--we seemed to be in good company so far.
Our gear loaded we drove to the main tourist office in town on Adderly St. to meet the rest of the crew, who arrived slowly between 6:15 AM and 7 AM. There was Mark from England, Connie and Bergit from Germany, Petra and Sico from Holland, Denis and Liz from Sydney and finally Sam from Toronto. At first glance it appeared to be a fun crew to spend the next 20 days with even in the silence of the early morning. Dylan gave us a brief introduction but not much else "Hi my name is Dylan and this is Dizzy-welcome. Today will include a lot of driving, we will be stopping approximately every 200 kilometers or 2 hours for a break." I am hoping that everyone is so quiet because of the early hour of the day but for most of the day we sleep, break, eat, sleep, break, read but do not really interact with each other.
The border crossing to Namibia is about 4 PM, we do the usual line up for a stamp from the officials. It took us about 8-9 hours to drive out of South Africa from Cape Town on the western side of the country, which does not offer the spectacular landscapes like the rest of the country. Luckily, our campsite is at the Felix Unite campgrounds about 10 minutes from the border on the Orange River. I am pleasantly surprised to see cute thatch sitting areas surrounded by beautiful green grass overlooking a flowing river. We later find out that this is the only green grass in Namibia. By now, you must be asking, as we were, where in the hell is Namibia?
Namibia is located on the west coat of the African continent just above South Africa, it seems to be fairly large especially if you are driving. The weather is super arid (never rains) except along the coast, it has several geography's; the Namibia dessert, the coastal area, and bush country. Namibia was formerly a German colony known as German South West Africa until it was granted to South Africa in 1921 and eventually given its independence in 1990. Currently 1.6 million people live here and the economy is dominated by diamond and uranium mining, livestock herding , fishing and tourism.
Everything for camping is provided by African Routes. We however, have been carrying our three man tent for the last seven months and planned on using it. Scooter and I set up our own little tent while everyone else received lessons on how to set up the African Routes tents-very nice 6 by 8 tents that even allowed you to stand up and change your clothes. We were tempted to use the bigger tent, but Scooter who has been carrying our portable and rarely used home would not hear of it. If you were not part of a couple you could have your own tent as was the case with Mark or share like Jan and Sam did. With camp set up we all relaxed and prepped a spaghetti dinner. It is a little awkward getting to know 15 new people all at once. It was bound to be interesting because how many people do you know that actually plan a twenty day camping trip through the desert. There was still a lack of mixing and conversation but we were in the process of learning names and getting to know each other. The crew from the US, Canada, England and Australia grouped together for a quick set of introductions. Finally, after dinner, Dylan our guide/driver did a more formal orientation reviewing the full itinerary, advising us of optional activities, then specifically reviewing the next day's activities. The bar was a friendly outdoor affair where we chatted for an hour or so before turning in.
The Orange River begins in South Africa's Drakensberg Mountains forming a natural border between Namibia. It was named for Prince William V of Orange, a Dutch monarch in the 1700s. Most people come to this unpopulated and scenic river for canoe trips as we did, one day is enough. We had a leisurely start time of 8 AM to be on the river by 9:30 AM. Two other overland groups were in camp and both were canoeing the river today. The Orange River winds through a canyon with South Africa on your left and Namibia on your right. The day is clear, warm, and bright blue. We receive some instructions for our fiberglass canoes and follow the current slowly down the river--sometimes we paddle sometimes we float. Having lost all sense of time , it may have taken four hours to arrive back at our campsite. The river was easy to navigate and very pretty. There were three little rapid areas that woke you up about every hour. Back at camp, everyone just relaxed by reading, writing or sunning. Scooter was hard at work on his computer happy to find power at the campground. He was also busy assisting the owner with his computer. Even though we are in a very remote location the government has been installing fiber optics for telecommunications and the Internet has become a valuable business tool. Dinner that night was prepared by Dizzy with help from two rotating volunteers day who are on slice/dice and cleanup duty. The overland trip requires participation from the crew which means helping to load/unload and setting up your own tent. We dined on meat and rice. Warning: these are not gourmet meals. Later, at the bar we find out that Petra and Sico are on their honeymoon and that Torsten and Sabine are traveling for 1 year through Southern Africa, Australia, and the US. Felix Unite http://www.felixunite.com
The far south of Namibia was naturally our first area of exploration from the Orange River to Ai-Ais and on to Hobas. On the road by 7:30 AM means getting up at 6. If you are not an early morning person than camping is probably not for you. Camping is generally an early morning activity, which means you go to bed when it gets dark and it you get up when the sun comes up. The first stop of the day is Ai-Ais, translated means scalding hot. This is a hot spring resort located in the Fish River Canyon. It is a small commercialized area seemingly in the middle of nowhere, as most places in Namibia seemed. The resort facilities are better than we expected and the indoor hot tubs and pools are nicely done. The area has indoor and outdoor springs, whirlpools and swimming pools. It was very well presented and the water was HOT! We all played around here for a couple of hours before driving another hour to Hobas. Each day we have an activity with the final destination of the day or new campground before it gets dark. Most of the destinations are not actually towns, but a private or national park campground which in Namibia is enough to get you on the map as a tourist destination. We have not passed a town since entering Namibia two days ago. Hobas is another nice campground located 10 kilometers from the hiker's viewpoint at the north end of the canyon, we set up camp, eat cucumber and tomatoes and cheese sandwiches for lunch and get ready for a 2 PM hike into the Fish River Canyon.
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| This page last changed on 29-Nov-2006 02:10:36 EST by 213.42.21.80. |
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