Tuesday 3 March 2015

January 1st - 19th: Namibia

My original plan for the first couple of weeks of 2015 was to travel by road up through Mozambique to find (amongst other things) an elusive Mozambican xylophone virtuoso. But as many of you will know, I made a decision to not really make too many plans, in favour of just letting my trip evolve.  So it was, that on 1st January 2015 I found myself not on a bus to Mozambique, but instead on a plane to Windhoek, Namibia on the opposite side of the continent.

On arrival in Windhoek,  I made my way to the Chameleon backpackers' hostel and met up with a Dutch girl - Sandra - who I had met briefly in South Africa and had been in Namibia for a week already. Sandra and I decided to hire a 4x4 with camping gear and embark on a two week Namibian road trip.

Namibia is an incredibly beautiful country; probably the most beautiful country I have ever visited. It has mountains, canyons and desert and a huge blue sky with the odd little fluffy cloud in it. It is home to a relatively tiny number of humans - just over 2 million (there are 4 times that many in London alone) - which means that you can drive for hours without passing another car. It is also one of the few places left on earth where many large animals live outside reserves and alongside the local people - including lion, elephant, black rhino, leopard and giraffe.

Below - in words and pictures, but mostly pictures - is beautiful Namibia.


On the road 
Driving in Namibia was so much fun. The roads ranged from smooth, fast tarmac ones (the minority) to very bumpy, very slow gravel ones (the majority!) Considering the road conditions, we were astonishingly lucky to not suffer from even one flat or burst tyre on our journey! Camping on the roof was also a great experience and surprisingly comfortable. 








Arnhem bat caves, Fish River Canyon and the Orange River
On our first day of travelling, we headed to Arnhem to meet some bats. It was a very dark, very dusty and VERY smelly experience! 






Kolmanskop and wild horses (and friends!) 
Kolmanskop is a deserted (in every sense of the word) diamond-mining town established by German settlers in the early 1900s. The last settlers left in 1954, after which the sand dunes, snakes and brown hyenas took over. Eerie and wonderful. 







Sesriem and Sossussvlei
An incredibly beautiful and unique landscape and the place where I climbed my first sand dune (you can see my footprints in the second photo) - a disconcerting, disorientating, exhausting but exhilarating experience.






Swakopmund, Desert tour and Cape Cross
It was amazing to meet the creatures that make their homes in Namibia's varied and often apparently inhospitable environments.  







Twyfelfontein Cave Engravings
Twyfelfontein is a World Heritage Site. The cave engravings there are at least 6,000 years old and were made by Stone Age hunter-gatherers as maps, teaching tools or part of Shamanic rituals. 





A Himba homestead
The Himba people live in the North of the country. We managed to find a local guy who was happy to take us to a remote Himba village and introduce us to the villagers there. They were incredibly welcoming and it was a huge privilege to spend the afternoon in their village, finding out about their way of life and their traditions and receiving some wisdom from the chief! 





Etosha National Park
Because you can never see too many animals...







:)
X

5 comments:

  1. Hi Grace,

    Just read your new blog post. I'm really pleased that you are having an enjoyable time. Your pictures of the different landscapes and animals are amazing! I especially like the sealions and the eerie town that's filled with sand!

    Uni is going well. I've just realised that my lectures and seminars finish at the end of March, but I still have a few essays due around the end of April. After that, I don't return to uni until late September - I didn't realise my summer break was that long!

    Rosalind, Max and I are due to take part in a speech for an event organised by Express for World Autism Awareness Day (2nd April) at the Rose Theatre.

    Best wishes,

    Joe.

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  2. Hi Joe,
    So nice to hear from you.

    I am really glad Uni is still going well - I can't believe you get such a long summer break! Hopefully Tom and Annabel can find you some things to do to keep you busy!

    The speech you are doing with Express sounds really cool. I hope it goes well (I know it will) - I would love to see a video of it if it gets filmed.

    I have seen some amazing landscapes so far on my trip. The eerie deserted town was very cool and very different from rainy season in Malawi which is what I am now experiencing!

    I am hoping that I will have the Internet for a few days more now I am in a town so can write a few more posts as I am quite behind!

    Good luck with your speech and Uni. Pass on my best wishes to your parents too.

    Best wishes,
    grace

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  3. Hi Grace over,
    Sorry that I haven't contacted you sooner, really sorry.

    I'm so happy to see that you are having such a marvellous time and I cannot wait until you come back, so that you can tell your exciting adventures and your experiences.

    Miss you and I hope all is going well

    Zaki x

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  4. Hello Zaki Woodbridge!
    Simply marvelous to hear from you! ;)
    All is good here - I am in Malawi at the moment, which is beautiful.
    Hope all is good with you?
    Please pass on my best wishes to Joanna Woodbridge too!
    Take care,
    grace.
    X

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  5. Good to hear that your ok,
    Cool have a wicked time.

    All good here and I will tell my mum that you sent your best wishes.

    Ok, speak to you soon and take care of yourself as well xx

    ReplyDelete