Thursday, January 20, 2011

SOUTHERN NAMIBIA

Feral horses mountainous Namibia

Feral horses near Aus

Friendly baker at Solitaire

Namibia desert

Luderitz Grosse bucht beach
SOUTHERN NAMIBIA

Theo peeled the Hoodia plant and we chewed it.  My mouth filled with a liquorice flavoured foam and the more I chewed the more it lathered.  I felt like a rabid dog, drooling at the mouth and the heat was enough to make a person want to strip naked and kill.  I couldn’t swallow the cactus foam but what the heck I had diarrhoea and didn’t have an appetite anyway.  Our freezer couldn’t cope with the heat either and 20 kg of vacuum packed meat started defrosting but quite frankly my dear, I didn’t give a dam.  Cold water and beer was all I wanted.  F.Y.I. they didn’t inspect our truck at Vioolsdrif border post.

We followed the Orange River on the Namibian side for 2 days, stopping every now and then to lie in the luke warm water, clothes and all, to cool off.  The greenery on its banks was a pleasant relief.    We arrived in Luderitz and camped on the beachfront for free with running water, loos, braai spots and best of all it was lovely and cool at the coast.  After living on gallons of water for 2 days, I’ve decided what the heck, I might as well make an effort about my body which has turned to shit, so I’ve started doing toning exercises on the beach.  I feel great and have a new zest for life.  Heck I even feel like going for a jog or a swim or singing at the top of my voice.  I might end up with the body of a wrinkly 16 year old and if I walk around with my arms crossed behind my head, I even have perky boobs - well almost.
After 4 days of relaxing, we headed north towards Walvis Bay along the gravel road which was 800 km through the desert.  The mountainous landscape is spectacular.  You drive over one mountain range only to find another one stretched out in the distance from east to west as far you can see. They range from purple to pink to brown and rocky and some seem as though they are fixed to the earth in a sea of mist from the mirage created by the shimmering heat.  Its hot, rainy season now in January (yeeha hardly any other tourists) so we took a fat chance opting for the gravel road, which when dry is in excellent condition but wet and slippery mud could be a different story.  The map showed towns about every 200 km so initially I didn’t know what all the hooha was about to make sure you are prepared for the desert.  We soon discovered that places like Beta, Helmeringhausen, Sesriem and Solitaire, all indicated on the map, aren’t towns but rather just a fuel stop and shop selling essentials like expensive cold beer and offered overnight facilities.  The friendly people all speak Afrikaans which made me feel quite at home as apposed to being in a foreign country and Theo fell in love with the jolly baker at Solitaire selling seed bread and delicious confectionary.    We passed about 6 cars the whole 800 km’s, and yes if you get caught in the desert without water or have an accident, you definitely could die.  Our cell phone doesn’t work out here but we do have a ship to shore radio although I don’t know how it works yet so if Theo does have a heart attack from all the chilli bites which he made from the excess of potjiekos meat which bounced around in the caravan drying on a rack as we headed north, I’ll have to dig into the recesses of my brain to recall the first aid taught to us a year ago. 
You don’t see much life except lots of Springbok and Gemsbok which have adapted to the harsh environment by being able to survive at body temperatures 5 degrees higher than normal without frying their brains.  Near Aus, we saw 100 or so skinny feral horses who had survived the tough dry winter and we passed surprisingly green beef and sheep farms where it had recently rained.  Further north we saw a few harems of Zebras nibbling on small tufts of grass, sprouted from recent rains but mostly we drove through dry gravelly landscape, beautiful to look at but difficult to survive in.  I was reminded of the koue bokkeveld back home in SA except this was on a much bigger scale.
We arrived in Walvis Bay and walked the town which had all the same franchise shops as in SA and where everyone used rands and spoke Afrikaans.  We searched for a bar and drank cold draught on tap and of course the mandatory Jugermeister. 
Tomorrow is another day to tackle my non existent six pack and perky boobs on the miles and miles of beachfront stretched out before me.             

Thursday, January 6, 2011

CROSSING OVER


CROSSING OVER
Well we’ve left Kleinzee and I’m sure I left a little of my soul behind as well as chunks of my kidneys.  Keith on the other hand also left a part of himself behind over the new years holidays and now his false teeth are floating amongst the crayfish on the ocean floor.  Don’t ask.  I’m not sure why he had his mouth open under the water, its not like there are too many sharks to scream at but anyway he spent new years legless and toothless.
Theo and I were really privileged to spend enough time in Kleinzee to get to know the locals and find out what makes the town tick.  Our hearts went out to Hans and Hanneline whose daughter died in a car accident on her way home from the fishing club 2 days before Xmas. We were invited to spend Xmas day with Karen and Rocky at their beachfront spot, Brazil, with a bunch of other people.  Everyone brought food for the table and we had a good old traditional Xmas, our second one on the road.  Linda, Keith, Jacky, Dodgy and the boys arrived for new year and we finished off working at the Crazy Crayfish diner.  
So now it’s just Theo, me and the heat.  Yesterday it was 47 deg C. We are camping at Vioolsdrift on the Orange River (SA side) for 2 days to try and cool off but it’s not possible.  It’s so hot that pouring water over your head every 10 minutes doesn’t cool you down enough unless you use your ice cold drinking water.   It’s so hot we waited until 10 ‘o clock last night to start the braai fire and then it was still 38 deg frigging Cel.  It’s so hot that during the day you loose your appetite totally and we have a lot of meat to cook up before crossing the border.  And I still have to eat the friggin Hoedia plant before going through customs tomorrow morning.  Woopee. It’s so hot that I don’t even need to pee even though I’m drinking loads of water which sweats out before it reaches my bladder.  It’s so hot that sex is not possible since we would just slide off each other and shoot into different directions. It’s so hot my tan melted off.  It’s so hot I can barely stand the heat from my laptop right now and its sliding off my lap from the sweat on my legs.  It’s so hot that the chickens lay hard boiled eggs around here. Its so hot that the fish Theo tried catching in the Orange river came with slap chips. Its so hot my micro chip has malfunctioned and I can’t think straight anymore.
This could be my last post for a while since I’m not sure how I will be going online in Namibia but hopefully I’ll get access to WIFI and will still be able to blog.     
Anyway its time for me to pour water over my head so cheerio for now.






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