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This is the second blog post regarding my trip to Namibia and Botswana in May/June, picking up where I left off in the first blog post, in Solitaire, near the Namib-Naukluft National Park and the Sossusvlei dunes.
Tuesday, MAY 22nd
Got up early, and got ready to have breakfast at the Solitaire Desert Ranch when its buffet opened at 7 AM. I checked out and drove north towards the Erindi Private Game Reserve, where I would be camping for the first time during the trip. Not long after leaving Solitaire, I crossed the Spreetshoogte Pass. It was quite a steep climb, but definitely doable with a 4×4.
On the way towards Erindi, I drove through Windhoek. I did so for two reasons, it was faster, and I needed to get groceries as there was no restaurant at the campsite in Erindi. I was in Windhoek around noon, so I had lunch in downtown Windhoek. It was also a good opportunity to refuel the car, after which I went grocery shopping.
I continued north and arrived at Erindi shortly before 4 PM. The Erindi Private Game Reserve is one of the biggest privately owned game reserves in Namibia, covering over 70,000 hectares. As a private property, they can offer a bigger range of activities than national parks, set their own rules and they have more control over which animals are inside the reserve.
After arriving, I went over to the waterhole by the camp’s chalets, to see which animals were around. Immediately I spotted a few giraffes, two hippos and plenty of antelope.
Two hippos with just their eyes and noses above the water.
I asked in the reception about the guided game drive in the morning, which would occur at 7 AM. At that time I was the only person that had booked, and with a minimum of four people, the receptionist could not confirm whether it would take place. She told me to come back shortly before the reception closes at 8 PM.
I walked back to my campsite, consisting of a driveway with a picnic table next to the so-called ablutions block, which at Erindi was more of the luxurious kind. The ablutions block was a small hut housing a shower and a bathroom inside.
The hut was private and quite spacious. Theoretically I could have laid out my sleeping bag inside, but that wasn’t really what it was intended for. I set up the tent on top of my car before it started getting dark.
By dinnertime however, it had already become dark, and obviously I was cooking food outside. Fortunately there was an electric stove which plugged into an outlet just above a table on the outside of the ablutions block. There was even a sink, so it was a lot more practical than having to set up the gas bottle and cooker that I had in the trunk of the car. Because it’s winter in southern Africa in May, it was pitch black outside at 6:30 PM.
Being outside with the lights on, and with the smells from cooking food, there were quite a lot of bugs crawling all over the plate and the stove. Hey, extra protein right?
After dinner I walked over to the reception five minutes before 8 PM, but the reception had already closed. Being over by the chalets, I checked out the adjacent waterhole. It was initially empty as well. Then suddenly two elephants appeared, and with them came several more animals, particularly quite a few oryx antelope.
After enjoying the wildlife and using the WiFi hotspot near the waterhole, I returned to my campsite and went to bed in the tent. Because of the winter and the desert landscape, temperatures would dip into the high single digits Celsius (~45-50 Fahrenheit) during night. Obviously I was sleeping in a tent, but under a sleeping bag. I had no idea whether I should keep my pullover on or not. I decided on keeping it on, and I woke up sweating once during the night.
Wednesday, May 23rd
Got up early enough to grab some breakfast in time to attend the morning game drive if it was happening. In contrast to the temperature in the sleeping bag, I was shivering while eating breakfast outside (still wearing the pullover), as the sun had not yet risen. Fortunately a couple had signed onto the game drive, and the camp decided to perform it with just the three of us. It was a great experience thanks to an enthusiastic guide. We saw too many animals to list them all. The highlight was seeing a male lion with a kill, as well as a crocodile swimming in a lake.
The lion was sleeping next to his kill, but our vehicles woke him up.
After returning around 10 AM, I packed up the roof-mounted tent and drove to Mt. Ejo, north of Erindi. Why? For dinosaur footprints! That’s right, thanks to the arid climate and the special rock materials, dozens of 219 million years old dinosaur footprints have been uncovered at a farm in the region. Yes, they are that old, confirmed by carbon-dating.
They most probably belong to the two species known as ceratosaurus and syntarsus. The footprints are found on a private farm belonging to a German-speaking Namibian of European descent, who is more than happy to tell you the story of the place and let you in, for a small fee.
The farm was about an hour’s drive from the campsite, and I returned to Erindi for lunch. Just in time to finish eating and cleaning the dishes before an afternoon game drive.
Erindi does actually allow self-drives around signposted trails in the reserve. However, I much preferred a guided game drive. The chance of spotting wildlife was much higher with a group and particularly a guide, who could also tell you more about the animals we encountered. Additionally, sitting in a passenger seat allowed me to concentrate entirely on scanning for wildlife, instead of having to focus on the road. It goes without saying that the trails running through a game reserve are at times very tricky. Asphalt? Forget about it. All sand, rocks and mud. As an inexperienced 4×4 driver driving alone, a guided game drive was the obvious choice. On the afternoon game drive, among other animals, we saw two male kudu antelope fighting for territory or dominance within a herd.
We spotted a group of lions, a mother with three cubs. The cubs were a bit apprehensive when we arrived with our loud vehicle, but the mother stayed calm throughout.
Eventually the cubs realized we weren’t there to hurt them, and they laid back down and relaxed. The mother even rolled onto her back, maybe to scratch it against the ground.
Later, we also stopped by the same lone male lion from earlier in the day, now eating part of his kill.
Upon returning to camp, I had to set the tent up again. I cooked some dinner, and afterwards stopped by the waterhole again. It wasn’t quite as busy as the previous night. Just a few birds and an occasional thirsty antelope or two stopping by for a drink.
Thursday, May 24th
Checked out of Erindi, and drove north via Spitzkoppe to Brandberg, where I would be spending two nights. I had planned this stop specifically to explore the Damaraland region of Namibia. Here, there are certainly plenty of animals, but I wanted to see some special landscapes and unique rock art engravings, which the region is known for.
About 30 minutes south of Spitzkoppe, a man in overalls next to a stranded car was waving at me. Now, quite a few people stand on the side of the road in Africa and wave at you to hitch a ride. But this man definitely wasn’t hitchhiking. His name was Gustav, a very Germanic name, but he was a local black man. It turned out a stone had hit his gas tank underneath and punctured it. He was able to stop the hole with some wax, but not until all the petrol had leaked out. Evidently this had happened the previous night, and the group of three had slept in the car.
He knew the phone number of a local who could bring out a jerry can of fuel, but he didn’t have the money to pay for more fuel than what was originally in the tank. Namibia is one of the more wealthy and developed African countries, sure, but it’s still Africa, so there’s rampant poverty. All Gustav asked for was 150 Namibian Dollar (~12 USD) to pay for the fuel.
He also asked if I had any leftover food, as one of the passengers in his car was sick. All I had was a pack of biscuits, which I gave him. I double-checked with Gustav if there was anything more I could do for him, but he assured me he would now be fine. After I drove away from him, I kept thinking I hadn’t done nearly all I could. I suppose other than giving him more money or keeping him company, there wasn’t much more I could have done. What sickened me was realizing how long Gustav had waited for help of any kind, as this happened in the evening. The road to and from Spitzkoppe is relatively busy, but it is almost entirely tourists driving on the road, as the local population is poor and very few people have vehicles.
I got there at 11 AM and I was apparently the first person to stop and help. I saw one person drive past him further down the road in front of me, and in the 5 minutes I spent there, another car speeded past. Seriously, you can’t tell me you can afford flights to Africa, rental cars, fuel and campsites/lodges, but can’t afford to help an African man in desperate need of help. For most travelers in this region, 12 dollars isn’t much. For Gustav, it could have meant the difference between life or death, particularly with a sick passenger in the car.
At Spitzkoppe itself I only stopped for pictures. It’s a very steep mountain so you need climbing gear to get up there. A simple hike isn’t possible, but it’s an impressive natural sight nonetheless. I continued towards the city of Uis for fuel both for my stomach and the car’s gas tank. I ate lunch at a motel in the city, one of the only open restaurants in town.
About 45 minutes west of Uis, in a remote location just north of Brandberg, Namibia’s tallest mountain, was my destination for the next two nights. I had actually booked camping at the Brandberg White Lady Lodge (named after a local rock painting), but I found the facilities around the campsites to be much too basic. Granted, I just came from Erindi, where the facilities at the campsites are borderline luxurious for camping. The Brandberg White Lady Lodge offers more than just camping, and I had anyway booked breakfast and dinner at the lodge. Meals were not included in the price for a campsite, but they were included for guests staying in their chalets. Because of that, the price difference was quite small, so I decided to upgrade to a chalet for an immense increase in comfort.
I did however have to wait for check-in due to maintenance. I decided to wait near the reception. The lodge is spread out over a fairly large area. Although a 20-minute walk was certainly possible, the wild animals in the area made driving a better choice.
Got the key just past 5 PM, brought my bags to the chalet, then drove back to reception. I took a quick swim in the pool, and hung around for long enough to photograph the sunset from a designated seating area on a nearby hill.
Dinner was served just after that. During dinner, the kitchen staff and waiters did a musical performance, singing local folksongs.
Friday, May 25th
Friday morning I drove for a couple of hours north to Twyfelfontein. It’s an area known for its many rock engravings made by Bushmen thousands of years ago. On the way there, I passed a very interesting sign on the side of the road.
You don’t see that every day.
The name Twyfelfontein is Afrikaans for “doubtful spring”. People have been here for thousands of years, but the water wasn’t always enough to sustain a permanent settlement. Some of the rock paintings are estimated to be up to 5000 years old. However, this is based on the age of other archaeological finds in the area. The engravings themselves can’t be accurately dated. The engravings are believed to be both maps and a “catalogue” of animals in the area.
Some animal depictions have their footprints carved next to them, likely as a means to teach young hunters to track them down. There are hundreds of engravings here. One of the most interesting was a lion engraving, with a 5-toe paw at the end of its tail. Lion paws only have 4 toes, and certainly none at the tail, so it is believed this represents a shaman.
A shaman was a medicine man for the Bushmen. He was believed to have magical powers to change shape and identity.
Afterwards I drove over to nearby the nearby Organ Pipes and Burnt Mountain. The Organ Pipes are just next to Burnt Mountain. They are rock formations that look a bit like a musical organ, at least if you have a wild imagination.
The Burnt Mountain is literally just a few adjoining hills that consist of black rock, which looks very much charred, hence the name.
For lunch, I drove over to the nearby Twyfelfontein Country Lodge, which offered a decent buffet. I tried unsuccessfully to find a sinkhole named “Wondergat”, which was supposed to be along one of the gravel roads near Twyfelfontein. Instead, I continued towards “Petrified Forest”, which turned out to be not one location, but several spread out along the main gravel road to Khorixas. As the name indicates, these are trees that have become stone.
The trees themselves were uprooted over 200 million years (yes!) ago in central Africa. They washed south due to currents created by an Ice Age. Plenty of these trees have come to rest in the Damaraland. The climate and chemical reactions occurring in the soil, under which the trees were buried, have depleted most of the minerals in the trees.
You can still see tree rings, and the outside looks like bark. Other than that, it now resembles solid stone more than a piece of wood.
I visited one unofficial location showcasing petrified trees, which happened to be the first sign on road towards Khorixas. You could park your car and walk around a hill to spot some of the trees. Unfortunately, it looked like they had been moved away from their origin. The tree remains were often arranged in unnatural piles. Further east, closer to the city, was the official Petrified Forest National Monument, which is where I took the pictures above. At this spot, you were given a guide, and the trees are uncovered by natural erosion of the soil only. Due to the national monument status, in this location the trees are neither dug out nor moved from their original place.
Drove back through Khorixas to get more fuel and some water. The reason for the latter was a kid that I had seen a few times. He was always standing on the corner of the main gravel road between Khorixas and Uis, and the gravel trail leading towards Brandberg and the BWLL. His family seemed to live in a wooden hut under a tree right by the corner. He would always carry an empty bottle and gesture like he wanted some water. I had bought an extra two litre (half gallon) bottle for him. Only his mom was there when I drove past. I stopped and asked if they wanted some water, but for some reason she refused it. Reaching the lodge just around sunset, I rested for a short while at my chalet before driving to the reception for dinner.
The kitchen staff once again sang folksongs after they had served the main course.