Road closed

6.4.

First a quick update from yesterday: This is the fort on whose grounds we are camping, and for €15 we were allowed to use the sanitary facilities of room No. 1. We could even go into the pool: it looked reasonably okay - who knows how much chemistry was in it…. Who knows😁 When it’s 40° in the early afternoon, you don't care!

We start today early around 8:30. According to guard Reinhard, who is punctual in the morning standing in front of our car and likely expecting a tip (which he does receive), it’s about 2 hours to Opuwo, maybe 2.5. The road must be good, he says...

We can only 🤣🤣🤣. The road is pure madness! I get out several times to find the best route over gigantic stones, massive holes or muddy stretches and to instruct Wilfried. He drives awesomely, and we both send up several prayers who knows where, thanking that our travel companions didn’t come along! That would have resulted in tears and refusals to drive even one meter further.

Then suddenly:

Oh dear, what to do? Deep mud! But there was a truck in front of us, where did it go?

It must have passed through here too! So, we try it! I walk through the mud and see where it is relatively firm and position myself with the action camera at the end of the trouble spot. Wilfried takes a run-up as best as he can and drives through, splashing mud. A stone falls from our hearts! 😅

Many more very critical spots follow, which our car manages to handle incredibly, thanks to a great driver and a good co-driver. Then after about 4 hours we finally arrive in Opuwo. But what does it look like here? The streets are full of mud and water, as are the municipal campsites. We check one out and wave it off - you can't camp here! So where to go? I find in a travel guide the Country Lodge outside of Opuwo. It is located on a hill and seems to have been spared the devastation. We get a spot there and are surprised that we are not the only ones here: there’s another brave couple with a 4x4 similar to ours, and later a group of 3 vehicles arrives. So, there are still adventurers out there!

Here are a few impressions from the journey: we are here in the pitch-black Namibia, and you really can't find any white people anymore!

We will make a nice fire here today and grill something. And if another storm comes: We are on the hill, thank God!