Breakdown and Return to Windhoek

My second-to-last stage from Lüderitz was supposed to take me to Mariental to shorten the route to Windhoek as the final stage. That's about 550 km, and from Mariental to Windhoek another 230 km.

After about 500 km, about 50 km before Mariental, my car suddenly started shaking, slowing down, and before I had a chance to pull over and get off the road, it stopped right there... I looked at the fuel gauge, which I had diligently kept an eye on throughout the entire trip, still half full! But nothing was working anymore! So I turned on the hazard lights, got out, and flagged down a truck. But even he didn't know what to do and had to continue his journey. Shortly after, a tour bus passed by. The men there at least helped me push the car off the road and checked the engine compartment. None of them had any idea what could be wrong... So I called my car rental service. They arranged for a tow truck to pick me up from Mariental, which arrived about 45 minutes later.

Long story short, the tank WAS empty, even though the fuel gauge still showed half full! I'm already the second person this week that this has happened to, the mechanic from the car rental service said on the phone! We added some diesel fuel, et voilà, the car was running again! Great, when it shows half full, but it's actually empty! I was even going to refuel in Mariental because I thought you wouldn't make it to Windhoek with half a tank! And then it broke down 50 km before...

At least I had the most affordable and best-equipped campsite of the whole trip in Mariental! I had my own large bathroom with a private key, my own open-air kitchen, and even 4 power outlets to plug in my electrical appliances! Normally there's only one or two, or none at all in Spitzkoppe. Which was barely enough to plug in the fridge. But here! Luxury! =D

The last 230 km to Windhoek went smoothly, Frauke picked me up, I stayed with her for another night, and then it was already time to get up at 5 in the morning, get ready, and head to the airport for the flight to Cape Town!

Goodbye Namibia! It was still nice being in you despite everything! =D

Let's see how South Africa and Cape Town will be like now! =)