Week 10 - Namibia, South Africa

Monday, January 28, 2019

We left Swakopmund and headed south through Walvis Bay before heading inland and into the desert. We crossed the barren Namib-Naukluft Park and arrived in Sesriem. Our campsite was once again very far away from any civilization. From the shower, we could even observe an Oryx drinking water from the pool. In the evening, we celebrated Wayne's birthday. The Canadian turned 64 years old that day.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Before sunrise, we packed up our camp again. We wanted to admire the sand dunes of Sossusvlei in the early morning. We arrived right after sunrise. Sossusvlei is surrounded by a dramatic sea of sand dunes, which are considered the highest in the world. Sossusvlei is a beige salt-clay pan enclosed by sand dunes in the Namib desert, which only carries water in rare good rainy years. So we all walked through the fine sand up the dune and enjoyed the beautiful view of the dune landscapeefore descending and walking back to our Jeep over the salt pan. From there we were driven to the relatively famous Dune 45. The brave ones who could withstand the strong midday sun climbed this sand dune as well. Of course, Cédric was on board as well.

In the afternoon, we continued our drive to the Fish River Canyon. Or at least we should have. Unfortunately, we had another breakdown. The handbrake no longer worked. Fortunately, we were in the middle of a village when we could no longer continue, so we spent the three hours in a café waiting. Everyone took it quite lightly, probably because we all knew that it could have been much worse and we could have been stuck in the middle of nowhere. After hours, a breakdown service arrived and while they couldn't completely repair our truck, we were at least able to continue driving. We still arrived just in time for the sunset at the canyon. I don't think any of us really knew what to expect, but we were quite surprised. The Fish River Canyon looks like the Grand Canyon in the USA. With a length of 161 km, a width of 27 km, and a depth of 550 m, it is the second largest canyon in the world. We were the only visitors far and wide. Our truck dropped us off at a viewpoint and we could walk along the canyon rim for about 30 minutes to reach a second viewpoint. Arriving there, our crew had prepared a small apéro. With a cup of wine in hand, we had the best view of the sunset over the canyon.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

In the early morning hours, a new truck arrived. It was decided that it was too dangerous to continue driving to Cape Town with our old truck, so the company's CEO himself drove the whole way from Cape Town to exchange the truck. In the morning, the first thing we had to do was load everything from the old truck into the new truck. When that was done, we hit the road again towards Gariep River and thus towards South Africa. The Gariep River is the natural border between Namibia and South Africa. At this point, we can say that we really liked Namibia. On the one hand, the weather was consistently dry and warm. We had incredibly many different attractions and activities and the driving days were not that long.

So we crossed the border and soon noticed how the landscape was changing. It became much hilly and greener. Before noon, we arrived at our campsite right on the banks of the Gariep River. Unfortunately, Cedi pinched a nerve in his back in the morning when he helped load the heavy luggage into the truck. He was in severe pain and had to spend the afternoon lying down. Luckily, we had Bridget, an Australian nurse, with us who had strong medication. However, the canoe tour in the afternoon literally fell into the water for him. But I didn't let that spoil my fun and found a new canoe partner in Joe, who embarked with me on the 8 km journey downstream. 8 kilometers in the blazing sun and with many passages full of grass that forced us to get out of the canoe and push. Three hours later, we all arrived back at the campsite quite exhausted. After a well-deserved shower and a delicious steak for dinner, we all felt strong enough to spend a few more hours at the camp bar. Cedi was slowly feeling a little better.

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Once again, we had to dismantle the tent early in the morning - for the second to last time. We drove through Richtersveld and the mining town of Springbok to the south before reaching the Namaqualand region. The roadside was lined with huge vineyards. In the afternoon, we arrived at a winery called Klawer Cellars. For the last time, we set up our tent and had lunch sitting on camping chairs and eating from plates on our knees. In the afternoon, we could relax by the pool before the wine tasting began and then dinner was served. We drank wine together until late into the night, then went to our tents for our last night under the stars.

Friday, February 1, 2019

For the last time, we had to dismantle our tent. As scorpions had hidden under the tent during the night, we had to be a little more careful when taking it down. We left the picturesque Cederberg area and drove south towards Cape Town. We drove through the rich fruit-growing area of Citrusdal before reaching the vineyards of the Cape via the Piekenierskloof Pass. We could already see Table Mountain from far away and slowly everyone realized that we had reached the end of our overland tour. Before noon, we arrived at our hostel. We checked into a dormitory and had a quick lunch. In the afternoon, we still had the last activity. We were picked up for a township tour. First, we visited a museum with our guide, where we learned about apartheid. For those who don't know much about it: Apartheid refers to a historical period of state-imposed and organized racial segregation in South Africa. It was characterized above all by the authoritarian, self-declared dominance of the 'white', of European descent population group over all others. It had its heyday from the 1940s to the 1980s and ended in 1994 after a phase of reconciliation with a democratic change of government, in which Nelson Mandela became the first black president of the country.

Racial segregation was also enforced spatially, and so the townships were created. The city center was reserved for whites. Every person received a special pass which indicated at first glance to which race they belonged. This pass always had to be carried. Our guide explained that his father used to call this pass a 'lifepass'. If one was stopped without a pass, it was highly unlikely to get out alive. Also, one had to obtain a permit similar to a visa if one wanted to leave the township, for example, to go to the city or to another area. If the permit was granted, it was entered in the pass with the exact time of how long the person was allowed to stay in the respective area. Beaches were divided and often marked with signs saying 'Access for Dogs and 'Non-Whites' prohibited.' Shops or public transportation were often divided into separate compartments or, if this was not the case, the 'whites' had to give way to them.

Our guide said that this is still very much in people's minds today. For example, he still sees himself as a person of a lower class than all whites. He knows that it's not really like that, but it's just in his head. His stories made an impression on me. It's very difficult for me to imagine that this was even possible, and not too long ago.

The following township tour in the Langa (translated: Sun) Township was exciting. We watched women preparing the specialty called 'Smiley'. The woman lifted a glowing sheep's head from bright flames. The expression on his burnt face was devilish, with lips rolling up into a toothy grin. The remaining hair on the sheep's head was burned off with a hot piece of steel. 'Smiley' - that's what the bizarre-looking food is called - is prepared daily and can be bought for a few francs by the roadside. The very brave ones could try a piece. We weren't among them. Then we continued on foot through the residential area. We had insights into an apartment where up to 10 people (several adults with small children) slept in the small bedroom. The size of the room was hardly twice as big as our tent. We could taste the homemade beer and visited the doctor/shaman (the stuffed animals and other utensils made me doubt the job title doctor) and had a glimpse into a kindergarten. After the tour, we returned to our hostel where we soon set off together again for our last dinner.

Saturday, February 2, 2019

It was time to say goodbye to everyone else. We exchanged contact information and then went in different directions. For many, it meant flying back home the next day. Others had a few more days, but they spent them in a different hostel. We also checked out and moved to another hostel a little closer to the city center. We were fortunate to stay longer in South Africa, so we didn't have the stress of visiting the city and relaxed at our new hostel and explored the area around the new hostel. Although it was relaxing, we still had to organize the next few weeks. Now that we were no longer on a guided tour, we had to think and plan again.