WEATHER: Hot – but bearable today – maybe we are getting used to it?
HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing Emma and Louise on another tour
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Bigger travel day is welcomed (or not) back
BUYS OF THE DAY: Got a new bag of Smuggler hard boiled lollies that will last me weeks
WORD OF THE DAY: ‘Let’s proceed’
CAMP SITE RANKING: Wild camp – no showers, drop toilets, slept outside 5 out of 5 stars
Good-bye to our last National Park, well in this part of the world, I have a few to visit in Madagascar, without mentioning the ones in South America, but for this portion of the trip anyways. Good-bye animals, good-bye game drives. So up at 6.30am, 7.30am breakfast and an 8am departure, we were on our way, travelling 470km to get us to Spitzkoppe this afternoon.
We had to drive 16km to get out of the National Park, so we sort of had like a last minute mini drive on the way out, and would you believe that only after 10 minutes, we came across another pride of lions. This was amazing, 3 sightings of lions in the last 3 days. Unbelievable!! So we got Ben to stop for what was definitely the last time, definitely, and watched these kings of the food chain for around 20 minutes, before flooring it and exiting the park. We did pass some more Springboks, ostriches and a massive herd of giraffes before we got there though, so there is nothing like dragging out our last game drive is there, it was like pulling a kicking and screaming child from a birthday party….Did we really have to leave?
We made a brief stop in a small town called Outjo for 30 minutes for Simon to stock up on supplies, and I was able to find some hard boiled lollies that I first bought in Namibia 10 days ago, and found them again here, so I have bought the family pack, as I will be able to take them with me on my next part of my trip as my schnacks! I love the lollies and they are called ‘Smuggles’. Catchy name don’t you think!
We were on the road again at 10.30am and we knew that today we would be seeing our mates from the first part of the trip somewhere along the way. Emma and Louise we with us for the first 16 days, they then carried onto Zanzibar on the ‘other’ Intrepid tour, did their own thing in South Africa for a week and are now doing the same tour as us, but in the opposite direction. We have intermittently been keeping in touch to see if our paths would cross, and GG told us yesterday that we will be seeing them on route as he had some things to give their guide. AWESOME!! So we only had to wait for an hour and we saw the other Intrepid truck hurtling down the other side of the road in a puff of dust. When we came to a stop, you haven’t seen Lisa and I get off the truck so fast all trip and it was an awesome reunion, like we hadn’t seen each other in 5 years. The girls looked great, Em looked tanned and poor Lou just looked burnt. It looks like her nose has also copped a flogging from the sun like my poor nose has. Ben and Simon were catching up with the other crew, GG was talking to the other guide and Lisa, Sean, Manu and I were talking to gals for what seemed an eternity (which we were not complaining) till we go the call and it was time to part ways yet again. It was pretty cool that we go to ask them questions on where they had come from and they asked us the same from where we had just come from. Man it was great to see you gals again and there will definetly be a reunion in Oz when I get back, even if you both live in Canberra!
Lunch was a simple affair of a roadside stop for an hour before arriving into camp at 3.30pm. GG got Ben to stop for a photo opportunity before we actually got to our camp ground, of Spitzkopp. The scenery has really changed just the last few kilometers and it is all large rocky outcrops and Spitzcopp was a massive rocky place. It reminded me of Ayers Rock to give you an idea on how it looked to us as we made the stop for the photos. It looks like an amazing place and nothing we have seen so far on the trip to that degree. Mtopo was quite impressive with its rock scenery, but they were more strategically placed versus massive expanse of rock in Spitzkopp. Tonight was an opportunity for us to sleep out under the stars. The last time I did that I was in the Sahara Desert in Morocco. The weather to date hasn’t been too bad at night and with the warmth of the rocks after a hot day, would also help keep us warm tonight. It was hot as an oven here, so thank goodness we didn’t have to pitch a tent, so we went to the very primitive bar that only sold coke and beer and had no glasses for the hour we had to kill before a nature walk at 5pm with a local guide.
Thank goodness it started to cool down a little at 5pm. It was still hot, but the sting of the sun had now gone.. Our guide Michael met us at the camp and then we set out on foot to take a look and climb some of the rocks, with our final destination called Bushman’s Paradise, where we were to see some cave paintings from 2000-4000 years old. The walk itself was quite pleasant, a little bit of sand to walk through, which no-one ever likes, with a few explanations on some local fauna and there purpose for the tribesman. Until we got to the base of the ‘cliff’ we had to climb to get to Bushman’s Paradise. If you have bee to Ayers Rock before, there is a chain that helps you climb the rock, well this was exactly the same, but it was only 100m, but it was a steep 100m. At first glance I said I wouldn’t be able to do it, it really was a steep climb, but I didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t give it a try, even the oldies were up for it, I sucked it up and took on the climb. I gripped that chain like there was no tomorrow though, but I did make it to the top and the view from up there was amazing. With the sun just starting to set, the colour of the rocks changing it really was a wow moment from up there. After resting up for a few minutes we continued for another 10 minutes to the cave where the paintings were. It is a shame that we saw awesome paintings in Mtopo National Park in Zimbabwe, they were 28,000 years old, so these ones sort of paled in comparison, but one can’t fault a 2000 year old painting either can we. So after spending some time here, listening to some Bushman stories, we headed back the same way we had come to try and get a great view point for a sunset. Well you thought the going up part was tough using the chain, coming down was just as tricky. I really had to make sure I had my wits about me, as it was quite scary, and when we were halfway down, Sean was in front of me and kindly pointed out that there were some connectors in the chain, meaning that the chain had broken before and had been fixed. This was also the same chain I was gripping for dear life and the only thing stopping me from falling down the cliff face. Onya Mr. Doom and Gloom!!! But he was very helpful in his defence, telling me where the slippery bits were and helping me down the last incline that had no chain. I survived! Now we had to haul arse to try and make the sunset, but getting back to camp at 6.50pm and a combination of where the rocks were, we really didn’t get to see one anyway. But the colours of the sky were pretty amazing anyways, so not all was lost.
Dinner was a vegetarian fare of local cuisine, where we sat around for a few hours before people started to get ready for bed. The adventurous people (Sean, Lisa, Dave and David) had decided to camp on a higher rock formation than where Manu and I were going to camp. It involved some climbing, and even with Sean offering to take all my stuff up for me, I declined and decided to play it safe and camp closer to terra firma for me. So the foursome set off at 9pm to take camp up above and Manu and I got our gear together for our lower camp for the night. All we really needed was our mattress, sleeping bag and camera. I also took a jacket, a blanket and my water bottle as well, just to be prepared for anything! So after some coyote, hippo, guinea foul and baboon noises from above and the truck lights out, it was time to enjoy what the sky had to offer.
There has to be something said about sleeping under the stars in the middle of nowhere. No street lights, no cars, no other people walking around. The moon was in its mid curve faze, but I have to tell you it was so bright! I guess after sleeping in a tent with all the windows closed, it gets quite dark in there at night time, so to have any type of light would be bright to us, but the moon seemed super bright! We could easily see the Southern Cross, but that was as far as my star gazing knowledge goes, but I did see 2 shooting stars before finally drifting off to a restless sleep. I woke a few times during the night, and it was a little disorientating to keep waking up to see the moon in a different position and the stars that stood out moved or gone all together. The temperature was perfect and there was a breeze that would pick up every now and then but it wasn’t cold and it wasn’t hot – everything was just right for a night under the stars – we couldn’t / wouldn’t change a thing and it was a pretty cool ‘real life experience’. It was a little funny, that when we were lying there, the township of Spitzcopp had some music going, and with the quite around us and the direction of the breeze the tunes came through just about crystal clear, so some of the serenity was lost but it didn’t detract from our time.
We have set out alarm for 6am in the hope to see a beautiful sunrise in the morning and hope to god that no snakes or bugs have found their way into our sleeping domain during the night!
This is camping in its truest form – who would have thought I would be doing it!!
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