Overland in Botswana and Namibia - Part 2: the desert

Continued from Part 1 – Namibia & Botswana on safari

Having left the big game safaris behind, we headed east from Etosha to the Skelton Coast and then south to the Namib Desert, seeing some truly mind-blowing sights…

Twyfelfontein to Swakopmund

As we left Etosha and headed west, the German influence became obvious straight away and we faced a bit of a culture shock as we ate strudel and drank flat whites from a fancy coffee shop in a small village in the middle of nowhere. The class divide also became obvious. In my ignorance I hadn’t expected to witness this to the extent we did outside of South Africa. It was food for thought as we continued our journey west with a fridge full of Windhoek lager and bratwurst sausage, the smooth tarmac changing to a dusty bumpy track, increasingly testing our suspension as we neared our stop for the night – Madisa camp. It was a weird and wonderful camp set around a rocky outcrop in what felt like the Wild West. We pitched our roof tent, grabbed a beer and went for a scramble up the rock to give Helen some time on her yoga mat and me some time to mess about with the camera, snapping yet another spectacular sunset.

Madisa was our base for some touristy stuff – first up was the Twyfelfontein rock paintings, the biggest collection of rock engravings and paintings in Africa, dating back up to 10,000 years. Despite the questionable tour guide, it was pretty amazing to see and learn about the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of the San people and the interpretation of the images. Unlike the rock engravings we had seen in Botswana, these were older much more famous, which unfortunately made them extremely popular, with package tours from Windhoek arriving by the bus load. It was strange seeing so many people again! Our next tourist spot was the petrified forest nearby, which thankfully didn’t seem to make the cut in the Namibia top ten guide. Basically it was a bunch of old trees turned to stone, not something you see everyday, but pretty amazing! Our next stop and campsite for the night was in Spitzkoppe – another wacky rocky outcrop, this one aptly named the Matterhorn of Africa.

Swakopmund

After several nights in the truck, we were ready for a comfy bed and a meal that wasn’t cooked on our own grill… thankfully our itinerary included two nights in Swakopmund, a small and affluent city on the Pacific coast. Surrounded by beaches and sand dunes, with lush green parks and (German) colonial buildings everywhere, Swakopmund surprised us with yet more weird and wonderful sites… but it wasn’t all schnitzel and schnapps, we spent the best part of the day on a desert safari learning about the wildlife supported by the sane dunes, and how it adapted to make the most of the harsh weather. This alternative safari was an unexpected highlight of our trip.

Namib desert – Sossusvlei and Namiband

We were approaching the end of our trip, but we had one of the main events still to come – the world famous sand dunes at Sossusvlei, in the Namib Desert. On our first evening we headed into the NP for sunset. We deliberately didn’t climb “Big Daddy” but instead climbed a slightly smaller dune with no other trucks near it, and the the next morning we were banging on the gates to the NP at Sesriem before they opened at 6am to be allowed in for our sunrise walk into Deadvlei, an amazing basin full of dead camelthorn trees. I’m not going to say much here, as the photos do the topic justice. I’ll just say it was busy (9am-5pm) and the campsite was average, but it was one of the most spectacular sights either of us had ever seen, especially at first and last light.

We had one final stop to make before heading to Windhoek, and that was the Namibrand Family Hideout – a remote campsite in the Namibrand nature reserve. This was quite a big detour south, just to head north again to get to Windhoek, and we almost squeezed it out of our itinerary to spend more time in Botswana. Thankfully we didn’t. The campsite had just three pitches, each one at least 1km away from the other and all out of site of the other three. The location was just stunning – surrounded by the Nubib mountain range, we were in the gentle rolling sandy foothills, with sparse trees and shrubs intertwined across the desert floor and a vista to die for. The owners son took us on a quick safari of the surrounding area, stopping to see leopard tracks next to a oryx carcass, and talking through the different birds that rely on the occasional trees dotted about. It was nice to do a game drive without driving ourselves, and to have someone who knew what they were talking about!

Back at our campsite, we prepped one final meal for the grill, sat back with a couple of cold Windhoeks and enjoyed the peacefulness this African wilderness brought. An old lone oryx came to the nearby waterhole and we nodded our bottles to him as he silently sipped a long drink of water. We spent the evening next to a big fire and reminisced on what had been the adventure of our lives. The contrast between what we had seen in Namibia and Botswana was big, but they complimented each other perfectly. Botswana gave us a wild adventure whilst scratching the itch of the “big game safari”, and we’d seen some amazing animals from the comfort of our own truck – a hugely rewarding experience. And yes, Namibia was a little tamer in comparison, and perhaps more organised and popular, but what we did see blew our minds, with something unexpected around each corner.

True to form, Namibrand had a twist up its sleeve for us… the nature reserve was classified as Africa’s first dark sky reserve, and as darkness set in we were treated to the most spectacular night sky either of us have ever seen. A fitting end to our adventure. All that we had left was a drive to Windhoek and a flight to Cape Town the following day. If we ever make it back to Namibia we will be sure to return to Namibrand.