Halfpom

Hello again...

It's been a while....! My chief bit of news is that I became a mother on the 5th of January to a little furry boy....officially (ie on the vet's records) his name is Sam but he only really answers to 'Baby' or 'Darling Boy'. 
I've never wanted to get a pet purely because I haven't been settled and didn't want to have to move an animal between countries. He was 'free to a good home' (a misnomer if ever there was one as I'm sure I've spent over a thousand rand on various vaccinations / pet carriers / designer kitten food etc) but worth every penny as I can't tell you the joy & laughter he has brought to my home....a real little character who settled in very quickly and found his purr on the second night in his new home.... Even my mother, who is not fond of cats, has been overheard singing his praises... One thing nobody tells you though is how naughty kittens are....dear me..there were times in the beginning when I could have cheerfully given him back....

He takes his secretarial duties fairly seriously most days but other times has been caught napping on the job..& certainly gets the 'best dressed' prize in our office with his tuxedo outfit & little red collar.   

Just after he arrived, we had a heatwave and I first noticed this peculiar trait...I thought he would grow out of it but no...he still stretches out in this way...& my, what big ears you have, darling boy....

The printer is an endless source of fascination & needs investigating every time something gets printed out...sadly, he is no longer small enough to fit neatly in the tray...

Last day.....

My morning view over the Kunene River....I would have no problem at all waking up to this on a regular basis.... 
This morning after a leisurely breakfast, we are off on a boat trip upstream....a quick walk down to the river bank is all that is required of us.... 
The water is a beautiful aqua colour - Andre tells us that this water is as clean as it gets as there are no farms or factories further upstream to pollute it & the river has about 70 species of fish in it....long may it last....Yesterday's path of descent into camp....viewed from the river....impressed?? 
 
There are some seriously huge crocs sunning themselves on the river bank, a mere nose length away from the beautiful Nguni cows of the local Himba clan coming down to the waters edge to quench their thirst... 
We come to some rapids where Andre deems it safe to swim so we all take a very welcome dip....the water is absolutely divine and we prolong the swim to make this final day last a bit longer.... 
 
 
After one last look at camp from the river, we pack up and head back to the airstrip & the trusty AMY. The Wilderness plane, with passengers from Serra Cafema which is just downstream, takes off just before us and we're hot on her heels all the way to the refuelling stop at Opuwo....over the Marienfluss Valley... 
 
En route we fly through a rain shower...the only bit of rain we've seen this trip. 
I promise you I haven't doctored this next photo..the clouds really did look like this closer to Windhoek.... 
Hosea Kutako International Airport to drop Paul off for his SAA flight to Cape Town... 
 

AUF WIEDERSEHN

THE END

Kunene Camp...

I'm quite smitten with Kunene Camp....my favourite of all the camps on this wonderful trip....the camp is perched high above the Kunene River & is very special.... 
Tent nr 1....my tent had superb views over the river...it is the same format as Kuiseb Camp with the addition of mosquito nets.... 
This is the view of the main area from my tent.....location, location, location.....just stunning... 
 
There is no finer location for our final sundowner of the trip..... 
We also have a full moon or close to it so we play around with settings on our cameras trying to capture the moonlight on the Kunene River....

    

Hartmann valley.....

 
This afternoon after a delicious lunch at Leylandsrift, we are back in the air....I think we hit the coast at Cape Frio with another seal colony...today the wind has come up and it makes the coastline look more ominous....I wouldn't like to be out here in one of their winter storms...

We swing back over land again and come across this odd phenomenon....the fairy circles...as you can imagine some speculations as to their origin have been wild & fanciful....including the supernatural but it is now believed that these circles are due to termite activity...with a nest at the centre of each circle.... 
 
On arrival at the airstrip, there is the standard vintage white Landrover waiting for us and we set off as camp is a fair distance away. We stop for a drink & to let the mother-in-law cool down as it is hard work through all this sand...the colours remind me of one of my niece's sand art kits... 
En route we also stop off at the hanging rock....years ago when things were a little more uncertain in these parts the Schoeman family used to camp here.... 
  
 
 
After about an hour and a half the landscape starts changing and we are nearing our destination.... 
Landrover tracks in the red sand of the Kunene........ 
Finally our first glimpse of the Kunene River....we are right up on Namibia's northern border now & on the other side of the river is Angola...... 
 
The only way to get to camp is straight down the dune....it was pretty scary from inside the 4x4 as we inched our way down so can't imagine what it must have been like for the two who were up on the roof....I think they were clinging on for dear life... 
 
This is where we've just driven/slid down....photographs don't quite do justice to the steepness of the incline.... 

Leylandsdrift & Purros....

 
This is the view that greeted me this morning from the veranda of my room at Leylandsdrift - so called because Louw Schoeman's Leyland truck got stuck here. We've had another gentle awakening as you sit sipping a steaming mug of tea listening to the birds calling down in the canyon. The camp is perched high up on a ridge above the canyon & is a prime spot for some easy game viewing...desert adapted lions, elephants, oryx, springbok...not in the numbers that you see in the Serengeti or Botswana but every sighting is appreciated here. We hop into the vehicle to take a look at what the canyon has to offer...not much this morning except a lone oryx and a pair of bokmakierie birds calling to each other -we sit for a while in dead silence entranced by the beautiful sound bouncing off the canyon walls all around us...magical!! 
On our way back to AMY we stop off at an impressive clay castle...smaller ones of which can be seen in the above photo as well. This is a well known geological phenomenon in the Hoarisib River near Purros formed by clay deposition & erosion in the canyon....I'd never heard of them before...that what I like about life....every day is a school day no matter how old you get.... 
Image: courtesy of Amanda Mitchell

The lovely AMY is waiting for us and we hop in for the short flight to Purros....amazing views of the canyon...a real oasis in the middle of the desert...no wonder all the animals use it as a highway...and you can just see the camp perched on the edge.Looking back at the dry river bed from which we've just taken off...
 
 
We're on our way to visit the Himba settlement near Purros...they are a nomadic, pastoral people so not always at home but we are lucky today.... 
 
 
The Himba are a striking people - the ladies wear skirts made of goat skins decorated with shells and jewellery made of iron and copper. The Himba never wash using water but rub thier entire body with a mixture of rancid butterfat, ash and ochre powder to protect them from the harsh sun. The paste (otjize) is often mixed with the aromatic resin of the Omuzumba shrub as a perfume. The Himba ladies also use the paste in their hair which is long and plaited into intricate designs. The matriarch of this clan, Ouma, invited us into her home and showed us how she perfumes herself as well as her clothing by burning aromatic herbs collected from the bush. One of the first things you are shown on entering the kraal is the okoruwo or ancestral fire, which provides contact between the livng and the dead and you are told to never step into the circle of stones but to always move around it. Just before we leave, there is a selection of traditional wares made by the ladies for those wishing to purchase them. On a previous visit I bought some lovely carved palm nuts (vegetable ivory) and a woven basket from them. I'm never keen on these 'cultural' visits (hence my lack of photo's of the Himba ladies who welcomed us) but have to say that I was impressed with Andre who handled the visit with sensitivity and respect & they clearly liked him. 

Roaring dunes.....

After a lovely lunch of cold meats, cheeses, salad & the most delicious homemade wholewheat bread (which is round as it is baked in an old Ricoffy tin - now that's what I call recycling), Jansen drives us back to the airstrip for the next leg of our journey. Sadly, I only thought about asking for a bread making demo (& the recipe) when it was too late.... 
We head back out to the coast again....Namibia has a low average rainfall and the rivers are usually seasonal (above ground) and as we fly over you can see the channels made by the water as well as the beautiful patterns made by the silt carried in the water from the interior..... 
 
 
Finally one of the rivers makes it all the way to the sea... A little further up the coast we come to Terrace Bay......which is the starting point for the afternoon activity....the roaring dunes.... 
We land at the northern end of the settlement at the hangar where our appropriately coloured trusty (& rusty) Landrover is waiting for us... 
On this trip it has become customary to refer to mechanical failures as 'mother-in-law problems'....so while Andre deals with his mother-in-law problem we stretch our legs by walking down to the beach...reminds me of English shingle beaches & the water is just about the same temperature too... 
 
Andre swings round to pick us up....I think the mother-in-law might need a bit of a face lift as well!This afternoon we are visiting the roaring dunes...Andre was not giving anything away until we had experienced it for ourselves...I had heard them before but kept quiet so as not to spoil it....you all sit in a row on the crest of a sand dune and then shuffle down the dune on your bottom....as you do so a curious hum emanates from deep underneath you...a sound that people who have experienced the Second World War liken to the sound of a squadron of bombers.....it certainly is most bizarre...not all dunes sing or roar....as far as I can make out it has to be windblown particles of sand that are of a certain size...we all did it once, then I took pictures of the others second time round....going down is the fun bit. Hiking back up to the top - that's the tough bit..... 
 
There is a constant wind blowing here so I had to be really careful of my camera....sand in camera is a bad, bad thing....as Paul discovered when his camera jammed after this jaunt....most of these were taken with my kikoi wrapped around the entire camera with just the lens peeping out....

This photo is now the screensaver on my laptop.....you can see the wind blowing the sand down the dune.. 
After this I went up on to the roof of the vehicle & managed to get some nice pictures of the dunes...the shapes & colours are just gorgeous... 
 
There are no roads here...it's straight down the dune face.....doubly exhilarating if you are on the roof of the vehicle at the time... 
We encounter another mother-in law problem....specifically overheating so nothing a short break won't fix... 
That was lovely - each & every experience on our trip has been different & unique.... 
Once again we head inland over a few oases - some the result of a river that can't get to the ocean due to sand dunes blocking the way & others the result of an undergound spring....

 
 
Welcome to Leylandsdrift......just a lone Landrover sans driver waiting for us in the middle of a wide open plain..... 

Only Day 2...

The routine is pretty relaxed on this trip - none of those five o'clock wake up calls. Andre & Jansen bring your choice of tea or coffee to the tent at the very civilised hour of seven o'clock and you are able to relax and wake up gently. Breakfast is served at eight o'clock after your morning shower and then a morning walk is proposed....just up into the hills behind camp....

The number of signs - once you know what you are looking for - left by the previous inhabitants of this land is truly astonishing....all the colours used for personal adornment or entertainment are achieved by using natural ingredients in the area. 
We squeeze into caves to view ancient rock paintings, some viewed by lying on your back because the rock has fallen since the artists completed their paintings...they are beautifully preserved presumably due to the site, the climatic conditions as well as lack of human traffic... 

 
I believe that an Italian woman destroyed the painting of the White Lady at Twyfelfontein by pouring a can of Coke over it - I do hope that she was severely fined for ruining one of Namibia's national treasures but what material value does one place on such a work of art & how does one punish such stupidity? Even while these paintings were being produced, people were trying to deface them....usually only the pictures representing people which suggests that they were painted by rivals or were considered bad luck...the animals seemed to be left intact.... 
 
The views from up here are stunning and in the photo below you can just see the camp strung out like a row of beads along the bottom of the picture... 
The area is very arid with a host of weird & wonderful flora that has adapted to the conditions...below the elephants foot... 
 
Photo of the beautiful lichen above - courtesy of Amanda Mitchell.

This lichen below very cleverly shivels up with it's black side to the sun & when you pour water (not Coke) or in nature when it rains or the mists roll in, then it unfurls like a flower bud to reveal a beautiful pistachio green inside...Back down at camp, we jump into the vehicle to explore the other side of the valley....maybe this is what Mars looks like... 

Kuidas Camp....

The camp is delightfully simple....

  
Our accommodation for the night has magnificent views over the valley, very comfortable beds, a bucket shower and a flush loo just a short stroll away... 
 
Should you need to recharge batteries, this is accomplished by walking to the Landrover & plugging in the device. There is no mobile phone reception so the only things that need recharging are laptops, video and camera batteries....The Landrover's used by the Schoeman's are all vintage models - some in a better state than others depending on where they are based...

It is wonderfully quiet here - a few birds but none of the noise associated with modern life. Showers were organised in short order after our arrival & we are revived. The afternoon is at leisure to read, have a snooze, feed the birds, admire the landscape with a cup of tea in one's hand or just be....bliss...

 
  

Onwards & upwards....

Andre does a neat little take off, flying around & then back over the encampment with our little friend making the plane wings waggle to say goodbye as we go over them...I fear that manoevre might have led to more palpitations....as we head inland towards Damaraland the landscape morphs once again.... 
 
 
 
Suddenly Paul seems to realise that we're heading straight for the ground and nervously asks if we're landing...yes, we are landing....in a canyon for a quick geology lesson....I knew Soil Science 101(Grondkunde for those Maties out there) from my varsity days would eventually come in handy.....Andre tells us that his brother, Bertus, is actually the geologist in the family but he's just being modest....I think he knows his stuff all right. 
 
Image: courtesy of Amanda Mitchell

We also get to see a couple of Welwitschia mirabilis plants up close...I find the adaptations that plants have made to cope with extreme desert conditions fascinating.....this one is even flowering although it is suffocatingly hot today & no water to be seen anywhere. They'll get their daily water requirements from the sea mists that roll in from the coast every night. 
We take off again bound for the camp at Kuidas in the Huab River Valley. The picture below is of the canyon we've just visited - if you look carefully you'll see our 'runway' down the middle of the  canyon.... 
 
The diversity in colours and landscape continues to amaze the further we fly into Damaraland... 
 
 
It seems we're landing in this ochre world..... 
Image: courtesy of Amanda Mitchell

Kuidas Camp is not far away & our transport comes barrelling across the open plains to meet us...everyone's eyes light up as they spot the roof seat....what fun..... 
 

Alpha Mike Yankee....

When we are least expecting it, Andre suddenly does a balletic manoevre over the wreck of the Winston and we land neatly on the beach.....I guess it's lunch time! We all unfold ourselves and step out on to the sand.....never have I had an experience like that....& clearly neither has a small boy who is running along & pulling his dad behind him to investigate. They are parked a little further up the beach fishing and the wee one is almost hyperventilating he is so excited....he can't believe a plane has just landed on the beach right next to him. Andre very kindly opens the door of the cockpit and let's him sit in the pilot seat & explains the function of the various levers etc....bless him! And if that little boy doesn't become a pilot when he grows up I'll eat my hat.....so sweet! Seriously, I think this rates as one of the coolest things that's happened to me as well.....so I can identify..

This will give me a chance to introduce you to Alpha Mike Yankee....otherwise known as AMY....our trusty little plane....isn't she just beautiful? 
Paul is very glad to be able to unfold his long body from the front seat....the rest of us are slightly shorter so we don't feel it as much....This photo gives you an idea of just how vast the spaces in Namibia are....there is nothing here for miles & miles.....can you imagine being shipwrecked on this coast with no food, water or shelter? I've read the account of the survivors of the Dunedin Star which went down not far from here & the rescue attempts...seriously challenging is all that needs to be said....
 
Lunch on the wing, anyone?? After lunch, we stretch our legs and explore a bit....that's the wreck of the Winston with the lovely AMY in the background....the Winston was an East German trawler & ran aground in 1970 due to thick fog about 2 miles south of the Ugab River mouth or 23 km north of Mile 108 (the camp sites are all numbered as you go up the coast - the higher the number the further north you are). She has slowly disintergrated over the years and all that is left of her today is parts of the engine block.  

And we are on the Skeleton Coast after all....couldn't find any really impressive whale vertebra so this will just have to do for now....