Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and a Tent

*Wow, a bit longer blog than usual. A LOT has happened in the last month and there were at least 3 stories that warranted sharing (Himba Love, A Busted Truck, and The Sand Road). The next couple of months should be a lot slower as we stay in one spot for prolonged periods of time.

August 4, 2023, Spitzkoppe Rock Arch, Namibia

This next leg of our trip would take a very different direction from what we have experienced so far.  It was decided that we would visit the rest of our Sub-Suharan Africa destinations via a camper truck. I was more prone to sign up for a tour to take me to see the dunes (the only thing I really knew about Namibia), but once Johnny started researching, he decided to take on the task of planning out a 6244 km trip (3880 miles) to take us across multiple borders (and that's not counting driving in the parks). No simple task. Equipped with a rooftop tent, it's a common way to explore this part of the world, the main difference being that most people plan it out 6 to 9 months in advance whereas we decided to go back to winging it. I don't even know how many hours Johnny put into researching destinations, routes, and camping spots, but somehow he pulled it off and planned an excellent itinerary for us. 

After picking up the truck in the capital of Windhoek, we had to spend a few hours shopping to stock up for the coming weeks of travel, then we were up bright and early the next day to hit our first destination of Spitzkoppe. Famous for its rock formations and ancient bushman rock paintings, this was one of the absolute coolest campsites I had ever seen. It set the bar high, but we were fortunate enough to encounter more than a few other memorable spots. 

Our next stop would be to visit the Himba communities of the North. Johnny really wanted an authentic experience, and I am very wary of cultural tourism and its potential harm, so we didn't really know what we were signing up for when John found a mountain camp/active dioptase mine run by a local Namibian. It was quite the experience to say the least. A community leader of sorts, our host took us out in his beat-up truck as he made the water rounds to transport people to and from the waterhole. We were invited to sit inside the chief's hut (female) while all the women kept pointing at Johnny and then at other women who could be his potential wives (Himba men have 2 to 3 wives). They were absolutely taken with him and kept telling him he was "beautiful". One woman even went as far as to point at me and make shooing gestures, followed by pointing at Johnny again and laying her head on her hands in the "go-to bed" gesture. The kids were absolutely obsessed with everything on us, our watches, hair ties, whatever was in our pockets, but all stopped when the camera phone came out. They could not get enough of looking at pictures of themselves and even some of the adults asked us to take their pictures so they could see the results. Needless to say, it was a memorable day. 

From there we headed to Etosha, a national park known for its wildlife viewing. This was one of those instances where not planning in advance caught up to us a bit as all the campsites inside the park were full. We did manage to snag the last spot at two different lodges for a pretty penny, both situated with their own watering holes. We self-drove during the day, but the highlight was sitting at the watering holes at night, watching the rhinos challenge each other. It was then a few nights by the river to relax for a couple days, listening to the hippos from our campsite each night. There are a few stops here and there between, and although each was special in its own way, they were meant to break up some of the longer driving distances and were just sort of out in the middle of Africa. 

It was then onto a new country, Botswana, bringing the count up to 12. We used the border town of Kasane as a jumping-off point to hit one of the big spots on our travel list. We didn't have too many things picked out beforehand, but there were a few cannot miss stops that we had in mind. In SE Asia, it was Ha Long Bay, and in Africa, it was Victoria Falls. Rather than trying to take the rental truck across borders into Zimbabwe, we opted for private transport to make customs a bit easier. We had heard horror stories of the border crossing taking up to 3 hours, but our guide remarked on how lucky we were that we showed up with no lines. We spent the morning walking around the falls, seeing it from different angles, trying to avoid getting soaked by the spray when there was a gust of wind. We hit a few other sites in the area, including getting a gate pass from customs to walk the bridge to the Zambia side, seeing a 1,200-year-old baobab tree named "big tree", and enjoying a traditional Zimbabwean meal at the local park along the river. Although we were only there for a day, it was a memorable one so I'm counting Zimbabwe as country #13.

Our other main stop in Botswana would be Maun to see the Okavango Delta. Although we did not get to see it in all its glory, as the flood waters from Angola that feed the Delta were late this year, it still offered a memorable safari, including the closest we've been able to get to a Leopard. We probably spent almost an hour with this leopard 2-3 meters away, and I thought Johnny was going to lose it when it walked directly towards him, not once, but twice, and passed within a couple feet of our VERY open-air vehicle. We weren't in Botswana long, as we still had the deserts of South Western Namibia to see. However, in our short time there, we did manage to have two separate mishaps with the truck.

The first was when a Bateleur Eagle with a 5-foot wing span decided to swoop down for a roadkill snack and, unfortunately, instead found only our passenger side mirror. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to picture what a bird that size does to one's sideview mirror. We stopped to pick up the pieces of our dismantled mirror and check on the bird. We sat for a good while trying to decide what to do. No cell signal, hours away from the nearest town, and a giant, upset raptor that clearly was severely injured. After we talked it through, we decided that the only humane thing to do would be to put it out of its misery. Shovel in hand, Johnny approached the bird to do the deed. Well, the bird apparently knew what was coming and mustered enough strength to launch himself deep into the bush with no way for us to follow. We were saved from having to bludgeon a large bird to death, but with what looked like a broken leg and assumed internal injuries from striking a truck at 70 mph, we were left feeling awful knowing that we more than likely took that poor bird's life. The aftermath also included me rigging the pieces of the mirror back together enough so that we didn't get pulled over, and we rolled into camp with a hodgepodge of the small amount of duct tape we had, medical bandage tape, and string, trying to hold this thing on. We found a place that could order a new mirror for us and we thought our car problems were behind us, only for the very next drive for a rock to strike and crack our windshield. Renting this camper truck was all of a sudden a lot more expensive than we thought it would be. 

Car troubles aside, we still had a schedule to keep to hit all our destinations. Our next stop would be the Aus Mountains, a jumping-off point for the ghost town of Kolmanskop. An abandoned diamond mine that was once home to millionaires and produced 20% of the global supply of diamonds, this place is now taken back by the desert. There was some gorgeous hiking and mountain biking in the desert mountains and I was continuously reminded of the beauty of Namibia.

After 20 days with the camper truck, we would finally hit the destination that put Namibia on my travel list, Sossusvlei and the Deadvlei. Who knows when I first saw the photos, but it has stuck in my mind as something I wanted to see with my own eyes. Up bright and early with the truck, we first hit Dune 45 and had our first dune summit in the cool morning air, but the real highlight would be climbing the dune called "Big Daddy". In order to reach that part of the park, you have to either pay extra for a tractor shuttle to take you there, OR you can attempt to self-drive your 4x4 vehicle in the very soft sand for 5 kilometers...any guesses which one Johnny wanted to do?

We pulled up to the start of the sand road to debate if Johnny wanted to attempt it. He had been researching soft sand driving techniques and we were well equipped, but there had been multiple warnings to only try the drive if you have experience, as many people get stuck. Maybe the strongest testament was the SUV that had managed to sink itself within the first 50 meters of the parking lot, sitting there like a warning beacon. That wasn't enough to deter Johnny and with the tire pressure lowered and the 4x4 engaged, we hit the sand. 

It was thrilling, as part of the technique is to keep your speed up, and with luck on our side we crossed the 5 km and arrived safely in the parking lot. After climbing the big daddy dune (and subsequently running down the massive dune), we ended in Deadvlei, the preserved 1,000-year-old forest set into the pan. It was striking. Dodging the Instagram models, we explored the area before it was time to attempt the return trip on the sand road. This time, on the way back, we saw 3 other trucks stuck n the soft sand. Unfortunately, you can't do much to help them as if you stop or slow down, you risk getting stuck yourself, so you just have to press on and hope that the other side of the road is in better shape. We made it out without issue. Well, that's not entirely true, as we now have the issue of Johnny wanting a 4x4 truck and a place to off-road back home.  

With Sossusvlei complete, there was nothing left to do but return our trusty steed from the past 23 days in the seaside town of Swakopmund where we will relax for a few days, eat something besides camp food, and sleep in something besides a tent before its time to head to Europe and country #14, Hungary. We plan to return to Africa to see the Northern countries, but decided to first hit a few spots in Europe before it gets too cold (Johnny doesn't do cold).  Namibia is definitely one of my favorite countries so far, with its diverse landscapes, wild animals, and the most amazing starry nights, it has got to be one of the most beautiful places we've visited.