Part
3 of a trip that included Tsodillo Hills in Botswana (part 1)
and Mohembo via Khaudum to Etosha (part 2)
Monday morning, April 9, 2001 found us stocking up on film at Sentra Stores in Outjo and topping up on diesel at Kamanjab. The Shell map of Kaokoland (Kaokoveld in earlier times) for which you now have to depart from R49 in Pretoria, was priced at N$8.90 at the ‘lekker winkeltjie” at the filling station at the northern exit of the town, so each of us bought one more. I could not help recalling the days when
Alta and I bought our supplies (even
on
a Sunday afternoon) at Oom Paul Robberts’ shop and butchery in Kamanjab back
in the early 70’ties
before hitting the road to Swartbooisdrift, Ehomba, Epembe, Opuwa (Ohopoho in those days), Kaoko Otavi, Okohongo, Ombombo, Okandjombo, Otjiu and many more places now safely filed on my memory disc. Is there another place on earth with names as beautiful as in Namibia – I doubt it! Oom Paul used to trim the fat
layer on the chops and steaks to Alta’s liking before weighing it! Little did I know that in a way this trip was not to be excitement only, but also to be filled with a nostalgic sadness whenever I observed how so called ‘civilization’ killed what was so dear to me. Kaoko Otavi - once a fountain, some ruins of a Dorsland Trekker church, a beautiful tree which sheltered my camp on many a night and lots of game (including rhino and elephant) in those years - now a small town! Puros where no homo sapiens other than ourselves were present within a radius of 80 kilos when I set the first land
speed record of the then South West Africa in 1974, now a village of people (with the Ford F250 parked some 500 yards away I walked right into a lioness, missed her with less than 3 yards to spare and here I am to tell the story - don’t ask me how!!!) Our camp (more or less where the present community camp is situated nowadays upstream from the river crossing) was one day invaded by 23 desert elephant. I still recall a Sunday afternoon when I observed a leopard crossing the river 200m upstream from where I had my bath - we dug our owns baths in the Hoarusib River. The rolling
topography was literally covered in thousands
of springbok. Roads that took us three days to do 25 kilos (in 4x4) now enable
you to easily do 120km/h, should you so wish. Thanks for allowing me this short
stroll down memory lane, but Buks is waiting to hit the road!
Turning off at Otjondeka we were just in time to see the end of the Otjondeka derby but too late to place any bets. The tracks of the ’70ties were not to be found in the year 2001 and after Buks had lost his first
Bridgestone Dueler and without finding
Rustplaats (another Dorsland Trekker site I often visited before) we had our
second CWYA camp of the trip. Despite
the fact that we each carry two spares, we decided to detour to Opuwa in search
for a new tyre for the Prado. A fortunate decision if ever there was one on the
trip, for little did we know that he was in for four more flats on this trip. After leaving (a sad) Kaoko Otavi behind, we drove through
our own Serengeti, albeit without the game, and camped at Onganga Community
Camp en
route to Sanitatas and Orumpembe. Onganga
is a nice little community camp under Makalani palms on the banks of the upper
Hoarusib River and included in the price of N$15 p.p. “you get monkeys at
times”. Jumping from a rock into quick sand, Alta nearly ‘bought a farm’
at Onganga and Buks were able to
rescue Dueler no 2 by plugging it in time.
The next day saw us crossing the Hoarusib River a number of times, passing Omutati, Okandjombo, Sanitatas and on to Orupembe. A far off thunder storm surprised us with a rush of water down the upper Khumib minutes before we had to cross and
provided us with a free wash-and-go Kaokoland style This was to be the
last time I would see the Orupembe I came to
know in the early 70’ties. During the next year ‘civilization’ was to leave its mark in the form of a community hall close to the reservoir. (We were to meet the white Hilux next to the reservoir again later on the trip.) A few kilos after Orumpembe Duelers 3 and 4 presented themselves simultaneously and we had a further most welcome delay. Because of this we were unable to make it in daylight to our planned
stay over at Puros (you miss too much driving at night) and took a faint and vaguely familiar track to our right, camping at a small brackish fountain we promptly named ‘Springbokwater’. We counted more than 3000 springbok (there’s no proper english word for “springbok”) between Orupembe and the Khumib River which for me was an extremely encouraging sign. At the time of my land speed record in ’74 we counted more than that at Orupembe alone, but at the end of the seventies-early eighties numbers reportedly declined to an estimated 250. If the establishment of conservancies in the area contributed to this increase in numbers, I am
all
for it!!
What a privilege to camp at places such as these where you could literally feel the presence of our Creator. To the north-west of our camping a couple of hundred springbok were teaching their young how to thank the Lord for the rain. To the north a cloud was washing the hills before tugging them in for the night. The tenderness with which the sun handed over the last light to the moon was chokingly beautiful. Somewhere a jackal was begging to be spoilt
too! A silence hung over the camp whilst everyone was soaking up nature; cleansing our minds in the pureness of the approaching night - virginal in its beauty as only the Namib can be! How could we go back to Gauteng and all that comes with it? How would we ever be able to again cope with life in its ‘civilized state’ after we have drenched ourselves in the fountains of creation the way it was meant to be? How would we be able to explain to people back there what was it that brought us to these desolate places? Would they be able to understand that feeling of fulfillment after having filled yourself with emptiness? Without knowing it, each one
made a silent commitment that Springbokwater was to become one of those special places you would take along to cherish; a fountain from which you would drink wherever you are and whenever life becomes too pressing; those days when you feel like giving up everything that is regarded as valuable but which is not to be found at places of real value (like Springbokwater). With a aching realization that He never intended us to loose contact with real life they way we did, we took to our rooftops for the night. While listening to the quietness of the desert, I again thanked Him for
enabling me to be at places like these and
for giving me a soul mate in Alta to accompany me on trips like these. In my
younger days I could be and often was alone in the desert without feeling
lonely, but nowadays I want someone to share everything with.
The next morning we visited the (for me new) campsites at Puros and after Buks and I took a last dip to soak up as much as we can to take along to Gauteng; we crossed the Hoarusib for the last time and headed for Sesfontein and
Ongongo where we were set to camp for our last night in the Kaokoveld. At Ongongo we had our only hot bath of the trip in the fountain pool fed by crystal clear hot water from a fault in the rocks. The next day we left Warmquelle behind and took the road via the Khowarib Schlucht which must be one of the most beautiful areas in Namibia, to Okotokorwa and Kamdescha. On the road we caught up with the Hilux last seen at Orupembe - stuck in the mud (one of those famous clay/‘turf’ spots Slowcoach referred to some time back). Judged by the mopanie branches under the Hilux,
they were already bogged down for quite some
time and offered Buks the opportunity to do his good deed for the trip before we
continued to Windhoek.
The following day found us repairing flat no
5 just east of Mamuno on the Trans Kalahari in Botswana and making our last camp
at “Die kaalkol” some 320 kilos en
route to Kang. At the camping fire the next trip was born – the northern
part of Kaokoland in April 2002. I still stand to be convinced that the period
end March to mid May is not the best time of the year to visit northern Namibia.
It isn’t that hot anymore; most of the rivers are still flowing (if it
rained!); the veld decorated in lavish green and all nature in the highest of
spirits!!!!!!!!!
Kaokoland trip update by Maritn
Cleminshaw
Hi,
we are back from a 3 week trip to Kaokoland with a gx 80 4.2 diesel cruiser and Colt 2.8 tdi .
Both vehicles coped very well with the terrain except the cruiser had a lot of punctures on Desert Dueller ATs and the Colt grounded a bit here and there ( nothing serious ) .
The fuel consumption on the open road for the Cruiser ( heavily laden with large roof rack and ome lift - heavy duty suspension )was 20l /100 - once i had re-packed the roof rack this came down to 17 l /100 . From Ruacana to Epupa along the river and to Opuwo (400 kms ) the Cruiser gave 15l / 100 and after that to Palmwag via van Zyls (1000 km) - 16l / 100 .
Total distance was 1400 kms using 220 litres of fuel.
I find that the cruiser is very susceptible to wind resistance and pretty much soon runs out of steam on long hills when loaded up. Without the suspension lift and roofrack it will cruise all day at 130 - 140 kmh at 16l / 100 . With a huge roofrack and suspension lift this comes down to 100 - 120 and on long hills at high altitude even less. So planning your wind resistance is all important . This cruiser is a non turbo which means it is also susceptible to altitude fluctuations so climbing up to Windhoek was a pain with a big roofrack on .. But once offroad it is a different matter altogether and not once did it suffer from any lack of guts.
Along the River.
We stopped at a couple of really magical spots along the way and one of our guys did some fishing. He caught some magnificent barbel but only 1 small yellow fish and returned all to the river. There were fewer people living along the river it seemed and we had few visitors in the evenings . We took gifts in the form of exercise books, pencils, tennis balls and basics like flour, sugar and salt which from previous experience are well received . Of course there were kids everywhere shouting for sweets .
The river itself has been seriously flooded and one can see evidence of it everywhere. It makes a difference to the tracks in some places but not in any serious way. I could foresee dificulties for this trip if the river were flooding and would suggest that were this the case that one proceed no lower than swartbooisdrif and then take the quick inland route to Epupa.
The tin shack bar still operates at Epupa and the price of (cold) tafel is R95 a case .
The community camp site is also fenced now and is well run - there is also an initiative
to monitor garbage disposal, wood usage and general environmental impact of tourism for which
you can make a donation - good to see that sort of thing.
I opted to go to Opuwo as i did not know the cruiser's consumption characteristics and also did not mind missing the road from Okangwati to Otjitanda as the last time we went through it was in quite a poor state. I think I might do this again in future as it was a fairly quick trip to get from Epupa to the top of van Zyls in one day via Opuwo although it is quite long distance wise.
The road only deteriorates after Etanga and it is quite a nice scenic route from then on to Otjitanda. With a puncture problem and a wait in Opuwo to get the wheel fixed we did get to van zyls late at around 5:30 pm - we set off early from Epupa at around 7 am . Ordinarily the trip should take around 8 hours i think.
Marienfluss and Hartmans are an unbelievable sight with grass at knee height and higher everywhere.
Previously the cattle had done a lot of damage in Marienfluss but the good rains appears to have
sorted that out nicely.
At Puros the elephants walked right into the campsite and spent quite a bit of time with us having
a go at the seed pods in the trees next to the one vehicle. It was hard to believe that these same ellies can be so aggressive as fond in Hoanib and Huab rivers.
On the way from Puros to the sand castles we saw a family of cheetah and in the huab there were recent sightings of Lion. Probably a result of the game inceasing due to the availability of grazing.
In the Hoanib we were passed by a huge drilling rig and we heard they were drilling for water for the elephants. It sounds like the springs at Dubis are maybe drying up ? .
We stayed this time at Palwag and visited van zyl's gat - not too interesting i must say and i think in future we would skip this - maybe in the summer it's more of a sight .
Thereafter we travelled via aba huab back to swakop and on to sesriem for a final farewell under the stars.
Boy it's hard to imagine that this is london when places like these exists - stars and sand and things one hardly sees here.
best regards,
Martin Cleminshaw
Torsten in Kaokoland Easter 2002
Torsten and his family went on a trip to Kaokoland this Easter and took these pictures for us. he will give a written account later.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |