Windhoek to Fish River - Namibia

The drive from the Richtersveld to Windhoek was going to take at least two days and only then if we blasted it. We had lingered longer than planned in Augrabies and the Richtersveld so we didn't have the luxury of taking it easy. Our friends were expecting us to meet them off their flight in three days time and even though they had lived all their lives in South Africa they had never been to Namibia so they were relying on us to show them around.

Before we left we stopped by the Nama goatherds camp and left him some food and pans we didn't need. The guys out there live on a subsistence level so anything you can spare is very welcome, needless to say the dogs also got their fair share.

The good news was we had found out there was a way to avoid going all the way back to the tar road to Springbok but it would entail going cross country over some very rough tracks which were hardly used but we decided that as this would save us a long detour it was worth the effort.

We saw no other vehicles on the journey out of the Richtersveld to Eksteen fontein, a surprisingly large community isolated in the middle of mountains. The road was very rough at times and took us through some evocative places like the Hells Kloof Pass and the Peace of Paradise Pass. Here we saw a number of Petro glyphs believed to have been created by the San Bushmen several thousand years ago and the scenery all along this route is majestic with high mountains all around you.

Although the route cut over 100kms off the journey we did not reach the Namibian border post at Voolsdrift until around 4.30pm and it was gone 5.30pm by the time we had completed all the immigration formalities.

We still had 800 kms to go before we reached Windhoek so there was no way we could get there that night, equally there is no where to stay at the border so we had no choice but to drive another 145km to the nearest town called Grunau.  To be sure of a bed we had phoned ahead and booked a chalet at the Grunau Caravan & Camping Park, where we were promised faithfully we could get a meal.

It was just after 7pm when we arrived at Grunau to find the Grunau Caravan & Camping Park was actually part of a busy Shell garage and truck stop on the main road to Windhoek. The chalet was clean at least but when we asked about eating we were told the restaurant was now closed and all they had was meat pies in the garage forecourt which didn't look very appealing at all!

As we had left the Richtersveld early and didn't have time to stop on the way we had only had biscuits and sweets all day so by now we were starving. The owner told us we may be able to get something to eat at the Country House Hotel in town and then he buggered off leaving us with the key to the chalet.

We drove over to the Country House which was deserted but yes they could do a meal and their rooms were N$15 cheaper than the other place, so we quickly put an order in for two steak and chips then hotfooted it back to the chalet to collect our stuff, and drop the key off with the pump attendant.

Next morning we started the long haul up to Windhoek, the first part of the journey to Keetmanshoop is through some lovely scenery but the rest is fairly non descript. We had been to Keetmanshoop a few times in the past and its just a place to refuel and shop if you need things. From here there is a road to Luderitz, 340kms away, Luderitz is the only town in Namibia which we have yet to see and which we want to visit. It's on the wild Atlantic coast and is supposed to be very scenic, fighting against the encroachment of the Namib desert, if we hadn't needed to meet Carol then we would have turned here but instead we had to crack on to Windhoek.

The road from Keetmanshoop to Windhoek is long and tedious and seems to take for ever plus it wasn't helped by the fact we knew once we picked Carol & Tanya up we would be returning back down it to visit Fish River Canyon! At 3.35pm we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn which is marked only by a non descript sign.

Finally, at 5pm we arrived at the outskirts of Windhoek, apart from a brief stop to get some fuel and chips we had not stopped all day so we were very glad to have arrived. We decided to take a chalet at the Arebbusch hotel for the night and then camp there the next night once our friends had arrived.

Before we could relax we needed to start re-packing Rupert so Carol & Tanya would have somewhere to sit, Rupert was also in dire need of a clean after all the dusty roads but that would have to wait until tomorrow, for now we needed a hot shower and a relaxing night in watching a movie.

The flight from Joburg was due at midday so in the morning we washed Rupert and cleaned inside then rushed off to check emails, (our first access since Upington) and to cram in some shopping.

Rushing to the airport, which is some way out of town, we were held up by the police who were waiting for the President of Namibia's motorcade to pass. Seems he was off to Europe for some jolly and every man and his dog including various foreign ambassadors and consuls where coming to see him off so we had to wait until he had passed. We got there just on midday only to find the flight was delayed till 1pm, having been made to circle the airport until the Presidents plane had taken off, typical.

Once we picked Carol & Tanya up we had little time to spare, we needed to visit the parks booking office to book our campsites on the various parks we planned to visit. Carol had been trying without success to contact them via email whilst we were on the road so we had to get the bookings in before we could leave town. Our first problem was finding the office as we discovered it was no longer where the guide book said it was and no one we asked seemed to know where it had moved to.

Eventually after much wandering about the city centre we found it and managed to book our campsites for Etosha and The Namib. The national park campsite for Fish River Canyon is at Hobas, which is on the rim of the canyon but this was full so we decided to try camping at a private lodge in the canyon itself.

This wasn't a big problem however, the parks camp at Sesriem, which is the closest camp to the dunes at Sossusvlei, was also full and this was going to be a big problem as it's the only camp site which allows you to see the Dunes at sunrise - an absolute must but more on that later.

After the parks office we headed to the supermarket to do a big food and drink shop. We hadn't had the opportunity to do anything major before Carol arrived so it was late in the day by the time we got back to the Arebbusch and set up camp. The campsites here are pretty spartan but we managed to find a half decent spot near the dry Arebbusch river bed and enjoyed a nice candlelit dinner together.

It was going to be Tanya's first time camping in the bush so she was pretty excited about it all. It was just a shame Namibia is not a place where you can camp up close with the animals as you can in say Botswana or Zambia. Namibia, models itself on the South African system where you are stockaded behind fences of a night. Etosha, Namibia's premier wildlife park is very nice and has quite a bit of game but  you can't escape the feeling your in a big safari park.

Namibia's main attractions are more the stunning scenery and isolation at various places such as Fish River Canyon, Sossusvlei, the Namib desert and Damaraland and the population is so small you can travel for days without seeing a soul. 

Early next morning we started back down the long road to Keetmanshoop. Before meeting up we had proposed we camp the first night after Windhoek at Quiver Tree Forest but Carol was keen to get to Fish River Canyon ASAP and had booked us in there for the night.  We still thought it was too far to go in one day but were prepared to give it a go however, sure enough it was gone 5pm when we passed the turnoff to Quiver Tree and we still had a good way to go before reaching Fish River Canyon so we decided to change plan and camp at Quiver instead.

Sue and I had camped here in the 90's but it was sometime since we had been there so we were interested to see if it had changed. The camp itself seemed little changed but the prices had jumped up significantly with no reduction for children, still it was just for one night and it was a lovely sunset!

The Quiver Tree or Kokerboom is so called because the bushman make their quivers from it and the Afrikaans word for Quiver is  Koker. It can grow to nine metres and is in fact not a tree but an Aloe.

Quiver Tree Forest is virtually the last place where you can see a large number of these trees in their natural state and it is thought the bigger ones are two to three hundred years old.  They are undoubtedly most photogenic at sunrise and sunset when the bark seems to glow and they cast lovely silhouettes.

The campsite at Quiver Tree is ok providing its not too crowded which luckily this time it wasn't so we had plenty of space. The people who own it keep a couple of Cheetahs as an attraction in an enclosure, which we don't really like and  there is also some Eland but the best bit is they have a family of Meerkats which run wild about the place and provide one of your best chances of seeing these amusing little animals up close.

The next day we headed off to Fish River Canyon which is reputed to be the second largest canyon after the Grand Canyon in the USA. It certainly looks very similar to the Grand Canyon except Fish River has more of a feeling of isolation and remoteness. We had only been once before when we had camped at Hobas but this time we would be staying at a place called Fish River Guest Farm. We had no idea what this was like but it's advert said it was situated on the Canyon floor which sounded intriguing.

We reached the farm at about 1.30pm and discovered it is quite isolated and a long way off the main road. We assumed when we reached the farm that this was where we would be camping so as we pulled up we looked around for the campsite.  A little old lady came out of the farmhouse and introduced herself as Gerty, mother of the guy who owned the farm.

Talking ten to the dozen Gerty started to show us around the lodge, insisting we look at each bedroom in turn. She was particularly proud of one room which was decorated completely from floor to ceiling with graffiti written and drawn by previous guests, some of which was quite explicit and would have not been out of place in a pub loo especially as it was complimented with some extremely good drawings!

It turned out Gerty was well into her seventies and lives down in the Cape where she has a small farm but comes up to Namibia for a few months each year to help her son run the place as he spends most of his time at his more upmarket lodge somewhere else in the area. She was certainly a frisky old girl who was amazing for her age. She had recently broken her ankle and although now out of plaster was still cautiously hobbling around so we were a bit concerned as she rushed around showing us the place.

However, time was getting on and we needed to get our camp set up but we still couldn't see where the camp site was so we asked Gerty where to go. Then the realisation dawned that somehow Carols booking over the phone had got confused and  they had us down to stay at the farm!

Now it was suddenly panic stations as Gerty told us the campsite was at a place called Kool Krans (cool cliffs) which was over an hours drive away deep in the canyon. We would need to be shown the way as it was a  tricky trail and there are no signposts or maps. Gerty was all excited as it seems she loves visiting the camp but rarely has the opportunity so off she went to get a couple of farm hands to drive ahead of us in an old beat up bakkie.

Gerty herself was keen to ride in Rupert as she wanted to point out things of interest on the way. Normally this would have been great except we hadn't room to swing a cat so she had to hop in the bakkie and then every so often stop and take us off to show us a great viewpoint, where to swim, the best spot to collect Garnets or where some bushman paintings were hidden. 

The drive to Kool Krans is quite spectacular, first you drive along the rim of the canyon looking down far below to the canyon floor and the Fish River. Then you start to drop down into the canyon itself, the track is very steep and little more than a faint outline in places as you manoeuvre over and around huge boulders, luckily having just done the Richtersveld we were well used to this type of terrain but Sue was not too happy at the prospect of trying to get out the same way.

By now we were deep into the canyon and there was still no sign of the campsite, then suddenly the track ran out altogether and the bakkie came to a halt. Without saying a word the two farm hands jumped out and started walking up a side channel of the main river disappearing out of sight. Gerty came over to explain that the camp was on the opposite bank but the road in had been washed away sometime ago so they were just checking to see if the alternative way across was still passable.

Never mind the alternative we couldn't see anything which remotely looked like there had ever been a track and it was at this point Gerty decided to also share the news that the last visitors had bottled out at this point and had elected to leave their trucks and carry everything across to the other side!

It was too late to turn around and we had too much gear to hump it across so we decided if there was a way through we would try it come what may. Ten minutes later the guys returned jumped in the bakkie and signalled us to follow them. We then proceed to bump across country following the bank of the channel until we stopped at what looked like a steep drop off the edge of the bank across the dry bed of the channel to an equally steep climb out on the opposite side. I thought they must be having a larf surely they didn't expect us to cross here but this was it, our only option if we wanted to drive across.

They went first in the bakkie and made it across in one piece so we couldn't back down now. The main worry was they were in a short bakkie so could see over the bonnet but Rupert is a big old boy and once his nose went up over the start of the down bank then all we could see was sky so I was worried about hitting one of the big rocks on the way down.

However, with the guys guiding us around the rocks we made it ok and then followed them back down the opposite bank to where the channel rejoined the main canyon, it was then we realised we were not actually camping but staying in what could best be described as a bunch of garden sheds, this was certainly going to be an interesting three days.

Gerty and the boys stayed with us to check the gas heater for the shower and the water were on, then they said they needed to start back before it went dark but they would come back in three days to make sure we could get back out, until then we were completely on our own.

We watched them head off back along the bank until they reached the crossing only this time they really struggled to get up the opposite bank, each time running out of steam and rolling back down the slope and into the river bed.  Each time the guys got out and moved rocks then tried again, I started to walk after them to see if I could help when finally on the sixth go they made it, shit if they struggled we had no chance as Rupert is at least three times the weight of the bakkie!

Still we would worry about this when the time came, for now the sun was shining and we had the whole stretch of canyon for as far as you could see to ourselves but first it was time to check out the camp. 

There were six basic huts (or hutches as we labelled them) each with  twin beds and white garden chairs. Five backed right onto the cliff face but the sixth some bright spark had decided to put right in the middle of the camp which was a bugger to get Rupert around.   

In between two of the hutches was the kitchen with a gas stove and sink and finally there was a flush loo and a separate shower which had hot water courtesy of a temperamental old gas boiler. It was liveable and at least we didn't have to put the tents up but personally I would have preferred to camp.

That first night was lovely with a beautiful sunset and total silence all around, we made a nice fire and watched the moonrise with a few G&Ts. Next day it was nice and sunny so after a leisurely morning we head off for a walk down the canyon to collect some garnets at the spot Gerty had showed us. Its quite a hike but its such a lovely place we didn't mind the walk. Sue, Tanya and I had a competition to see who could find the most Garnets which T won hands down with over 70, it was too hot for Carol so she sat it out in the shade.

On the way back to camp T and I decided to cool down with a swim in the river. Despite the heat the water was pretty cold but welcome all the same, Sue had a paddle and Carol once again sat in the shade, I was concerned that if she was struggling here then God help her when we reached Sossusvlei where temperatures can go over 50C!

The next day was Easter Sunday which in all the travelling we had completely forgotten all about. We celebrated with the Full Monty for breakfast with a jug of Buck's Fizz thrown, It had rained during the night and Tanya had surprised us by getting up early to make two Easter Eggs out of clay, a very nice thought just a pity they weren't chocolate.

The rest of the day was very cloudy, in the late afternoon we went for a walk down the Fish River but hadn't gone far when the sky became even more overcast and it began to drizzle. By the time we got back to camp the wind was getting up and we had a whirlwind go through the camp scattering all and sundry.

This wasn't looking good we were due to leave in the morning and it was going to be hard enough getting out as it was. Sure enough by 7pm it started raining and it got progressively heavier during the night. We were quite cosy eating by candlelight in one of the hutches and playing Yartzy but we wondered what the morning would hold.

The rain finally stopped around 4am but ominously we could now hear running water coming from right outside the camp.  As soon as it was light Sue and I were up checking out the situation and sure enough the heavy rain had turned the previously dry channel in front of us into a fast running stream.

The bakkie had struggled to climb out of the channel in the dry now we with all our extra weight would have to do it in the wet. The actual crossing point was almost completely under fast running water so you could no longer make out clearly the best way across, walking it I found in places some deep holes where the water came up to my knees.

Sue & I spent the next hour clearing boulders and trying to even up the crossing, then back to camp to pack up. We didn't know what time Gerty and co would arrive to check we were ok but even so we wanted to be ready as we had another long drive ahead of us.

At least we didn't have tents to put down but water had got into the zip back on the roof so it took time drying it out as best we could. Luckily it was a lovely sunny morning, but a little chilly, at 8.30 Gerty and the boys pitched up on the opposite bank but didn't try driving across, they shouted across they had brought a chain and would try to tow us if necessary.

Sue, Carol and Tanya waded across and stood with Gerty on the opposite bank, whilst Vimbe, one of the farm hands, came across to try and guide me through the maze of boulders. I got Rupert into position on the down slope, this bit wasn't too bad the problem was getting up the steep bank the other side, this was were the bakkie had struggled. It wasn't helped by the fact that with the water I couldn't get the revs up going across the river bed so I was really concerned that even in 1st gear, low range, we wouldn't have enough grip to push up the bank.

In Cape Town we had, after a lot of thought, splashed out on an expensive but ingenious bit of Ozzie kit called an ARB rear diff locker. Using compressed air this locks the diff so that if you lose traction on one wheel it still maintains power to the other. The normal Landy diff lock is good but has the weakness that if one wheel comes off the ground, even for a second, it detects this as a loss of traction and tries to transfer more power to that wheel, result total loss of traction. The ARB locker is supposed to avoid this situation so now was the time to put it to the test.

I had only played with it a few times before just to see how it worked but now it would have to earn its keep. The compressor and diff lock are activated by two switches on the dash, it takes a little getting used to once it locks as the rear end feels quite heavy.  Before starting down the slope I switched on and then carefully watching Vimbe's signals started across, the wheels slipped a few times as we climbed over the boulders now covered in water but soon we were ready to try the climb out.

My biggest fear was rolling back down as the bakkie had done and smashing into one of the submerged bigger rocks. The exit slope was so severe that once Rupert started up all I could see was sky! Keeping the revs up but trying to avoid wheel spin I gave it a go and to my delight apart from a bit of slippage towards the top Rup climbed out like a right good un, what a relief, good old ARB.

Gerty and the boys came over looking very disappointed that we had made it look so easy, we learned afterwards that they had been hoping to tow us so they could charge a fee, bloody cheek!

They were staying on to do some work on the road so we said our goodbyes and headed out the canyon, it had been a lovely few days of total isolation and it was very interesting to be on the canyon floor instead of just gazing down from the rim, it would have just been better if the weather hadn't given us a sleepless night worrying about being stranded!