The Marienfluss & Hartman's Valley's Kaokoland - Namibia

After leaving our names at the foot of Van Zyl's Pass we drove out of the small valley and into the large expanse of The Marienfluss. We had read that one of the biggest dangers when driving in the Marienfluss is the risk of vehicle fires from driving through the thick grass and sure enough after eight miles we reached the burnt out remains of a Landrover, it had clearly been here for many years so all that remained was the rusted chassis and bulkhead, what had befallen the occupants was anyone's guess but to lose it here would have been no joke.

Luckily at the moment the grass was very low and as we drove it eventually disappeared altogether so all we could see was red sand. We carried on deeper into the Marienfluss, we still hadn't seen another vehicle or even a human for two days so it came as quite a shock to suddenly see a vehicle ahead parked under a tree just off the track - at first we couldn't believe it but as we got closer we saw it was Jim the weird Canadian from Epupa Falls just standing there as if waiting for someone......us?

It freaked Sue out, we knew he had come the longer easier way round avoiding Van Zyl's but even so he must have pushed it to get here so quickly. As we reached him we stopped, quietly praying he hadn't broken down. To our relief he was ok, it transpired he was waiting for the German couple who had set out with him from Epupa but had somehow fallen behind. I was under strict orders not to tell him where we were heading which wasn't too difficult given we didn't have a clue ourselves anyway!

We moved on leaving him under the tree, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but Sue remained convinced he'd been waiting for us and there was no doubt it was weird meeting him in such circumstances.

In all this we still saw the odd Gemsbok or Springbok, what they found to eat out here was any ones guess, they are amazing animals. Eventually after crossing the dry Ojtigjangi riverbed we reached the valley's end and ahead lay the Kunene River, it was 1pm, we had travelled just 40 miles since leaving Van Zyl's.        

Here there are two campsites, Camp Syncro which is owned by a South African and Okarohombo Camp owned and run by the local Himba community. We reached Syncro first where a Rastafarian looking guy on the gate informed us they were full which was very surprising given we had seen only one vehicle, Jim's, since leaving Epupa but he was adamant so we left. 

As we drove away two vehicles with South African plates approached us, they must have done a Jim and come the long way round or had followed us over the pass, either way we watched as they pulled up at Syncro's gate the guy promptly let them in! We didn't care, we hadn't liked the look of the place anyway, it seemed small and far too manicured for our tastes, with little braii areas and grassed lawns, a South African's taste in bush camping.

We drove onto Okarohombo about 3km away, this was much better being right on the banks of the Kunene river whereas Syncro was back in the desert. It was also a large site with lovely large Acacia trees which we learnt in Afrikaans were called Ana trees, in fact the Himba call Okarohombo 'the camp under the Ana trees'.

The other nice thing was the place was totally deserted, the only person being the Himba girl on watch who was very pleased to see us. We guessed the majority of visitors up here were from SA who tended to stay at Syncro which suited us fine as we prefer to support the local communities wherever possible. We found a nice spot at the far end of the camp nicely tucked away on the riverbank with plenty of shade, no one should bother us here.....

It cost 35 N$ per person to camp, about £3 each for which we got the use of four showers and four toilets which we were pleasantly surprised to find where flush ones not long drops.  The showers only had cold water but in this heat it was pleasantly tepid and the site also had a tap with cold running water which in this desert was a godsend.

Our friend Chris writes guide books for Bradt including the one for Namibia but none of this was in his latest edition so as we travel we also gather information like this for his next edition. We quickly set up camp, we only planned to stay one night so we were  using the roof tent and didn't take long to get sorted after which we had showers then sat down to a late lunch.

The view from our camp across the river to Angola was truly stunning with lush vegetation along the opposite bank giving way to desert and huge mountains in the distance. We had just finished lunch and were relaxing enjoying the view when to our dismay we heard a vehicle approaching, surely not, the place was totally deserted and looked like it had been this way for awhile but now this.

At least we had picked our spot well, hidden from the rest of the site including the entrance gate. We heard the vehicle stop at the entrance gate but we were still hopeful that whoever it was would think the camp was deserted and either go back to Syncro or at least camp elsewhere on the site and leave us in peace. The gate was about 50 yards away so we could hear voices but couldn't make out what was being said, then we heard the vehicle drive onto the site and bugger it it sounded like they were coming towards us.

We listened, the engine got louder, they were definitely approaching our end of the site, we couldn't believe it, Okarohombo is big yet they were coming straight for us. For a second we feared it was Jim, but it didn't sound like his vehicle, then a Toyota Landcruiser drove right into our camp and a familiar figure jumped out, our hearts sank it was the German couple who had been dogging us since we crossed into Namibia at Katima Mulilo some four weeks ago!  

They told us they had just arrived having come the long way round and wanted to know if we had seen an Italian couple with two small children. It seemed they had met them on the road a few days ago and the Italians had said they were heading this way but they were now worried that they were nowhere to be found.  We didn't like to say that maybe the Italians had just said this to throw them off the track and suggested that maybe they had gone to Syncro but the Germans said they had already checked there.

We said maybe the Italians had camped along the river bank in the other direction so off they went to search, at last some peace and quiet again but unfortunately not for long as once again they returned, they didn't find the Italians and claimed there were no campsites that way, even though we found at least two when we checked the following day!

Now bearing in mind the whole camp site is empty as far as the eye can see, Mr German says they want to camp right next to us where we had already put up our washing line and had some clothes drying on it! He demands, not asks, that we remove the line so he can get their vehicle in! Trying to remain polite we explain we don't want to do that as we need the line and besides they would be too close and we like our privacy!

We pointed out there was a lovely site under a big Ana tree about 30 yards away which they could use but he wouldn't contemplate this, his attitude was they would camp next to us regardless as they don't like camping alone being fearful of the locals. Clearly having their camp table and chairs stolen at Katima Mulilo and then the incident at Tsumeb had frightened them but even so he was totally insensitive to our needs so in the end we had to be forceful and tell him to effectively bugger off.

Muttering something about 'oh you bloody British and your privacy' he stormed off to his vehicle where all this time his wife has been sitting saying nothing and drove off in a cloud of dust, heading back towards Camp Syncro. We felt a little sorry for the wife but really it wasn't our problem, they should not be travelling in areas like this on their own if they are so nervous!

After they left no one else turned up and at last we could relax and celebrate our exciting journey of the last two days with some Bucks Fizz while watching the lovebirds flying overhead. Later it was Spag Bol with copious amounts of G&T's for dinner, all alone under a stunning starry sky with hardly a sound, the local Himba's who lived further along the river were very quiet, far quieter than your average African, we were still on a high after Van Zyl's and this was the perfect ending!

Up at 7am we started to pack up camp, today we would move closer to the Skeleton Coast and into Hartman's Valley, the night had been very quiet so the German's could have camped quite safely. Breakfast was tea and cereal plus we make some coffee for the journey, Serophina the Himba lady who welcomed us yesterday came over to collect our camp fee, N$35 per person which was very good as the other camp charged N$50 each, we  gave her N$100 anyway as we thought that was only fair. They had left us alone to enjoy the beautiful solitude for which we were grateful plus life here is very hard, when we filled in the camp register on leaving we noticed their last visitors had been back in June!

At the gate we saw some kids with a donkey so we gave them fruit, peanuts, sweets, bread rolls and what was left from last nights Spag Bol, then we were off again, we had no idea how long it would take to reach Hartman's, all we knew was it was even more isolated than the Marienfluss with no human habitation of any sort!

Before heading off we decided to try and check out camp Syncro for our friend Chris. This morning a nice Himba lady called Anna was on duty and she had no problem showing us around. What struck us immediately was how very small the site was, where Okarohombo was simple and open along the river, this was completely fenced with little paths, small concrete braii areas and loads of thatched huts which turned out to be rooms.

After the flurry of activity yesterday we expected to find people here so it was a surprise to find the place deserted, no Jim the Canadian, no Germans, no South Africans, everyone had left.

Anna told us there were only two campsites but six groups with around 10 vehicles had camped on them overnight but they had all left at the crack of dawn. We couldn't believe that so many people had squeezed into such a small area it must have been awful, we described the Germans and Jim to her and she confirmed both had been there, she wasn't happy either as both had buggered off without paying, why didn't that surprise us!

All this had delayed us so we needed to get moving. First we  re-traced the route in to the start of the Marienfluss then headed West. As we reached the junction back to Van Zyl's we noticed a broken stone sign lying by the side of the track, piecing it together we could just make out the words 'Van Zyl's Pass Dangerous Road Do Not Use' now they tell us!

We take the other track to Red Drum, not a place but an actual red oil drum, with no discernable features in the desert this acts as an important landmark. By now it was very hot with a clear blue sky we had only travelled 40 miles since leaving camp and it was already midday.

Ten minutes later we came across another burnt out car wreck, this time a Toyota, the shell looked like a sieve with numerous bullet holes, could it be a relic from the South African war with SWAPO, it certainly looked like it had been there for many years. 

At 12.30 we reached the red drum, in the middle of absolute nowhere, surrounded by desert and mountains some wag had fixed a broken phone to it and noted the co-ordinates and like the foot of Van Zyl's strewn around were numerous stones with names and messages. We had not encountered a soul since leaving Camp Syncro so were very surprised to see a vehicle parked under a nearby tree.

We went over to say hello and found another surprise, the occupants were none other than the Italian family that the German couple were searching for. A very nice couple with two small children it turned out they were travelling around Namibia doing research for a new guide book they were writing for the Italian market, we thought how brave they were to do it with such young children in tow.

We told them we were heading for Hartman's Valley and they told us they had just come from there confirming there were no campsites other than the upmarket tented camp operated by Skeleton Coast Safari's but that was now closed until next spring, mind you that was a bit irrelevant as we learned later it costs around £2,000 a night to stay there!

Strictly speaking you are not allowed to self camp overnight in Hartman's, you are supposed to enter and leave within the same day but the Italians told us about a spot they had camped at which they said was hidden from view, they even had the GPS co-ordinates which they gave us. They were heading onto the Marienfluss so we recommended they camp at Okarohombo, they also seemed relieved to have avoided the German couple.

The next co-ordinate on the way to Hartman's Valley is the Blue drum, it may have been Blue in it's day but now it is just a dull rusty colour, from here it is a bone shaking track to the Orange drum which luckily is only about 6 miles away. We reached there at around 2.30pm, not as 'sophisticated' as the red drum this was just a drum filled with rock's on which people had written their details, we did the same then headed onto the Hartmannberg.

At first the track was narrow, rough and rocky but then it opened up and became sandy with corrugations which are not good for us or Rupert. After nearly an hour of bone shaking we reached the GPS co-ordinates the Italians had given us. At first we couldn't see anything but the same scrubby landscape we had been driving in for the last hour, but then looking closely we could just make out the faint outline of tyre tracks leading off towards the mountains, this must have been where the Italians had driven off to camp.

We followed the tracks to a dry river bed behind a rocky outcrop, well screened from the main track, it was still mid afternoon and the sun was high and hot so we put the awning on the side of Rupert out for shade, not used that often the awning has nevertheless proved invaluable in providing shelter from rain and sun when we really needed it.

By 4.30pm with awning up, table and chairs out it was time for G&Ts, we would wait until the sun dropped before putting the roof tent up. At 5.50 the sun was still high and the temperature in the high 30's, Namibia is a very hot country at the best of times and Kaokoland was proving to be one of its hottest areas.

As we sat and enjoyed our drinks a lone Gemsbok suddenly appeared in the dry river bed, at the same time he spotted us gave out an alarm call and ran away, we never cease to be amazed how these animals can survive in such harsh conditions.

By 7.40pm it was still light, something we had become unaccustomed to as further North it goes dark almost instantly from around 6pm onwards. After the heat of the day it was rapidly getting colder but we decided not to light a fire in case it gave away our position, even though we hadn't seen or heard anyone since meeting the Italians we couldn't afford to take any chances.

It was eerie realising we were completely on our own in an area the size of a small county in the UK, not a sound anywhere and as the sun went down the view over distant mountains was very atmospheric. Supper was a  hurried affair as by now without a fire it was getting too cold to sit out so we retired to the roof tent with our books, a bottle of Moni's sherry, bounty bars and Bailey's coffee, it was only 8.35pm a first for us.   

Up at 7am the tent was soaked from the heavy morning dew, overnight huge black clouds had rolled in from the Atlantic coast bringing a mist, it is this mist which brings the life saving moisture to the desert flora and fauna, Mother Nature at her best.

Packed up we started to leave the site when we saw the Gemsbok watching us from a distance as if waiting for us to leave, we think we may have been camped near to his midden (toilet site) so he was probably in a hurry for us to leave!

Back on the main track we looked back but couldn't see the camp site, it was well hidden, the Italians had chosen well, not that it mattered as not a soul was about. We continued on up the valley, estimating we had about another 45km to go till we reached the end and the Kunene river. 

As we drove we saw more Gemsbok but nothing else, after an hour or so the landscape started to change from scrub and bushes to thicker soft sand and sand dunes which crept up to the base of the mountains.