Goodbye Namibia

14.07.2003 We arrive in Namibia on a Monday morning at lunchtime. Windhoek International Airport, although it is the most important in the country, is very small. The plane lands and the passengers get off the aircraft directly onto the runway and walk towards the airport, no long queue or bus. The sun is hot, the surrounding landscape is immense and the light is stunning. Once customs formalities are completed we head to the exit looking for the person who was supposed to come and pick us up. The car rental agency we chose doesn't have an office at the airport but only in the capital, so a representative of the agency was supposed to come and get us. In the airport lobby there are lots of people, with various signs, and we quickly look for the one that concerns us.

We head towards this person, who without much of an introduction takes the suitcase out of my hand and dashes out of the airport. We follow him and head to the car park where, waiting for us, is his minibus and another guy. We load the suitcases, get on the minibus and off we go towards Windhoek. We are tired and our companions don't seem to show any interest in making conversation with us, so much so that they chat among themselves using a local language. The journey isn't long but it isn't what you'd call short and quick either, despite the high speed at which they drive. Finally we arrive at the car rental. You can't say that the first impression was the best. The office is directly in a garage, and there is a lady waiting for us: Molly. In the office (a big word) there is everything necessary, computer, telephone, photocopier, etc... but let's say that the appearance isn't the best.

Maybe we Westerners are used to different standards. In the courtyard a cream-coloured P-kup is parked with curtains on the windows of the load bed, in perfect "flower child" style. They hand over the car, they explain how it works. They don't have a second spare wheel to give us, which we had instead explicitly requested! She explains that they weren't able to get one in time, whatever!?! Partly out of tiredness from the journey and partly because we were already fed up, we take the car and go off to look for our first place to stay.

We get in the car and head towards the city and, wouldn't you know it, we realize we've forgotten the car's instruction booklet; you never know, it might always come in useful, and thank goodness we went back to get it! We go back and, while I'm at it, I take the opportunity to have them show me on the map where we are; with all that going round here and round there with Molly's husband I have no idea where we've ended up. We thus discover that the Tamboti guest-house isn't far. At least we don't have to cross the whole city. Having found the house I ring the bell. I look around and see that all the houses are equipped with barbed wire.. hmm.. what kind of place is this! A lady comes to open the door and I ask her about my reservation. She immediately has us park our vehicle in her courtyard and takes us to see the room.

Given the car rental agency, I'm ready to go and sleep in the dog's kennel, and instead, a beautiful room furnished in African style. We unload our luggage, check our car more carefully and realize that one of the locks on the load bed doesn't close. That's not good at all, we can't leave the suitcases with the load bed open. We get back in the car and return to Sanfield Car Hire to ask them to fix the lock or change our vehicle. We arrive at the company... well... it's not closing time yet but Molly has already slipped away. Her garage neighbours let us know that she wouldn't be back that day. While I look for the phone number, Marco fiddles with the lock and discovers that with a bit of oil it can be fixed. It's just a bit stiff, it must be all the dust that gets inside. So we take our car again and go off to the guest-house.

At 5.30 pm it's night. The sun sets quickly and in no time it's dark. The shops, the offices all close at 5, so the city's frenetic activity stops at 5. We decide to go and have dinner at a fast-food place and choose one on the main street of the capital. Since it's dark and the streets around our guest-house aren't well lit, we decide to go by car. To be honest, it isn't so hot that you'd want to go strolling on foot. To our great surprise the city is deserted. There's almost no one in the streets and very few cars on the road, so much so that we park right in front of the fast-food place. It has to be said that a few hours earlier it was full of life and people. It only took the dark to shut down this city too. The place is empty, most customers take away, there are few people at the tables. No matter, we don't like crowds.

When we come out of the place we find ourselves immersed in a side of Windhoek we weren't expecting. The streets are still deserted but there are quite a few people along the road asking for money, others sitting on the ground leaning against the windows of the closed shops. Only they know what they're doing. The fact is they don't make a good impression on us. We head towards our car. Marco opens the doors and we get in. As I get in I turn around and see a guy running towards me. I have no idea what it could be about and given the reality around us, I dive into the car and tell Marco to move because there's a guy chasing us. He catches up with us just in time to let him grab a little note that he had tucked on our window, but we, without doing or saying anything, dash off very quickly. We hadn't seen the note and we didn't quite understand what had happened.

It has to be said that our first impression of Namibia left us a bit perplexed. We had read in the guidebook that it wasn't a dangerous place, but the houses are all enclosed with barbed wire (and this not only in the capital but also in other cities), some shops have a gate and even during opening hours it is closed (a bit like jewellers' shops back home, to get in you have to ring the bell), all those people out on the street. In short, we head towards our guest-house a bit perplexed. Only many days later, in Swakopmund, did we get to understand who that guy who chased us in Windhoek was and what he was doing: he was a car-parking attendant!!! In the evening the streets fill with boys, some wearing a bib that indicates their activity, who in exchange for a tip watch over the cars all night or for as long as is needed for a stop.

During the day the car parks are paid, there are parking meters. While in the evening the safekeeping is entrusted to these people. It is a completely legal activity authorized by the municipal authorities. But all this we discovered later.

The following morning we leave Windhoek and head south towards the Kalahari area where we will spend our first African day. We travel along a tarred road that, as soon as we leave Windhoek, turns out to be a succession of roadworks. We didn't quite understand what kind of maintenance they are doing, what we understood right away is that you have to arm yourself with a lot and I mean a lot of patience. The first traffic light, for a long stretch the road is single-lane alternating, is quite something. A sign depicts the traffic light, but the traffic light itself consists of an operator who turns a sign with 'go' written on one side and 'stop' on the other. The traffic-light attendant is in radio contact with the operator of the other traffic light. In short, a highly technological traffic light. The fact is that we wait an eternity before our turn comes.

It won't be the first nor the last roadworks we'll encounter on this trip. The thing that struck us most is that when you pass alongside the roadworks the people working there greet you. We also notice that among the people working on the roadworks there are also women, something that doesn't happen in Italy, and above all that the staff is all black. Well.. we already start to get a first idea of how things "work" in this country. The lodge (Anib Lodge) where we have booked is waiting for us for lunch. It's a nice quiet little place situated on the edge of this desert. The owners are kind although a bit too German for our taste. In the afternoon, then, we have an excursion into the Kalahari that ends with watching the sunset in the desert. The Kalahari desert alternates landscapes of red sand dunes with areas where the grass and vegetation have grown on the red earth.

It was a great emotion to see for the first time oryx and antelopes in their natural environment. And finally, we conclude this day with an excellent little dinner with a roast of antelope that was truly delicious and tender.

After a nice breakfast at the Anib Lodge and having also escaped the eggs with bacon this morning, we set off for the Fish River Canyon. Our plan is to reach the Ai-Ais thermal spa. Before leaving we decide to tidy up the various tools of the car that are placed behind the seat. They may be wedged into their designated spaces, but banging against the car's metal they make a monstrous racket and as background music for our journeys it's truly unbearable. So we change the arrangement of the tools in order to avoid any kind of 'rattling' and to completely eliminate this annoying sound.

The Kalahari sand in the morning and in the evening takes on an intense red colour that is truly evocative! We set off but immediately make a brief stop at Mariental to fill up the car, withdraw some money from the ATM (no problem, the maestro circuit works everywhere and the ATMs, called autobank, are a bit everywhere) and do a bit of shopping at the supermarket. It's a very small town with a main street onto which all the commercial activities face. Although it's a really tiny centre, it has at least two banks, two petrol stations and a supermarket. In short.. everything we might have needed. We find ourselves, around lunchtime, near Keetmanshoop. We decide to make a detour and go and see if there's any place in town that appeals to us for lunch.

Keetmanshoop is not what you'd call a nice place, in short one of those places that feel like nothing, and the places we see don't appeal to us at all, better to make ourselves a nice sandwich with what we bought at the supermarket. So we resume our journey heading south. The journey is truly long and it was also our first encounter with a long stretch of dirt road. A real pain..... Along the road we have the chance to admire the mountains of the Fish River Canyon and the Klein Karasberge. And it's precisely to photograph this massif that we decide to stop. We pull over to the side of the road, take our photo, get in the car and... uh oh.. we've got stuck. We get out of the car and see that the rear wheels are buried in sand. Marco gets in the car, tries to move it but instead of moving it just digs itself in even more. Oh dear... this is getting bad...

So we free the wheels from the sand with our hands (hoping not to have any nasty encounters with strange insects) and place a nice big stone under each of them, then Marco gets in the car and I try to push. Given the considerable weight of the vehicle, I doubt my contribution was fundamental, in any case.. the car moves and we get back on the road. We thus learned that if you decide to park on the side of the road it's always good to keep two wheels on the hard surface of the road to avoid other situations like that. Finally we arrive at Ai-Ais, it's surrounded by the canyon's mountains. We go straight to the reception to collect the key to our room and to pay the entrance tickets.

Despite our protests, we have to pay a small difference for the overnight stay; they claim that the payment isn't complete, we claim that the agency that handled the paperwork for us had paid everything, the fact is that we have to pay this small difference, which we have carefully noted on the bill. When we pass through Swakopmund, where the agency is based, we'll go and clear up this misunderstanding with the owner. Despite the entrance that doesn't promise well, Ai-Ais is instead a very nice place and gives off an immense sense of tranquillity. We go to look for our room and discover that it's a mini apartment, terrace with a fireplace for having a barbecue (the barbecue is a real mania), kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. There's also a small courtyard whose purpose we don't quite understand and direct access to the thermal spa pool, which of course we'll make the most of.

Since Ai-Ais is wedged between the canyon's mountains, the sun hides behind the mountains before setting and the dark arrives early and quickly. We have dinner at the resort's restaurant where you certainly can't say that the speed of service is their strong point.. But we're on holiday after all so.. we can even take 2 hours to have dinner, so much so that after waiting a long time for our dinner, we decide to order dessert anyway! At dinner we notice a little family made up of father, mother and two children aged between 15 and 18. We notice them because the son, in order to sit down, "tries out" a series of chairs before finding the one that's right for him. What a delicate bottom!!!

Today a whole day dedicated to visiting the Canyon; the Namibians (or Namibini or whatever else the inhabitants of Namibia are called!?!) claim that it is second only to the Grand Canyon in the United States. I haven't seen the Grand Canyon, so I can't make a comparison, but this one is already very spectacular in itself. A truly beautiful place, it's worth the visit. We observe the Canyon from various viewpoints and also take a little walk that allows you to observe the Canyon from different angles. There aren't many people and we can enjoy the Canyon in complete tranquillity. We stop for lunch at one of the many look-outs in the company of some little birds and a strange giant-sized lizard that is sunbathing on a stone not far away.

It's a shame that the rules prohibit day hikes, a nice tour in the canyon wouldn't have displeased us at all! At one of these look-outs we meet our little family from the previous evening. We don't know it yet, but this family will accompany us throughout the whole trip! As they say... it's a small world! On the way back to Ai Ais, where we'll stay again tonight, we stop to photograph some specimens of kakerboom (or quiver trees). There are many specimens of this tree scattered here and there, we just have to choose the ones we like most and photograph them. We also take a little stroll to see one a bit bigger than the others up close, and despite my terror I don't encounter any snakes! I'm a bit (very) phobic about reptiles, I don't care to have any kind of close encounter with these little slithering creatures.

We conclude our day with a little wander around Ai-Ais and then a nice refreshing swim in the thermal spa pool. For dinner, since our accommodation has a kitchen with the cooking utensils provided, we make ourselves some spaghetti with tomato sauce, which we found in the camp's supermarket. Our neighbours, on the other hand, have a nice barbecue, so they have the chance to smoke the whole camp out!

After a quiet breakfast consumed on the balcony of our mini apartment, we set off for Luderitz. A good few kilometres of dirt road await us before we get to the tarred one. You certainly can't say that Namibia is a crowded country. Among the nations on the African territory it is the one with the lowest number of inhabitants per square kilometre (so I have read), and we noticed it. Endless hours in the car without encountering a village, a house, nothing. Sometimes then you come across a farm or a junction that indicates its road, but the house can't be seen. Well.. there it is, planted in the middle of nowhere. Far from everything else. Every now and then you meet a car or a cart pulled by 1 or 2 donkeys that moves slowly along the road.

Traffic certainly isn't a problem! And so, kilometre after kilometre, we pass the town of Aus, situated on the slopes of a mountain (perhaps it's better to call it a hill) that make it very interesting landscape-wise, and we continue towards Luderitz. As we get closer the landscape becomes increasingly desert-like, just more grey sand (it isn't red like that of the Namib or the Kalahari). We pass the ghost town of Kolmanskop, which we'll visit tomorrow, and finally we arrive at Luderitz, a town on the ocean coast. Since it's past 4, we immediately look for the information office where we have to buy the ticket to go and visit the ghost town. We go into the office and while waiting to be served we also find the little family we saw on the previous days. Well..

what a small world!!! Having bought the ticket we go to look for the Kratzplatz Guest-House (thank goodness I didn't have to pronounce that name) which is practically in the centre, and so we take a first exploratory tour of Luderitz on foot. For dinner we choose a place indicated in our guidebook, which, once we get there, we can't find; we haven't understood whether it's been moved or closed down completely, the explanation provided by the bar next door is rather confused and contradictory. So we go somewhere else. The choice isn't the happiest, it's the restaurant of a hotel. Maybe that's why, but in the dining room there's a constant coming and going of people (I should point out that they're almost always the same ones going back and forth).

The dinner isn't bad, it certainly doesn't resemble even remotely the nice little dinner at the Anib lodge, and for that matter not even the place resembles it! Behind us there's a large aquarium whose glass urgently needs cleaning and a little dead fish floats calmly on the surface of the water. In short.. the guidebook gave it a very positive judgement, certainly a very spartan place, we didn't eat badly but the next evening we didn't go back.

In the morning, as always, we wake up early, go and have breakfast. We take a quick look at the buffet to discover that apart from the yogurt the rest isn't to our liking. Maybe we're a bit "fussy" when it comes to breakfast food, but we like the classic sweet breakfast, with bread and jam, or biscuits with tea or caffè latte. Everything else, cereals, cold cuts, cheeses for breakfast don't tempt us at all. So we take a little pot of yogurt each and head to our table. At the table we find two microscopic little tubs of jam. We ask for tea and toasted white bread, while we observe the other people in the room having such meals that it looks less like breakfast and more like they're having lunch and dinner at the same time! Eggs with bacon, ladlefuls of cereal, sandwiches with salami and cheese.

I wonder if they eat that much for breakfast at home or if they only do it now that they're on holiday! Since we have a good hour before going to visit the ghost town of Kolmanskop, we head to Agate Beach. Nothing special except for the fact that along the road near a wetland area where the vegetation is very lush (there's water, that's all) we find oryx and antelopes. Further away there are flamingos. The desert landscape with this green oasis and these lagoons full of flamingos is something spectacular. The visit to the ghost town is very interesting. In the theatre hall of the little town of Kolmanskop two guides divide the people present in the room. One will be the Africans guide, and so our little family heads off with this guide. And the other in English and German.

Of clear German origins, both in features and in manner, our guide will alternate the explanation between the two languages, obviously, not by chance, first in German and then in English. All without making pauses or interruptions between one language and the other (not even variations in tone.. all flat and the same). And so she begins her long explanation. I think she started from prehistory, because she just wouldn't stop talking. Considering that this town can't boast a century of history, the introductory explanation — and of course, it's not over yet — was interminable. Marco, like many present, including yours truly, after a while got tired of listening and started reading the explanation in our guidebook, while others limited themselves to looking at the ceiling or their shoes.

If we thought we were at a simple guided tour we were very much mistaken!! The guide interrupts the explanation and in a real teacher's tone reprimands Marco "Reading or Listening?" Oops.. caught... Marco, annoyed, closes the book and doesn't answer back (our traveller's English doesn't include the phrase "mind your own business"; we'll see about adding it for future occasions). All right... we're at school! Let's hope she doesn't quiz us at the end! The visit continues... Interesting the visit of the various buildings, interminable that of the museum. The woman explained every single photograph! We feared we'd have to spend the night in this town! Finally, once the visit was over we were able to wander around the town as we pleased to take a few photos and poke around in the various houses.

In the afternoon, on the other hand, we visited the bay; I'd say it's not a very sought-after destination since we met only one car. Very interesting, both the landscape, truly desolate, and the coast. We even manage to see the penguins on Halifax Island. There's a very strong wind and the few times we courageously get out of the car to take a couple of steps to admire the landscape around us, the freezing wind assails us! Even having lunch was an undertaking with this wind. In the late afternoon we remember that it's Saturday and that the next day a long journey awaits us. So we need to fill up the car. Worried about finding it already closed or discovering that they're closed on Sundays, we go straight to the petrol station, where we learn that the petrol stations are open 24 hours a day all week, Sunday included. Good to know.

For dinner this evening we change place, of course, and choose the restaurant located inside the Kapps Hotel. The choice turns out to be excellent. It's Saturday evening but we have no social engagement planned, so we go back to our room; the wind is very strong and the air is very cold so we don't even dream of taking an evening stroll around the town, which by the way is completely deserted. Who knows what they do on Saturday evenings?

This morning breakfast is a bit more eventful. The power went out, but they tell us this isn't a problem. We order, from a different waiter from the previous morning, the usual toasted white bread. Hmm.. we wait and wait.. and the doubt arises that they still have to go to the bakery to get it. After a long wait the guy shows up with two plates full of eggs and bacon. A little squabble with the guy who claimed that we had ordered what he wanted to foist on us. Well.. no matter.. the two plates are immediately redirected to another table where it's all very welcome, and finally only the toasted bread is brought to us (two miserable little slices! Is it coming out of their pockets!?). Once breakfast is finished we set off for Aus. We make a stop at the look-out from which you can observe the wild horses of the desert. There's a quiet herd grazing, along with a few ostriches.

They're a bit skinny! Wouldn't you know it... we arrive there and who do we find? Our little family; it really seems as if they're chasing us. We set off again in the direction of Sesriem/Solitaire, passing through the Namib Rand Nature Reserve. A little-travelled itinerary given the few cars we met; of course we also meet the white car of our little family, whom we overtook throughout the day. There's a lot of road to cover and the journey was long and tiring, but the mountains of the Namib Rand Nature Reserve are spectacular and the surrounding landscape is truly beautiful. We see quite a few animals more or less close by and often stop to observe them with binoculars so we can identify them. So we see a herd of mountain zebras in the Naukluft Mountain area. We arrive at Sesriem, park and go to see the park office and buy something good to keep in the little shop in Sesriem.

Right near the entrance there are two 'nice' (not really) little snakes in spirits! Right there they had to put them! We look around a bit and set off again for Solitaire, where the Solitaire Guest House, where we'll stay for a good 3 nights, is located. We arrive at Solitaire as the sun is already setting. In Solitaire there are two establishments with a similar name; our information for reaching the place wasn't very clear and the Edt guidebook also did its part in the confusion. The fact is that both the Solitaire Country Lodge and the Solitaire Guest Farm exist (as per road signs, while it's called Solitaire Guest House by tour operators and on websites). The Edt guidebook describes the Solitaire Country Lodge calling it Solitaire Guest House.

In short, it's a hole-in-the-wall town with a microscopic little shop and a petrol station but they've managed to create a monstrous confusion! We manage to get out of this tangle of names and find our lodge. It's 6 km from the main road, surrounded by mountains. A nice place, no doubt about it, and the stay on the farm will turn out to be one of the best of the whole trip, both for the place, the accommodation, the kindness of the owner and the excellent cuisine based on game. In the end we arrive when it's already dark, put our things in order and give ourselves a clean-up. It's impressive how much sand and dust accumulates everywhere. Our suitcases, you can't even tell what colour they are anymore, they're so dusty. After cleaning ourselves up nicely we show up for dinner. There are only two other people.

We've already had occasion to notice, in our room there were oryx horns; in the house we notice other oryx horns used as candlesticks, a stuffed kudu, and other relics of this sort. Marco, for professional reasons and otherwise, is obviously very interested in seeing these things and immediately engages in a pleasant conversation with the kind owner of the farm about all these animals, etc. The dinner, based on game, turns out to be delicious. The power is supplied by a generator, so at 10 o'clock everyone to bed, the lights go out, the starry sky seems magical and the silence of the night is broken only by the song of the geckos.

Today we will visit the Namib desert. The guidebooks recommend visiting at dawn, but we're lazy and don't feel like waking up too early! Ha ha ha... We head straight to Dune 45 and, like everyone else, we climb it too. I thought walking on sand would be like walking on snow, but instead I discover it's worse. After looking around and taking the obligatory photos, we set off for Sossusvlei. The desert presents wide dune landscapes that we sometimes stop to photograph. We arrive at the car park for Sossusvlei. You can only continue with a 4x4 vehicle and since ours isn't one — because someone made a nice mess of the booking, but we'll settle that with the right people as soon as we get home — we decide not to use the shuttle service but to go on foot.

One of our guidebooks claims that it's a nice little walk and we like walking, so we set off with our backpack on our shoulders and a good supply of water. It's 5 kilometres on the flat, about an hour's walk, over terrain that goes from more or less sandy to very sandy. Indeed we can enjoy the surrounding landscape at our leisure and we also notice a variety of pretty large insects compared to those we're used to scuttling about on the sand. Sossusvlei is a very particular and evocative place. We have lunch in the nearby picnic area where there are a series of tables in the shade, finally, of some large trees. Next to our table, we find a table completely laid, complete with a red-checked tablecloth and porcelain tableware. Well...

we might as well sit down, since everything's ready! Shortly afterwards a jeep of tourists arrives and they sit down at this table and are served by the driver as if they were at a restaurant; the courses emerge from a cooler bag, placed directly on metal trays.. in short.. as my colleague's husband would comment, "here come the smelly tourists". Personally I find all this ridiculous and excessive (as well as disgusting), but not all of us see it the same way! After lunch we resume our walk towards the car park. We meet few other people who like us have chosen to do the road on foot; the average tourist, unfortunately, moves by car and doesn't know what they're missing! While we walk we are overtaken by a jeep; there really are many that overtake us, but on one in particular there are four tourists on board.

Guess who they are? But of course, our little family! Indeed, we hadn't seen them yet today! We also visit the Sesriem Canyon where we take a little walk in the Canyon, very evocative, although, compared to the Fish River Canyon it looks like the Smurfs' Canyon! We go back to Solitaire where a nice shower awaits us and above all a superlative little dinner, oryx steaks with fruit sauce! We even had seconds! Too good! We should get the recipe! Well... the oryx too! As soon as it gets dark we start to hear, as on the previous evening, the song or call of the geckos. At first we had attributed this sound to some nocturnal bird but, having asked the owner of the guest-house, we discover that the noise produced isn't the song of a bird but that of the geckos. Curious, we decide to see if we can spot any. We take the torch and go in the direction of the calls.

Despite our (many) attempts we weren't able to see anything. Sometimes the call was so close that it seemed we should step on them; we confidently aimed the torch beam but.... nothing, we didn't see a thing.

Today a nice long hike awaits us. We've decided to walk the Waterkloof trail, a 17-kilometre loop in the Naukluft Mountains. We set off right after breakfast with our backpacks ready for the hike. We arrive at the park headquarters and immediately go to buy the permit. The guy is a bit perplexed at the news that we're going to walk the Waterkloof Trail and does nothing but repeat that it's 17 km and that it takes 6/7 hours. We tell him we know what we're doing and, since our map only shows the elevation of the highest point reached by the trail, we ask him the elevation at which the trailhead is located! Oh... even better than we thought, the elevation gain isn't much (about 500 metres). That said, we set off to walk this trail. Much of the loop crosses dry riverbeds, and it's a bit of a pain, you do nothing but cross to the right and then back to the left, and so on..

back and forth across the river depending on how it curves. The trail in general is well marked even though there are some points where the tracks aren't very visible and we had to struggle a bit to find them. Honestly though, marking them with yellow footprints! Couldn't they have used a slightly more visible colour! Slowly the trail gains elevation. Even the last stretch, described as a steep climb by the guidebook, does climb but calling it a steep climb seems excessive to us. We deduce, therefore, that whoever wrote the guidebook has never walked much in the mountains, otherwise they'd know what a steep climb is. Anyway we arrive at lunchtime at the highest point where we meet 4 other people, the only ones we'll see all day. From this point you get a beautiful view of all the surrounding mountains. We descend quickly to walk again in the riverbed, always dry.

Of course Marco, after having faithfully followed the trail for almost the whole day, decides, towards the end, that it's time to take a shortcut. I grumble but follow him and... this time I was right, we have to turn back. Anyway after 5 hours and 40 minutes of walking, satisfied at having taken less time than reported in guidebooks and maps, we finally reach the car. Our feet are a bit sore from all the stones we had to walk on, but the loop overall was pleasant, we saw the nature present in these mountains, though we didn't see any animals apart from a few birds and small mammals.

After breakfast we immediately get in the car heading for Walvis Bay, we cross a strange lunar landscape and reach once again an area of pure sand. The spectacle of flamingos in Walvis Bay is truly impressive. There are so many pink birds that counting them isn't even possible. The day is very windy, we take a couple of steps along the bay very quickly because the air is really biting. After lunch we move on to Swakopmund, where we'll stay for two nights. Once we arrive in town, we pull out all our maps of the centre in search of the street where our guest-house is located. I immediately have some difficulty finding the names marked on the streets on our map. We're in the centre, yet the names don't match.

Marco unjustly accuses me of not being able to read the map! We'll discover later that, due to a change in the municipal administration (from one of German origin to one of indigenous origin (black)), the street names, on the main street, have been changed in order to have a street naming, so to speak, more African. Anyway at the information office they sell, for one dollar, a photocopy of the town centre with the correct street names. While the map with the wrong names they give you for free.. heh heh heh Well.. But the street names of Swakopmund weren't our only problem in tracking down our guest-house. Oh yes.. they were doing, right in the area where we needed to go, several road paving works, construction of roundabouts (they've arrived there too!), etc. So the road to reach the guest house got a bit complicated.

The Intermezzo Guest House is a two-storey villa with lots of glass windows, not far from the sea, in a residential area. Our room is very nice, Marco calls it "very classy". We finish the day with a stroll around Swakopmund and a bit of shopping. We also make a quick dash to the offices of AfricanDesk to meet Elizabeth, the person who helped us with booking the accommodations and to clear up the Ai-Ais misunderstanding. Not an easy task because the office has no sign and we can't find it. Elizabeth, whom until now we had only contacted by email, is very kind so we take the opportunity to ask some information about the place and to have our return flights confirmed. To clear up the Ai-Ais misunderstanding, Elizabeth, who is sure she paid the full amount for the accommodations, has to call the ministry, but given the time, she puts it all off until the next day.

For dinner, we decide to have pizza! We don't expect a real Italian pizza, after all we're abroad! But the pizza we enjoyed was very good and we can call it very similar to ours, perhaps a bit crunchier than ours. On the way back from dinner, the engine oil warning light comes on. We park under a nice streetlamp, since the light is poor, and begin our new activity as mechanics. Having checked that the oil level is at minimum, we also notice that the battery is "going for a walk", in the true sense of the word, around the engine. Surely the original had been replaced by this one that wasn't the same size. The stresses the car is subjected to have caused the bolts of the rods that hold it in place to loosen so now we find ourselves with a battery that 'strolls' in its housing.

We look among the tools, but as expected, there are all (few) the screwdrivers possible and imaginable except the ones we need. In the end with the help of a spoon and a pair of pliers we tighten the bolts and secure the battery to the rest of the car. At least, we shouldn't lose it on the road!

During the night the temperature dropped quite a bit because despite the duvet, we were cold. I get up, pull the curtains on the windows to let the sun in and surprise of surprises: there's fog! It feels like being back home in November, with this low mist, everything grey and sad, the ground is all wet, so much so that I wrongly assume it rained during the night. At breakfast, we ask the lady of the guest house for an explanation about this strange weather. All normal, she explains, it's the warm currents coming from the desert that meet the cold currents coming from the ocean and generate this mist. She explains that this wake-up accompanies them very often and that you just need to move about ten kilometres inland to have the blue sky with the shining sun back, she also explains that rain in Swakopmund is rather rare.

The breakfast buffet is truly very rich both as regards sweet and savoury, we finally find something resembling a plum-cake and some biscuits, truly an excellent breakfast. Before starting the day's programme which involves walking, in the morning, the Welwitschia drive and going to see the seals in the afternoon, we stop at a petrol station to add oil to the engine and have them issue us the receipt for what we spent. We're struck by the fact that it costs nothing compared to what it costs in Italy. As announced by the lady of the guest house, after a while driving east the fog dissolves making way for the usual blue sky without a single cloud. We walk the Welwitschia drive almost in solitude, since we don't meet anyone.

Along this route you can admire lunar landscapes, a dolerite dyke, the Goanikontes oasis, some wreckage belonging to some old army and finally the welwitschia mirabilis, these strange desert plants. In the afternoon we head to Cape Cross to see the seal colony. It's impossible to imagine the number of seals present on the coast and those still visible in the sea, everywhere you look you see an enormous number of animals. They make a lot of noise not to mention the pleasant smell that assails you as soon as you get out of the car! What a stench!! Like everyone, we pluck up courage and approach the animals. There are so many that some sleep on top of their companions, others to move about step on the others. There are mothers nursing pups, males fighting, in short.. a great confusion, but it's truly an impressive spectacle to see all these animals together.

Now I understand why the local fishermen complain that the seals eat all their fish! We stroll a bit in the surroundings and spot two jackals wandering undisturbed near the seals. Jackals are, in fact, predators of seals, in the area it's possible to observe remains of predated seals: skin, bones and skulls certainly belonging to young animals. We return to Swakopmund in the late afternoon, we stop by Elizabeth to discover that the mistake is the ministry's hence they give us back the money we paid. While waiting for dinner time we treat ourselves, despite the chilly air, to a little walk on the beach at sunset, we even manage to take one of those beautiful postcard photos.

We're mountain lovers so a visit to the Spitzkuppe, known as the Matterhorn of Africa is a must. Our intention is to reach its summit. On the way, seen in the distance it's a mountain to be reckoned with, a heap of stone that stands out from the plain below. Indeed, with that peak of its, it resembles the Matterhorn. Obviously the immensity of the Matterhorn is quite another thing. We pay the entrance fee and set off to go see the mountain up close. We don't have a detailed map of the tracks around the mountain and on site there are no signs indicating directions, so we choose it so to speak by eye. We proceed very slowly because the road is truly very bad, it looks as if a convoy of tracked vehicles has passed through. We proceed slowly and at a certain point our car seems to have trouble moving. We stop and.. little surprise... we have a flat tire.

Marco doesn't get too upset, I on the other hand get quite annoyed. Damn.. it's true that it happens very often.. but ugh.. we didn't need this. To make it short we replace the wheel, unfortunately the damaged one is really out of use, we can't even have it repaired, it's not simply punctured but the tyre is really torn. We get back in the car a bit worried about a repeat, since we had only one spare wheel, and continue to do our loop around the Spitzkuppe. Given the anxiety that having only one wheel caused us, we decide that the summit of the Spitzkuppe stays where it is while we go off to look for a new spare wheel. So we head to Usakos. We find a shop selling used tires and think that if luck were on our side we'd have solved everything quickly and maybe we could have gone back to the Spitzkuppe.

And instead nothing doing! The owner explains that she doesn't have any wheel suitable for our car, but kindly offers to phone her colleagues nearby (so to speak) and find us one. So we leave with a little note with the name of a car dealership in the nearby town (Karibib). To make it short, before lunch we solve the spare wheel problem. We have them issue us the receipt because having taken out additional insurance on wheels and windows we expect the rental company to refund the money we advanced! In any case the day's programme is a bit blurred. We head therefore in the direction of Omaruru, where we take a look at the Erongo mountain massif and then we head towards Uis where we'll stay the night. Uis immediately appears to us for what it is, a town that perhaps had a moment of glory (perhaps) but that is now slowly decaying.

So it is with the town and the establishment where we stay, the Brandberg Rest Camp. We haven't understood whether due to a problem of availability or of roadworks (the road is all a construction site) the water is rationed, it's supplied only during certain hours. We have available a mini apartment, kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. We choose one of the two bedrooms. Despite all this ample choice, the beds are a bit too soft and mine even creaks. And to think we chose the best room! The place isn't great, but neither is the rest that surrounds us. For dinner, we have a kitchen available but there are no dishes, so we go to the restaurant of the Rest Camp. At the bar there are quite a lot of people, but of tourists it's only us.

We decide to have dinner outside on the terrace, not that it's warm, but inside, with all the people hanging around the bar it feels like being in a chimney. We don't like smoke, even less so while eating. We settle outside, luckily the evening is cool but not cold. Outside there are other people drinking seated at a table near the empty pool, one of these has undoubtedly already filled up nicely. In short.. I don't know if it's just a feeling but it seems to me that this place is going to the dogs. The menu is very varied T-bone with salad or T-bone with salad. Hmm.. I might as well have a T-bone. We order specifying that the steaks must be well done and wait. The waiting times are always very long. And to think there's only us, if the place had been full who knows how many days we'd have taken to eat. Finally we're served.

They bring us two enormous steaks (not too well done) covered in sauce with chips and salad. Well.. the appearance isn't bad, we just have to find out what sauce it is and unfortunately, to my immense joy, I discover that both the steak sauce and the salad contain an industrial quantity of garlic. Surely within a radius of kilometres there are no vampires!

Given the previous dinner, we're rather worried about breakfast. We leave our room and head towards the breakfast room. Deserted.. and they call Kolmanskoop a ghost town, this is a real ghost town. We find the room and are stunned. There's no one, not even the staff, but we sit down anyway. I don't know what we expected but what we see exceeds our expectations. A buffet, just for us two, there are no other guests, with everything needed. Well.. the breakfast was average. We set off therefore, in the direction of the Brandberg. We want to see this massif, even if not exactly up close, and the famous White Lady rock painting. We arrive at the entrance of the Brandberg, and we're assigned a guide. Some people claim you can do the tour on your own too.

The amount requested is truly small and given the state of poverty of some villages in the area, it seems right to us to 'give' work to these people. All the more so because.. reaching the rock paintings isn't an easy thing if you don't know where to look for them. That said we set off following our guide. He walks very fast, but we manage to keep up with him anyway. We even manage to catch up with the group ahead of us. The trip lasts a little over two hours, it includes the visit to the White Lady rock paintings and three other sites. It's a pleasant walk in this valley of the Brandberg. The Brandberg is in fact visible at the bottom of the ravine. The guide is very well prepared and competent, not only about the paintings, but also about the surrounding environment. He also points out to us various types of lizards of different colours.

We meet other groups but in general there aren't many people. Heh heh.. when you walk people thin out, it's really true that the masses only go where the car takes you! Once our pleasant tour is finished we're asked if we could give a lift to a boy who had to get back to his farm. Our vehicle has only two seats but the hitchhiker is happy to ride in the back. So we set off in the direction of Khorixas, after about thirty kilometres our guest asks us to stop: he has reached his destination. Hmm.. in the middle of nowhere he gets out and walks off into the savannah. His farm will surely be in that direction, how he manages to orient himself since everything looks the same and above all, where it will be, since on the horizon we can't see anything. We continue our journey and go to visit the Burnt Mountain and the Organ Pipes... honestly... it's not really worth it.

As much for the Organ Pipes (it's basalt that over time has taken on this particular organ-pipe shape) but for the Burnt Mountain, it's a little hill whose face is completely burnt, black. Finally after the visit to the Petrified Forest (it's impressive how these trunks have become rock) we head to Outjo where we'll stay at the Etosha Garten Hotel. We read in the guidebook that this hotel also has the best restaurant in town (given the size of the towns it's not that hard to be the best in town!!!), so, since today is also my name day, we decide to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at this place. We settle into our room, very nice and very characterful, and get ready for our dinner which is truly of excellent quality. We taste therefore the famous zebra rolls and a kudu steak, and since the chef is of Austrian origin, we complete the dinner with two nice slices of AppleStrudel.

We wake up early, and after a nice breakfast straight into the car towards Etosha. A beautiful day awaits us inside the park. The kilometres to cover aren't many and up to the park they're on paved road. It's a beautiful warm sunny day and at a certain point the air conditioning suddenly stops working. Well.. we really didn't need this, with the heat there is and the dusty roads travelling with the windows down is certainly not the best solution. At a certain point a very loud noise coming from the engine of our car forces us to stop immediately. We open the bonnet... uh oh... two belts are sitting there nice and pretty strolling around the engine. I should say that I know absolutely nothing about engines. The fact is that our war report shows a smaller belt out of its housing but intact and a bigger one all in pieces! And it's above all this that's the cause of our despair..

it could be some essential belt like the fan belt or the engine belt. After a moment of panic we can only decide what to do. What to do? On top of everything it's Sunday!!! Fantastic!!! We see a car arriving on the horizon and decide to flag it down. Since cars don't exactly pass by too often it's not the case to waste these opportunities. Luckily for us the car stops. It's a minibus with two families of Eastern European tourists who know a thing or two about engines. In short... the verdict is this, the first belt the smaller one, the one still intact, is for the air conditioning. Never mind, we'll do without it. While the second is for the power steering (hydraulic steering) and perhaps also involves the fan. And here we're in trouble... without the fan we won't go far.

Since the entrance to the park isn't far they advise us to continue to the park slowly and to stop at every sign of the car overheating. Okay then... at least we reach our destination and then we'll see about contacting the rental company and getting another car in a short time (a utopia). So we set off again. And surprise of surprises, the engine fan turns. We stop, check everything with the engine running. Yes yes... the belt only involves the power steering!!! We thus reach the park entrance. In the end, after consulting the car's instruction manual to have confirmation that the broken belt doesn't also involve other essential parts, and considering that less than a week remains of the trip, we decide to keep the car as it is, it's a bit harder to manoeuvre..

but after all Marco is driving! Weighing in fact the times for managing the replacement of the car by the rental company, we decide that it's faster to keep the car as it is. So begins our first day of safari in Etosha. Once the formalities at the gate are done we enter the legendary park. And immediately an impala grazing near the road. And there we go, a nice photo!! I immediately pull out the brochure we had bought about the park with the map of the roads inside the park and the location of the waterholes and off we go ready for the safari!!! After years of SuperQuark finally we too will see these savannah animals live exactly in their natural environment!!! Something indescribable!

We start seeing some zebras. We immediately photograph them... A bit of haste haunts us. For fear of not having other opportunities we photograph as soon as we can. We keep seeing some zebras, and again and again... In a short time we find ourselves surrounded by an enormous number of zebras. Marco tries to count them but there are too many, to the right to the left, on the road you see only zebras. We look at each other, too beautiful!! It's not easy to describe the sight and the emotions of seeing so many animals in their environment! We continue along the road slowly, the zebras don't pay much attention to our presence. If they really have to they move off the road but very calmly. As I was saying.. we proceed slowly savouring every moment of these close encounters with these animals so distant from us and we finally arrive at the waterhole!! It feels like being at a market.

Not for the people, of those fortunately there are few and all gathered in a few vehicles (the park regulations severely prohibit getting out of the car). But for the animals, zebras, oryx, antelopes, impalas and even a jackal. So many animals, I wasn't expecting it. And this was only the beginning. There were three days like this. Well.. there were kilometres and waterholes where there wasn't a living soul, but there were moments and waterholes where there was only the embarrassment of choice. The elephants, these great pachyderms. The baby elephants are very funny. But all the babies are endearing! The giraffes then, you see them in the distance, with their neck sticking out of the plants. If we want to talk about necks the ostriches are also well off. With that mass of feathers that makes an enormous bottom on two legs. And not only mammals but also many birds. In short..

at Etosha we saw everything and more!!! Useless to describe every single animal. The countless photos we took will serve over time to remind us of the beauty of nature, of these animals and how beautiful and exciting it was to do this safari. And once again we realized how wonderful nature can be. The gaze of an antelope (they're my favourites), its big eyes looking at you while you photograph it. Who knows what it's thinking!!! These are memories we'll carry with us! Ah.. a curious thing... at the camp shop we meet our family again. What a small world, they're here too. Who knows where they've been these days when we didn't meet!!!

28-29 July 2004 Our second and third day of safari in Etosha proves to be up to par with the first. There are many animals we manage to see and observe. We drive around all day until the gates close. Useless to list species or anything else. The felines weren't very cooperative and apart from a lioness crouched behind a bush observing a herd of antelopes (maybe she was choosing breakfast) we didn't see any others. The first and second night we spend again at Okaukuejo while the third at Namutoni. They're two very beautiful camps. At the Okaukuejo waterhole we get to admire, both evenings, the rhinoceroses. The second-to-last day we also manage to spot the secretary-bird and with a bit of patience also to photograph it. Truly a bird with a very elegant bearing.

In front of the Namutoni room there are a lot of mongooses walking on the lawn, they're funny and likeable, a bit less so when we see them climbing inside the engines of the cars. We hope they don't decide to gnaw on some wire, that's all we need.

Before setting off and leaving Etosha park we drive the dik-dik drive for the last time and this time we manage to see the dik-diks, oh but they're really small! We thus leave Etosha with a haul of animals spotted to be reckoned with, a shame about the lions but for the rest we're very satisfied! Our first stop is Otjiwarongo, where we want to visit the crocodile breeding centre. The visit is interesting, it's just us and a Spanish couple. The owner acts as guide and tells us something about the breeding of these large reptiles. The big specimens are kept in an outdoor enclosure and are all dozing in the sun. They're monstrously big and their teeth sharp. In an enclosed, heated room, there are the baby crocodiles, which can't be kept outside because the winter temperatures aren't suitable for them. There are a great many big lizards from 30 to 40 centimetres.

The Spaniards seem very enthusiastic, to me, truth be told, maybe because I don't have much feeling and sympathy for reptiles, but calling them 'very nice' seems a bit excessive. They're super big lizards with a not at all friendly look and already a set of teeth to be reckoned with! Having finished the visit to the crocodile centre we head to the Waterberg Plateau Park. Along the road we meet quite a few baboons. We try to photograph them but as soon as we stop they run away. We arrive at the Waterberg plateau Park when it's just past 2 pm, they again try to make us pay the phantom difference for the incomplete payment but this time they don't fool us, we insist and they agree with us! We book the game drive in the park for the following morning at 6.

So we decide to spend the afternoon relaxing, sitting on the bench in front of our room and to go for the hike that takes us to the top of the plateau in the late afternoon. The place is a paradise of tranquillity, the silence is broken only by the singing of birds. While we relax and enjoy all this silence and this peace, the camp handyman arrives to fix the bathroom sink which is clogged. He's a very nice little man in his fifties. After a few attempts he comes out of the room and says to us "it's very hard"! Too nice! And he comes back a while later with many tools and the African version of liquid drain cleaner! Marco offers to help him, since he's alone, and the guy gladly accepts. After various failed attempts finally the sink is unclogged.

Our predecessors had 'dropped' into the drain a sock and a bottle cap, honestly!!! Our park handyman thus leaves, satisfied at having solved the problem. And once again I'm struck by the simplicity and genuineness of these people! The camp is organized into little houses, and each little house accommodates two rooms, guess who our neighbours are? But yes, our family, not even on purpose. We've been chasing each other the whole trip and to think Namibia is big!!! Towards 3.30 pm when the sun is less hot we set off towards the top of the Plateau. The walk, an initial stretch among the trees and then ending among the rocks, is pleasant and the view from the top is spectacular. We conclude the evening with dinner at the resort restaurant. There are so many people and the staff run left and right, they take the orders but then you don't know what becomes of them.

Some lose patience for the long wait, some get annoyed, one guy even goes into the kitchen. As far as we're concerned, after waiting quite a while, the waiter comes to ask us to confirm what we had ordered. We worry that all this waiting has been in vain, but a few minutes later the waiter appears with the dishes. We notice a certain likeable multi-functionality on the part of the staff. The girl at the park reception is now serving at the bar, the guy who was acting as the person in charge of the matter is serving at the tables.. hmm.. if we look in the kitchen maybe we'll find the plumber among the stoves! The dinner is enlivened by a choir of boys and girls from a school about ten kilometres from the camp. Their voices and their traditional songs are very evocative.

We wake up while it's still dark, the game drive is set for 6. It's dark and cold when the park jeep leaves the car park and we head towards the plateau. The air is really cold, I even put on my gloves and ear warmer, making the French guy next to me envious who cleverly showed up in Bermuda shorts and a fleece. He immediately sized me up as if I came from Mars, but meanwhile I didn't die of cold while he chattered his teeth the whole trip! The view from the top of the plateau ranges over the infinity that surrounds it, the vegetation is rather thick, you don't see many animals. We make a stop in a place where there's a hide near a waterhole that allows you to observe the animals calmly, if there were any! Everyone, in strict silence, settles on the benches and starts scanning the territory before us in search of something. Nothing, absolutely nothing.

We're served a breakfast that has nothing to envy those served on planes, same style same contents. I don't know how one can think of eating a fried chicken drumstick for breakfast. Yet it happens, Marco's neighbours eagerly nibble on the fried chicken drumstick. We eat, therefore, this exquisite breakfast while, finally, an oryx does us the favour of showing itself. For us who come from almost 3 weeks of travelling and oryx, the thing doesn't excite us that much. We thought we'd see many animals like at Etosha. We get back on the jeep and resume our sightseeing tour thinking that if that was everything there was to see, we had spent 400N$ uselessly. No sooner said than done, here we are satisfied, the roan and the sable. They were missing from our list of ungulates seen, so we now feel satisfied at having seen two new species that otherwise we haven't spotted.

The game drive ends at 11 and we just have time to get in the car and head to our next destination. The Dusternbrook Guestfarm where at 2.30 pm we booked the game drive to see the leopards and cheetahs. Indeed we don't have much leeway, the location of the farm turns out to be less convenient than what they had described on the internet, but finally we arrive. Along the road we get to observe many more animals. The game drive of the big cats (as I call them) is very exciting. You really get the chance to see these splendid animals (I admit it, I'm biased, I adore felines) up close, to photograph them and to observe them. They're splendid, nothing to say! We see a leopard and 4 cheetahs. The leopard really has an expression of a bad cat, but I find it simply stunning.

The cheetahs seem less ferocious, but it's not the case to go pull their tails either! Having said goodbye to the big cats we prepare to do the last kilometres of our journey towards the capital, we stay at the same guest house as the first night, so we know what awaits us. As we began, we finish! Obviously the same place for dinner... but this time we get in a queue that never ends. We don't understand if they're having a sale or if Thursday in Windhoek is fast-food night, the fact is there are four kilometre-long queues and we had chosen this place to be quick!

And we've reached the day of departure. We wake up calmly, have breakfast and pack our suitcases. We still have a bit of time before going to return the car and going to the airport and we spend it enjoying a bit more of the Namibian sun in the garden of the Guest House. When we go to return the car, we have to report all the problems we had and above all we're determined not to leave without being refunded the money we advanced, wheel included. We thought we'd have to insist or protest, rental companies are always clever tricksters, and instead... all the money we advanced is immediately refunded to us down to the last cent without any objection. So.. all that's left is to load our stuff into the taxi they called for us and head to the airport. But our adventures aren't over yet, the check-in was quite a programme. Among all the check-in agents we picked the most alert one.

We hand him all our tickets, put the suitcases on the belt and specify that the suitcases must be sent to Turin in Italy (we specify the country because we don't expect him to know the location of Turin). After quite a while fiddling at the computer, while the queue next to us continues to move quickly, he prints the usual paper strip and sticks it on the suitcases. I take a peek at it as usual and what do I read JNB. I point out to him that we don't want to collect the suitcases in Johannesburg and I repeat the whole flight plan to him, underlining the final destination. He apologizes and fiddles again for quite a while at the computer. He reprints the strip sticks it on and.... again it's not right. He wrote JNB and then TRN skipping the intermediate stop in Frankfurt.

We point this out to him again, telling him that Johannesburg Turin doesn't exist, that he forgot the intermediate stop. Annoyed, he tears off the strip and does it again! Finally, on the third try the luggage's travel route is correct. What an effort!!! Now it's the turn of our boarding passes... only the one for Johannesburg is made for us, the others we have to get once we arrive in South Africa. We don't even insist otherwise who knows where he'll send us! And so, at 12.50 we take off leaving this extraordinary country and carrying with us so many beautiful memories of this fantastic trip. GoodBye Namibia...