4x4 Namibian Road Trip

Namib Dessert sunrise

After spending a few days in Luderitiz getting boat projects completed, i.e. fixing things in paradise, we rented a Ford Ranger 6 speed, diesel pickup to do some road touring.

After boat project days we would head into the Luderitz Yacht Club (more a cruiser friendly restaurant with showers) for cold beers in chilled mugs. You can see they take precautions seriously -- although this was the only thing I saw wearing a mask.

The towns focus is diamonds and crayfish. This is the De Beers diamond sorting facility.

It is dry, dry dessert surrounded by the cold South Atlantic. That is Georgia in front of the dark colored diamond boat. The diamond boats are dredges that operate offshore and suck up sand to be sifted to look for alluvial diamonds that are washing out of the desert sands via the Orange River.

The old train engine roundtable. Used to turn the locomotives around at the end of the tracks.

Nice driving car and with big enough tires (or as they say here tyres) to deal with the roads. The roads are numbered with a letter followed by numbers, like C27. The B roads are major routes, mostly paved and first to get maintained. The C roads are primarily gravel but get regraded quickly after any rain. The D roads are on a looser schedule. We drove about 6 hours north to the Namib-Nuakluft National Park, home of the red Namibian desert dunes commonly referred to as Sossusvlei, primarily on gravel roads all in 2-wheel drive. The 4 wheeling didn't come in till we entered the park and got near the end of the road. Then its 4-wheel drive-high and keep the speed up so you don't sink into the sand.

A train stop in the middle of nowhere once used to rewater the old steam engines.

 

Along the road you see the feral Namib Wild Horses. They were most likely released by the Germans around World War I. 

We were really lucky in our timing as there had been a rare rain a week earlier and large portions of the dessert were lush green. Locals said they had never seen it so green. Here are some Wildebeests and their babies enjoying some fresh salad.

The 300 meter high red dunes are astounding

Even some of the 'dry' salt pans were now small lakes.

They made me hike in the dessert heat to the Deadvlei, aka Dead Tree Saltpan.

The preserved dead trees are bigger than they look in the pics. That's Chris standing under this one.

The 'trail' - bring water.

The trail is well marked, but the signs tend to get smothered by the moving sand.

Baby ostriches trying to keep up with the boss.

Large Gemsbok (Oryx) enjoying the new grasses.

Not sure what this antelope is.

My friend, Spike, the Wildebeest.

Warthogs enjoying the leftovers put out by the cooks at the lodge we stayed at (Agama Lodge)

 

We took a short-cut on the way back to Luderitz, through the Namib Rand Park, making the 6 hour drive into 9 hours.

Soon after the helpful road sign some Hartman's Zebras showed up.

Some German General decided to build this castle in the middle of nowhere in the Namib Dessert in 1909, just before he was killed at the battle of the Somme-- but why?

Dessert preserved.

A Dust Devil, aka mini-tornado. 

Small 'Sociable Weaver' birds build these huge, communal nests.

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While we still had the truck, we went out to the ghost-town Kolmanskuppe, 20 minutes outside of Luderitz. It was the major diamond center in the first half of the 20th century. The diamonds were found literally lying on the sand. 

There are dozens of buildings left, mostly getting swallowed by the dessert. These are a row of luxury homes that were in town.

The dessert never stops

Building entrance sign

The hospital rooms getting engulfed in sand. The hospital had a wine cellar below it, so the patients could have their glass of wine a day -- doctors orders. It also had the first X-Ray machine in Africa. Not to help with fractured bones, etc, but to look for diamonds swallowed by workers trying to smuggle them out of the town. 

Luderitz bay flamingos, on a very windy day.

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After sunset dessert glow

We cleared out of Namibia on Friday. We plan to leave for St Helena on Sunday morning. Approximately a 10 day sail to the middle of the South Atlantic ocean.

Paul