Part 3: Eurgh posting gets tedious .... Nambia: the final chapter

I'm determined to finish this on principle ... even though the actual trip seems several millennia ago .... and heaps of important stuff has happened since that i really do want to write about as well .... and even i am sick of writing about this now .... and so in short ...

After the small-town scariness of Swakopmund and separating from peter at walvis bay .... C and I headed up the west coast ... through to Cape Cross .... allegedly the site where the portuguese explorers first landed on that part of the continent in 1485 .... but now home only to several thousand very smelly seals (and the ensuing seal-slaughtering industry) ..... a useful stop if just for petrol ....which (as an aside) is something that can't be emphasised enough for the long drives in namibia ..... petrol stations are few and far between .... and often (especially damning if you've driven miles out of your way to get there .... as we did) don't work when you do get there (as we were continually told by white namibians .... this had become increasingly common after the "change" ...... all rather nasty)

And then onwards to the swashbucklingly named Skeleton Coast ..... which welcomed us with gates adorned with a skull and crossbones and very large sunbleached bones ..... veritable gates of hell....

The local San Bushman call this area "The place God Made in Anger" ..... its an otherworldly sinister stretch of surf meets sand littered with the ossified remnants of ships beached onto th shore ..... and now made even more sinister by the shadowy presence of Namdeb mining for diamonds (or De Beers Namibia) .... the evil empire has its reaches even in the most untouched places ....

We left the coast and headed inland into Damaraland ... a sort of mixture of desert and huge great boulders ..... the road to which is spotted with the (unique to namibia) dinosaur of the plant world - Welwitschia mirabilis .... some of which are over 1500 years old .... and actually have only two leaves which get shredded with time .... and even more bizaarely have entirely separate male and female plants who somehow have to find each other through each other in the wilds ..... its no wonder they have to live so long ..... i feel their pain .....


The other event of the long long road trip to Damaraland .... was a spectacular ripped-to-shreds puncture in the midst of abosolutely nowhere .... with no one to help .... luckily the lovely Corey (whose one contribution on our pre-trip prep was supposed to be to learn car mechanics and puncture repair .... but who instead chose to do his NYC bar exams) ... showed unbeknownst alpha male skills ..... and demonstrated that a Y chromosome may well have some innate value .... by whipping out the jack and fixing his first flat in about 10 minutes .... i stood by and made ooh-aaah noises appropriately .....

We limped into our gorgeous lodge (Mowani for any of you that might venture that way one day) ... and were instantly appeased after a long hot dusty day ... built with unique domeshaped thatched roofs to disappear into the boulder-strewn landscape .... and home to one of the only two desert elephant populations in africa ... it was the sort of place that made you pinch yourself at how luck you are to see the wonders of africa .....

Sunset didn't disappoint either .... its was glorious in the way that only African sunsets can be .... lurid reds and indecent oranges in an incandescent sky ..... unlimited unending space on fire .... the beauty only slightly interrupted by the arrival of Ami from London (via Nairobi, Joburg and Windhoek) ... who had chartered a private plane to fly him up to the lodge (!!!) .... but who still managed to arrive without his luggage (and yes for those of you wondering .... he did spend the next 4 days in the same clothes .... and undies ..... THAT is how he rolls)

Once Ami arrived ... the alcohol consumption rocketed .... chat and banter flowed .... and all adult sightseeing stopped .... we giggled like school children at the 4000 year old rock paintings (think stick paintings by a 3 year old) .... and generally took the piss out of everything and anything .....

And so onto the final leg .... to the great Etosha national park .... a very unique park where instead of you chasing and tracking the animals .... the idea is to just sit by one of the many watering holes with your six pack and food .... and wait for the animals to come to you and drink (from the hole .... not the six pack) ..... all very circle-of-life-natural-rhythm ..... except we were tyically wholly unsuccessful at picking the good watering holes ..... and so whilst we did see loads of incredible plains game .... everyone else in the park saw big cats, hunts and gore galore .... and when we did a night drive - the only animal we saw - was a domestic cat ..... and our biggest piece of action was running out of the canteen without paying for dinner (and then ami getting caught for it the next day!!) ..... i rest my case about Ami's effect on the holiday ....



In short 8 days .... mountains, desert and coast .... three hub caps and two punctures .... game viewing, dune hiking and quad bikes .... Erdinger Weissbier and Jamison 12 years .... and dust in every crack, crevice and piece of clothing .... bloody brilliant .... Pedro, C-dub and Ami - thank you