Running with the Wild Dog - Coast and culture

Up at virtually the crack of dawn to shower and pack away our dome tents, down a hearty breakfast and climb back into the tour truck, the happy band of travellers set off on another leg of the Namibian Explorer Safari. Safari-so-goody! All too soon we waved goodbye to the magnificent dunes and desert landscape and headed down to a quirky one horse town (more of a hamlet) called Solitaire , vaguely recalling scenes from the Texas chainsaw massacre remake, where we stopped off to try some of Moose MacGregor's famous apple pie (more of an apple crumble without cream or custard) in the midst of a graveyard of wrecked vehicles. Bizarre! Thankfully no chainsaws, only a few sad looking camels...hmm camels and car crashes.....what a mix.

Come on in for apple crumble!

Where old bangers go to rest!

Leaving Solitaire we headed towards the coast where we stopped at the Tropic of Capricorn line for obligatory photos and then towards Kuiseb where we stopped again to admire the unusual geological mica schist formations....

Well I just had to have my photo taken here.

View from the Kuiseb pass

Soon we caught a glimpse of the Atlantic as we swung into Walvis Bay and enjoyed a bracing pre lunch walk along the lagoon, famed for its birdlife, before attempting to sit down next to the tour bus and eat sandwiches and salad al fresco in gale force winds.

Wot no birds?

That was not our last stop of the day though, we drove onwards to Swakopmund where we enjoyed two nights at the Amanpuri traveller's lodge. Having spent a weekend in Swakopmund a few weeks previously I decided to use this opportunity to chill out instead of running around trying to see everything. I treated myself to a delicious morning coffee at the Garden Cafe, wandered along to the Die Muschel bookshop and bought 'Jonathan Livingstone Seagull" by Richard Bach and "Conversations with God" by Neale Donald Walsch and settled into a spot on the sand to begin my literary foray. In between reading and watching the world go by I sampled a tasty veggie lunch at the Strand cafe and strolled up and down the sea front a few times until the sun set.

Swakopmund pier

The next day we followed the skeleton coast past a floating ship wreck, (sadly no Captain Jack Sparrow in sight aharrgghhhhhh) and on to Cape Cross where the famous portuguese explorer Diego (sometimes spelt Diogo) Cao set foot on Namibian soil for the first time in 1485. Nowadays, Cape Cross is home to a large colony of fur seals and they don't half pong I can tell you!

Cape Cross seal colony - what a racket!

A few jackals skulked about in the background but were too elusive to photograph on this occasion. After breathing in the seals' pungent aroma for far too long, we piled back into the relatively pleasant-smelling tour truck and hit the road again, away from the coast and on to the Brandberg mountain (or 'Fire' mountain) in Damaraland where we left the truck behind to trek through Jurassic Park like terrain and foliage, wending our way through elephant grass, jumping over steams and scrambling over boulders, past monkey rock. I half expected to see a pterodactyl swoop down upon us from the lofty mountain heights but instead we came across a few lizard relatives, the agama. 

Cute little chappie isn't he?

The heat clung to our bodies as we scrambled further up through the boulders, reminiscent of scenes from the film Picnic at Hanging Rock, towards our goal, a glimpse of the white lady. Who is she? A ghost? A goddess? A barking mad witch living in a cave? She is actually none of these apparitions. She is in fact a 'he' and an ancient rock painting, of great spiritual significance to the San people.

A slightly 'off-white' White Lady

As the sun began to set over the mountain top, giving it its burnished glow and name of Fire mountain, we returned to the truck and drove to our camp where we put up our tents among the trees and settled in for the night.

Wild Dog camp

Unusual carvings of animals at Twyfelfontein

The next day we toddled off to Twyfelfontein, home of the famous rock carvings and enjoyed a guided tour of plenty of animal and half animal/spirit carvings. Early signs of shamanic shape-shifting? Carvings weren't the only features to stand out from the rocks, we noticed plenty of white hyrax poo as well. Hyrax or Dassie is the closest living relative to the elephant but you wouldn't guess that from looking at it as it resembles a guinea pig. Anyway enough of poo, from Twyfelfontein we travelled on, taking in a short stop to admire some more ancient wonders, this time of the vegetable kind, which are also important cultural symbols as this species has a special place in the Namibian Coat of Arms. It is the great Welwitschia mirabilis.

Can you see it?

 Welwitschia looking a tad leathery and shrivelled

It's a unique plant by any stretch of the imagination, with only two leaves which split into many ribbon like structures and a longevity of on average 500-600 years, and some larger specimens are thought to live for up to 2000 years. Well no wonder it looks a tad leathery and shrivelled - so would you be if you grew up in a desert for a couple of thousand years! It is an endangered species and requires fog to survive. In homeopathy this plant symbolises duality.

Onwards forever onwards to our camp among some impressive rocks next to a Himba village.

Happy camping!

After putting up our tents (again....getting very good at this now, in about 5 mins) we were taken on a guided tour of the Himba village to learn about the culture of the Himba tribe. Although this was fascinating, I also felt uncomfortable because the 'project' seemed very staged and I did not see evidence of how the women and children of the village benefitted from the income from tourism. 

Hairdressing Himba stylze

So our coast and 'culcha' filled days were nearly done, remembered over a evening camp fire before the final leg of our adventure.

From fish to apes and marmite

Last weekend I took myself off on a self-guided mini-walking tour in the centre of Windhoek, taking note of some of the landmarks and orientating myself to find places of interest I want to go back and explore at a later date e.g. the State Museum, National Art Gallery, Craft Centre etc. I stopped to admire the fountain and sculpture on Post Street Mall, made from real meteors commemorating a large meteor shower at Gibeon which happened 600 million years ago! I meandered through the many street stalls selling wood carvings, bead and leatherwork and baskets and stopped to buy some collectors stamps for my postcards home. I dropped into Ocean Basket to treat myself to fish and chips (well what is a Brit abroad supposed to do?) which happens to be one of my favourite foods anyway and cooked to perfection. I tucked in while sitting on the balcony overlooking the street craft market and watched the world go by for a while. You have to take a peek at one of their bizarre TV adverts, check out the prawn pack

Then to work off those calories I set off again on a ramble, pondered for a few tranquil, prayerful moments in the courtyard garden of the Dutch Reform Church, enjoying the welcome shade. And then I continued on to the Owela museum to see the Natural History Collection which ranged from the Welwitchia mirabilis desert plant, through to the endangered rhino and included an impressive display showing the evolutionary history of the elephant. On the other side of the museum visitors can wander through a series of displays showing the history and cultural practices of Namibia's diverse peoples including the Himba, Herero, Nama, Damara and Khoisan. Well worth a visit!

After that and feeling a tad parched in the strong afternoon sunshine, I toddled off to Maerua Mall to down an iced chocolate and slice of pecan pie at the Mugg and Bean Cafe but was disappointed with the iced chocolate because it had coffee in it.  I said to the waitress "but this is a mocha....", she replied, "no it's iced chocolate", I replied "when you mix chocolate and coffee together its a mocha", she said "no its an iced chocolate muggaccino".....oh my how confusing! Anyway I then bought myself a ticket to see "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" at Windhoek's only cinema. I thought the dialogue was pretty ropey at times but the computer generated action and special effects were impressive. I think the best actor award should go to the computer generated "Caesar", voice over and motion capture by Andy Serkis (remember him as Gollum in Lord of the Rings?....I rest my case).

Yesterday, I had a lazy Saturday, firstly a long lie in then a ramble down to get a strong coffee at Caffe Brazza. Secondly I bought a lovely aloe and soft linen home fragrance  reed diffuser from the Body Shop to bring a fresh spring scent into my flat now that the winter cold and wind is showing signs of abating and summer is on its way. A quick dash round Checkers supermarket to stock up on my food for the week ensued and later I joined my new friend Tracy, who runs the Cinnamon Cafe and a lovely little bar next to it, for a very late but delicious lunch at La Marmite restaurant on Independence Avenue. A North and West African venue with a fantastic menu is a place not to be missed. I delighted in one of my favourite African dishes, chicken in groundnut sauce with rice and spinach followed by flambed bananas in Amarula and coffee liqueur with ice cream...hmmmm.....amazing. I didn't need to eat again that day!