Following the dusty road in Damaraland

If we thought that we were dirty and dusty after our week in Etosha, then we had another thought coming, we ain’t seen nothing yet! The sparkling results of our day of cleaning Chico and ourselves in Outjo (when we last updated the blog) were short-lived, but it did feel good while it lasted all the same.

To call the Damaraland region dusty would be an understatement. There was so much sand and dust that Dave turned ashen-grey in a single afternoon (no jokes please about Sharon’s already natural grey highlights which she will remedy by Christmas at the latest!). The distinguished salt and pepper look really suited Dave and now the prospect of him going grey is quite appealing!

Community Tourism

One of the reasons we persevered on the very dry, dusty and corrugated roads of the Damaraland was that we were in search of some community tourism projects that we had heard about. We wanted to show some support to locals and find out a bit more about how they operated.

All in all they were okay and surviving, but as we have found in Namibia in general, it was very hard to find information about places, there is still loads of room for improvement. One of the basic needs of a tourism operation is that it can provide a good service – this is still lacking somewhat. Still we enjoyed seeing what little there was to see – the ancient Petrified Forest, the rock paintings and engravings at Twyfelfontein and Brandberg.

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Campsites

The campsites we used were basic, but did provide good outdoor showers with piping hot water. In one site, Aba Hoab it was so windy we couldn’t put the tent up, but they did have little A-frame shelters so we managed to set up in two of them. We used one for our dining room, and in the other we laid down our mattresses for a bedroom and we were able to watch the stars at night. There were only 3 other campers in the site and they all had camper vans.

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We are getting used to being the only English speaking people on campsites with a tent and in a private 2WD car (red) as opposed to white fully kitted out rental 4WD camper vans driven by German or Dutch tourists. We seem to stand out like sore thumbs and as much as we try to make conversation with other tourists we get nowhere; but we have had nice chats with locals and staff working on sites.

Driving

The drive to the coast was strange, it seemed the sea was right in front of us, but the road would continue for miles, some kind of optical illusion in the desert. Anyway it was a welcome sight when we did actually get there – Henties Bay – and we treated ourselves to fish and chips – so fresh and delicious, especially since the previous day we had probably the camping meal that ranks up there as the worst ever, wait for it… 2 minute noodles and a tin of corned beef! We usually eat well, but got caught out miles from anywhere with a limited pantry.

Apart from the fresh fish there wasn’t much reason to stay in Henties Bay so we drove the extra 70kms or so to Swakopmund, Namibia’s beach resort, and that is where we are now.

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