If you think biking is a slow way to travel, then try hitch hiking! We’ve both done our fair share of hitch hiking over the years, but these days, being older and wiser, we’d only do it if locals give us the thumbs up (excuse the pun), which in this case they did.
Today we cycled from the campsite to the township of Te Araroa (about 14kms) and parked the bikes, and along with dozens of locals (many dressed in black), we waited for the shop to open. Once we’d stocked up on water we waited by the side of the road hoping for a lift to the East Cape lighthouse.
Te Araroa townshipHitch hiking out East!
Lots of local traffic passed us by, more than we’ve ever noticed in any of these tiny settlements, and it didn’t take long to realise that the entire community was attending a funeral at the marae, hence the black clothing, and the rush on the shop for supplies.
Tourist traffic is few and far between, in fact apart from one rental car, there was none!
Lucky for us one of the local roading company vans was going out to the lighthouse to check the recent rock slips and the guys stopped and let us jump in with them.
East Cape lighthouse
Ideally we would’ve liked to visit the East Cape lighthouse for sunrise. It is the most easterly point in New Zealand and one of the first places in the world to view the sun, but the road out there had way too much gravel for us to ride on so that justifies our park and hitchhike option.
It was a beautiful drive out the East Cape Road, and then a very hot, 800 steps to climb up to the lighthouse, but very worthwhile. Another bit of drone practice at the top, and then we waited around until the folk in the rental car turned up so we could hitch a ride back! The Mum and her teenage daughter who kindly agreed to let us jump in with them, had been out at the lighthouse in search of a geocache location – a fantastic global online treasure hunt concept that was new to us.
The plan for tomorrow is to get an early start and ride from the campsite here at Te Araroa to Tokomaru Bay. At approximately 90kms it is going to be our biggest day yet, but with nowhere to camp between here and there we have no alternative.
Perhaps it’s an age thing, but when choosing a tent for bike touring, our first prerequisite was space, closely followed by weight, and not forgetting budget. Our old faithful Fairydown 2 person tent that we bought in New Zealand in 2001 has served us well, but after taking a hammering in the winds of Patagonia last year we have had to retire her to sunnier climes and car boot camping only.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. More info in our Privacy Policy.
Our tent selection criteria
Space – we now want a tent that has comfortable space for the two of us, plus has the capacity to store our bike panniers inside the tent.
Size& weight – we want a tent compact and lightweight enough to carry on the bike, and with the option to use it for backpacking trips too.
Durability – we want it to be at least a three season tent to withstand wet and cold weather as well as summer conditions.
Budget – and we want all of the above features without having to spend a fortune!
Meet Olive
It took a bit of shopping around, but we eventually found “Olive” who fitted the bill perfectly!
Weighing in at less than 3.5kg with a pack size of only 50 x 20cm, Olive is a Vaude Terra Space 3 person tent. The upgrade from 2 person to 3 person means we have slightly more space inside the dome, especially useful on wet weather days! And there is enough room in there for our panniers and bike gear.
We each have our own entrance and good sized porch making it easy to get in and out without climbing over each other. And all for 180 quid which we feel is good value considering the price range of a tent suitable for bike touring was averaging between £200-£500!
How she performs remains to be seen as today (our 20th wedding anniversary!) was only a practice pitch in the garden and the naming ceremony! The christening has yet to come…
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.
Community Tourism in Damaraland
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.
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.
It’s not quite as drastic as ‘dead or alive’, but perhaps wanted in Namibia all the same. And it just applies to Sharon.
Since driving in Namibia we have come across many Police road blocks with Stop signs. It seems they are a dime a dozen and at first we stopped at them all, waiting for instructions which were not always forthcoming, but when they were it was just a wave from a cop in a roadside hut to drive on. That is until Sharon did not come to a complete standstill.
At one of these Stop signs a few hundred km’s north of Windhoek she just slowed way down, looked for the cop’s attention and moved off in 1st gear thinking that he would wave us on as normal. Not the case – he pulled us in and started the interrogation. Perhaps this is where he got confused and annoyed. Female driver speaking with an Irish accent, driving a South African car in Namibia, holding a British passport and a Kiwi driving licence, but now resident in South Africa, married to an English man. He couldn’t quite follow the trail of a global citizen!
Anyway he demanded an instant N$150 fine, but when Sharon demanded a receipt, his name and ID number he changed his tune. He apparently tried phoning and making radio contact with some of his colleagues somewhere, but to no avail. He told us that at the next road block they would be waiting on us and we would have to pay the fine there. Strangely enough we never came across another road block, and touch wood the Namibian Police Force have not yet tracked us down, but if anything changes we will let you know!
We have just driven out of Etosha National Park in north Namibia having spent the last week living the wild life there.
We got there a bit later than we had first anticipated due to our few car delays and then our change of plan to attend a local air show (more in a minute). We had wanted to get to Etosha before the rains came as apparently the game viewing is much easier and our car is only a 2 wheel drive; we made it and in fact there is still not much sign of rain.
Camping in Etosha National Park
Etosha is a massive natural salt pan and the place is just teaming with game. We camped at three different camp sites and just drove ourselves around the park in the mornings, swam in the afternoons, and then either did late afternoon drives or just sat at the camp site water holes (which were flood lit for night time viewing) to view the animals. We know how to live the wild life!
It was magic. We just loved anticipating the surprise of what we might see every day, and we were never disappointed. We saw dozens of giraffe, hundreds of zebra, springbok, oryx and impala, herds of wildebeest, several elephant, a few rhinos and lions on a daily basis. We did spot a couple of the smaller wild things and perhaps a bit too close for comfort. We had a snake go under our tent one night, and this morning Dave spotted a scorpion just as he was packing up the tent!
(We do hope to download some photos onto the blog site at some stage, but it is time consuming at internet cafes – perhaps when we settle back in SA we will get some organised.)
Otjiwarongo Air Show
Back to the air show. That was our first change of plan, and what a result it turned out to be. Dave had made email contact with some paragliders, and to cut a long story a wee bit shorter we ended up meeting up with them to see if he could get a flight. We had a great few days and got involved with helping set up and do things at the air show which was a fund raising activity for REST – Rare and Endangered Species Trust – with particular emphasis on the Cape Griffen Vulture of which there are only 12 remaining in Namibia.
Unfortunatley Dave did not manage to get a flight (condidtions were not right at the right time), but we had a great 4 nights eating and drinking at REST and met some lovely people and hope to meet up with a few of the flying guys again in South Africa.
Well here is a first, I have actually been allowed to write a Blog post! No doubt my wife will complain about it’s content, spelling and grammar. But here goes.
Despite only having made our rough travel plan 3 days ago it has already changed. Having been in touch with a member of the Namibian Paragliding Association to find out about possible flying sites, it transpired that there was going to be an airshow this Saturday in a town close to where we were. There are hangliders and paragliders here for the week, so we have decided to come and stay here – Otjiwarongo, for the weekend.
It seems that the conditions might be a bit strong for me to fly, the hangliders said they have been going up and down at up to 6 metres a second, which is fairly extreme. They seem like a nice bunch so it should be fun. Also there are some gliders here from SA so should be able to get some good contacts for future flying.
So the future plans are to be in Etosha National Park on Monday and stay until we get bored of looking at the wildlife. I should mention of course that we were in Waterberg PLateau National Park for the last 2 days and we did one guided game drive. Saw countless Giraffes including some baby ones which were very cute. It looked like that was going to be all for awhile but at our second and last waterhole a herd of Buffalo came in for a drink followed by a couple of Roan Antelope ( which apparently are quite rare). So that was a good start to our game watching although we were hoping for a couple of Rhinos.
Well thats about all from me for now, might be quite a long time before I’m allowed to write again but it has been fun.
Hi, we're Sharon & Dave an active and adventurous Irish & English couple who've been travelling together for more than 20 years. These posts are our travel stories and personal journeys. Follow our adventures to see where we've been and where we're going next!
Pin It on Pinterest
Loading Comments...
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy Policy
