The San People

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Day 488
54,588 km since the beginning of the journey
Written in Namibia, Divundu.

It is very probable that the San People are the first settlers of the present region of Namibia, and have lived here long before the arrival of other tribes. The San People have been also called "Bushmen", but they themselves prefer the name “The San People ” - given them by other tribes. They mostly live in Botswana (55,000), Namibia (27,000), South Africa (10,000) and Angola (<5000). Wiki. The San still live “close to nature”, although modern civilization is reaching their villages as well.



The San village. First of all, there is 75 kilometers of properly dusty road with some traffic, which means that within an hour perhaps five cars were coming. Nobody passed me and I didn`t pass anybody either. Then in the middle of the road there is a barrier and the crossing of the next veterinary border. Another hundred meters and by the road there is a big sign - "Living Museum of the Ju / 'Hoansi-San", which means that the place is near.

Tsumeb

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Day 485
53,809 km since the beginning of the journey

Written in Namibia, Divundu.

Tsumeb is the next small town (the number of inhabitants - 15,000) in Northern Namibia, there are a few gas stations, Spar and some larger stores, so a suitable place to renew the fuel and food supplies. And try to sort out the pictures of zebras from Etosha Park , which seems at first sight quite hopeless endeavor. And not just at first glance.

In the main street of Tsumeb I have a little walk and buy myself a pair of new flip-flops. The previous pair lasted less than a month, and this is somehow too short time. And before that the ones bought in Djibouti lasted almost a year. In a small shop with a wide assortment of high quality all the major brands is represented. In a large basket there are friendly mixed up NIKE, PUMA, etc. products.  Frankly, I would have liked to have that kind of footwear as seen in the photo below.


Nothing to do. Could not get those. My purchase is placed in a plastic bag and - visit us again. I'm moving on.

Etosha

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Day 473
53,225 km since the beginning of the journey

Etosha National Park was founded in 1907, the initial size of the park was 100.000 km2, and at this time it was the world's largest national park. Currently, the park covers an area of 22,270 km2.

And the price of the tickets is customer-friendly. The day ticket of Etosha will cost 90 N$, that is 9 EUR and it means - 80N$ per person and 10N$ per car.

And more about Namibia

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Day 463
52,109 km since the beginning of the journey.
Opowo.

Some pictures from the last week route. This is a very common sales outlet by a smaller road.

The sales desk is a bit further in the left , the souvenirs for tourists are hanging on the cords. The tent in the right is for lodging.

"The Big Africa Cycle"

... and Peter Gostelow. I am driving along a dusty Namibian road towards Opuwo and notice a cyclist approaching me from the distance. He is far away but nevertheless it is clear that he cannot be a local rider. We stop and take time to have a proper talk.



Two and a half years of cycling through Africa, including the Central African Republic, and 4 months in the DRC. The destination - Cape Town.

His website is here - The Big Africa Cycle, I've read about his impressions about Congo before ,but I did not believe that we will meet in Namibia.!

This is just another answer to the question "What kind of a car to Africa?". And today's answer is that - "It is also possible without a car!"

Respect!

Damaraland

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Day 458
Kamanjab,

51,377 km since the beginning of the journey

Damaras are one of the Namibian tribes, there are about 100,000 of them in this tribe and they are among the oldest inhabitants of Namibia. "Living Museum of the Damara" is a small Damara village near Twyfelfontein, in north-west of Namibia. It is an open-air museum, with a dozen semi-transparent round huts, and visitors can have the opportunity to follow the daily activities of the Damaras.



At the moment of the arrival there are no tourists in the village, the chief of the village is appearing from a distance.

Spitzkoppe

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Day 454
51,132 km since the beginning of the journey
Namibia.

Swakopmund, Walvis Bay and civilization has been left behind. The Colony of Seals has been visited, and so have Welwitschia and the Moon Landscape. The shopping centres have been walked through and the choice of the articles is plentiful. And at the cafeterias the situation is the following: when you order a pizza, then you are brought the real good pizza - both in appearance and taste.


The Trans - Kalahari Highway takes through the desert to inland.

Welwitschia Mirabilis

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Welwitschia is an unusual ancient plant that grows in the desert of South Namibia and in Southern Angola. And it looks like a strange pile of dead leaves withered from the ends.

The plant consists of a low stem and only of two leaves, the ends of the leaves are broken and dead . It is a “gymnosperm” and is adapted to live in the desert and having only the root and leaves. The plant can live up to 1,500 years, the leaves grow throughout the life of the plant, but they decay from the ends and their length does not exceed 4-5 meters.

It is said that in 1860, when the Austrian botanist Friedrich Welwitsch - while travelling in South Africa- discovered that plant - he fell to his knees and didn´t dare to touch it for a long time.

Welwitschia blooms only once in its lifetime.

Welwitschia is adapted to extreme desert conditions, it does not depend on rain water, but can acquire water from fog clouds coming from the ocean.

Swakopmund

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Day 450
50,583 km since the beginning of the journey

Last week route: Windhoek, Walvis Bay - Swakopmund.
Written in Swakopmund, which is small and like a genuine German town by the Atlantic Ocean in Namibia.

Hohenzollen House – a hotel - built in 1906

Windhoek

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Day 440 

Katutura – in the local Otjiherero language it means - "The place where we do not want to live".

Some lines about the history of the city: Windhoek is situated at an altitude of 1650 meters and according to one legend has got its name due to hot-water springs, Nama people called this place Ai-Gams (fire-water) and Hereod named the place - Otjomuise (meaning "place of steam").

The Germans arrived here in 1890 and built a fortress by the name of Alta Feste, which became the headquarters of the German colonial troops or Schutztruppe.  Currently there is a museum at the castle. The German colonial era came to an end during World War I when South African troops occupied Windhoek in May 1915. In 1950s the town Government together with the SA apharteid regime wanted to build separate areas for locals (such as Soweto near Johannesburg). The local residents did not want to move to Katutura and the encounter on December 10, 1959 ended with bloodshed and with the death of 13 people.

The resettlement then continued without any incidents and was over in 1968, when almost all of the black population was living in the new area.  In 1968 in Katura the number of the houses was about 4,000, they were all rental houses - could not be bought or sold, there was neither  water and nor electricity.  Each house had to have the tribal identification number (H = Herero, D=Damara, etc.). After Namibia's independence in 1990 the restrictions of the residence were abolished, long-term residents were given the right to buy their own housing forever. In 2006 there were more than 150,000 inhabitants in Katutura and the population  continues to grow as people are arriving  from rural areas in search of work and better life.

Some more pictures about Lüderitz

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Felsenkirche or "Church of the Rock" is the highest building in Lüderitz. The construction of the church was funded by donations, the cornerstone of the church was placed in November 1911, and the Church was opened on the 4th of August 1912 . The architect and builder of the church was Albert Blauset from Cape Colony. The church is a National Monument of Namibia since 1978

Kolmanskop Ghost Town

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10 kilometers before the town Lüderitz there is an abandoned mining town Kolmannskuppe or Kolmanskop by the roadside. The town was founded in 1908 while during the railway construction the first diamond was found there. In Kolmanskop was a school, theatre, sports hall, bowling alley, casino and hospital, there was also the first x-ray machine in the southern hemisphere. Due to the discovery of new and richer diamond regions the town was abandoned and the last resident left in 1956.


The town is open to visitors from 9 to 13, and the price of the visit is 55 Namibian dollars
(N $). And in the price-list there is also all day ticket, which is called Photo Permit and costs 160. N $. And this "Photo Permit" means that one is allowed to stay in the town from sunrise to sunset and take pictures.

Lüderitz, Goerke House

Namibia.

The description of this house begins usually with the words "The One of the most beautiful buildings in town."

The house is named after the first owner, Hans Goerke, who arrived in Namibia (which at that time bore the name of German South West Africa) in 1904. He belonged to the staff of the German colonial troops (Shutztruppe. After finding diamonds in Kolmanskoppe Goerke left the army and started to work as the manager of the diamond mine.



The house was built in one year, the construction began in October 1909 and the house was completed by September 1910. Very likely the architect was Otto Ertl. Hans Goerke himself lived in this house for two years, and then left for Germany. The guide of the tour said that Goerke`s wife had not wished to live in that house.

More about Namibia

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Day 429
49,659 km since the beginning of the journey
Current Location: Namibia, Windhoek

I am leaving Sesriem as the red sandy hills of Namibia have been looked over during two unique moments : at sunrise and at sunset. And at two o`clock it is too early to consider to stay here for one more day. Before leaving I visit a gas station. Namibia is sparsely populated and that's why I use every opportunity to refuel. Could also be less frequent, there has been now some sort of refueling opportunity every 100-200 kilometers.  Basically, the bus usually can run on the fuel with up to 1,500 km without refueling, but still more secure to have enough proper fuel. About diesel quality - interestingly, the fuel here seems to be of better quality than in some other countries.

There is a cafe at the gas–station. The tables are outdoors and there is a motorcycle with Australian license plate. Too rare meeting to move on without changing information. We talked at least for a couple of hours.

I drive on northwards, look at the map and notice a familiar name, Solitaire.


I make a stop, here's a gas station, auto repair shops, small coffee shops. And here too the vehicles of the last century are used to design the place.

Namibia, Sossusvlei

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The big red sand dunes of Sossusvlei and Namibia. In case there are somewhere only two postcards on sale, it is very likely that one of them is of Sossusvlei dunes.


It is advised to visit the dunes at sunrise or sunset, as shadows bring out the sharp contours of the dunes, at midday the effect is smaller.

Lüderitz, Dias Point

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While in search of the sea route to India the seafarer Bartolomeu Dias stopped at the place where Lüderitz is situated nowadays. About the previous names of Lüdenitz- in 1487 going southwards Dias gave the name of Angra das Voltas to the place. The next year on the way back to Europe he renamed the place. The new name was Golfo de Sao Cristovao (the name of his flag ship had been São Cristóvão).

The next visitor, Vasco da Gama , renamed the bay .The new name was Angra Pequena (in English "small cove"), or a small bay.

Seeking for the sea route to India Dias left there the smallest of his three vessels with 9 seamen keeping guard on it, but later when he returned there were only three of them left. Link. The locals had killed six of his men, the seventh was seriously wounded and died at the time when his companions arrived. The small vessel was in such a poor condition as well, that Dias decided to burn the ship, and returned back to Europe with two vessels.

Dias Point is situated 18 miles west of Lüderitz, at the top of the cape. The first stone cross was built here by Padrão Dias in July 25, 1488, and in spite of the wind and weather conditions - lasted until the 19th century. In 1825 the cross was found broken and smaller pieces of it were taken to the Cape Town Museum.

Namiibia, Diamond Area 1

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Day 420
Lüderitz.

The area southwards from Lüderitz is called - The Sperrgebiet in German , "prohibited area" or by the direct the name - "Diamond Area 1." The length of the area from north to south is 320 km and the width - up to 100 miles. And all together this area is 26,000 km2, that is larger than half of Estonia. Diamond mining started around here in 1908, when during the railway construction work the first diamond was found.

Mining it's not the most appropriate word, as diamonds were picked just from the ground in the beginning. Mining is still in progress, each year the machines raise about 33 million tons of sand.

Some facts about diamonds of Namibia. About 3,200 people are employed in the area, and in 2010 about 1.2 million carats were mined, which is 1.5% of the world production. It makes an annual production of 240 kg per year (1 carat is 0.2 grams). Diamonds are even on the Coat of Arms of Namibia.


I became interested in the area to see by myself but that was not allowed. No chance.

Namibia, Fish River Canyon

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Day 412

48,716 km since the beginning of the journey.
Current Location: Lüderitz

The Fish River Canyon, located in the southern part of Namibia, is advertised as the largest in Africa and the second largest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The Fish River Canyon is 161 km long, up to 27 km wide and in some places more than 550 m deep. While in Namibia - surely - a place like this should be visited.


The first sight is really overwhelming. Only - no visitors. And not only visitors are missing, but no locals as well. Nobody offers to guard the car, nor sells anything.

Namibia

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Day 411
48,716 km since the beginning of the journey

Perhaps the better title could be - "Why silence and no blogs?" And for several weeks already? What has happened? While in South Africa could not explain the reason of not writing by the deficiency of proper net, because 3G spreads in almost all major cities. And cannot say that haven`t written because nothing has happened, quite on the contrary. Too much was happening and the issues did not want to proceed as planned before.
As planned beforehand??? Murphy's Law is in force in this part of the world as everywhere else in the world of100 percent and more.

Especially the following:
If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
Nothing is as easy as it looks.
Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.
If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong
Nothing is as easy as it looks.
Everything takes longer than you think.
Everything takes longer than it takes.
It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious
All that is put together, sooner or later breaks apart.

That`s the way it is. Starting with the car technical failures and problems and other issues as well.
Actually I felt sorry to leave LAV behind. Considering the size of the country and its interesting history and all the attractions there - just not enough time! Of course – we can say to ourselves that there is never time for everything ...but still...

But now about Namibia. The area is 825.4 thousand km 2, or figuratively, it can be said that Namibia is almost as big as France and Germany all together. You drive, and drive and no end in sight. But the number of population of the country is about 2 million, which means that the country is almost empty.


Here is typical southern Namibia Nature. A road taking far away and wide views. Wind and emptiness.