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.