Day 10. Sesriem
Shark Island caravan park proved to be a great location, however they didn’t have any hot water to warm up with after the cold night.
I had a cold shower; I needed it considering that it's been two
days since my last shower. So that didn't exactly put us in a
good mood in the morning.
As we were exiting the gate we were asked to pay the full amount
of NAD 160. I said no way in the world we would and
Ann-Marie who didn't have a shower at all started getting a lecture
on how to use a shower. That didn't go down too well and the
whole conversation hung on by a thread before becoming a full out
war. Neither of us could understand how a campsite which is
almost empty can run out of hot water. What happens when this
place is full in summer?
I said that we're going to pay NAD 80 because the showers don't
work, after all - that's the only reason why you would go into a
camping ground and pay, for the warm shower and facilities.
We could have just as easily stayed on the side of the road
somewhere. They made us fill out a complaint form after which
we drove out.
We had planned to see the Ghost Town of Kolmanskuppe, a short
drive out of Lüderitz, but we first needed to pick up a permit,
tickets and directions on how to get there. The lady at the
4WD adventure shop told us how to get there (really easy - keep
driving out of town until you hit some buildings that have been
swallowed by the dunes on the right). Not wanting to lose a
good source of information, I asked her how best to get to
Sossusvlei and the large red dunes. She gave us some advice
and recommended that we take the D707 alternative route after we
pass Aus because it's meant to be more picturesque.
5 minutes out of town we could already see the decrepit
abandoned buildings. This was the famous ghost town of
Kolmanskuppe. After parking the car we walked up to the main
building and ordered some breakfast, two very delicious strawberry
and ice cream pancakes. Our camera battery was flat and we
asked the lady at the counter if she'd be kind enough to put it on
charge for us. Half an hour should be enough to get it
charged for today. Half an hour later the tour started.
We were divided into two groups, those that could speak German
and those that couldn't. Obviously I couldn't and Ann-Marie
stayed with me in the English one.
The whole town was built for the excavation or mining of
diamonds. Back in 1908 a guy discovered some diamonds in the
area and staked his claim. Apparently all of Lüderitz thought
he was crazy but he did find them, large quantities even lying on
the surface of the ground. On a good day a worker could
collect up to 260 carats. Not a bad day's work.
Given his success, Kolmanskuppe was built to house the workers,
diamond washing and sorting facilities, a light railway which
connected Kolmanskuppe and Lüderitz as well as the first cool-room
for meat storage on the African continent.
We walked around the whole ground, exploring the structures -
some almost completely consumed by the sand.
After taking some photos and having one last look, we started
our drive back towards Aus. Just after Aus, we took the C13
north - this was the first time we'd hit gravel road. Even
these gravel roads are in excellent condition, it's not hard to do
120km/hr without making the car unstable. Shortly afterwards
we turned into the D707.
It really was a worthwhile drive which wound its way through
high hills with trees dotted around the crests. We passed
through many private properties, game reserves and cattle ranches
which required us to open and close gates.
There was one hill in particular with a sprinkling of only
Quiver Trees. The Quiver trees are found only in Western
South Africa and Southern Namibia
There was a curious type of tree which we passed, eventually we
figured out that the questionable object in the branches were
actually bird nests.
These were composed of small sticks all stuck together to form
massive structures spanning numerous branches. Neither one of
us could believe the wild animals freely wandering about. We
saw springbok, ostriches, impala, wildebeest and hyena.
It became evident that we were getting closer to Sesriem because
we started to pass a number of grandiose resorts and guest houses
close to the road. Once again the sun was setting when we
entered the Sesriem Camp. This serves as the entrance to
Sossusvlei and the dunes. It's surrounded by two gates, one
on the outside to block entry to the camp ground and the other to
block entry to the dunes.
We parked the car and entered the office. It turned out
that we needed to purchase a pass to get to the dunes. There
was a queue and we still wanted to camp out in the desert.
But this proved to be impossible, because we were met with yet
another woman in a position of power with a "chip on her shoulder"
and attitude,who said that we can't camp within the park and
that we can't enter after 6pm. That was a bit of a blow to
the system but a bigger blow was still to come. We asked how
much it was to stay in the camp grounds to pitch our tent, the
price tag was a complete rip-off. At NAD 600 they were
exploiting the fact that we are in the middle of nowhere.
This woman was completely unreasonable and would not even
recommend somewhere else at a more reasonable price tag. Once
again in Namibia we were demoralized. After regrouping, we
jumped back in the car and drove out of the complex - we'd decided
to try and find somewhere else. Not far away there was
another guest house, we inquired at the reception if they would let
us pitch the tent in the car park or somewhere in the back.
They refused but did suggest another place further down the road -
the Desert Camp.
Here too, we tried to ask the management to let us park the car
somewhere away from the main complex but they refused. They
did have cute bungalows for only NAD 800. A short
deliberation later we took them up on the offer. It was good
to have a comfortable bed to sleep in again, a warm shower, clean
towels and a BBQ (Braai, Afrikaans for barbeque or roast). We
made a nice fire, had dinner and snuggled up next to the
flames.
As we watched the flames dance around we heard a rustling next
to the car. With curiosity we turned around and noticed a
Bat-eared fox looking straight at us. We were mesmerized by
the fox's complete fearlessness and defiance - he stood there
looking at us for a minute or so before disappearing back into the
darkness. Maybe he was on safari and wanted to see some of
those humans.