Into the Kalahari and beyond

Phew!! Where did October go?! It seems like yesterday that we left South Africa and began the long journey into the heart of Namibia for our volunteer research project. We left Springbok (Northern Cape) early in the morning for our first days drive towards Keetmanshoop, where we planned to overnight. We crossed the mighty Orange River for the second time this year; the previous time was upon entering Lesotho believe it or not!! The border formalities were simple and very soon we were on our way to Keetmanshoop.

Upon entering we noticed how remarkably similar things are to South Africa but how strangely different it was too, we had lots to discover still. The route that day can be described with very few words, and I have included some pictures to try and tell the story.

We have not travelled as far a stretch where there is no sign of human habitation other than the good-old 4 strand farm fence and the occasional stretch of telephone line. No windpumps, no livestock, no lush and leafy outcrops in an otherwise monotonous landscape which are so typical of a farm house and its surrounds. Nothing. Wild. Beautiful.We spotted our first mammal at around 200km into Namibia; a horse. I think our bird list totalled 4 birds until we reached our destination and then an explosion!

Keetmanshoop is an oasis in a dry and unforgiving place. It comprises a few good large shops for stocking up on essentials, one petrol station for every 10 people it seems and a quiet and relaxed atmosphere. We stayed outside of town at a quaint place called the Quiver Tree Forest Lodge where we camped. Another thing about the place is that there is all of a sudden a lot of life around, apart from the humans of course.

 In the afternoon we spotted Rosy Faced Lovebirds, Mountain Wheat-ear, Acacia-pied barbet, Pygmy Falcon, Crimson-breasted Shrike to name but a few of the birds.

Then there are the Rock Hyraxes and Meerkats which abound. This all in a 100m radius of our campsite! In addition there is a forest of Quiver Trees, yes forest! (Kokerboom for my Afrikaans counterparts). A spectacular arid region plant that poses regally in the afternoon setting sun.

From Keetmans we travelled another long stretch onwards to Rehoboth which put us within a short distance of the reserve where we were to be for our Entomology research project the following day.

Rehoboth is another oasis town in the middle of an otherwise desolate, dry and lunar landscape. The only remarkable thing is the Oanob Lake (actually a dam) which forms part of the water supply to Windhoek which is 90km away. It was on the “lake” that we camped that night. Temperatures were moderate at this point, in the late 20’s to early 30’s there was some humidity and we were feeling more and more that we hadn’t left South Africa yet; everyone speaks Afrikaans still at this point.

In the morning thereafter we headed onwards towards Kuzikus Wildlife Reserve which is a privately owned farm of some 10,000ha roughly 150km SE from Windhoek. It is situated on the western edge of the Kalahari desert. We arrived to Kuzikus, our home for the next 20-something days, at around 12h00 noon. There we were greeted by our project leaders Johanna and Joana who are German-Namibian and Portuguese respectively.

So began our first stint of volunteering in Namibia. The research camp was simple comprising of a kitchen tent, lab tent and individual tents for the researchers. We cooked communally and our meals comprised mostly items out of a tin, fresh veggies in the form of carrots, butternut, pumpkin, cabbage, onions and potatoes and the occasional piece of venison which came from the lodge which does a little game off-take and uses the meat. We were treated to Oryx, Blue Gnu (Gemsbok and Blue Wildebeest as we call them in SA) and smoked Giraffe. We baked bread, made mealie pap and I made a potjie with the meat we got.

Our days consisted initially of a lot of field work in order to capture insects through various different methods, the details of which I will not elaborate on now. Those of you who are interested in how one catches insects can get in touch separately. Let’s just say there was a lot of crawling around on all-fours, sweeping, beating, pootering and staring at UV lamps in the dark.

Once we had collected the insects we had to identify them in order to gather data about what species occur in certain habitats and are best collected by which methods etc. We were also then pinning some of the larger and nicer specimens for display at the lodge. This involved much time in the lab tent peering into Binocular microscopes in my case and playing with relaxing fluid and pins in Liz’ case.

Temperatures now were an order of magnitude higher than anywhere else we had been thus far in Namibia – this picture says it all note the humidity and time of day:

The days passed quickly, waking, eating, identifying insects, eating, carrying water to your tent to fill your bucket shower for the afternoon cleansing session whilst looking out over the savannah that surrounded the research camp, it was a lovely setting! The local birds were also a treat, becoming very domesticated so we got up close and personal with the little finches and weavers.

Soon though we had to move on as our next volunteering session beckoned. We departed from Kuzikus early on Monday morning this week for what was supposed to be 1 night in Windhoek and then onwards North towards Etosha and ultimately the Caprivi. I say supposed as it was on Tuesday just after 12h00 noon that disaster struck us. Well actually it was a Hilux bakkie that struck us. In the rear. At about 80km/h. As we were stopping for a red light here in Windhoek. I could not believe what had happened.

The impact was fairly severe and yet we have come away with nothing more than stiff back, shoulder and necks and a sad heart as our beautiful Land Cruiser has now had her first accident. The car is OK-ish. After assistance from the Land Cruiser Forum, we had a local Land Cruiser specialist assist us with opening the rear tailgate as this was rammed shut and while there he had his team inspect the car for any damage that would stop our journey prematurely. Fortunately there is no damage to any of the drive, suspension, steering or undercarriage at all! Our spare wheel carrier and rear towing rack absorbed much of the impact and the result is that the chassis is a little out of shape, but miraculously this is not affecting the handling of the car at all. Our long range fuel tank is now on 3 bolts as the fourth sheared off in the impact but it seems stable at the moment. So we are going to hobble along, after a very reasonable bill for the bits of work that the specialist did and the fixes needed to put the exhaust back where it belongs.

We have had to spend more time in Windhoek and as a result have now decided to change course and instead of going directly to Etosha and on to the Caprivi, will go across to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay and then north to Terrace Bay and finally across to the western edge of the Etosha where we have reorganised our volunteering to begin.

Windhoek is an excellent place for this to have happened, as strange as that sounds. This is by far the cleanest, city we have visited in Africa; South Africa included, as well as friendly and laid back.  People really are lovely here and very genuine. They all speak Afrikaans of course as a link language. There is a lot of German spoken here of course as a residue from the colonial rule by Germany of South West Africa. All-in-all this is a lovely place. I feel like I am still in South Africa only there is a different symbol denoting the currency, which is 1-to-1 to the Rand in any case and they accept Rands. There are so many South Africa chains of shops, department stores, restaurants, cinemas, everything really. The only difference is that with such a low population service delivery is generally good in my opinion. For example we were able to collect our accident report from the central police station less than 24 hours after reporting the accident at another satellite police station. Then there is the fact that our accident, complete with a picture of Liz and I, was reported in the local daily German newspaper, on page 3 as well, the very next day! I think Namibia has a lot going for it and look forward to visiting more of it!

So we have had high-times and low-times the past 4 weeks, but generally it’s been a great time. Accidents happen, insurance pays out, and you keep going.

It is all part of the journey. Until next time, all of the best to you and yours!

QUIZ: It seems most of you are getting very lazy with regards to the quiz!! Some have even come up with excuses instead of the answers (Mr Anderson!). Congrats to Charles who seems to be a closest nature guru – it is indeed an Angulate Tortoise. You can tell by the extended bottom plate under the head and the pattern along the edge of the shell. This week – for all you lazy people – I have included a ‘hide and seek’ photo. Somewhere in all this grass is a grasshopper – can you find it?? We will post the photo showing him next time – for now have a good look. No need to email me if you can see him – just enjoy the search.