MACuna Matata: The Skeleton Coast, Sossusvlei and The Fish River Canyon

Thursday 17^th March, The Skeleton Coast

We left Kaokoland four days ago and have been making our way south towards the Skeleton Coast. Driving out of Kaokoland and seeing this unusual landscape at a different time of the day to when we drove in was once again totally captivating. As we drove alongside and at times inside dry riverbeds, we kept a constant lookout for the elusive desert elephants but unfortunately we did not see them.

On our second day of travelling south we came over a hill to find Ian and Heather stranded in a river bed. Although the water wasn’t very deep, the sand was very soft and Ian’s front wheels were well and truly embedded in it.

So this time the 'big toys' did come out, first the tow rope which snapped almost as soon as Don was reversing and then the winch which managed to pull Ian out. Luckily the water level wasn’t rising which is something that can happen very suddenly following rain further upstream. That night we stayed at a camp in the far south of Kaokoland where Ian and Heather had encountered the desert elephants three years ago.

Ian had gone for a stroll while Heather was sleeping and when he came back to their truck with Heather sleeping in it, it was surrounded by the elephants which were feeding off the tree the truck was parked under. It must have been magic! Sadly we found out that the elephants had left this area two weeks ago and were on their way south in search of water.

We continued towards the Skeleton Coast spending an afternoon and the night at our last game reserve, called Palmweg Desert Rhino Reserve. Driving through the park at five miles per hour with temperatures again in the forties and the landscape comprising almost entirely of sun-reflecting red rock and not much else, on top of that a hot wind blowing (not unlike having your hair dryer blowing into your face), Heather and I reached a bit of a melting point and were LONGING for cooler temperatures.

The next morning our wish came true! We only had a couple of hundred kilometres to go before reaching the entrance to the skeleton coast. As we drove closer to the Atlantic the temperature dropped from 38 degrees to 17 degrees within a couple of hours and when we reached our camp for the night we were ‘freezing’. The landscape was pretty bleak and eerie and with a combination of lingering fog and a constant wind blowing it felt more hostile than anything I have encountered on this trip.

We drove south along the coast the next day stopping at a couple of ship wrecks. The San people call this region ‘The land God made in anger’ and early Portuguese sailors called this coast ‘The Sands of Hell’ due to its treacherous coastline. If you survived being washed ashore (more than 100 ships have run aground on this coastline) you then faced a walk of at least 60 km inland through hot dusty desert. To add to the agony, lakes appearing at regular intervals on the horizon turned out to be nothing more than mirages.

Needless to say, it was a walk to certain death, hence the name ‘Skeleton Coast’.

We spent pretty much a whole day travelling south along the coast, the foggy bleakness only interrupted by stopping at a Cape fur seal colony which has existed in this location for over 400 years. The pups were about three months old (they are all born in mid-December) and it was a real delight to watch them. All in all, this colony is populated by 26,000 seals and the smell and sound is something to be experienced to be believed.

The colony also marks the spot where the first European, the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cao, set foot on the cost of south-western Africa in 1486.

Saturday, 21^st March

We are now on our way to the Fish River Canyon which is the last item on our itinerary before heading back into SA. Following our drive along the Skeleton Coast we spent a couple of nights in a town called Swakopmund. For the first time we had to camp in a town campsite and it felt strangely claustrophobic having other travellers around us. Thus far we have been mostly on our own in the various camps and even on the roads. The town itself has a distinct German feel to it due to its architecture and the German tourists here and were it not for the palm trees you could think you were in a little town in Bavaria.

We treated ourselves to an evening in a Bierkeller drinking Weizenbier but since we were by the sea we opted for the fish rather than the Schweinehaxe mit Sauerkraut.

Before heading inland we made one last stop on the coast to visit a flamingo colony which was a real treat since they were right up close. Liam, you would have loved this! We reckon there must have been about a thousand flamingos, all moving and changing direction in unison as if performing some magic dance.

We then headed east towards the Namib desert and an area called Sossusvlei. This area is thought to be one of the oldest landscapes on earth and is famous for having Namibia’s highest sand dunes, some reaching as high as 300 meters. The sand forming the dunes is thought to have originated in the Kalahari desert millions of years ago, was washed down towards the Atlantic by the Orange river and swept northwards by the Benguela current to be deposited along the coast. The best time to see the dunes is at sunrise when the reflection of the sun makes the dunes appear in all different shades of red and orange. When we left our camp it was still dark and although there was some cloud cover when the sun did come up the views were stunning. Again, not something you can capture in a photo but here is one anyway

Sunday 22^nd March, The Fish River Canyon

This 160 km long and 27 km wide gash in the earth is incredibly impressive but the total lack of plant life and incredible heat reflected off the exposed rock surfaces is quite startling. The canyon has been carved out of rock by the Fish river and is thought to be approximately 400 million years old, half as old as the earth itself! Now days the river is no more than a trickle.

The guidebook recommends a four day hike through the base of the canyon to ‘live it’ rather than ‘see it’. With the wildlife here consisting mostly of snakes, spiders and scorpions I was relieved when there was no interest expressed in a hike. Phew!

By the way, we stayed in a camp a couple of nights ago which had a tame springbok running around the camp site and which took a real liking to Don…