The Namib Desert and the Skeleton Coast
Whew, here I am back in Johannesburg for the third time.
The Namib Desert and the Skeleton Coast safari
were amazing. The landscape goes from gravel plains to grass plains to mammoth sand dunes to lush bush in a matter of seconds.
All of the drives were long and tiring. We left around 7:00 in the morning and
didn't return until 5:30 or 6:00. I think I will let the photographs
speak for themselves for the most part. The inland trip to the Himba
villages was unbearably hot for me but no one else seemed to be overly
bothered. I most enjoyed the varying desert topography and wished we would
have spent more time at the dunes at a better time of day (sunrise or sunset)
rather than the middle of the day. This safari, unlike the previous ones,
was not designed for photographers but for those who wish to see the
sights. Only once, the first night, were we out at sunrise or sunset and
the ones in the camp weren't much to see. I was fortunate to have the tent
closest to the lodge so didn't have to stumble and struggle through the deep and
slippery sand for too far. You will see from the photos that I didn't
venture out on to the dunes either as my back wasn't up to the challenge of
walking far in that stuff as the bouncing around in the back of Jeeps in
Botswana had taken its toll. The food was great and the staff put on a
wonderful demonstration of traditional Namibian music on the last night.
If they had had a CD I would have got one for sure.
I had quite a stressful afternoon Saturday. It began when the plane was an hour late (12:30 instead of 11:30)picking us up at the Skeleton Coast Camp. I wasn't too concerned at that point but as we went from stop to stop in the wrong direction to refuel and to drop people off I began to get worried that I was not going to be able to make my connection in Windhoek. According to my watch I had fifteen minutes when we landed. The pilot rushed me through passport control and located my luggage behind the Budget Car Rental counter. Trouble was there was no one there. He told me to check in and he would bring the bag to me. I went over and got in a short line and waited for him to come with the bag. I could see that he was frustrated and asking people where the worker was or how he could get the bag out. Meanwhile I was on the edge of panic even though no one else seemed to be. I had to let several people go ahead of me because I couldn't check in without the bag. Minutes passed. No bag. Pacing. Wondering what my options were if I missed the flight. Finally the pilot came running over saying they wouldn't release the bag until I paid them for the transfer from downtown. The amount they wanted was pretty much all of the local currency I had so I asked him to convert it to USD. He
took off and was standing in line at the currency exchange so I pilled him out and gave him my local money figuring I would worry about money for tips later. Eventually that was done and I was able to check in without being able to do the repacking that I had planned to do. I asked the agent if I was going to miss my plane and he told me not to worry. Fat chance! Through security with no problems and no searches or questions. Once again I don't think they even looked at the x-ray. Up to passport
control and was told I had to go back and fill out a form. By now I was convinced that the plane had left and I was going through all of this for nothing. When I got through everything and into the departure area I found the correct gate and saw the flight still listed but that didn't mean to me that it hadn't already gone because there didn't seem to be anyone around the gate. I asked a security guard and was told it was the correct gate. As I was coming out of the washroom the lack of concern suddenly became clear to me. In anticipation of the time change in Johannesburg I had reset my watch so was an hour ahead of Windhoek time. I still had at least 45 minutes until plane time!! All that panic and self-induced stress for nothing. I then went and had a drink to calm down and stop the adrenaline pumping and then exchanged some USD so that I would have money for tipping porters, etc. The flight was almost empty and I had an entire row of seats to myself. The meal was pretty good and the drinks were free. I was tempted to suggest that Air Namibia begin flying in Canada! We landed here around 8:30. As things turned out I walked myself all of the way to the place where the shuttle buses were so only had to tip the bellhop at the hotel. In spite of my clarification they checked me into a non-smoking room. Suffice it to say that it is now a smoking room... After all of that I was too tired to do anything last night so just downloaded the pictures from my big camera and then went to bed.
I've spent all of my time when I wasn't sleeping or eating working on my
pictures and getting them uploaded to the web site. That proved to be more
difficult than anticipated and was complicated by the fact that I ran out of
room on that site and so had to use storage elsewhere until I can get my limit
increased. I had thought I might return to the Rooftop flea market but
when I found out that the taxi fare there and back ($100 US) would obliterate
and savings I might make I scrapped the idea. In about four hours I will
leave for the airport and commence the long and tedious (but hopefully
uneventful HA HA) trip to Yellowknife. Wish me well......