Our journey began on a rough gravel road.
The landscape in this picture is typical of my area. Notice the Mopane trees are green after only a few rains.
There is an upside to carsickness--it often gets you a spot in the front seat. :)
Unsure of what lies ahead...
Our lovely map. The red ink delineates our intended route (kind of). Opuwo, our starting point, is in the far bottom-right corner. First, we played "connect the dots" which eventually led us to the black road, which in turn led us to the red route. From there, we were on our own since we couldn't find anyone who knew where we were going for sure.
A village we passed. It was the only one for miles and miles.
We crossed countless riverbeds along our route. This one happened to be longer than a football field. During the rainy season, this journey would be impossible.
Desert landscape...
The hills grew progressively larger as we proceeded North.
The only sign that this area has been touched by humanity is the road itself. There are no power or phone lines, no markets, no villages in sight. It was incredible.
More foothills...
As we proceeded North, the foothills underwent a metamorphosis. We emerged on a large plain, surrounded on all sides by mountains.
The sun is beyond intense...
"Wait is that..." "No it couldn't be..." "it's a CAR!!!" "Whoooooo!" Very exciting indeed. It was, in fact, the only car we encountered the entire first leg of our journey.
A blurry shot of the vast, naked plain.
Fellow wayward travelers...this was a very exciting moment for us.
Using my sitenge to block the relentless, burning sun.
An ostrich on the savannah, basking in the last rays of the setting sun.
This is Africa...
It's glorious.
Farewell, dear friend.
"Hmm, a sign with the words 'blasting' and 'no entry.' Seems like the perfect place to camp." So thats exactly what we did.
Here we are, a little after daybreak, heading up the steep mountain pass. The stone near the middle of the picture looked like an arrow guiding our way, which I took as a positive omen.
Barbra and I rode in the back of the Bakki. We had to stop numerous times to survey the road ahead.
Climb on in and make yourself at home!
People! Always a good sign :)
We seized the opportunity...
This baby was too young to immunize, but we gave a bit of health education.
Bakki-side chat.
Barbra greeting the mama while I put together a bag of water-maker, mosquito nets, and plastic jerry cans for her.
Freestyle health education.
After traversing the harrowing mountain pass, we made it to the Rooi Drum (red drum). Definitely headed in the right direction!!!
Another shot of this landmark.
People who have made it to this point write their names on the rock.
Micheal and Barbra posing with a big leg of beef. Thats Namibian style baby!
Love it!
Then we hit sand. Welcome to the heart of the Namib Desert. At least its not so deep.
The Namib
Whoo we made it to Blue Drum! Great success! Now which path to take...
Sorry- No Satellite signal due to permanent "load shedding" in this area! Thats helpful.
I look REALLY excited about this non-functioning satellite phone.
Delirium has set in...
Only the toughest grass survives in this parched soil; the Namib is one of the harshest and most unforgiving environments on planet Earth.
Cruising in the back...Barbra was sleepy :)
Our leaky fuel cans. They were held in place by our feet.
The sand won.
Laughing at our predicament!
Michael, our resident Nurse.
Looking for a way forward...
We got moving shortly after hitting our first rough patch!
...Only to get stuck in even deeper sand moments later.
In an effort to avoid airing down our tires (we had only a small manual hand pump which is hell to use) we placed grass under our tires in the hopes that it would give our spinning wheels some traction. After positioning the grass, we got behind the Bakki and pushed. The bakki took off, leaving us to walk through the Namib Desert in the heat of the day. When we eventually caught up with our chariot, it was in much the same situation as before--stuck. That didn't work out so well. We ultimately broke down and released some air, and shortly thereafter we were on our way.
After driving for a looooong time, we reached this Himba homestead which was surrounded by nothing but open desert.
The valley which the homestead overlooks...
A gentleman from the lodge met us while we were distributing mosquito nets at the village and led the way to our final destination.
Sweeping views in every direction.
Ancient glaciers molded the face of this incredible wilderness.
Got sand?
Heading down the sheer face of a gigantic sand dune. I wish the camera had captured the avalanche of sand accompanying our descent.
Breathtaking.
Looking back...
The first glimpse of water is remarkable; I found myself holding my breath.
The Great Kunene River
Hanging out in the staff section of the lodge. While waiting to meet the manager and hear what he had to say about the conditions in the area, we surveyed the landscape and checked out their sweet Land Cruisers (the behemoth brown do-hickey parked next to our vehicle) .
Staff area.
The manager insisted we be put up in a room, which was beyond anything we could have imagined.
Our private porch overlooking the river.
Comfort at its finest
Our porch boasted two outdoor showers, two hammocks, plush couches, and gorgeous views.
Mango, Barbra, and I getting ready for our river cruise. We needed to visit some villages a ways upriver, and the fastest way to do so was via boat. What a lucky break :)
Nothing but blue skies and open water...feels like home.
Water = Happiness <3
Poor Barbra was terrified most of the time...
Kunene River, meet sand.
Michael is raising the roof. :)
Thats one happy camper!
Our awesome guide...
Our lodgings.
Our humble abode...unbelievable.
Scouting for croc's
Angola
Yep, thats a crocodile. Please keep your hands and arms inside the boat at all times.
Hello, little fella'
This one was a baby, so it's mother must have been hiding somewhere nearby.
The first village we came to was abandoned, which meant we had to look elsewhere for the people. The Himba move freely back and forth between the Namibia-Angola sides of the river. Luckily Bronkie had an idea where they might be...
Hiding under my sitenge again. Man that sun is hot.
Since the Himba were not at the first homestead, we decided to go back to the lodge and use the Land Cruiser to visit the villages further inland.
Back to the boat we go!
Mango, our lovely assistant.
Feet!
Barbra looks much more relaxed this time around.
Bronkie took us through many hills and mountains during our measles quest. This is a shot of the Kunene River from the top of a large crest.
View from the summit...
We reached a populated settlement! Hooray!
People gathering for our health education/immunization activity.
Outreach
Ovanatje
measles, measles, measles...
This brave boy didn't even cry!
Heading down the sand mountain...this thing was unbelievably steep. No doubt about it- the sand avalanche beat us.
Silly Barbra :)
Aaaaadorable.
This child peers into the corral used to protect baby goats.
Their drinking water is in the clear bottles near this boy's feet. Notice how dark and dingy it is. We gave them lots of water-maker, which will help make their water safe for consumption.
Serenity
Heading out after sunrise on the last day of our journey...
Barbra posing at Orange Drum
We each took turns pumping up the tires. This was HELL.
The Tate at the police station, radioing the commander. They were requesting assistance, and needed us to collect some people with severe cases of measles to be transported to Opuwo State Hospital. After collecting the patients, we made it back to Opuwo safe and sound. The End. :)
