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Trip Start Jun 21, 2010 Previous
Entry Trip End Jul 15, 2010

  Swakopmund, Namibia
Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Hello! Do you remember us? It's been a long time ...

We are sitting in an internet cafe in Swakopmund, an old colonial town in Namibia, South West Africa. As you may know, Namibia used to be a German colony, if only for a short time. But not too short for the Germans to leave behind a few towns with pretty turn-of-the-century buildings, a distinctive cuisine and, of course, a proper brewery.
Apart from these few and tiny oasis, Namibia is a vast country, an empty desert. We arrived in Windhoek on an icy Monday morning, picked up our rental car (an ugly Chevrolet) and drove South to Keetmanshoop. From there, we went to Luederitz, an old mining village in the far South. It was warmer there, very dry and very weird. The owner of the only proper bar was of German ancestry. He seemed to be his best customer, while his two sons behind the bar did an excellent job. No wonder we had a good time watching Germany beat Ghana there. Wolfgang Petry songs included.
After visiting the ghost town of Kolmannkoppe (a former diamond mining town), we went to the Namib Naukluft Mountains where we stayed on a farm. Its owners, the Kochs, were absolutely grand, she was an amazing cook and he always had cool stories from the war with South Africa, Angola and the Namibian Liberation group to tell. We had meant to sleep in a tent, but right on our first dinner, Rebecca was hit by a bad virus - and was put to bed in the cottage where the toilet was nearby.
Still, we did some bit of trekking on the farm and around. We saw Klipspringer, a type of antelope, and beautiful sand dunes and many foreign and funny looking plants. The farm was a good place to rest and get well, so after 2 days we were fit to head to Sossousvlei. That's an area of the highest and biggest sand dunes in the world. Imagine Africa as you see it in the movies, with high red sand dunes, strong wind and the occasional Ostrich (Strauss) or Hunting Dog (Schakal) or Springbock antelope. That's Sossousvlei. We went there in the afternoon, when the colours were amazing. Red, brown, mustard ... We left the park when it got dark and Germany had beaten the English. YEAH! So, we bought a few beers and an ice cream and drove back to our camp ground in an Autocorso, sounding the horn, waving the German flag and palying "Give me hope Joachim" on the radio. Well, we were the only car and it was dark and the only ones looking at us were the antelopes grazing bay the road. But still.
Our camp site was in a beautiful valley by a small stream. we grilled an Oryx steak, had beer and went to sleep under the stars.

\Antje, all the best to you!

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