Day 14 Fish Canyon

We are on our way from Luderitz to Fish River Canyon. Another spectacular drive.
On the way we pulled into a coffee stop and found more old vehicles - this time though they were all used on the owners farm for the last few generations

Fish river Canyon is the largest in Africa and an important tourist attraction - it’s 100 miles long and up to 15miles wide and 500 metres deep in some places

Just after taking this picture I thought it would be a good idea to climb up a loose pile of rocks and get a panoramic pic. Not such a good idea when the rocks started to slide I went headfirst backwards with them. Just a little blood and the backside ripped out of my shorts. It amused the German tourists so I was happy they found everything satisfactory.

We had to stop for fuel enroute - a small lodge with some petrol in a barrel and two chaps to get it from the barrel into my tank! Only took half an hour!

We stayed at the Namibian Wildlfe Park camp one of 3 we’ve stayed in - each one is pretty quirky- in this one we were the only ones having dinner - a disappointing affair for me - a T bone steak that must have come from some road kill I think. Coral fared better with her veg dish. No red wine in stock and no gin either - calamity!
They pulled out all the stops for breakfast as well - lukewarm bacon and eggs and a four slice toaster that burnt one to a crisp the second was ok third only toasted on one side and the fourth nothing at all!  Needs a manufacturers recall I think.

Day 13 Luderitz

Luderitz is a remote town that has hardly been touched by modern times. It’s in a pretty desolate location sandwiched between the Namib desert and the Atlantic. It’s hundreds of miles from any substantial town - the main road into here is blasted by desert sand and the wind blows pretty much all the time. So why is this place on the map? Diamonds - that’s why and truckloads of them in the early 1900s
This was just a tiny trading and fishing port until 1908 when diamonds were found literally in the sand.
In the 1920 the mines here were supplying 80% of the worlds diamonds. A decade later and much better and bigger diamond fields were discovered further south so the mining town of Kolmanskop - just outside of Luderitz became surplus to requirements and by 1956 the last occupants left and it became a ghost town and the desert took over. A very interesting place to visit - it had its own concert hall, bowling alley, railway, ice making facility, school and hospital.
Here’s some pics

It’s the crayfish festival in town so lots of activities down by the waterfront including a marching band

Day 12 Luderitz

A 270 mile to Luderitz today - even more amazing scenery today

Quickly followed by puncture no.2 - changed to spare and pulled in at a place 50 miles down the road  and got the puncture fixed while we had coffee and cake. Cost £22 this time - special tourist price - I told him I wouldn’t be recommending his services to my friends!

German / South African WW1 war graves

View from our apartment 

This is a disused railway stop

Day 11 Sossusvlei

Our main day and we take the 4x4 guided tour to Sossusvlei, Deadvlei and Sesrium. A 6.00 start to get into the park for 7.15 to catch the sunrise

This area runs for about 700km and is basically a desert (no rain for 19 years) with spectacular sand dunes. You have to pick one and climb it. After my failure a few days ago when I made a solo atempt and failed the last 20 feet - this was different- we had an international team of Dutch, Germans and us Brits.

 

 

Took about an hour but we got there and rewarded by amazing scenery

After a late breakfast we made our way over to Deadvlei - a pan with acacia trees that died 700 years ago - the pan is surrounded by sand dunes over 300m high

Day 10 Sossusvlei

A 150 mile drive down to Sossusvlei. The landscape changes every couple of hours from desert to mountains to plains.

We stopped at Solitaire - a one horse town to fuel up - very important as they are few and far between - nice little car display here

This was a bonus - forgot we were going to come through here

We did our Good Samaritan bit as well - these Dutch had a big blow out - tyre was a write off

And then it happened again a couple of hours later with someone else

When we got to the lodge we went on the sundowner - a 4x4 drive up the nearest mountain to take in the sunset 

Day 9 Swakopmund

Arrived here at 6.00 last night so a drink and the nearest restaurant once we could get away from our hosts - what is it about people who run B&B - they always want to tell their life story.

Went down to the beach for a walk this morning to the pier

Then on to Walvis Bay to see the flamingos

Though it would be a good idea to climb to the top of this

It beat me ! Had to give up about 30 ft from the top - burning sand and heart going into overload.....

Day 8 skeleton coast

A long day today. we decided to go the long way round - 300 Mile drive to Swakopmund via the skeleton coast.
The day didn't start so well 50 miles in we had a puncture fortunately we were at the gate of the skeleton Park and a chap from the Four Toes garage came over to help us out. And yes he did have only 4 - on his left foot I think.

Tyre off and puncture plugged - all for £8

Some amazing landscapes and desolate shoreline

Temperature a cool 16 C

This is an Angolan trawler - run aground about 10 years ago