After leaving Etosha we needed to stock up again, and find internet. So we made a detour down to a town called Outjo which proved to be a great decision. There we found an amazing bakery, restaurant and high speed internet all together. And it was a good thing we decided to go out of our way, our eventual destination for the day was Kamanjab (or near there) which proved to be one intersection and one small store. Since Outjo the roads have been gravel but really smooth, ok smooth for gravel. As usual we were racing against the sun to get to Rustig (yes, with a “g”) Toko lodge about 25 km from Kamanjab. As we left Kamanjab (which was seemingly in the middle of nowhere) and headed onward with map in hand, we started to hear the banjos playing. Janet kept peering over at Ron wondering if we were actually still on track – it didn’t help when he started cackling pretending to be a mad man taking us off, never to return. We finally saw something in the distance. However, upon arrival at the lodge, the man who greeted us was pretty rude and couldn’t get rid of us fast enough. Apparently the camping was another 2.5 km up the valley. We followed the sandy double track for the 2.5 km and finally arrived. To say we were isolated is somehow an understatement.
We couldn’t see anything but desert and scrub for…ever. But, true to Namibia’s style, there was a toilet and shower hut with hot water, an awesome fire pit and once we got our minds wrapped around the seclusion, it felt incredible. I did mention hot water but it is the funkiest system we have ever seen (Flecks, sounds like a good system for Ragged). The hot water tank has stones cemented all around it and is elevated for a wood fire to fit underneath. The fire warms the tank, water and the stones surrounding it. Once the fire goes out, the stones (also heated by the relentless sun) keep it warm forever. As I mentioned, we had the shade of a few trees but we could see for miles. The feeling of space was such a welcome sensation for all of us. We have been living on top of each other! We heard a lot that evening and Janet heard a hyena in the middle of the night but nothing scary or too close. We had lots of wood finally so we had a raging fire, grilled steak over the coals, drank wine and finished off with s’mores (turns out a marshmallow, is a marshmallow is a marshmallow, even in Africa). And the best part is, we woke up on our own time clock. No chickens, mosque, market or early rising campers to wake us. Both the sun set and rise were amazing.
We woke the following day and went for a walk before leaving, trying to get to the top of a neighbouring ridge. We got there but the scrub is relentless to walk through and some of us found the fear of snakes a little too much. The other side of the ridge presented endless miles of more, and no animals so we took in our view and headed back to camp. Whether we are in a car driving or walking around, the endless space in Namibia is phenomenal. We have tried to take photos but it’s always hard to try and capture the impact totally. There are days we can count the number of cars we see on one hand between town centres. We are often left to wonder how people can live out here as we pass their humble homes in the middle of nowhere.
We had heard about a Cheetah farm not far from Kamanjab so we packed up and headed there keeping in mind, if the camping was good we’d stay. It ended up the tour would go late into the day so we decided to camp there. We parked our vehicle and were brought into the backyard of the house where the tame cheetahs were kept. Sadie and Anna were really excited. We sat in the backyard with cheetahs purring, sitting beside us, and licking our skin with their hard sandpaper tongues. Ron looked as if he was in pain the whole time with the cheetah’s tongue going up and
down his leg, the most attention he’s had in weeks! You could easily lose a shoe to the little cub that would chew on it after attacking and clawing at your foot. I think we went there for our girls, but we all left enamored with the experience. We are not necessarily in favour of taming wild animals for tourism, but we had a good feeling about our host (the tames ones were actually orphand) and selfishly, the experience was incredible. We all discussed afterwards how sweet they looked until you looked into their eyes. Their eyes instantly reminded you they are still Cheetah and deserve the wary respect we gave them. Of course there were all sorts of guidelines how to behave around the animals and our host watched their every move with eagle eyes. Talk about cats and dogs living together; the main house yard had dogs, Cheetah, domestic cats, chickens…you name it. His land also contained a larger enclosed habitat (250 hectares) for Cheetah he has rescued from farmers (who shoot Cheetah). These Cheetah are not tame. We rode in the back of the farm pick up with a large bucket of donkey meet (raw and with hide) and watched the feeding process. The farmer had only a skinny stick in his hand as he took meat from the bucket and threw it out for grabs. We were all glad to be up on the truck. Our host was the first person we had met in Namibia (from the tourist perspective) who was friendly and had a sense of humour. He was born and raised on that farm and lives there now with his two sons and daughter (grown). If only we had the opportunity to spend the evening and have drinks with him to hear his stories… 
Our evening camping was fabulous (outside the Cheetah habitat) with some social injection provided by the 3 Aussies who moved in to the campsite beside us. Otherwise, we had the place to ourselves. Payment and our exit the next day was highlighted by being able to nuzzle and feed
the resident giraffe (another rescue at 10 weeks old). These incredible animal experiences definitely buoy the girls’ spirits. We have had some home sickness but times like these seem to remind us all what a great trip we are having. You just can’t feel that way 100% of the time and welcome these unique moments.
Our route to a place called Palmwag (got a map handy?) took us through something we hadn’t yet seen in Namibia – mountains. OK, not huge mountains but the landscape definitely changed, we had to actually use the stick shift and be very wary of the dips and turns in the road. Palmwag was a bit unremarkable except for the desert elephants you could see from camp and the Kiwi family we met who also had two girls. The girls struck up a quick friendship exchanging stories, swimming in the pool and charging cold drinks to our camp site. Ron took them out into the Concession (protected but not a park) to find some game. Leaving Palmweg and heading towards Uis, we stopped to assist a couple with a flat on the road. We came to a stop to find Sally & Nick, retired and completely self sufficient fixing their tire. Actually Sally was just watching, drinking a Cappucino she’d made. She was an avid bird watcher who talked a mile a minute. Sally had recently broken both her arms on a particularly tough day in the field seeing her 700th specimen for her bird list. We didn’t get the feeling much could get Sally down though, after a quick hospital visit, she had carried on her camping tour and was offering us dinner, drinks and accommodation when we arrived in Cape Town. Further down the road we stopped at Twyfelfontein where we walked amongst the boulders (in the heat of the day) to see rock drawings dating from 3,000-6,000 years ago. They are not sure if the drawings were maps, teaching aids, part of ancient Shaman rituals or just simply art. Except for the heat (probably the first time we said “man it’s hot, like Africa hot”) it w
as a great pit stop.
We couldn’t see anything but desert and scrub for…ever. But, true to Namibia’s style, there was a toilet and shower hut with hot water, an awesome fire pit and once we got our minds wrapped around the seclusion, it felt incredible. I did mention hot water but it is the funkiest system we have ever seen (Flecks, sounds like a good system for Ragged). The hot water tank has stones cemented all around it and is elevated for a wood fire to fit underneath. The fire warms the tank, water and the stones surrounding it. Once the fire goes out, the stones (also heated by the relentless sun) keep it warm forever. As I mentioned, we had the shade of a few trees but we could see for miles. The feeling of space was such a welcome sensation for all of us. We have been living on top of each other! We heard a lot that evening and Janet heard a hyena in the middle of the night but nothing scary or too close. We had lots of wood finally so we had a raging fire, grilled steak over the coals, drank wine and finished off with s’mores (turns out a marshmallow, is a marshmallow is a marshmallow, even in Africa). And the best part is, we woke up on our own time clock. No chickens, mosque, market or early rising campers to wake us. Both the sun set and rise were amazing.We woke the following day and went for a walk before leaving, trying to get to the top of a neighbouring ridge. We got there but the scrub is relentless to walk through and some of us found the fear of snakes a little too much. The other side of the ridge presented endless miles of more, and no animals so we took in our view and headed back to camp. Whether we are in a car driving or walking around, the endless space in Namibia is phenomenal. We have tried to take photos but it’s always hard to try and capture the impact totally. There are days we can count the number of cars we see on one hand between town centres. We are often left to wonder how people can live out here as we pass their humble homes in the middle of nowhere.
We had heard about a Cheetah farm not far from Kamanjab so we packed up and headed there keeping in mind, if the camping was good we’d stay. It ended up the tour would go late into the day so we decided to camp there. We parked our vehicle and were brought into the backyard of the house where the tame cheetahs were kept. Sadie and Anna were really excited. We sat in the backyard with cheetahs purring, sitting beside us, and licking our skin with their hard sandpaper tongues. Ron looked as if he was in pain the whole time with the cheetah’s tongue going up and
down his leg, the most attention he’s had in weeks! You could easily lose a shoe to the little cub that would chew on it after attacking and clawing at your foot. I think we went there for our girls, but we all left enamored with the experience. We are not necessarily in favour of taming wild animals for tourism, but we had a good feeling about our host (the tames ones were actually orphand) and selfishly, the experience was incredible. We all discussed afterwards how sweet they looked until you looked into their eyes. Their eyes instantly reminded you they are still Cheetah and deserve the wary respect we gave them. Of course there were all sorts of guidelines how to behave around the animals and our host watched their every move with eagle eyes. Talk about cats and dogs living together; the main house yard had dogs, Cheetah, domestic cats, chickens…you name it. His land also contained a larger enclosed habitat (250 hectares) for Cheetah he has rescued from farmers (who shoot Cheetah). These Cheetah are not tame. We rode in the back of the farm pick up with a large bucket of donkey meet (raw and with hide) and watched the feeding process. The farmer had only a skinny stick in his hand as he took meat from the bucket and threw it out for grabs. We were all glad to be up on the truck. Our host was the first person we had met in Namibia (from the tourist perspective) who was friendly and had a sense of humour. He was born and raised on that farm and lives there now with his two sons and daughter (grown). If only we had the opportunity to spend the evening and have drinks with him to hear his stories… Our evening camping was fabulous (outside the Cheetah habitat) with some social injection provided by the 3 Aussies who moved in to the campsite beside us. Otherwise, we had the place to ourselves. Payment and our exit the next day was highlighted by being able to nuzzle and feed
the resident giraffe (another rescue at 10 weeks old). These incredible animal experiences definitely buoy the girls’ spirits. We have had some home sickness but times like these seem to remind us all what a great trip we are having. You just can’t feel that way 100% of the time and welcome these unique moments.Our route to a place called Palmwag (got a map handy?) took us through something we hadn’t yet seen in Namibia – mountains. OK, not huge mountains but the landscape definitely changed, we had to actually use the stick shift and be very wary of the dips and turns in the road. Palmwag was a bit unremarkable except for the desert elephants you could see from camp and the Kiwi family we met who also had two girls. The girls struck up a quick friendship exchanging stories, swimming in the pool and charging cold drinks to our camp site. Ron took them out into the Concession (protected but not a park) to find some game. Leaving Palmweg and heading towards Uis, we stopped to assist a couple with a flat on the road. We came to a stop to find Sally & Nick, retired and completely self sufficient fixing their tire. Actually Sally was just watching, drinking a Cappucino she’d made. She was an avid bird watcher who talked a mile a minute. Sally had recently broken both her arms on a particularly tough day in the field seeing her 700th specimen for her bird list. We didn’t get the feeling much could get Sally down though, after a quick hospital visit, she had carried on her camping tour and was offering us dinner, drinks and accommodation when we arrived in Cape Town. Further down the road we stopped at Twyfelfontein where we walked amongst the boulders (in the heat of the day) to see rock drawings dating from 3,000-6,000 years ago. They are not sure if the drawings were maps, teaching aids, part of ancient Shaman rituals or just simply art. Except for the heat (probably the first time we said “man it’s hot, like Africa hot”) it w
as a great pit stop.
publish this...this is awesome...youare living a life on a paralle universe and look like you are having a blast.
ReplyDeletelove you all
hi mom
all great here. shorty allen send his love