We were up relatively early because we do not know how long
it will take us to get to our reservation for tonight. It will be a fairly long drive today. By the time we have packed our suitcases, paid
our bill, said goodbye to Yvonne at Desert Villa Guesthouse, we were on the
road by 8:00. The first 30 km to Walvis
Bay was on hard surface road, but the rest of the drive today was on gravel,
350 km of gravel!! Some of the gravel is
well maintained so we could go around 50 - 65 mi/hr (80-110 km/hr), while other
places it was washboards so it 20 mi/hr (30-40 km/hr). After driving around 200 km we reached Kuiseb
Canyon, the impressive canyon we flew over yesterday. We drove right down to the bottom of the
canyon and back out. It was a very
picturesque drive. It was interesting to see the canyon both from above and
from ground level.
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| Dune 7 Near Walvis Bay |
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| Grader on the Road |
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| Gravel, Gravel and more Gravel |
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| A Dried River with Trees |
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| View across the Desert |
We drove through three Mountain passes - Kuiseb, Gamsberg
and Spreetshoogte The view at the top of Spreetshoogte was spectacular. Due to the
direction we were traveling, the descendant off Spree Pass was extremely steep. To our surprise, when we began to descend the
road surface was totally bricked, all the way to the bottom of the pass. We assume this was done because it would be
impossible to maintain a good driving surface. The gravel would wash out or
become very corrugated on such a steep grade. Considering where all we went
today, the gravel, the slow winding passes, we did well with our time.
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| Kuiseb Canyon |
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| Gamsberg Pass |
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| A Farm in the Desert |
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| Spreetshoogte Pass |
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| Brick Road Ahead |
We are in an extremely remote part of Namibia, so fuel
stations/restaurants/convenience stores are not around. Maybe 200 hundred miles
apart, if that often. We did see 4 road
graders working on the gravel roads, which was encouraging
We arrived at our lodge by 4:00 pm, relieved to be there.
They met us at our car with cool washcloths to wash our faces and hands – so refreshing
after the dusty drive on the gravel. When
in the reception area we were given a refreshing drink of fruit juice, after
which they gave us an orientation to their lodge. It was tea time, so we had to stop for tea
and sweets before going to our chalet! An
hour before we arrived the electricity went off and everything was running on
generator!!! Not yet again!!! There is
no AC, so the chalet is quite warm.
After taking a nap and working on the blog we went to dinner at 7:30.
Many of the lodges have their own chef, but they do not have a variety on the
menu. Everyone has the same thing which
tonight was first a creamy soup, followed by a small salad, then the main dish
which was bobotie (a baked minced ground beef dish), with vegetables and rice,
finishing it off with banana cake. It
was all very good.
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| Famous Solitaire - Fuel/Convenience Store/Restaurant |
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| Our Chalet and Isuzu 4x4 |
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| Another Beautiful Sunset |
By 10:00 we were back in our chalet. The electricity is back
on, so we will have the fan all night. Yeah!
While in Swakopmund, by the sea, it was very cool – in fact
COLD! However, each mile away from the
sea, the temperature goes up!! We were
moving inland all day!!
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