Introduction

Looking for a more adventurous holiday, Heloise and I decided to explore Namibia, and in particular Kaokoland, for approximately 2 weeks in late December 2014. We flew to Johannesburg from London, went to an old family friend’s wedding (Michael and Tracy), and then flew up to Windhoek (saving ourselves a couple days driving if we had started in JHB). At Windhoek we had arranged to pick up a Toyota Landcruiser fully equipped for 4x4 driving (2 spare tyres, spade, rubber tracks, towrope, high-lift jack etc) and camping, which we rented from Bushlore.co.za.  

We were met by the Bushlore rep at the airport who showed us how to use the high-lift jack, electric pump, water etc. I had wanted a Landrover Defender, mainly because they look cooler, and maybe due to a little national pride, but only Landcruisers were available and we were told by the company that the Landcruisers were as good as a Landrover off road, but more reliable and easier to find spare parts for in Namibia.

So, after sorting out a few details Bushlore had got wrong, stocking up on food, petrol and water in town, we set off on our trip leaving Windhoek in the late evening light.

The Landcruiser we rented for the trip with roof tent and camping equipment

Day 1: Sun 14 Dec

We drove south from Windhoek on good tar roads then turned south west onto dirt roads at Rehoboth aiming to camp somewhere in or near Naukluft mountain park late at night. We saw lots of game on the road at night - 3 groups of steenbok, 2 kudu jumping the roadside fence, 3 owls in the road and more scrub hares than we could count.

 Shortly after turning onto the dirt roads at about 9pm, we had a very scary incident where an approaching car started drifting across onto our side of the road. At the last moment I had to break sharply and swerve to miss him, hooting at the same time. He swerved at the very last second and we just missed each other. It would have been a head on collision at a relative speed of 160kph if we had hit. Not a good start to the trip, but it certainly woke us up!

The Naukluft park closed at Sunset, so we continued past the gates and 20 km further down the road we found a place advertising camping. It was very late so we didn't disturb the reception and went straight to finding a campsite.   As we were setting up camp a big Afrikaner appeared in his 4x4 wearing his boxer shorts and a jacket – evidently we’d woken him up from his sleep and he wasn’t going to let us go by without investigation. Sheepishly, we apologised for not paying at reception and agreed to come by and pay the next morning - he was actually really nice and seemed more concerned with making sure we had water and were comfortable. Finally at 00.30am we got to sleep, very tired after a long day’s traveling.

Day 2. Naukluft and Sossusvlei Mon 15 Dec

We got up in a relaxed fashion the next morning and made breakfast, had a very welcome shower and noticed for the first time what a beautiful area we were in and wondered how much lovely scenery we had missed driving through the night. After paying for the camping at reception we drove to the Naukluft park to do the first part of the Waterkloof trail up to the water pools. On the way into the park we managed to get a nail in our tyre which cost us an hour to change, and more worryingly on day 2 meant were already down to only 1 spare tyre.

In the early afternoon we started walking the Waterkloof trail when it was still very hot. We walked up a steep and large valley, with a small stream running down the middle. Along the way we saw a troop of baboons, dassies and a couple klipspringer. The park is very dry, set over an escarpment with huge orange/ reddish-brown sandstone mountains and steep valleys carved into the escarpment. After an hour hiking we found the natural rock pools, had a refreshing swim in the pure clear water, relaxed a bit in the sun and then headed back down the gorge to the car. (It’s worth noting that they have a  2 day 70 km long 4x4 track which looks well worth going back and doing at some point).

Next stop Sossusvlei. After a 2hr drive through beautiful mountains and lots of wide open grassland we set up camp at Sesriem and went to bed early. 

Trees at Naukluft

Changing the punctured tyre

Natural pools at Naukluft

Entrance to Naukluft Mountain Zebra park

Grader on the road from Naukluft to Sesriem

White horse in a field near Sesriem

Day 3. Sossusvlei and Swakopmund Tue 16 Dec

We woke up at 5.45am shortly before sunrise. The gates to the park opened just after we awoke and we heard the first group of 4x4s roaring off to cover the 70km to Sossusvlei so they could catch the dunes at their most dramatic in the early morning light. We took a good 20 mins faffing around to get ready and it was well after 6am before we set off in the direction of Sossusvlei. 30 mins later we stopped at dune 45 spotting a few gemsbok, springbok and ostriches along the way. There were 2 or 3 other cars already parked there and we climbed right to the top of dune 45 along with a couple other groups of people. Although we hadn't got there as early as we could have we were still rewarded with beautiful views and silvery early morning. After some time at dune 45 we continued to Sossusvlei. The last 5 km require a 4x4 if you want to do it by car. The guidebook recommended walking the 5km to get the 'true feeling of the desert" but we were keen to tick Sossusvlei off the list and go have breakfast, so we decided to drive. Setting off into the thick sand, the car bogged down and almost stalled, before I managed to engage the clutch. Slipping the car into 4 wheel drive and low ratio popped us out of the thick sand easily – our first taste of some of the rough tracks we would do. After parking we walked the short distance to the pan which we weren’t particularly impressed by.

Heloise at Dune 45, Sossuvlei

Climbing Dune 45

Heloise on top Dune 45

Heloise on Dune 45

James on Dune 45

A couple random strangers on Sossuvlei pan

Gemsbok at Sossusvlei

Sossusvlei done, we headed back to the camp for brunch, and then set off north on the longer drive to Swakopmund along very good gravel roads on which we could comfortably do 120-130kph. We passed cars every 5-10 mins (busy by Namibian standards!) and even got overtaken by two bakkies who must have been doing about 150kph. That made us a bit nervous - we were kicking up a massive plume of dust which meant we couldn't see anything in the mirrors. All of a sudden a bakkie would emerge from the dust and whizz past us. This seemed a little reckless as they can’t have been able to see much in the dust, and those gravel roads are slippery at best. Anyhow, 5 mins after these bakkies passed us we came across another bakkie (not one of the ones which overtook us) which had spun off the road and rolled. There was already a towtruck there, and luckily no-one had been seriously hurt.

Passing the Tropic of Capricorn on the way to Swakopmund

Bizarre lunar landscape on the way from Sesriem to Swakopmund

Bizarre lunar landscape on the way from Sesriem to Swakopmund

In Swakopmund we dropped our punctured tyre at a garage to get repaired and rushed to Spar before it closed to stock up on food and drinks for the next part of our adventure for which we had to be completely self-sufficient. That evening we stayed at a B&B called Sea Breeze which we found in the lonely planet guidebook. The rooms were very nice and the host, Bennie, was extremely pleasant and helpful. We ate dinner at a restaurant overlooking the sea called The Wreck that evening, savouring some excellent seafood. Our first time trying Kingclip - who knew it was so tasty?!

Day 4. Swakopmund to Brandberg, Wed 17 Dec

We woke up early, had breakfast, and got into town as the shops were opening to buy some additional supplies including diesel and water cans for the long distances in Kaokoland, a search light for game viewing on night drives and our tyre which had been repaired overnight. Well rested, stocked with 150 litres of diesel, 120 litres of water, lots of food, fruit juice and wine, we set off north along the coastal road to Cape Cross. This was the beginning of our real adventure, heading north into the huge wild unfenced areas of the Damaraland and Kaokoveld. Our excitement was palpable as we discussed the animals we wanted to see, what we would do if a lion attacked and other fun things to think about.

The road to Cape Cross is featureless, just desert dunes and sea. After about 2 hrs we arrived at the largest seal colony in the world. The first thing that strikes you when you arrive is the overwhelming stench. 200,000 seals all living, eating, fighting, mating and shitting in an area of a few hundred meters squared. It was pup season, so we got some fantastic photos of baby seals, but there were lots of dead pups lying around, no doubt adding to the smell. It's an incredible sight, but no-one hangs around for long - after a few minutes the stench is so strong that it causes you to start gagging. 

Shipwreck off Skeleton Coast

Want to buy a salt rock? Just leave some money in the tin

Seal pup - Cape Cross

Sleeping seal - Cape Cross

Huge seal colony - Cape Cross

From there we could have gone north into the Skeleton Coast Park, but we decided to give the ship wrecks, sand dunes and fog a miss in favour of more time in the Kaokoveld, so we took the next road inland towards the Brandberg. The road was a small line on the map, clearly not travelled often, and we drove about 100km through a vast desolate burnt umber landscape of rock strewn plains with mountains in the distance, reminiscent of the photos returned by the Mars rovers. It was very hot, tipping 40 degrees centigrade. We only saw one ostrich (not sure how he survived), no cars, and the only vegetation was the occasional welwitschia plant which are prehistoric and are said to live for up to 3,000 years - no other vegetation could survive in those conditions.

Eventually the barren landscape of rocky plains gave way to more interesting hilly terrain punctuated every now and then by parched river beds, still incredibly dry, with the huge grey-blue mass of the Brandberg visible in the background. We reached the Brandberg on its north-western side, and then took a road south east to skirt around the bottom of the mountain. Directly south of the Brandberg the scenery turned into beautiful wide open grassveld with koppies of weathered orange granite dotted around, and we found the perfect spot beside one of these to take a late lunch break at 3pm. I took the opportunity to climb the koppie and found the perfect campsite in a cleft split through one side of the koppie - one to note for the future. On top there were magnificent views all round.

Welwitschia plant

Martian landscape - Cape Cross to Brandberg

We'll be careful then!

Late lunch break near the Brandberg

The perfect campsite - looking towards the Brandberg

The Brandberg

After lunch we carried on to a campsite just by the White Lady cave paintings the Brandberg is famed for and we set up camp there as the sun was going down. The camp was set beside a riverbed on a conservancy north east of the Brandberg. We had picked a spot next to the river as far away as we could get from the other campsites, even though the camp was relatively empty.

10 meters from the tent, in the riverbed, we found relatively fresh elephant footprints. Enquiring at the lodge we found out they had passed by at midday. The conservancy is open on all sides and has a population of free roaming elephant and rhino. Leopards live on the Brandberg, but rarely come down into the plains. Lions have been seen, but very rarely. Although we were in a campsite, there was no fence, and for the first time we got the frontier sense of adventure we were looking for - camping in the open with nothing between us and elephants, rhinos and leopards.

Feeling inspired we decided to try out our new spotlight with a night drive around some of the tracks we had seen on the conservancy. The spotlight wasn't very good and ran out of batteries after about 20 mins. All we saw was a couple scrub hares. By the time we got back to the tent it was already 11.45 and after a long day driving I was exhausted and climbed straight into the tent to go to sleep. Heloise went to the bathroom about 200 meters away to do some ablutions as I was dosing away on my pillow. 

I woke up feeling something was wrong. I looked at my watch and saw it was 00.30am and rolling over I saw that Heloise was not in the tent beside me. In my groggy state, I started to wonder what could have happened to her - was she taken by a lion or an elephant? Did she get lost on her way back to the tent? 45 mins had passed since she went to do her ablutions. The thick bushes and big trees in the riverbed started to take on sinister shapes in the darkness, and all that could be heard was the crickets. I leaned out of the front of the tent and shone the flashlight around to see if there were any dangerous animals. Nothing. I fumbled out of the tent, grabbed the flashlight and started to walk in the direction of the rest of the campsite in my boxers and flip flops. 

After meandering around a few bushes, about a hundred meters from the tent I saw 3 flashlights. Never sure of who is wandering around the bush after midnight I called out a greeting, and I heard Heloise’s relieved voice say to someone next to her – “that's my boyfriend”.

Heloise told me that she had gotten hopelessly lost on the way back to the tent. She had wandered around for 20mins through the thick foliage in the riverbed with just her iPhone torch. Her first time in the African bush, imagining all the dangerous animals and snakes lurking just out of visibility and with her iPhone battery about to run out, she was fairly petrified. Eventually she spotted a tent with lights on which she approached and met with two German girls in their 20's who were up late in their campsite chatting. She explained apologetically that she was hopelessly lost and would they help her find our tent. After wondering around with them for 15 mins we had bumped into each other. After a few recriminations exhaustion quickly took over and we fell asleep safely in the tent.

Day 5, Thur 18 Dec

We woke up a bit late the next morning and after breakfast drove over to see the white lady cave paintings. We walked 45 mins with a guide up a scenic ravine to where the paintings were. Along the way we asked our guide lots of questions and we were told that in the winter they regularly encountered leopard on foot walking up to the paintings, but in the summer the Leopards keep to themselves higher up on the mountain, and relax in the shade to avoid the high daytime temperatures - it had now been 2 months since she had last seen a leopard. It is certainly ideal leopard country - we saw lots of dassies and baboons on the way up - tasty leopard food. We took some photos of the paintings, walked back and then set off on our way to our next stop - the Palmwag concession about 300km drive northwest from where we were. 

Broken down donkey cart - we gave them some water and some snacks we had and asked for a photo

Lizzard near White Lady paintings

Rock paintings 

As we were setting off, one of the elderly Herero game rangers asked if we could give him a lift to Khorixas and we obliged. We stopped on the way out of the concession so he could pick up some belongings from his tiny wooden hut on a grassy hill - it was interesting to see how he lived. 

He spoke Herero, Afrikaans and English fluently and along the way he gave us some lessons in Herero greetings and shared with us lots of local knowledge about the flora and fauna of the area. The milk bush (Euphorbia Damarana) which is very prevalent in the area is only edible by rhino and Oryx and he warned us not to burn any on our campfire unless we wanted to poison ourselves.

He showed us a little detour from the main gravel road we were travelling on where we might be lucky to spot the elusive desert elephant whose footprints we had seen go past our tent. In a dip of the road, slipping the Landcruiser into 4wd and low ratio, we turned off the road to drive up a riverbed of thick sand - the same riverbed we had camped next to about 16km further upstream. Sure enough, about 500m up the riverbed we spotted a massive bull elephant with big ivory sipping water from the riverbed in amongst a herd of damara cattle as if he thought he was one of them. We switched off the engine and watched the idyllic scene for a while before turning around and resuming our journey. 

Watch out for elephants crossing the road

Elephant and cattle - Sorris Sorris

On our way to Palmwag we passed through a lot of central Damaraland, which consisted of gently rolling plains of orange earth relatively densely populated with mopane in accents of green, grey, red, brown and purple, blue mountains always on the horizon. All the communal land was heavily overgrazed by the roaming herds of cattle and goats. We passed by the Grootberg and Twyvelfontein which was beautiful mountainous countryside. We stopped quickly at the Petrified Forest and did the ten minute walk to see the petrified logs and overall were left a little underwhelmed, although it is an interesting story/ geological feature. 

Petrified tree trunk - Petrified Forest

When we arrive at Palmwag camp they could only offer us a second rate campsite in the middle of what was effectively a car park, and even if we could have wangled a proper campsite, we didn't fancy the idea of camping cheek by jowl with the other people when we were surrounded by such beautiful open country and fully stocked for wild camping, so we decided to drive a little further up the road. 

A few km from the main Palmwag camp we saw a small sign pointing to "the rhino camp', so we decided to investigate. There was a fence along the road. The gate guard said the park was big and there were two campsites and gave us a map. It didn't look very big and we hadn't read anything about this area so we were a bit sceptical, but decided to give it a chance. We drove into the park about an hour and a half before sunset, and took a roundabout route to the designated campsites to see if there was much game around. After taking half an hour to do what looked like a short loop on the map we quickly realised that the conservancy was in fact massive, and furthermore it was bursting with game. In the first half hour we saw several zebra, kudu, gemsbok, ostrich, springbok, giraffe, baboons and steenbok. Reading the blurb on the back of the map we discovered that we had entered the main Palmwag concession, which was a total of 5,000km2, fenced along the main road but open on all other sides and home to 70% of the free roaming black rhino population that exists outside of game reserves in the whole of Africa. The countryside was stunning, particularly in the fading evening light. From the entrance register to the park we had seen that only two other people had entered the park that day, and our spirits soared as we realised we had this entire wilderness almost completely to ourselves. We also realised that we better make tracks to the campsite if we were going to set up camp before it was dark.

On the way to the campsite we saw a big elephant as well as lots of other game. By sunset we still hadn't reached the official camping spot, so we decided to pull off the road and set up camp on a hillside at the head of a long grassy valley sloping gently for miles into the distance with undulating grassy plains and a heavily treed riverbed meandering down the middle. Now we really felt in the wilderness - we'd seen elephant and masses of game, we knew there were lion leopard and rhino as well, and we had this completely to ourselves. I made the campfire with some wood we'd collected earlier, we opened a bottle of Delheim merlot, and we cooked a delicious meal of sweet corn, Boerewors roles with avocado and potatoes over the fire. As we climbed into our sleeping bags, belly's full and tired after a long day, we left the fly sheet open and lying on our backs gazed up at the clear night sky, spotting constellations and satellites. We fell asleep deeply contented - our adventure had truly begun. 

Road to Palmwag

Near Twyfelfontein

Zebra at Palmwag 

Kudu at Palmwag

Kudu and Springbok at Palmwag

Giraffe at Palmwag

Zebra at Palmwag

Our campsite for the night - Heloise in the tent

Day 6, Friday 19 December 2014

We woke up relatively early the next morning, kicked sand over the fire, packed up camp, made sure we hadn't left any traces and set off for an early morning game drive before breakfast. We had decided we were going to do the full loop on the map (only covering the southeast 1/8th of the concession) and exit via the northern gate to carry on our journey northwest to Sesfontein and the Kaokoveld. The tracks in the Palmwag concession are rough two wheel tracks, they definitely require a 4x4, but they're generally rocky and there isn’t much chance of getting stuck – it’s sand and mud you need to watch out for. We spotted more of the game we had seen the previous day, as well as our first jackal of the trip. While we still had the coolness of the morning we stopped in the middle of a grassy valley and made ourselves a full cooked breakfast on the gas cooker.

Jackal

Black Rhino and calf

Ruppells Korhaan

Strange tree - Palmwag

Breakfast in the veld

After breakfast we spotted a black rhino and her calf a little way from the road under the shade of a tree. Unfortunately we rather blundered upon them and they could hear the vehicle or scent us. They began to run away parallel to the road. Rhino have very poor eyesight, so if you approach them from downwind you can watch them without disturbing them. Black rhino are known to be quite aggressive, and especially when you have a mother and her calf you want to be careful lest you get charged. In a vehicle you are safe, but you never know. After waiting a bit for the rhinos to put some distance between themselves and us we carried on further down the road, through a riverbed and then took a right to head eastwards at the top of the loop. We were lucky enough to see the rhino again who had obviously been hiding in the riverbed, and this time we got some fantastic photos of them amongst the euphorbia bushes. 

Heloise - Aub River Gorge - Palmwag

Looking for wildlife at Aub River Gorge

On the way out of the Palmwag concession

Namaqua Sand Grouse - perfectly blending in with their surroundings - Palmwag

We finished the Palmwag loop by lunchtime, exited the concession and made our way towards Sesfontein on the main gravel road stopping at Khowarib community campsite along the way for lunch. At the bar there we met a jovial local German safari guide who gave us lots of advice about the Kaokoveld and which of the roads on the detailed map were passable. Discussing the Palmwag concession, he agreed that it was something of a local secret, but well known to most of the local safari companies.

 We arrived at Sesfontein by about 4pm, and were a little disappointed. When researching the trip, I had used google earth to plot our routes (the Kaokoveld tracks aren't on google maps, but they are visible on google earth). I'd seen Sesfontein and the environs tagged with many beautiful photos of grassy plains flanked by huge mountain valleys. What we actually found there was an overgrazed dust bowl of grey dirt, with one small cuca shop, and a couple shebeens with drunken himba and Herero milling around in front.

By this point we also realised that we had under stocked on food at Swakopmund, and furthermore the corrugated gravel roads and rough 4x4 tracks of Palmwag had wreaked havoc on our food in the fridge and in the back of the car. Our olive oil bottle had opened and spilt all the contents over the rest of our food. Our avocados and mangos were a mushy pulp and our bread was already going stale, so we were eagerly hoping to stock up on some more morale boosting food.

We managed to replace our olive oil with veg oil and buy a few more bags of Millie meal to trade with the himba and that was about it. This was also the last point at which we could fill up on diesel before starting into the Kaokoveld, and we'd been a bit worried after reading that morning on the map that fuel supplies in Sesfontein were intermittent. Luckily we were informed at the cuca shop that the fuel truck had arrived that morning, so we raced over to fill up before their supplies ran out. So, a little disappointed and a little low on food, we headed west into Kaokoland on the main road. 

The first bit of adventure we had planned in Kaokoland was to split off the main gravel road 18km out of Sesfontein and head southwest along the Hoanib valley to camp wild somewhere along the valley. It is massive and wide and the entrance to it was not obvious - there were several tracks visible over the dusty riverbed weaving between the vivid green bushes and trees dotted along the dusty valley floor. We just picked a random point to split off the road and made our own tracks heading southwest until after a few kilometres the valley narrowed and the various tyre tracks converged into a single track. As was marked on the map, this section of the valley was extremely dusty and we started to wonder if it was a bad idea to camp in this valley. However, as we progressed and got out of range of the himba grazing herds from Sesfontein, the dust subsided and we started to spot lots of wildlife - baboons, gemsbok, ostrich and springbok.

Northern Damaraland - near Khowarib valley

Hoanib Valley - 20km from Sesfontein

Map reading

Ostriches in the Hoanib river bed

We weren't sure how much wildlife there would be in Kaokoland, cautiously pinning our expectations on beautiful landscapes and rugged wilderness, but probably not too much game, so this came as a pleasant surprise. The valley narrowed further as we made our way down, and soon we noticed that the river was actually flowing lightly and we had to pass through a few wet sections. Initially Heloise would get out and test how firm the ground was with her feet, then use a stick to test how deep the water was at each section, but the water seemed to be consistently shallow, the ground was relatively firm and easily passable in 4wd, so as time progressed our confidence grew and we started just going through the water sections without checking.

We had no idea what to expect from these tracks before entering Kaokoveld. Although the Landcruiser was our second choice, I have to admit I had started to really enjoy driving it. It was rubbish on-road, hard to accelerate past 130kph, but off road in 4wd with low ratio it felt like you could assail almost anything that came your way. 

While researching Kaokoland I came across a website, http://www.desertlion.info/news.html - this group of a few individuals dedicate their lives to conserving the dwindling population of lions that still roam freely from the Brandberg up the skeleton coast and eastwards into some of the Kaokoland valleys and Palmwag. The main threat to these lions is human conflict when they come into contact with cattle farmers and one of the main jobs of this conservation group is to manage human/lion conflict by finding ways to resolve issues that don't result in the lions being killed. Over the last 20 years they had a lot of success bringing back the population of desert lions, but reading on the website I could see that a lot of lions have been shot or poisoned recently by the local tribesmen after the lions poached their cattle. Their numbers are now dwindling again which is a huge pity.  The group have tagged most of the lions with radio collars and one of the best features of the website is you can see a daily update of where the lions are on a google earth map.

I knew that some of these lions frequented the Hoanib valley as far up as Sesfontein and some of the other areas of southern Kaokoveld. I had checked the website shortly before leaving London, and one of the lone male lions was in the Hoanib valley at the time, so I was really hopeful of seeing him on this trip. I knew we'd probably pass by him in close proximity on one of the roads, but probably wouldn't see him as these lions are very shy (understandably).

At one of the water sections along the Hoanib valley we got out to look at the footprints in the mud and we spotted a fresh lion print. It was getting late so we turned right up another valley running north south so as not to camp too close to the water (and potentially deny thirsty animals a drink) and started looking out for a campsite – Heloise a little trepid after having seen the lion print.

Heloise testing water depth along the Hoarasib 

Lion footprint in the mud and possibly a porcupine

In good time before sunset we found a track running up a high sand dune on the side of the valley and we set up camp. We had views of the approach from all sides so Héloise felt comfortable we'd be able to spot a lion attack if it came. We set into our usual evening routine with me making a fire out of driftwood, Heloise setting up camp and preparing food, all the while scanning the surroundings for approaching lion, before eating a delicious fire cooked meal with a glass of Delheim South African red and then settling into a sound night’s sleep in our tent on top of the car, this time with the fly sheet safely zipped closed. We were too tired to do a night game drive, but I think we missed a trick there and probably our only real chance of spotting one of the desert lions.

Camping in the Hoanib Valley - mielie and rice on the fire

Making the fire

Day 7, Saturday 20 December

I climbed down from our tent shortly after sunrise, stoked the coals of the fire which were still warm from the night before, filled the kettle and in no time we had our all-important cup of morning tea ready - it's the small details which make camping a pleasant experience. 

We had originally planned to continue north up the valley to join up with the main road, but the Hoanib valley was so beautiful and full of wildlife that we decided to venture a little further southwest along it before turning right up one of the valleys to join the main gravel road to Purros.

We had started to use the GPS at this point seeing as we weren't following clearly marked tracks and we set the next waypoint 10km further down the valley using the coordinates from our detailed map of the Kaokoveld. As we turned the corner at the way point to start heading north we bumped into an English couple coming the other way who confirmed we were on the right track to join up with the main gravel road, and furthermore we should watch out for a big bull elephant just around the corner. Heloise wanted to use the GPS again but I told her we didn't need the GPS for this next section as all we had to do was follow the valley north for about 30km until we intersected the main road, as confirmed by the others - easy peasy.

As we came around one of the corners in the dusty river track we found ourselves about 20 meters from a very large male elephant with big tusks. We switched off the engine and watched as he looked at us and tested the air with his trunk trying to get our scent. Even if you've seen your fair share of elephants the bulk of a fully grown male still inspires respect in you - this bull could flip even a 3 tonne Landcruiser easily if he wanted to. We'd been warned a few times that the desert elephants were known to be aggressive and we shouldn't get too close. Heloise was nervous and when he started to approach us I felt a shot of adrenalin as well.  We switched on the engine and reversed to a respectful distance, even though he did seem peaceful. We didn't want to take chances on the sandy river bed where it wasn't a given at all that you'd be able to get away in the event of a charge.

It turned out he just wanted to walk to the tree next to where we had been and we got some wonderful photos of him sitting on his hind legs and reaching up with his trunk to feed on the branches of the tree. Every now and then he'd stop grazing, look in our direction, test the air and then go back to grazing. After watching him for a while we wanted to move on with our journey, the only problem was he was blocking the way and he clearly didn't like us being too close. Eventually he moved over to the far side of the tree from the track. Recognising our chance we accelerated quickly past him and carried on our way. Further down the valley we saw lots of giraffe and other wildlife and had two more sightings of elephant, first a family of 8 and then a family of 7, all within the space of about 5 kilometres from the first one - we couldn't believe our luck! Each herd of elephant took a bit of patience and quick acceleration to get past in the narrow riverbed.

Steenbok, Hoanib Valley

Elephant Bull

Bee Eater

Giraffe

As we were travelling along I got the Silva compass out to quickly check our bearing, expecting to see that we were heading more or less directly north, but it instead showed north being off to our right - stupid compass, I never could get them to work reliably. 

We covered about 30km from the turn off and we still hadn't intersected the main road so we decided to check our coordinates on the GPS. To our chagrin, we discovered that we somehow hadn't made the turn northwards and instead had continued down the Hoanib valley meaning that we were now on the border with the Skeleton Coast Park in a very remote part of the Kaokoveld. We were 70km from Sesfontein and 85km from Purros across searing hot sand dunes and mountains, and we weren't in convoy so if we got stuck, we'd have to sit tight until someone drove past which could be a few days. We’d read about a Dutch couple who broke down right about where we were now about 10 years ago. They were eventually found after 13 days by which time the husband had died of thirst.

After a little heated discussion we set the coordinates in the GPS for the entrance to one of the valleys running north to south that was close by and made our way there. We drove 20km up the valley towards Purros before coming to a split in the road which wasn’t on the map. Eventually we realised the map coordinates were wrong and we were in fact one valley over from the one we thought we were in, and if we continued that way after 50km easy driving we’d have to negotiate a very tough 18km of the Hoarasib valley which was potentially unpassable if the river was flowing. Not fancying the idea of backtracking 150 kilometres through rough tracks we deciding to push ahead and chance it.   

We covered the ground easily to the Hoarasib valley over a high sandy plateau and found our way down to the valley floor. We were a little unnerved to see that the river was indeed flowing, Heloise wasn't happy about this, but turning back wasn't really an option now so boldly we set off up the riverbed.

The going was extremely tough, clingy mud followed by deep sand, with big humps and holes all the way rocking the vehicle almost to the point of tipping over at times. We were counting down the kilometres 1 by 1 as we made our progress to Purros - after a few km we hadn't got stuck and our confidence grew - I was getting the hang of charging with relatively high speed and high revs in low ratio at the deep sand sections, and similarly for the mud sections, occasionally swerving sharply to miss a big boulder, hole or particularly muddy section. If there was a track before, there wasn't much evidence of it now that the river was flowing and we were really just beating our own path, occasionally following a single track from another vehicle that had evidently passed by a few days before.

About 8km from Purros we entered Purros canyon. Still going strong and fighting for every kilometre, we rounded a bend to see a long straight stretch ahead of us. We were driving along the riverbed in ankle deep water when I decided to pull out onto the firmer looking bank - big mistake. The vehicle started to lose momentum in the clingy mud, I floored the accelerator trying to keep momentum through the mud but as I was doing this we noticed two vehicles ahead behind some bushes with people standing around. Recognising they were stuck and reconsidering our route, my attention wandered from the immediate task at hand, I eased off the accelerator slightly and the Landcruiser immediately bogged down and the engine stalled. Dammit - embarrassing to get stuck right in front of the others.

We took the opportunity to get out, stretch our legs and see what the situation was up ahead. The other group were an English family travelling with a South African couple in a Landrover and Ford ranger, and the Landrover was stuck in similarly thick mud sinking down to the point where the diff lock and axle were resting on the mud. They'd set out at 9am that morning from Purros, got truly stuck where they were, and had spent the whole day until now at 5pm trying to dig themselves out.

They were just on the verge of getting the Landrover out with the help of the other vehicle when we arrived. We made a first half-hearted attempt to get ourselves out by laying down the rubber tracks we were supplied with, cutting down some branches from the bank and wedging them under the wheels and slipping on diff lock. My initial efforts impressed Heloise, but when I got in the car and attempted to rev out aggressively, we only sank deeper into the mud - I could see my bush cred rapidly diminishing.

Luckily at that point the Landrover had gotten free and the South African couple drove over to come and lend a hand - they were confident there was no way we were getting out without some towing help, and we were happy to take on the lessons they had learned over the past 7 hours.

Following their instructions we used the high lift jack to hoist the car as high up out of the mud as possible, having found a big flat stone to use as a baseplate in the mud. We then dug out as much as we could for 30 mins around each wheel and placed as many rocks as we could under and around the wheels. We let the jack down and attached the Landcruiser to the Ford via a tow rope. I jumped in, put the gear into low ratio reverse, and on Heloise’s count of 3 we both floored our accelerators. With a few bumps we popped out back onto the more solid section of the riverbed - thank God for the kindly South Africans otherwise we would have spent the night camping in the canyon, and probably another day trying to get help and digging ourselves out.

Lost somewhere on the border with the Skeleton Coast

On the right track towards the Hoarasib Valley and Purros

Starting up the Hoarasib Valley, Heloise not happy with the conditions

Stuck in the mud

We made the rest of the way to Purros uneventfully having covered the worst sections already, and settled into the camp there, tired after a long and excitable day, our spirits at the lowest they had been so far this trip, but also thanking our lucky stars that help was at hand when we needed it.

Getting stuck in the mud had dented my bush cred with Heloise, and I could see a veto coming on some of the wilder tracks planned for the next few days in Kaokoveld. I took the opportunity of being in a campsite with other people to walk around speaking to some of the other 4x4 convoys, and gathering as much intel on the tracks further north as possible. Surprisingly, Heloise agreed to continue up the Hoarasib riverbed - the only part which people had said was a bit dicey because of thick sand, the winning factor being that there was also lots of game that way and an interesting mountain pass we'd have to take. 

We settled into bed early that night slightly unsure of what lay ahead. The Hoanib had exceeded expectations, but Purros which again looked beautiful on the google earth photos was in fact just a big overgrazed dust bowl. I was a little worried that the rest of Kaokoland was going to be dusty and overgrazed as well without much wildlife. 

Day 8, Sunday 21 December 

After sleeping in a bit, we set off north up the Hoarasib River with a little trepidation. We passed through several very thick sand sections and spots where branches and digging holes revealed that others had been stuck but the going was certainly better than it had been the day before. We saw giraffe, ostrich, springbok and plenty of gemsbok and covered the 30km Hoarasib stretch in about an hour and 20 mins. After the Hoarasib we took a pass heading North West over the mountains into the next valley over. The pass was red, rocky and slow going, mostly devoid of life, but quite spectacular. The next valley was very dry as well but a little grassy and had a very good road, so we covered the rest of the ground to Orupembe quickly. Orupembe consisted of a handful of Himba huts and one tiny cuca shop which sold cold beer, miellie meal, beans, veg oil and that was about it. The shop attendant was clearly utterly bored.

While we were in the shop an old himba man came in dressed traditionally, exchanged a few words with the shop owner and then walked out. We caught up with him outside and gave him some of the maize meal we had bought to give to the himba. It felt a bit random, but we had struggled to find any worthy himba so far. We shared a cold Windhoek draft, and continued on the road north up to the Onjuwa plains. 

Breaking out of the Hoarasib and northwest over the pass

A small seasonal Himba hut and kraal

Looking back to the Hoarasib and Purros in the distance

Heloise modeling the infamous snake gators

A lone Gemsbok on the pass

Another small seasonal Himba settlement - almost all of these settlements had no-one around. The Himba will return in the autumn / winter when the weather is not so hot and there is grass around 

The Valley south of Orupembe

We found this horse and a couple others hanging out with a lone Gemsbok on the plains - he seemed in pretty good shape

There's a Gemsbok just behind the horse - you can see his horns

Shop 1 - the cuca shop at Orupembe - ice cold Windhoek Draft on sale. 

The drive that day had been enjoyable. It was becoming clear that the Kaokoveld changes constantly from valley to valley. It was very dry and hot everywhere except 1 or 2 valleys where water flowed. Some valleys were desolate with just rocks or sand, and others were lightly grassed with trees here and there. Most areas, especially close to settlements were quite heavily grazed by the himba cattle and by the game which we saw everywhere. 

As we drove north from Orupembe, the hills were quite heavily wooded, but the plains were sandy, open and very lightly grassed, except next to riverbeds which were heavily wooded. We were now heading away from the main circuit through Kaokoveld again and another 200 km of rough tracks and wild country lay ahead between us and the Angolan border. We stopped at one riverbed to collect some firewood and Heloise found a himba shambock abandoned in the dirt which we took as a nice souvenir for the trip. 

 In the afternoon we found a small himba settlement and a himba woman outside wearing her traditional dress - loin cloth, bare breasts, and covered head to toe in the mixture of red ochre and animal fat for which the himba are known. She was getting ready to ride her donkey to the next village and had 4 of her children dancing around her as she tacked up the donkey. Communication was tricky – she didn’t speak a word of English or Afrikaans. We gave her some maize meal and some sweets for the children and she let us take some photos.

After the Giribes plains, still heading north west, we entered a hilly heavily wooded series of valleys. Pulling 20 meters off the side of the road, we found a beautiful campsite at the top one of these valleys. We positioned the land cruiser so that lying in our tents we had a view for miles across the valley lying below us. We hadn't passed a single other car the whole day so we weren't worried about passing traffic disturbing our solitude. 

With that beautiful backdrop we relaxed in the late afternoon light reading our books for a bit with a glass of wine before cooking dinner and settling to sleep with the tent open as usual - lions rarely make it that far north. 

The Onjuwa plains, north of Orupembe

Himba woman with child and donkey

Himba children

Himba woman

Leaving the Onjuwa plains and heading to the red drum

Our campsite overlooking the valley, day 8, south of the red drum

Selfie - relaxing with a glass of wine while enjoying the view

Day 9, Monday 22 December

We rose early to enjoy the cool morning. We had enough water that we could afford to have a shower every morning if we were not wasteful. We'd both stand next to the water tank, strip naked and then one would wash and rinse while the other administered water from the hose sparingly. We were fairly confident that no-one was going to spot us - we'd seen so few people and we'd hear anyone coming a long way off on the road before they saw us. Without those morning showers the camping would have been a lot less enjoyable. 

Carrying on north from our campsite, our next waypoint was the red drum which marked a split in the road to the Marienfluss or Hartmann valleys. That section of road was very rough. It was very steep up and down, uneven and rocky as we passed through a couple more valleys, but the ground was always firm so we were fairly confident we wouldn't get stuck and I was able to enjoy the driving.

Himba donkeys left to fend for themselves in the bush - they were the healthiest donkeys we had ever seen, and as wild as any of the game

Looking north towards the red drum and Marienfluss beyond

Entering Marienfluss - we saw burnt out cars all along this trip

Another burnt out car - Marienfluss

By lunchtime we entered the Marienfluss valley from the south. This was the furthest point away from the beaten track in our itinerary and the one we were the most excited about. We weren't disappointed. The valley is massive, 30km side to side, and more than 100km long running north to south flanked by big mountains.  Long yellow grass covers the ground thickly and the hill slopes are dotted with an interesting mix of trees and succulents. A couple of the himba settlements we passed, usually dusty and barren from overgrazing, were surrounded by ankle high green shoots of grass making it evident it had rained recently.

After doing a small circuit in the southern half of the valley we found a shady spot under a tree and spent a few hours snacking, reading, and relaxing in our beautiful surroundings. By late afternoon it had cooled down enough for us to climb a small hill in the middle of the valley and we took some beautiful photos from the top. On the way up we saw a herd of zebra and some steenbok among the rocky outcrops as well as lots of lizards sunning themselves on the rocks.

We wanted to drive to the top of the valley where there were a couple rest camps on the banks of the Kunene river, but looking at the fuel gauge we weren't confident that we had enough fuel to safely get back to our next petrol stop in Orupembe, so, reluctantly, we found a campsite on the side of the valley at the southern end. After dinner we went to bed early planning to wake up before dawn the next morning to see what game we could spot with the lamp.

Letting the hottest midday hours pass as we read in the shade - Marienfluss

Himba cattle grazing in the valley

Pity this photo was out of focus otherwise it would have been lovely - zebras in Marienfluss

Marienfluss from on top of a koppie

On top a koppie in the Marienfluss

Day 10, Tue 23 December

Up at 5am we packed our tent away, I climbed on the roof rack with the lamp, Heloise took the wheel, and we started our morning game drive in the dark rubbing our groggy eyes. Heloise, who really appreciates her mornings lying in, wasn't impressed when we hadn't spotted anything other than gemsbok after 20 minutes. I knew that early morning drives on this trip and others would be jeopardised if we didn't see anything of interest, so I was very grateful when we spotted a beautiful African wildcat in the early morning twilight - probably one of the best wildlife sightings we had the whole trip.

After an early breakfast and a wash we headed back south the way we had come. We had a long days driving ahead of us all the way out of Kaokoland and to Etosha. At Orupembe we turned east along the main d road through Kaokoland direct to Opuwo, the regional capital. I was expecting a boring but well graded road on which we'd cover ground quickly, but it was actually beautiful through some quite steeply sided valleys, although the track was terrible - we averaged about 40-50kph. 

We picked up a chap on the side of the road who wanted a lift. He was a himba called Njonje, although he was dressed in blue overalls. He was very happy to tell us all about himself and the himba openly and honestly. He had his own cattle, like any self-respecting himba, and spent most of his days tending his herd. It rains from January to March and grass grows around all the villages which now look barren and they bring the livestock in close to the villages. As the grass around the village is grazed they gradually move the herds further away from the villages into the hills and plains. He seemed quite genuine when he told us life was easy for the himba as they have little need for possessions, their livestock keep them self-sufficient and they do well in the veld. If he needed money he could just sell a cow for R3-4,000 and that was a lot to him. He had 1 wife and seven Children.

Responding to our questions about game and hunting, he told us that it was illegal to hunt game in Kaokoland without a license, but he and the other himba did it sometimes anyway when they were in the hills with their herds as there is no-one there to catch them out. They use rifles and bows and arrows and hunt alongside their dogs, mostly going for gemsbok and springbok. 

He asked lots of questions about London and found it hilarious when we told him our garden was only about twice the size of the car.

Shortly after picking him up we came across a group of locals who had got their rusty old bakkie stuck in thick sand in one of the riverbeds the road passes through. There were four of them and they were on one of the main tracks, so they probably would have been fine getting out, but we felt obliged to help them, given the fact that we had been helped previously. Driving around the sandy patch to the other side we hooked our tow rope to their bakkie used the high lift jack to hoist the vehicle up and plant rocks under the tires, and within 30 mins we had them out of the sand -now we were the pros! 

The rest of our drive to Etosha and indeed, the rest of our trip, was uneventful. Etosha was your typical national game reserve experience. The park is beautiful, we saw lots of game and we enjoyed ourselves, but the experience wasn't a touch on the frontier adventure, stunning landscape and wild camping we had in Kaokoland. It’s a much more sterile experience. 

Final word: with hindsight, it would have been better to spend more time in Palmwag and  then do the western route through to Sesfontein rather than taking the main road. We can both highly recommend this trip to anyone who enjoys a bit of adventure and doesn't mind roughing it a bit - we'll definitely be back!