Day 13: Torra Bay to Spitzkoppe

Last night was windy throughout with the noisy sound of the tent fluttering in the wind. The camp cleaners said that this is not normal and the weather is expected to stay like this for 3 days. We finished the breakfast as soon as possible and then left the camp for good. The sea shore between the Torra Bay and the Ugab gate of the skeleton coast down south has some 4-5 ship wrecks. Most of it has disintegrated over the period of time. I was still hoping to catch hold of some them and also take some snaps of it. The only problem is that most of them are not at all signposted and are also very difficult to access it from the road. So there is a risk of driving through deep sand to reach them. We decided not to do it. Unfortunately even in the couple of wrecks that are signposted, there was hardly anything left in the wrecks. That was really disappointing.

However the route from Torra to the Ugab gate was stunning, like a lunar landscape. Vast plains of emptiness, with occasional greenery and some shrubs in the river delta. Some of the portions in the route had huge sandstorms with hardly any visibility in the road ahead. Though the rivers looked dry and barren from outside, there is an underground river running which supported these plants. It is these underground rivers that support the famous desert elephants in these regions. The ellies use their tusk to dig holes so as to reach this river water.

On the way we made a stop at the Ugab lagoon which was close to the sea. It was a good decision as we got lucky to see 3 flamingos there. As we came closer to the Ugab gate and also further south towards the Hentis Bay the shore was crowded with the Namibian/South African tourists on their fishing holidays. Even there was relatively huge traffic with their big trucks. We stopped at small windy town of Hentis bay to refuel and resupply. Then we took the route towards the camp at Spitzkoppe.

I had previously camped here about 8 years back on my first trip to Namibia. It was the trip in which I fell in love with this beautiful continent. The Spitzkoppe camp is between huge boulders, in the middle of nowhere, isolated from humanity. My kind of place actually, and I loved it then :-) At that time the camp was pretty much isolated, with the camp was a means to support the local bushman community running it. But this time the whole place looked different, with a lot of shacks on the way to the camp selling crafts. The camp was also renovated with a new gate, reception, craft shop, a small restaurant and pub, and chalet. The last time there was only a crossbar in the track with a few bushman sitting around to guide the tourists. They also said there is a new resort with pools behind the boulders.  Now there were more campsites between the rocks and also more guests. Still the campsites were spread out over a huge area that one can hardly see or hear your neighbouring campsite.

We got a nice campsite between huge boulders with a fire pit. It was nice, with the rocks providing the much needed wind protection. After our camping experience at Skeleton coast the last thing I want was a windy night. We set up the camp and in late afternoon I drove around the rocks to the place where there is a natural rock arch. I remember taking a lot of photos from there last time. Being at an elevated position the scenery was beautiful from the top. At night after dinner by the campfire it was again time for sky gazing and star photography.