Day 10: Camp Wild to Purros

In the morning while having tea, one Himba boy came to our campsite out of nowhere. He didn’t come near, but was standing around 500 m away from our tent and started shouting at us. Both Bru and I didn’t understand a word of what he was shouting. We were calling out loud asking him to come near us. His tone didn’t sound friendly and we felt like he didn’t like us camping there. So we decided to leave the place. We finished our tea and packed our tents and left the place for good.

On the way to Orupembe we came across a large baobab tree. Baobab, the iconic tree of the African savannah is also called the ‘tree of life’. It grows upto a height of 25 m and the tree itself can be several thousand years old. From the size of it, it was definitely more than 100 years old. We stopped there and had our breakfast under its shades. It was really a nice place. After about an hour of staying under the shade we started our drive towards Orupembe. The landscape changed dramatically from bushland to vast plains with small small mountains in between. As we crossed Orupembe we realised that it is just a small village with few huts distributed in the plains and of no vegetation around. I even wondered whether there is any camping place here.

Later we came across the mysterious ‘lone man’ of Kaokoland. In the last years there have been many sightings of life-size rock sculptures around in these remote wild west regions of Namibia. They are created with masterful artistry and a deep sense of place, that it gives the impression of having sprung up from the earth. They take on different poses and are made from the rock existing in the area and they blend in perfectly with their surroundings. No one knows for sure who made these stone structures of humans around these uninhabited places. Though we read about it before our journey, we were not expecting to see it, as finding it is like searching for a needle in a haystack in these vast landscape. So it was quite surprising to see it and we both felt happy to see these lonely people :-)

The drive ahead was through the Namib desert, 100’s of kms along the deserted plains. It is pretty strange to have proper roads/tracks in these places and that too with road signs! The desert colour changed a lot from arid dry landscape, to yellowish sands to dark red sand, all within a couple of hours. Absolutely stunning, if you neglect the heat! As we approached Purros the mountains were surrounded by more and more sand.

The Purros village is situated in loose sandy regions. We stopped at the Purros community camp run by the Himba community. There were a lot of ellie dungs around, clearly showing the presence of desert ellies. The camp ground was beautiful, properly blended with nature. The campsites/toilets were hidden under short trees covered with leaves. It was a beautiful spot, but also very windy with fine sand flying around. At night after a barbeque and beer, it was time for night photography.

Day 9: Epupa to Etanga to Camp Wild

Our plan for today was to drive back to Opuwo, fill up the supplies and fuel and then drive to Etanga in the west of Opuwa in the Himba land. We stopped at Opuwo as planned, filled fuel and bought supplies. By afternoon we started our drive towards Etanga. The road was designated as ‘D’ which is a dirt road and therefore was not so fast moving. Still the gravel D roads in Namibia are really in good shape when compared to the dirt roads in other countries. We passed many Himba villages all the way and around 3:30 we reached Etanga. We planned to camp at a camp site that was marked in our map, but we couldn’t find it all there. Probably it doesn’t exist anymore, as it can happen in this part of the world. Since we still had couple of hours before sunset we decided to drive towards Orupembe, which is further west, in the direction of Purros village. Finding a drivable track was difficult and also it was marked a proper 4x4 track. So the going was again really slow with sometimes mountainous, rocky and sandy terrain all the way. It was bit of an adventurous drive, really slow moving and in parts the speed was on an average between 10-30 km/h. We also passed some Himba villages on the way.

By evening we were still about 30 km away from Orupembe and the light was going down. So we decided to camp wild on the side of the track and setup the camp before it was completely dark. We parked our car behind a rock, to avoid unwanted attraction, and setup the camp there. There was absolutely no one around, just us and the unbeatable African skies, with stars extending up to the horizon. What a view!!

Day 8: Kunene River Lodge to Epupa falls

 We started in the morning and drove along the Kunene river towards Epupa. In the earlier times the old road took about 9-10 hrs to reach Epupa. Now the road has been completely levelled and widened and it takes only 3-4 hours to reach Epupa. Still on the way we took a wrong diversion and ended up in the old road. It became clear why the old road took so long time as it was a typical 4 x 4 road with steep climbs and drops at some point. The moving was slow but the road took us closer to the river side and hence it was a very picturesque route. We joined the new road later and then the going was smooth and fast. The road passed through mountains and was always going up and down.

We reached the camp near to the Epupa falls after noon. Epupa camp is just on the side of the falls. They even had a restaurant with a deck overlooking the falls, which made it a really beautiful camping spot. Later in the evening we went to a small pool on one of the streams of Kunene river to take a bath. There were also local kids taking bath there. The place was amazing as it was to the Epupa falls, and ofcourse the water was cold. We immediately came back to the camp to take our cameras. On the way we stopped at a small Himba craftshop and bought some bangles from them. We sat on the deck in the evening, enjoying the view of the falls and the beautiful landscape there with a chilling beer in hand. It was peaceful, silent, just nature and us. As it was off season, there were no other tourists other than us, perfect!!!

Day 7: Kunene River Lodge

After breakfast we went for the river rafting in Kunene river. The level of difficulty was between 3-4 and it was a half day trip. The trip was fun though only 2 relatively strong rapids were there. The rafting started at a place approximately ½ hr drive from our camp towards east in the direction of Rucana. Half way down the river we took a break and had sandwich and light drinks on the river bank. Then we started rafting again. Even after covering the rapids we decide to row along the river towards our camp instead of driving. The sky was cloudy and it helped from the heat of the day. In the afternoon we just sat on the camp deck enjoying the view. It was really a hot afternoon.

Day 6: Opuwo to Kunene

We started at around 10 am towards the northern boundary of Namibia. Our plan was to drive to Epupa falls in the Kunene river which also acts as a natural border to Namibia. We stopped at Opuwo to fill up stocks, change USD to N$, and also to buy a new tyre. It was expensive, around 2200 N$, but we had no other option as the reserve tyre is not good enough for our adventurous plans ahaead. Opuwo had a lot of garages, shops, supermarkets and also the Himbas. Himbas are indigenous people living in the northern regions of Kunene/Kaokoland region. They wear traditional clothing that is in tune with their surrounding environment, and in most occurrences this consists simply of skirt-like clothing made from calfskins. They are immediately recognizable from their skin and hair colour, having a distinctive orange or red-tinge characteristic. For these nomadic pastoralist tribes, Opuwo is the closest big town where they can do their shopping and also make quick money from the tourists by posing for photographs. They were a bit annoying as they crowded around us to sell crafts. It was interesting to watch them, due to their unique way of dressing, but also felt very sad to see their poverty.

We drove to Epupa from there, about 180 kms north of Opuwo. But on the way there, we decided to take a diversion and drive to Kunene river lodge, north east of Epupa. The spontaneous plan was to drive along the Kunene river separating Namibia and Angola. As it is a 4wd track from Epupa to Kunene camp we thought it will be wise to stay at Kunene river lodge and check about the track conditions with them before proceeding further. The lodge/camp was really beautiful, green and full of trees offering a lot of shade, overlooking the river. The river was bigger than I expected, about 75 m wide and with decent amount of water. The camp had a bar/restaurant with a deck overlooking the river. We saw a number of monitor lizards and monkeys around our camp. The lizards minded their own business but the monkeys as usual were looking for a chance to steal. We decided to stay there one more night there as the lodge also offered river rafting in Kunene river for interested people. Of course, we were interested!

Day 5: Palmwag Lodge to Opuwo

We started around 10 am from Palmwag and drove towards Seesfontain. Just after Palmwag, the GPS card from 4 x4 tracks that Bru had showed a panorama view point approximately 4 km off track in the direction we were travelling. We decided to take that route, which turned out to be a proper 4 x 4 track, with uneven and very rocky tracks. The moving was very slow, but in the end the view was really nice. We stayed there for some time and took some snaps before turning back to the main road.

On the way we made a stop at the old german fort at Seesfontain. The once ruined fort was renovated and converted into a hotel in 1994. Inside the fort it was like an oasis in the desert, very green and with palm trees providing the much needed shade in the arid region. They even had a pool. We stayed longer than we planned, had a drink and had toast for lunch. After about 2 hrs there we were on the road again towards Opuwo. The landscape changed dramatically and the route was more mountainous, with curvy and narrow roads, steep climbs and lot of dry streams crossing the roads. Some of the regions we crossed were very green with lot of mopane trees. We stopped on the top of a hill to have a photo of the road and the valley downstream. A few meters afterwards we had a flat tyre!! I think it happened as we parked the car on those sharp rocks. The tyre had two big cuts on the sides. The hot afternoon made the tyre change with the entire luggage inside extremely difficult. And that too on the side of a very dusty dirt road.  After the tyre change we drove towards Opuwo which was about 15 km away.

Opuwo is a relatively big town and if I am right the last town before the Himba region of Kaokoland in the north of Namibia. We camped at the Mopane camp, about 4.5 km off road, in the midst of mopane trees. It was a nice place and both of us were very tired. The camp had only chalet kind of accommodation, but they still let us camp there as there were no other guests.

Day 4: EHRA to Palmwag Lodge

We started in the morning from the EHRA camp. There were no specific plans as usual other than driving towards north into the Kunene region. On the way we stopped at the Mowani mountain camp situated in the stunning landscapes of Damaraland. I stayed in the camps there in 2008 during my first visit to Namibia. But it’s mainly a luxury resort  with the topmost suites charging around 230 euros/night. As Bru worked in the tourism business they agreed to show us around the different rooms and the facilities they have. The view from the rooms were really amazing, worth the price they charge for the suites. The whole row of cottages where nicely placed between massive boulders, and it blended perfectly with the landscape. They even had a pool in the rocks overlooking the valley. We stayed there for a couple of hours, enjoyed our first cocktail rock shandy and thereafter started towards Palmwag Lodge situated in the Unaib river, in the afternoon. We reached there in the evening. After parking our car in the camping place we then jumped into the pool to cool ourselves down. It was very relaxing evening after the long drive through the heat. At night we cooked some rice and chicken curry for dinner.