"All by Myself"

After we got back to Stellenbosch, I had about two weeks to just hang out before my parents and my brothers came to visit and when I needed to be out of my apartment.  I didn’t do anything that interesting within the two weeks except be with people before they went home, manage the extension of my visa in Cape Town, visit Lynedoch one more time, and start packing up all my stuff.  It wasn’t very exciting and I spent a lot of time by myself because by the end of the first week, nearly everyone was gone.

The last picture of our car - back home in Stellenbosch.

Stellenbosch in the fall.  It was lovely when the leaves were colors, but not quite as lovely as Maine.

One of the things I had to do before I left was to return my bike.  By the end, its bell was broken (it fell apart on the first day), the seat had a small rip, and the pedals didn't work so I literally had to drag my bike (wheels not spinning) back to the place where I got it.

Some pictures of my room in the midst of packing.

One of the other things I had to do, was use up all the food in my room.  Neil had also given me a bunch of stuff before he left, so I had tons of flour to make delicious bread.

Day 19: It's raining men!

We had a relatively relaxed morning.  We had breakfast with the others and watched as they tried to fit everything back into their car.  After saying goodbye to everyone, Neil and I headed south while they headed north.  The final thing on our to do list was the Cederberg Mountains.  Although I had already been there, Neil really wanted to go hiking and I was more than happy to visit the area again - it was so beautiful.  The maps we had were a little confusing and we ended up stopping in a town called Clanwilliam to ask for directions.  These were less than helpful, but we did get to see the main Rooibos tea company's production plant, which was kind of exciting.

We finally made it the entrance to the park, and found ourselves on more dirt roads that were even bumpier than the ones in Namibia.  It was super muddy, and had started to rain and eventually downpour.  It was incredible how much it was raining - although I didn't see any gentlemen falling from the sky.  It put kind of a damper on the day.  While driving around, looking for a trail head, we saw another car that looked like it was having engine trouble.  We talked with the group, some other international students, and they said they were alright but that the road in front of us was flooded.  We decided to keep going a little ways and check it out to see if it was something that we could cross.  As it turns out, it was way to deep for out little car.  I got out to check the depth and it was up to my knees.

Because of the continual rain, the fact that we couldn’t get to the trail we wanted to hike and even if we could it would be awful hiking and camping conditions, we decided that we should just head home to Stellenbosch.  We found a bathroom, got a few more beautiful views of the mountains and headed home.

We arrived back in Stellenbosch around 8:30pm, made a quick stop at the grocery store and then arrived back to campus to make dinner.  Although it was sad that our trip was over, both Neil and I were glad to be back in a warm environment and sleep in our own beds.

All in all, it was a great trip.  We did and saw so much of a country, learned a little bit about its history, experienced some of its colonial and native culture, and had a ton of fun while doing it.  We drove 7605km (equivalent to 4725.5 miles) and ate somewhere between 6-8 bags of Sparkles (hard candies) and a few pounds of rice/cous cous/quinoa.  We saw over 20 different animal species and met some new, interesting and inspirational people.  I become more acquainted with country music and Neil (may have) come to understand my love for Pride and Prejudice.  We saw more straight roads and empty horizons than I ever thought was possible and went whole days without seeing more than a two or three other cars.  It was an amazing two weeks and a trip that I will never forget.  Thanks to our ventures, it became even more clear not only how big of a world we are in, but how small one person can be in comparison.

This is how deep the water was that was flooding the road.

We stopped at one of the campsites to use their bathrooms before they left.  There was a small bridge crossing the river and this was the view from the middle.

While we were driving back towards the exit, we got some excellent views of the valley.

This was leaving the park.

As we were leaving, we were crossing the bridge (above) and when I looked out the window, it looked like we were floating in water.

On the road back home...

**Neil took most of these!!

Day 18: A "cross" country experience.

We spent the morning venturing around Luderitz.  We had to stop at the grocery store to resupply, but we also found some of the beautiful old German buildings.  We checked out an old church as well as the home of one of Namibia’s richest diamond giants.  One of the sites we went to was Felsenkirche or the Rock Church, which sits on Diamond Hill.  It was built in 1912 and is one of the oldest Lutheran churches in Namibia.  The location of the church was incredible.  It was right on the water and up on a hill overlooking the rest of the town.  It was locked so we couldn't see the inside, but I'm sure it was lovely.  Another building was called Goerke Haus.  It was built between 1909-1911 for Hans Goerke who was a manager and co-owner for the major diamond company at the time.  The architecture was so interesting and different than anything I had seen in South Africa, or even in other parts of Namibia.  Because of the colonial influences in Africa, it was neat to see all the different styles, from German in Namibia and Dutch/English in South Africa.

In 1487, when Bartolomeu Dias was returning from his voyage around the cape of Africa, his ships stopped along the coast of Namibia, in the bay that Luderitz is now situated.  While there, he erected a stone cross, also called a padrao, on the mainland.  In the 1980s, a replica cross was carved from dolerite and set in the original location.

The drive to the cross was incredible.  The landscape was so interesting and different than anything else we had seen.  During the drive we could see desert dunes, mountains and giant black rocks.  Throughout all of Namibia, not just today, I was struck by the harshness of our surroundings and I often wondered how people, especially those living in isolation, could sustain themselves.  We walked to the end of the point where the cross stood, enjoyed the sea breeze and even saw some seals and porpoises.  After that, we got back in the car and headed east.  We passed the wild horses again and stopped and watched them for a while before we turned off the main road to head south towards South African border.  

Along the main road that brings you to Luderitz is Kolmanskop, a ghost town in the Namib desert.  During the diamond rush in the early 1900s, it used to be rich mining village, as diamond supply decreased, the town was eventually abandoned in the middle of the 20th century.  You actually need a permit to go into the town because it is in diamond mining territory, so we only saw the buildings from the road.

With only a few more days of our trip, we needed to start heading south with a little more purpose.  We made our way back towards the Fish River Canyon National Park, which put us near the border with South Africa.  We drove into the park, stopped the car to watch the sun set and listen to a really lovely but depressing song on Neil’s iPod, and then drove out to find a place to park for the night.  We couldn’t find anything, so we ended up going back in and found an OK place a little ways off the road.  The weather was lovely, so we hung out and watched the moon and stars come out.

Our typical campsite...though the view was not always this good.

Goerke Haus

Felsenkirche (Rock Church)

On the way to the Dias Cross...Neil and his baby.

Leading up to the cross.  It's kind of hard to see, but at the end of the rock point, you can see the outline of the cross.

The lighthouse near the cross...

The ocean view.

The road heading east.

Kolmanskop in the distance.

The wild horses and their new friends.

** Around 85% of these pictures are Neils.

Day 19: Full Circle

We woke up early in the morning with the rising sun streaming in our tent and the sound of a car slowing down on the road right near where we were staying.  They kept driving, but we immediately got up, packed up in about 3 minutes and got on the road.  We drove a little ways and then stopped to watch the rest of the sun rise, use the facilities and make breakfast.  The last thing that we had decided to do before we crossed the border was go into the Ai-Ais Resort where we would be able to access the bottom of the First River Canyon.  There were also some hot springs that we thought we would check out.

When we arrived, we found the hot springs, which were not as exciting as we had thought they were going to be.  What we really wanted to do, however, was to walk in the bottom of the canyon that we had started our trip our with.  It was cool to be walking in something that was connected to what we had seen before - it was like we ended full circle, back where we had started, but in a new perspective.  After soaking up as much sun as possible, we got back in the car and started the long drive to the town were we were planning to stay for the night.  We crossed the border without any trouble, got another stamp in our passports and were struck with the almost immediate difference in environment.  As soon as we crossed into SA, there was much more vegetation and greenery.

Before we even left, we planned to meet some of our friends from Stellenbosch who were just starting their road trip at a campground near Springbok, SA.  We got there earlier than they did, so Neil and I set up camp, played frisbee with the owner’s little boy and enjoyed hot showers - something that hadn’t been done in a few days.  They were a group of 5 and their car was extremely full.  It was nice to see them, but it was even nicer (Neil and I both agreed) to have someone new to talk too.  It was exciting to hear their plans about where they were going and to give them some tips about where to stay and what they should see.

One of the perks of getting up so early, even though we were a little scared we were going to get in trouble...

Absolutely nothing to see here.  This was what we saw looking out of our windows for awhile.  We stopped just to enjoy the fact that there was literally nothing to see.

If you actually looked at the ground, you could find these tiny little plants.  The leaves were super thick (probably to help retain water in the dry climate) and were very small.  It was interesting to see, how from our perspective, there was nothing, but when you looked a little bit closer, there was life!!!e

The road towards Ai-Ais.  It was still dirt, but the scenery was a little more exciting that earlier in the day.

This was one of the hot springs.  You couldn't feel the water (for safety reasons), but when standing next to the fence, you could feel the heat.

The bed of the canyon.

This was a town right near the border to South Africa.  It was interesting to see that the houses looked like they were made out of a more natural material, while the towns that looked like this in South Africa seemed to be made out of metal.

Back in South Africa - on a lovely paved road.

Day 17: "Diamonds are Forever"

Although both of us woke up with cramped legs and cricks in our necks, it was nice to finally wake up warm, almost too warm.  Before we left, I was under the impression that it was going to be much warmer than it actually was, especially at night.  Some nights it was really cold even with all my layers.

After making breakfast and converting our car back into a mode of transportation instead of bed, we went into Keetmanshoop.  We walked around town for a little while and tried to get into a cool old church, but it was locked up.  We got back into the car and started heading west, towards Luderitz.  On the way, we passed the wild horses of the Namib, which essentially was a herd of horses that roamed free on the side of the road.  It was kind of strange to see horses in the middle of the "highway."

Luderitz is right on the coast, and is a large port town.  It is well known for its colonial German architecture.  The town was founded in 1883 by German settlers and became one of the sites of concentration camps that were used to exterminate around three thousand native Africans.  The labor from these camps helped build the city and the surrounding railroads.  In 1909, diamonds were discovered and there was a subsequent diamond rush.  Luderitz is on the outskirts of the main diamond mining area in Namibia.  Although this area is closed to the public, we did hop a fence and tried to find some.

When we arrived in the city, the first thing we did was stop at a lighthouse.  We wanted to climb around on the rocks and possibly go into the building to check out the view from the top.  As we climbed the stairs to the door, however, a woman came out and told us that it was actually a private house.  We apologized and left right away.  Since we couldn’t go in the lighthouse, we figured the next best thing was to find a beach.  We drove around the coast a little ways to Agate Beach.  On the way, we stopped at a sign that said on the other side of the fence was diamond mining area and was off limits.  Obviously, we wanted to get on the other side to see if we could find some diamonds.  We hopped over and did a quick search, but found nothing, unfortunately.  We did, however, find the beach and enjoyed the sun and surf.  The weather was perfect and it was so nice to put our toes in the water, but it was a little too chilly for swimming.

We headed back into the town to find a place to stay and ended staying in a beautiful campground right on the water at the end of a point.  We climbed on some of the rocks, watched the sun set and hung out for a while.  After dinner, we listened to the ocean lullaby and were thankful that we could fully extend our legs.

Our "mobile" home.

There was one road that went to Luderitz.  It essentially just shot off west and was straight forever.

Wild horses.  It was strange to just be driving along and then all of the sudden, in the middle of a very  arid environment, see a bunch of horses.

Our first view of the water!!  It was beautiful.  We hadn't seen that much water, beyond the jugs we used for drinking, in a few days.

The lighthouse.

We had stopped at the campground we ended up staying in earlier in the day.  This was the view of the campground.  It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever slept.

 

We did read the sign...but the temptation was just too great.

A diamond?  Nope, just a rock.

Neil, the pensive diamond hunter.

Our tent site.

Disclaimer:  Neil took all these pictures too.