Back in Windhoek

24/02/2010

we find ourselves back in Windhoek since yesterday trying to secure visas in order to enter Angola.not a straightforward matter. burocracy rules. Again we're staying at the Carboardbox backpackers, nicely chilled, a pool, some beers.Hopefully (and only on account if needing this visa very soon) our stay in 'Nam' is coming to a close shortly.i'm certain that this will not be our last visit to this everchanging landscape of sparsly-populated plains, dunes, pans and bush. the only annoyance thus far is too many of us, you know, tourists. every(wo)man and his dog is here driving & rented 4WD packing an unused rooftop tent. Soon we opted for by-roads and no-roads as much as possible, illustrated by the fact that our average speed for this +-5700km we've driven to date is 43km/h (GPS data), which allowed us to free camp/bush camp or whatever at least 1 out of 2 nights which is just great. It was however only in Damaraland and Kaokoveld in north-western Namibia that we started feeling the reaches of Africa proper as one might imagine it.For me this is partly due to the fact that i've been able to speak Afrikaans predominately all the way up to Central Namibia and up to Hentiesbay on the coast. The change of lanscape in Damaraland and the Kaokoveld signalled a more primitive Namibia entered, the latter being home to the nomadic Himba tribe who still live, for the most part, traditional lives. having said that we did find in even the remotest parts of the Koakoveld some Himba people asking us for sweets or money, or so we assumed. having only seen a slither of this breathtaking country i can savely say that the highlights for me include camping in the middle of absolutely nowhere, like in the center of Messum Crater, our swim (unexpectedly) in the fish river (minus the run-in with the baboons), the early climb and sunrise in Sossusvlei, our stay at Diaz Point (desert meets ocean) not far from Luderitz, desolate roads that connect all the dots, the transition in landscape from Burning Mounting to Damaraland and Koakoveld and our ventures therein. All this have been punctuated by friendly, sincere and helpful people we met along the way, which was already the case since we started this journey in South Africa. the only 'incident' so far occurred yesterday here in Windhoek when Stephanie's wallet was lifted from her bag without the slightest hint. Redemption came he was caught red-handed by a plain-clothed security guard and he managed to get the loot back unscathed.close call. the next few days will determine the course of you travels forward, for if we don't secure an invitation letter from someone in Angola allowing us to apply for a transit visa (not necesary in the past but apparently new orders from Luanda), we might have to dramatically alter our general route. there is no other way to travel by land to the DRC moving north apart from going through Angola as the only other route is through Zambia, all the way up to Kinshasa which is practically, well, out of our reach for us. we have read dairy entries on this journey and it constitutes, primarily, 12 hours days driving +- 1000km taking no less than 2 months through real bona fide camel trophy conditions, unsupported, in a region where unrest and faction wars are on the increase. maybe another day. the same goes for entering the DRC from the east via Burundi/Rwanda/Uganda (or you may be able to enter the DRC but certainly cannot traverse the DRC by roady east to west because there simply are none). this would mean that the only viable route north would be via Botswana/Zambia/Malawi, Tanzania/Kenia bordered by Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda on the western borders and then on to Somalia, Sudan (Sudan/Chad east-west crossing also not an option because of Darfur) and Egypt. Problem here is that we need special documents for our car for Egypt to be obtained only in South Africa, in our case, which i can savely say is not really an option in additition to me needing a further fistfull of visas to enter Eastern Europe. So all in all no Angola visa may signal an predominately SADAC journey and an eventual return to South Africa, not being able to reach all the way to Europe. But we have some leeds on resolving this little issue, the outcome of which will be clear by Friday.