Spitzkoppe Mountains
Frank and I had two nights to burn before heading off to Etosha park so we buy a tent and head to the Spitzkoppe mountains
about 70km from Swakopmund. It felt great to be driving again, especially on the Namibian roads where you can drive half an hour without meeting another car. Most of the secondary roads are gravel surfaced which can be great fun to drive but quite dangerous as it's easy to overcorrect the steering and turn the car! We arrive at Spitzkoppe to meet the campsite manager, a local women who runs the project under a women's empowerment programme. She pronounces all the placenames for us in the local language (which involves clicking sounds!) and
shows us the road to the campsites.It's a beautiful area with bungalow-sized boulders everywhere that have rolled down from the mountains during various
rockfalls. We set up camp and go for a hike up the mountain which turns out to be a tough climb. On the way we see lizards, rock dassies (rodent like animals that scream like little girls), loads of different birds and desert mice. The mountain itself is beautiful and a lot of the rockfaces look like animals (gorillas and sharks!). The place is so quiet with absolutely no sound except for the wildlife. After the climb we cook up a stirfry and hit the sack.
The next morning we go for another climb through a boulder field and see the precariously balanced boulders that are destined to add to the field. The climb was extremely enjoyable, despite the constant fear of an earthquake!
posted by Niall at
5:15 p.m.
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