:: Carnet de Voyage ::David

// Nikon D7200

After this magical encounter, we drove across the caprivi strip, but hey, this is Namibia after all……. not easy to bushcamp ! In fact, there is people everywhere and it’s simply impossible to find a place to sleep !
Our best option is the national parks, since this part is very remote , parks are cheap, and camping inside usually cost around $5. Our next good option was the Mudumu national park, and the camping spot was so nice we spent 3 days there !
Bbq every night, looooot of noise at night from nearby hippos, and even lions, but nothing came close, with the notable exception of vervet monkeys, always trying to get inside our vehicles.

I also managed to repair my CB radio (4 faults to find and re solder !), and we now have a long range radio system between the 2 vehicles ! Alleluia ! I’ve got this radio since the beginning, and we never managed to use it so far, I guess it was about time, but we need it here !

Next day, we decided to explore a bit the park and his deep soft sand tracks. We spotted a lot of zebras and antelopes, but highlight of the day was to get stuck in the sand for the first time… Alright ! Time to get the sand ladders and shovel out ! First time, so couple of mistakes, here is the thing to do :
Everyone talk about low pressure on tyres, do you have time to deflate your tyres everytime you see a small patch of soft sand ? No, you only do it on long sandy sections, because it takes a good 15min to deflate and re inflate your tyres. So every small section is a potential trap. So what to do is :
stay in low gear, and keep some speed/momentum to cross those small sandy sections. If stuck, don’t insist too much or the vehicle will sink, making the recovery process even more painful.
Dig the vehicle out, position your sand ladders in front of the back wheel. Don’t put them flat, curve them a bit in front of the tyre so they can roll below the tyres as soon as they spin ! Very important ! If the sand ladder is sitting flat on the sand, the grip on your tyre won’t be enough to climb on it !
Done in about 15min, but with this sun, it was fairly exhausting…

Time to get back to camp, I made another bonfire to keep everyone warm at night, but if I was by myself, I would simply go to sleep, that day just killed me.

Next, we went to the Mamili national park, where we had the opportunity to meet the most unfriendly park ranger in the continent. It almost felt like she was paid to be in a bad mood behind a fake smile.
On top of that, this park had nothing to offer but a challenging curve in deep soft sand (this time I got stuck by driving mistake), and I had a new chance at getting mister fox out of his sandbox. This one ended up being very challenging !

But so far, I managed to get out every time by myself. I’m glad Eiji and Chizu are nearby to help me just in case, but it is very important to figure out everything myself, in case this happens when I’m travelling alone. And it may in the future !

  // Nikon D7200 |-18.10887 : 21.67396 | alt. 1035m It’s now time to go back to Namibia ! First thing first, we need to refuel before the border since it’s way cheaper here in Botswana. Then the border crossing….. well, no big deal, everything went pretty smoothly, everyone was helpful and friendly, if only…

  // Nikon D7200 After a full breakfast at the campground, I went back on the road to Epupa, 500kms to go. The last refuel point is Opuwo, 200kms away, and obviously, I need to stop. As soon as I stopped to the gas station, 10 girls came to my window to sell stuff, they…

  // Nikon D7200 We went on a self drive safari with mister Fox. We spotted many zebras and oryx on the way, but not easy to catch a clear shot, and after a few hours driving slowly, all eyes out, we didn’t see much, apart from a very lucky sight of a rhino family…

  // Nikon D7200 We’re a few months behind the rain season, but it’s still raining in northern Namibia. The huge amount of water allows animals to spread, and a few locals told us to avoid Etosha reserve. Instead, we’re going to Erindi private game reserve. And the accommodation inside the reserve is a gift…

  // Nikon D7200 Happy morning, after a pressure test of the repaired tire, looks like I did a good job last night and we didn’t lose any pressure overnight !!! To get out of this place, I asked Mike to walk in front of the van, clearing any metallic debris from the path, we…

  // Nikon D7200 We started the day with a visit of Twyfelfontein, famous for rock paintings done by early bushmen. First time doing a tour, and probably last time as well :p We ended up in a group of elderly people, struggling with the heat and the walk on rocks. It took ages to…

  // Nikon D7200 Time to do groceries and to refuel, and we can now start the adventure aboard mister Fox, en route for the Spitzkoppe mountain ! Not a long drive, about 200kms + 50kms on sandy road, fairly easy with the van. But it’s interesting to see the difference between the roads south…

  // Nikon D7200 On the way out of Sossusvlei, we spent a night a cricket infested area, and I have to say these bloody creatures are really creepy, and as big as your hand. At night, it’s even worst. You scan your area with the beam of a flashlight, clear the crickets out with…

  // Nikon D7200 Time to get back in the desert. I have to plan and drive more carefully since we don’t have the same fuel economy on gravel roads with our toyota corolla. Refuel at Luderitz, then refuel 100kms later in Aus, before the long gravel road to Sossusvlei. This road gets pretty bad…