Leaving the coast we drive through arid landscapes to Spitzkoppe Mountain. The enormous granite monoliths dominate the otherwise flat landscape and we set up camp in the wild plain at the base of the mountain. This afternoon our guide will take us on a guided walk to explore the unique rock formations. The more adventurous among us may want to try some mountain climbing behind camp for some stunning views of the landscape. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
1st January 2014
Thankfully today was a lazy start as we were leaving at 10am, I'm reasonably sure that most people needed the sleep in after last nights festivities. Chuck (Lisa's other nickname) nearly made an appearance, as for me I was fine, all those moves sweated out the drinks. However my old man injuries flared up, (the sore achilles) I should have warmed up and stretched appropriately prior to undertaking any strenuous dance moves!!!
From there it was just a drive out past new sub-divisions that looked like they would be consumed by the dunes at any moment...
We arrived at our first toilet stop of the morning behind two other tour groups which always means long queues at the loos, (see how that rhymes) so whilst Lisa and the rest of ladies have now started to use the male loos us men folk can head to the great toilet in the desert.
The place we stopped at was a really odd place, they have a magnificently built Curio market area that is built out of cut stones incased in wire baskets. (We use the same concept for retaining walls by the side of the road on the east coast of Australia.) I assume it would have taken alot to have funded and built this market place, there was sign indicating that the toilets were funded by the German Embassy. This is where it gets really odd, directly behind the Curio market was effectively a shanty town, it was a typical shanty town with lots of shacks that are just barely standing, roofs that are being held down by rocks and other assorted items. (tyres etc)
Next stop, Spitzkoppe Mountain, Now I have to say it was a pretty hot day and everybody was shall we say a little tired so an early finish was appreciated.
When we disembarked Marilyn, I went for a short wander around looking for a nice place to put up the tent, what I found was a little rock igama, (it's a small brightly coloured blue and orange lizard) so I called the folks to come and have a look, they were pleased to see the rock igama. Once the crowd had dispersed I continued exploring, it turned out we were standing at the hidden entrance to a huge rock cave. The coolness of the cave was a welcome relief to the heat of the semi arid dessert we were camping at. Here is where it went horribly wrong, I made the mistake of calling Lisa over out loud.
Lisa replied with a screeching "what are you shouting at me now for" as she made her way over and for the record calling someone is not shouting at them... When Lisa got inside she changed her tune, whilst I thought of setting the tent up inside the cave I thought that just using it as somewhere cool to hangout for the rest of the afternoon was a better option. The problem was that pretty much everyone also followed Lisa in. It was a bit like War of the Worlds, "The chances of anything coming from Mars was a million to one, but still they come."
So after lunch we moved in, soon to be followed by almost everyone. It was great because everybody just wanted to chillout and sleep, that was until the young ones arrived. There goes the neighbourhood!!!
Later we went for a walk with Zenzo to the stone bridge, it was a nice walk with Papa, Isabella, Hildagard, Anua, Beatrice Annabell, Juram and Lisa. We climbed about of the rocks, took photos and even saw a few rock dassies rushing about. Rock dassies look quite like a giant guinea pig, but are in fact one of the African elephant's closest relatives. The rest of the group did a guided walk to see some bushman rock paintings in the area.
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