9 May 2016 – Okahandja to Red Dunes- Gochas 10 May 2016- Red Dunes- Gochas to Mata Mata

 9 May 2016 – Okahandja via Windhoek and Stampriet to Red Dunes, Gochas

10 May 2016- Red Dunes, Gochas to Mata Mata

We left Ombo at 8 am. After 10 km we passed Okahandja which looks like a fairly big and well maintained town. We had road works on our way to Windhoek, where we did some shopping.  The last 20 km into Windhoek is a double carriage-way, similar as to Cape Town. Windhoek is a sprawling city, very cosmopolitan; we even had difficulty to find parking in a main road also looking very similar to Cape  Town.

We wanted to fill up with diesel as we left Windhoek and when we approached the Engen filling station, we found that it was not open for business, I don’t turn around! We decided to proceed as we thought we have enough fuel for another 200 km as well as 25 liter diesel in a can.  We only realised later that we already drove more than 800 km on this tank and that the gauge predicting 'kilometres left'  may be faulty (it showed 160 km left). 

We left Windhoek on the Gobabis Road  (B6) on tar for 23 km for Gochas, around 12 noon. We took the turn-off to Dordabis, and from there we were on a gravel road until we reached our destination, 35 km south of Gochas on a very scenic road through Savannah-covered hills. 

Double road  into Windhoek, from the north.

Three km before we reached Dordabis we saw a sign saying 'fuel 3 km'. We turned off to Dordabis which were no more than a police station, 2 or 3 other government houses and a shop. We were fortunate to find diesel here.

The names could have been of stars, millions of light years into a foreign galaxy.

Notice the one broken pump.  And they have a two hour siesta which we were fortunate to miss by 40 minutes.

More Dordabis views

From here we drove through a very unpopulated region through Kalahari farms. About the last 100 km we almost drove inside a canyon with flat top hills on the left and right. 

The roads are mostly good, but some has a loose stony topping and others a smoother surface. 80 km per hour can easily be achieved. We reached Red Dunes, on a farm with the unfortunately name of Tranendal around 5 pm. We had accommodation on a farm yard. The accommodation was basic, but clean.

We saw many beautiful landscapes.

Nice wide roads

More nice wide roads. The grass was characteristic, here.

A blockhouse? From what war? There was no signage, only sheep lying in its shade.

Kalahari red dunes.

Impressive farm entrance.  There were diesel pumps as well.

This morning we left Red Dunes at 8am for Mata Mata in Kgalagadi National Park. It was an easy 155 km drive. About 10km before the Mata Mata border post we had morning coffee at Kalahari farm stall which is situated on the farm yard. It is much more than a farm stall but a coffee shop with interesting curious. 

Typical Kalahari Farmstead, along the road.

More views

We saw many, many road signs! To places with weird names.

Many road signs in the south are very faded.

I assume this road sign, on a single track, is for tortoises?

We reached Mata Mata around 11am, went through Namibian customs without any hassles and were back into South Africa. We do, however, need to go through South Africa Customs when leaving Twee Rivieren. Custom people everywhere have this air of being the most important person in the world; doing you this huge favour, 'letting you through'.

We went to the SANParks Office and received an Entry Gate Permit. The administration for our reservation was done. We went for a scenic drive as we could go into our accommodation at 2pm, only.

As soon as the gemsbok recognised me, he ran off.

We were back in Mata Mata  at 3.30 and were pleasantly surprised with our river view chalet. Tomorrow we will do a slow scenic drive from Mata Mata.

It is now 7pm and we are looking from our stoep at the braai from our chalet at 10 gemsbok at the water hole just in front of our chalet, two fighting. A jackal is running past the water hole.

We had excellent weather so far with no need of long sleeve shirts except for when mosquitos were slightly annoying. We chose not to use malaria tablets or medication but took precaution by spraying Tabard or Peaceful Sleep. Although mosquitos were often present they were not too abundant. Many of the accommodation have mosquito nets around the beds and/or screens on windows or sliding doors.

Tomorrow, 11 May we’ll be driving south from Mata Mata to Twee Rivieren enjoying the landscapes and hoping to see various animals.

8 May 2016 - Kaisosi, Rundu to Okahandja

8 May 2016 - Kaisosi, Rundu to Okahandja

Ombo, where we stay.

After breakfast, that was conveniently at 6.30 (mostly only after 7am and later; today we could only 'be received' at 9am) we left northern Namibia heading south to Okahandja.  Once again the destination chose us, not us deciding Okahandja is the place to be.  Availability of accommodation often determined where we must stay.  Saying this, everywhere we were, it seemed that there is not 100% occupation.

 Ombo is just of the road 10 km outside Okahandja and a convenient place to overnight.  Not sure if it is a game farm but there are waterbuck, giraffe, ostrich, springbok and more drinking and feeding. A bit of a zoo effect but still much nicer than in town somewhere

As usual the roads (B8 & B1) were good.  We saw one speed cop.  It is both school holidays and was the end of a 3-day holiday week.  The traffic was heavy and lorries, minibuses with trailers, campers all on their way back to Windhoek. At most garages there were strings of cars waiting to fill up.  Fortunately we filled up in Rundu and will fill up in Windhoek this morning.

We passed the Veterinary 'police' where we left Kavango and had to give up our meat (bought and sealed at Spar).  We knew about the rule but i hoped sealed frozen meat will be allowed.  Very friendly and Afrikaans speaking policeman.

We passed the towns of Grootfontein, Tsumeb, Otavi, Otjiwarongo.  All of these are vibrant and clean and looked well managed.

A special welcome to me, i appreciate it, thanks

Park in Tsumeb

Below are some nice landscapes and places.

North of Grootfontein

North of Grootfontein

40 km outside Tsumeb

Otjiwarongo (i think)

Typical scenery before Otjiwarongo

Typical scenery before Otjiwarongo

A D-road between Otjiwarongo and Okahandja

As last Sunday when the grader was working on our way to Epupa falls, today people were brushcutting roads, patching roads.  I just wondered why the urgency?

Today we leave for 'Red Dunes' somewhere 'near' Gochas.  We will leave the  B1 after Windhoek and follow some smaller roads passing Dordabis, Derm and Stampriet.

5, 6 & 7 May 2016 - Leave n’Kwazi at Rundu, drive to Katima Mulilo (KM), and back to Rundu.

5 May 2016  - Leave n’Kwazi at Rundu, drive to Katima Mulilo 

6 May 2016 - Drive from Namwi Island, around Katima Mulilo

7 May 2016 - Back from Namwi Island, Katima Mulilo, to Rundu

Views at Namwi, east of Katima Mulilo on the Zambezi River

Before going into this, a few details:

•         On our way to Epupa falls we were on our most Western part of our journey.
•         On the road to Epupa falls we were almost 500 kms West of Cape Town, this is as if you sail 500 kms west into the sea right west from Cape Town.
•          We are now roughly due north of Knysna and at Katima Mulilo, Port Elizabeth will be roughly south of us.
• We are still heading away from ‘the house’ and have done more than 5000 kms already.

From Rundu we drove east to KM, 518 km.  This is all good tar road.  Most of the road is 120 km/h with only towns and villages marked down to 60 km/h. 

 Local villages are common along the road but then for 10’s of kms there are no villages, lots of the Caprivi Strip (Zambezi district) is national park.  Where the settlements are, it is called ‘multiple use’, and the less populated areas ’core’. 

It is mostly ‘savannah like’ with areas with larger trees.

We reached KM at 2pm.  It is a smaller town than Rundu (areas wise) but cleaner and more sophisticated.  Most of SA shops here as well.  Prices are the same or slightly cheaper than in SA.  All the real towns, even small ones had fuel.  No worries there.  If there are no towns on your map, don’t expect any!  Or fuel.  I wanted to buy a camera charger in Rundu or Katima, but that type of technical/electronic sophistication is hard to come by here. Pubs and ‘shebeens’ are common, however.

We arrived at Namwi Island Camping and Self Catering. We were somewhat apprehensive as we generally booked the cheaper accommodation.  You know,…three quotes, budget, etc, etc.  We were pleasantly surprised to find a well maintained, huge tree dominated ‘lodge’.  The gardens are impeccably maintained.

The camping sites are on the Zambezi River and the chalets set further back. The Zambezi is roaring past and a few hundred meters wide. Fish eagles and hippo calls entertain us.

“All” the lodges lease the land from the locals and I wonder how they keep their lease expenses stable. The craft trade seems to be almost non-existing.  Only from Rundu we saw some wood carvings, mostly elephants, and some walking sticks.  I wanted to buy Marula trees but could not find a nursery in KM.  We’ll look out as we go south, and west again.  I don’t feel the hostility from the locals that I felt in Ovamboland.

The usual signs and road numbers

The Zambezi River views were exquisite.

The roads, again, was excellent, all tarred.  We drove about 600 km today. The MapStudio tourist map we bought from MapStudio in January have many mistakes. Today's route (C49) it showed as gravel, but it was tarred quite long ago. It was scenic, but not much different from the B8.  The B8 had many lorries on Thursday, few today.  The C49 was very quiet. The villages along this route look very clean and very need with reed fencing about 2.5 m tall and trimmed into perfect lines. 
We saw only two speed traps so far in Namibia; i hope more did not see me. But usually we travel on the speed limit.

Our basic bedroom

We reached Kaisosi, outside Rundu, about 2pm.  Wi-fi is available and i am up to date with the blog!

Our double story, overlooking the Okavango.

I prefer more African accommodation, fitting into the environment, but it has all we need.

Sunset over the Okavango.

Sunset over the Okavango.

We saw three big rivers so far on this trip:

• the Kunene flowing into the Atlantic Ocean (Ruacana area).
• the Zambezi flowing into the Indian Ocean (Katima area).
• the Okavango not flowing into any ocean...but disappearing into the Okavango Delta in Botswana (Rundu area).

Okavango

Okavango

Goats and cattle grazing on a football field next to the Okavango.

This fig tree took over a Combretum.

Tomorrow, 8 May, we drive to Okahandja, via Grootfontein, but we'll visit Tsumeb as well.