Navigating Namibia

After a great few days off grid in the Cederberg National park we headed towards the border. Following a few hours drive we reached Vioolsdrift Border Control. After a friendly hello from the guard we were told to visit offices 1, 2, and 3. Simple! We checked out of South Africa in office 1, missed office 2 - customs as we had nothing to declare, then entered our rental car details at office 3; immigration. After a quick search of the car we drove onwards through no mans land.

Leaving South Africa was extremely simple and only took 10 minutes. Entering Namibia was a whole different story... 

We pulled up to the first vehicle stop sign, but as no one was there we continued. We parked up with everyone else and went into an immigration arrivals office. We stood in the queue for a while and had to borrow a pen to fill in the entry form. Although this had questions which we couldn’t really answer like “how much money are you planning to spend in the country” and “where do you plan to exit the country?” We made some guesses and filled out all the boxes. 

Unfortunately the Dutch couple in front of us had not filled all the boxes and were made to stand out the queue and find the address of some accommodation from their Lonely Planet guidebook. 

With our passports stamped we exited the office, but then didn’t know where to go. We went into customs but were told by some lorry drivers that if we didn’t have anything to declare we didn’t need to do this. However, we did need to pay our vehicle entry fee. Firstly we didn’t know this existed and secondly where didn’t know where to do this. 

We assumed this would be in the office between immigration and customs, however this looked abandoned with a sign saying they had moved elsewhere. We then went to ask an official looking lady in departures (as this had no queue) and she said, go through the “white door”. We couldn’t find a white door, so back to customs we went. 

A friendly lorry driver then showed us where the “white door” was. It was in fact inside the abandoned building with a very small sign above it. The door was being kept closed as the guy inside wanted to keep his office nicely air conditioned. We filled in another form, paid our fee and then assumed we could drive away.

We had one last security check where the guard asked us if we had any chicken or eggs. We said no and he looked disappointed and asked us what we did have... cue the next five minutes explaining what pasta is. 

Finally we were free to go and head to our campsite on the Orange River. This was quite picturesque with very large pitches. The campsite is known for its river rafting tours, unfortunately there were no guides available for the following day so we decided to only spend one night. It was considerably hotter and more humid than it had been in the Cederberg and neither of us slept that well.

After packing up we headed north for a few hours to the Quiver Tree Rest Camp. I had read mixed reviews of this campsite but it turned out to be OK. The campsite is next to the Quiver Tree Forest which is a national monument. The tree is actually an aloe plant, characteristic of the hot dry climate. The tree gained its name due to the use of its tough pliable bark and branches for arrow quivers by the Hottentot tribe. The bigger trees are between 200 and 300 years old, we wondered round these for a while before checking out the pool.

The other attraction of this campsite were the cheetahs, the cubs were raised by the owner’s dog as they were orphans. They feed the cubs and adults in the evening, the owner was very knowledgeable and we got to be really close to both babies and adults during the feeding. Apparently he has only been bitten by the adults once recently which he says was his own fault for picking up a piece of meat before they had started eating.  Apparently 80% of Namibia’s cheetahs live on farmland but sometimes the cheetahs go on a killing spree and have been known to kill 135 sheep in one night. It is therefore not surprising that they are often shot by farmers.

Because it is so hot here (37 degrees) and we are in one of the driest areas on earth we decided to sleep with just the inner of our tent. We also couldn’t get any pegs in as the ground was so hard, so had to use rocks to weigh it down. 

I was slightly concerned about sleeping on the ground, especially as we realised we had positioned ourselves next to the pet warthog’s mud pool. However we weren’t ravaged by the warthog in the night, but I did wake up at 5am to rain on my face, which was very surprising. Luckily it was only a few drops and we didn’t have to do a panic fly sheet putting up. 

In the morning we went to the “Giant’s Playground” which was an interesting set of rock formations and headed towards our next stop (mid way to Soulsouvessi). This guest house is quite popular and we have already got some good tips from other tourists. We also have been told not to walk around without a torch at night as we might tread on a snake...