Family trip Part two…….. Namibia………..Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa

Fish River Canyon

Next stop Kolmanskop, the abandoned diamond mine, now ghost town swallowed by the desert. Wandering through the sand-filled ruins of German colonial houses you could imagine life here in the early 1900s when diamonds seemed to be everywhere.
Today, the wind and the drifting dunes tell the story of its sudden rise and fall and make it a beautiful and interesting place to photograph. The town rapidly grew, becoming a thriving settlement with unique amenities like a hospital with a state-of-the-art x-ray machine, bowling alley, and even a tram, and a recreation centre with “perfect acoustics”. A huge power station provided electricity, one of only two in the world which provided electricity by utilising distilled sea water. The houses were built to withstand the ferocious sandstorms, with the wealthier families claiming the houses highest on the hills, for better protection.
Drinking water needed to be shipped from Cape Town to the coastal town of Luderitz before it would reach Kolmanskop by rail, then be carried on to the diamond fields by mule. Working days were tough, nine-hour stints, six days a week, with only Easter and Christmas holidays off.
Mining ceased in 1950 and the town was abandoned by 1956.

Namibia has an interesting history which we learnt about in Lüderitz. We camped on Shark Island which used to be a German concentration camp set up for the Herero and Nama people. Well in Luderitz we also visited Diaz cross.
Namibia has an interesting history, the Herero woman still dress in long flowing dresses adopted from European colonizers, and a cow horn headdress. The Himba who we saw in the north are a sub group of the Herero, the woman wear a calf skin skirt and spread red ochre paste on their hair and bodies.
A brief history timeline, from the web.
Pre Colonial
Ancient era - the San hunter gatherers are the inhabitants.
500 AD - Nama herders and Damara people enter the region.
14th Century - Bantu-speaking Ovambo and Herero migrate into the region.
1840s - missionaries arrive from Germany.

German colonial period 1884 – 1915
1884/1885 - German protectorate.
1890 - Anglo German treaty. Germany acquires access to the Zambezi river creating a 30 km ribbon of land called Caprivi strip named after German chancellor Leo von Caprivi.
1893 - Skirmishes between German settlers and local Herero, Nama and Witbooi clans
Leads to Nama Herero uprising.

Early 20th century - the Herero and Nama genocide.
1904 - Battle of Waterberg. German troops against Herero rebels in response to them killing around 1220 German settlers and soldiers.
2 Oct 1904 - Von Trotha gives extermination order warning that every Herero found in German occupied land will be executed.
Herero were shot, hanged, cattle stolen or killed, and driven into Omaheke region to die of hunger.
1904 to 1908 - clashes continue. The surviving locals are rounded up and put in concentration camps and labour camps at Shark Island near Lüderitz to work for German businesses.
German scientists take some skulls of the Herero victims to Germany to study eugenics, they sought to establish the superiority of Europeans.
Despite extensive German patrols and a large bounty offered for his capture, Samuel Maharero and about 1,000 of his men managed to cross the Kalahari Desert into the Bechuanaland Protectorate. The British offered the Hereros asylum under the condition that they would not continue their revolt on British soil.
75% of Herero population died, 20th Century’s first genocide. About 50 to 65 thousand Herero and 10 thousand Nama.

South Africa rule 1925 to 1990
1915 - South Africa takes control of Namibia during WW1.
1919 - German defeat, treaty of Versailles forces Germany to give up colonies.
1923 - chief Samuel Maharero dies in exile in Botswana.
1948 - South Africa implements apartheid in Namibia treating it as 5th province.
1960 1980 - PLAN ‘Peoples liberation army of Namibia’ armed struggle against South Africa.

Independence 1990
1990 - Namibia against independence.
2004 - Germany recognizes moral responsibility for the genocide of the Herero and Nama people after 100 yrs. Germany recognises atrocities in the form of development aid.
2011 to 2018 - Germany returns African skulls.
Interesting history, the Herero woman still dress in long flowing dresses adopted from European colonizers, and a cow horn headdress. The Himba who we saw in the north are a sub group of the Herero, the woman wear a calf skin skirt and spread red ochre paste on their hair and bodies.

From Luderitz, we bumped our way north to Sossusvlei. Seeing the red dunes — Dune 45, Big Daddy — was a humbling experience. We climbed and ran down those giant waves of sand feeling very small under the enormous blue sky. Despite the silence, Sossusvlei buzzed with life: ancient camelthorn trees, tiny geckos, and even the odd oryx standing under the shade of a tree.

Next stop: Walvis Bay, where the Atlantic breeze was a welcomed relief from the desert heat. We free camped around the corner from the water’s edge and the next morning drank our coffee watching flamingos strut through the shallow lagoons. Walvis Bay’s history as a British enclave in German South West Africa added another layer of complexity to Namibia’s past. In 1793 the Dutch Authority took control of Walvis Bay because it had a good deep water harbour. When the United Kingdom took control of the Cape Colony in 1797 they also took over Walvis Bay.
Stopped to look at the colonies of seals braving the relentless surf, the Cape fur Seal colony at Cape Cross. One of the largest seal settlements in the world.

The Skeleton Coast lived up to its name; a place eerie, empty and mesmerizing. The name hints at its history of countless shipwrecks scattered along the shore, victims of dense fog, strong currents, and shifting sands. Driving through this desolate stretch of scattered whale bones and shipwrecks felt like being on the edge of the world. We drove onto the beach to get a closer look at a shipwreck and promptly got stuck in the sand. I was not a happy camper. Second attempted and still stuck again. Derek then lowered the tyres and that worked perfectly we were able to get back to hard sand to wild camp for the night. You may wonder why he didn’t lower the tyres to begin with, because.. we had no way to pump them up again, which is another long story. The sun set while we watched Jackels patrolled for dead seals on the beach and spent a lovely night camping under the bright desert stars. We woke up the next morning a little worried about the paw tracks we saw leading up to our truck and circling it, especially as the girls had gone for a long walk along the beach the night before. The locals said it would have been a hyena.
The tyres were too low for the road now, so we needed to pump them up. Derek thought that the road crew would be able to help but their truck and man had already left for the day. We went back to the beach and asked a fisherman to help but his pump was not meant for our tyres. While this was happening two of the road crew men walked over to tell us they had a plan. They hopped into the truck and off we went back to their camp, got the tyres pumped back up by using the air brake system from the grader and holding our two lines together. We were on our way. Our beach adventure ended with us feeling dusty, exhilarated, and grateful, also a little worried about the fuel level. There was a petrol station that we were relying on for fuel only to find it was closed. Fortunately we were able to buy some diesel off a local chief to make sure we made it to Palmweg our next stop.

Before Jo flew back to Australia from Windhoek we visited the game park Otjiwa Collection and did a couple of fantastic game drives. The quintessential thing to do in Africa.
Windhoek offered a brief taste of civilization. We drove through the old German style city center, stopping at Christuskirche, the 1907 Lutheran church that stands as a symbol of Namibia’s colonial heritage. Had lunch across the road where we got a great view over the city, then stocked up on supplies before hitting the road again.

Finally, we wound our way up towards the Caprivi Strip, a lush finger of land squeezed between Angola, Zambia, and Botswana. First camp site a farm near Grootfontein to see the Hoba Meteorite, the largest known intact meteorite on earth, 60 tons. Discovered 1920.
First Caprivi camp. Hakusembe River Lodge. Gondwana collection. Rundu. It felt like a different world: rivers instead of dunes, hippos and crocodiles instead of springbok.
Namushasha River Lodge Gondawana Collection. We camped near the Zambezi River, falling asleep to the sounds of hippos grunting nearby. Campsites are enormous, enough space to fit several campers. A walk along the river passed the ‘beware of crocs and hippos’ sign, the hippos were right there by the waters edge so I decided to take the high road away from the water. On the way back to camp from the restaurant you can get an escort from the Night guard if you want one. Hippos come out to graze at night.
Namibia had gifted us not just stunning landscapes, but a deep sense of history and a few more family stories.