1. Chapter: Hakos and Sossusvlei |
After arriving at Windhoek airport we received our VW vans for the next 3 weeks and drove to the guest farm Hakos.
Us, that were 12 members of the Sternfreunde Krefeld;
among us Frank Thielen an experienced Namibia traveller,
who had planned and organized the travel.
After nearly 3 hours driving, predominantly on gravel roads, we reached the
Guest farm Hakos,
where we were warmly welcomed by the farmers. Hakos is a guest farm, especially for astronomers.
The guest rooms were ok, the meals were good and plentiful and the hospitality of the farmers was exemplary.
On the area of the farm Hakos are some observatories from the
Internationale Amateursternwarte (IAS)
with several telescopes, which can be rented by the IAS members.
We took the chance to rent some telescopes, because there were some IAS members among us.
So we had 2 Dobsons with 17,5" und 10", a Vixen R200SS Newton, a C11 and a C14
for viewing and taking images. We were many photographers, so that we used a steel base plate,
which allowed us to mount and use 4 cameras at the same time.
The first impression of the namibian night sky was marvelous. The Milky Way, structured and with dark clouds,
could be seen across the whole sky. There were lots of nebulas and clusters, waiting to be viewed and photographed.
It became obvious, that we were not going to have much sleep in the next nights.
Beside the astronomy the farm Hakos has also various scenic charms. During the day we either wandered the farm ground and met
the first game, like baboons, kudus and mountain zebras or we made excursions in the closer surroundings.
One of these excursions led us on a runway hair-raising for German relations on the mountain Gamsberg.
The Gamsberg, a table mountain with a surface of 3km2, is the third-highest mountain of Namibia and offers in clear
weather a marvellous view which can reach till the desert Namib.
From Hakos we also did a 2-day excursion to the Sossusvlei. The Sossusvlei is a loamy dip surrounded by mighty sandy dunes.
The dunes reach partial heights of 300 metres and belong with it to the highest ones of the world. Very seldom, after violent rainfall,
the loamy dip fills with water.
The first day was for the journey about Spreetshoogte pass and Solitaire to the Sossusvlei-Lodge.
Most of us camped here, others enjoyed the comfort of the Lodge. However, all of us met in the evening at the big buffet
in the lodge that I can recommend to all Namibia travellers most warmly.
A gigantic choice in lusciousness, freshly prepared meat in front of the eyes and all that for little money.
Early in the morning we left for the Sossusvlei, past the famous dune 45 up to a parking bay from where we must use the four-wheel drive.
At the destination our way led us not in the Sossusvlei but in a neighboring valley, the dead Vlei.
This valley was separated long ago by a dune. Since this time no more water can penetrate,
so that the remaining trees there have died and form now a weird scenery in front of red dunes and blue sky.
Because it was early in the morning we were alone in the Vlei for nearly one hour. So we could let this unique mood unhurriedly have an effect on ourselves.
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2. Chapter: Niedersachsen, Swakopmund and Spitzkoppe |
From Hakos we drove to the guest farm Niedersachsen. On the way we visited one of the locations,
where the german geologists Henno Martin und Hermann Korn did hide during 2. world war.
Fot further information you can read the german book "Wenn es Krieg gibt, gehen wir in die Wüste" from Henno Martin.
I don't know, whether it is available in UK or United States.
On the guest farm Niedersachsen, which is run by the german family Ahlert, we did the "Henno martin tour".
This tour led us to more shelters of the german geologists Martin and Korn.
From there we drove through the Namib desert to Swakopmund. Along the way the Namib had the character of a stone desert,
sometimes with a little sometimes completely without vegetation, but always fascinating.
At a special location we found close to the road Welwitschias, unimposing plants with roots up to 20-m-long,
which could reach an age up to 2000 years.
We stayed for two nights at Swakomund and admired the well preserved houses of the german colonial period,
like the "Hansa-Hotel" or "Altes Amtsgericht (Old Court)". We made a sightseeing flight over the Namib desert to the Sossusvlei,
onward over the Namib towards the Atlantic ocean and then along the coast back to Swakopmund.
During the flight we had continuously fascinating views on sand dunes, shipwrecks, seal colonies and flocks of flamingos.
Of course we had an excursion to the "Martin Luther Steam engine". This is a hundred year-old steam locomotive,
which had briefly stopped behind Swakopmund on her maiden voyage. Still today there she stands.
Our next destination was the Spitzkoppe, a mountain looking like the Matterhorn, that pokes out the plain environment.
There we camped at the foot of the mountain and enjoyed the sunset, which made the quite red rocks of the Spitzkoppe appear in nearly unreal red.
The next morning we did one more excursion to the "Bushman's Paradise", a refuge of the bushmen on a plateau,
where we could admire rock drawings of the bushmen.
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3. Etosha national park |
We drove further to the Etosha national park. Already on the way we had the first animal highlight.
Shortly after a road sign "Beware of elephants" we saw in low distance of the street a horde of desert elephants with hatchlings.
Shortly before sunset, when the national parks close, we reached the Etosha park and our first camp Okaukuejo.
On account of our early reservation our lodgings where situated directly at the watering hole belonging to camp.
There we observed animals abundantly during the next two days. At night we saw amongst others elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffes and lions,
during the day elephants, giraffes, zebras, springboks, Oryx antelopes, gnus, … in such an amount,
that we did not leave the watering hole for the whole morning.
During a tour to neighbouring water holes we saw plenty of vultures picking a dead gnu to pieces.
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On the second evening in Etosha our organizer Frank invited to an astroobservation evening for guests and the local employees.
The invitation was accepted in particular by pupils from a nearby school, who were by chance present in this evening.
These pupils queued several times for gazing at the moon and Saturn through our Dobson.
The next camp Halali was not so recommendable concerning lodging and watering hole but we experienced more highlights in the next camp Namutoni.
During our excursions to the surrounding water holes we saw for the first time lions at daylight, dozends of giraffes although we drove the "Dik-Dik-Drive"
and again a herd of elephants with hatchlings. Unfortunately, the male elephant felt disturbed and stood menacingly,
so that we brought swiftly some distance between him and our car.
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4. Chapter: Waterberg, Daan-Viljoen-Park and Windhoek |
On our way to the Waterberg we stopped at the Hoba meteorit, which is with a weight of 60 tons the biggest solitaire one, which was found on earth.
As always the sun was nearly gone, as we reached our restcamp at the Waterberg, a table mountain of cavernous sandstone.
It is not allowed to enter the table of the waterberg on ones own, so we booked a tour and saw there some
breed of antelopes (Horse antelope and roan antelope), we had not seen before.
Meanwhile below in the camp the baboons did their dreadful state of affairs and tried to penetrate into not locked rooms.
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From the Waterberg we drove back to Windhoek, where we rested outside the town in the Daan-Viljoen-Park.
The last day of our trip we spent with sightseeing in Windhoek, before a wonderful holiday ended much to early.
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