Namibia: better late than never

The sudden emergency of a detached retina put paid to the idea that we would be able to join our friends on the first leg of the planned trip to the Skeleton Coast in Namibia.  What remained was a followup appointment with the ophthalmic surgeon about 6 days after the surgery.  In the meantime I had strict instructions to not drive in a car (even as a passenger), not lift anything heavier than 4kg, not exercise - including even walking, and not move my head about too much.

Luckily the world cup soccer and Wimbledon were on TV so I spent the six days with our hosts' two dogs in front of the TV, with the gas heater going to keep me warm, and a brilliant excuse not to do any cooking or washing up.

I spent quite a few hours preparing for the followup, looking at the elevation gain between Cape Town (18m/59feet) and Windhoek (1700m/5577feet) and how to plan a trip that split the elevation gain into stages with overnight rests in between to allow my eye to adjust to the pressure.   Apparently the gas pressure in the eye can increase very quickly as elevation increases and this could lead to pain in the eye and all sorts of complications that are not worth chancing.

West Coast near Cape Town

The doctor was a little disappointed that the gas bubble was not smaller when he examined me.  The meniscus was at around 80% of the circle of vision and reported that the bubble was 50% of the volume after surgery.  Looking through the gas was like looking through a bottle of water at a distant object.  Everything is magnified but out of focus - excepting things a few inches from that eye.

He had a plan, though.  He was going to prescribe medicine that inhibited the body's production of fluid to be taken on days that I was experiencing great elevation gain.  He had some colleagues in Namibia with whom he had studied and sent a text message to a couple which secured an appointment for me, on day 13 after the surgery, in Windhoek.  I needed a "cleared to fly" letter from an ophthalmologist and another examination once the bubble was below 30% of the volume of the eye.

The "no heavy weights and no driving while my right eye vision was distracted by the bubble" restrictions were still in place but he was happy for us to drive up to Windhoek in stages.

We left on the Saturday for the first of 4 legs that were each going to be 4-5 hours with stops and one or two side trips to see scenic attractions that had been identified in advance.

I was able to take a last walk with the dogs who had kept me company on our final evening there.

Day 6 after eye op, first outing with the dogs (photo by Anne)

The first stop was the West Coast National Park Marine Protected Area in Langebaan.  This is a wonderful natural park with long roads that people regularly use for biking.  There are long beaches which I believe are open to the public during the summer.  An extensive lagoon supports many bird species and  some wild buck.  At this time of year we didn't encounter multitudes of birds but we did see a few shrikes, swifts, bright yellow weaver birds and sacred ibises.  We saw a beautiful kestrel on our short walk (at this point a little walking was also allowed) to see two of the bird hides that are right out near the lagoon.

From there, after a brunch at the top end of Langebaan, we had a short walk on a beach and encountered horse riders.  One of them stopped to ask if we wanted a ride - she had seen the graphic of a silhouetted zebra on the side of our rental car and thought we were part of a horse related outfit.

Horse riding on the beach in Paternoster

Anne was driving for the entire first day which ended at an overnight stop in a small town about 3 hours south of the border crossing into Namibia.

I had pills and eye-drops intended to lower the pressure in my eye (by reducing the overall production of water in my system).  The pill's side effects are alterations in taste (in particular carbonated drinks which taste like bicarb) and a tingling of the extremities.  They felt close to pins and needles but more like the buzz you feel if you run your fingers across the metal of a poorly earthed electrical appliance.  The elevation gain was 900m (3000ft) and aside from a feeling of pressure in my eye the expansion of gas in my eye did not become painful which would have been a signal to turn around and seek lower ground.

The main road leading into our first stop after Langebaan was dirt for a section and it slowed us down a bit giving us taste of what was to come.

The border into Namibia was an interesting experience.  We were shuffled from one obscure office to the next - all accessible from the outside on a porch on the ground floor.  I suspect the officials are used to people who know their way around the border post and they were a little impatient with us novices.  But, when we hesitated they pointed us in the right direction.  You need paperwork for your car.  I was surprised to find out that UK citizens need to pay for a visa (obtainable at the airport and probably at the border post as well).  We were traveling on our South African passports so all was good.

The Namibian side of the border included hosing down our tires with disinfectant and waiting for us to put the soles of all our shoes (worn or packed) unto a basin with a cloth soaked in disinfectant.  Foot and mouth disease is endemic to South Africa and because Namibia exports a lot of meat to Europe, they are very strict about keeping the source of the disease out of the country.

We stopped at a small town called Grunau overnight at an AirBnb which included what seems like a fairly common scene in that area - a rusted old American car with a tree growing out of it.  

Namgate AirBnb evening view

We were out reasonably early to take a side trip to see the Fish River Canyon.  This is the second largest canyon in the world (based on its length).  It is not as deep as the Grand Canyon but we had impressive views from the two lookouts on the way. 

at one of the Fish River Canyon overlooks

The road to the canyon lookout was dirt and I persuaded Anne that my vision was well enough for me to drive.  The gas bubble in my eye had shrunken quite a bit and was only visible in the lower quarter of my vision as a sphere.

Fish River Canyon

After visiting the canyon we stopped at the roadhouse near the canyon for fuel.  It has a lot of character, including the rusty cars

"The Roadhouse" near the Fish River Canyon

and a bar inside with a "filling station" banner over it.  

Gasoline for the body

The attendants at the Rodehouse gas station assured us the dirt road was good and so we decided to keep going on the dirt road to the next town (Keetmanshoop) rather than backtrack to the national highway.

This turned out to be a mistake.  The road deteriorated as we were going along and at one point I pulled to the side to put in eye-drops.  Pulling off again I discovered that the road clearance was not what I expected and we heard a scraping sound underneath.  Towards the end of the road we drove past the downstream side of the Naute dam and saw a 4x4 coming out of what looked like the river.  As we approached we saw that it was a flooded concrete spillway.  I asked Anne to keep an eye on the water level as we pulled on to the bridge because it seemed likely that the level would be constant all across.  It was probably 15cm (6in) deep.

Once we were on the highway again we were able to speed up to 120km/h (75m/h) but we ran into difficulty with a slow double length tanker with a following and leading car warning of an oversized vehicle.

I discovered to my horror that you can't trust the dashed lines on the road in Namibia.  After looking ahead a few times and hesitating we came to a stretch where I could see the electricity poles curving off to the right for the foreseeable distance and I assumed that the grass that was shielding my view of the road surface was low enough that I would be able to see any car coming towards me so I hit the accelerator.  Too late I realized that all my assumptions were wrong.  An SUV was bearing down on me in the single lane that I was passing on.  I braked and swerved and came to rest at the side of the road in a cacophony of hooting.  The driver of the SUV had reacted quickly and stopped a few feet away from where my car would have been had I not left the road.  I had managed to stop off the road on the verge which had luckily only small bushes and no rocks.

Padstal cafe, Mariental (by Anne)

We were both very shaken and we drove slowly to the next town where we stopped for petrol.  A station attendant was bending over as we pulled in and came over to tell me that something was loose under the car.  Within moments there were about 5 people under the car like in an F1 pit stop.  Two young boys and three adults found some string and a knife to secure the engine splash shield and then made appeals for cash donations to each of them for the work they had done.  The man who pumped our gas joined the chorus.  We drove off with considerably less cash than we had entered with.  

We stopped overnight at a small town called Mariental, about 3 hours from Windhoek.  The AirBnb guest rooms were in a gated area with a Padstal (roadhouse) general dealer, cafe and restaurant that we had dinner and early morning coffee at.

The next day would be another elevation gain day, going up from about 900m to 1700m.  Again, as before the effect on my eye was minimal, no discomfort this time at all.

As we pulled out (this time with Anne driving) we saw 2 of these oversized tankers, each with a car in front and one behind ahead of us!  Fortunately when we caught up with them a few minutes later they were both pulled over off the road with the drivers having a discussion and (perhaps) a coffee break.  We were both pretty relieved to leave them behind.

The next morning we were due to see the ophthalmologist we were referred to in Cape Town for a check-up but we discovered in the morning that she had been booked off work and that someone in their practice who also works at the state hospital would be coming over at 3pm and we could hopefully see him instead.  It gave us an opportunity to buy the rations we had planned to buy the following day.

The ophthalmologist confirmed that the bubble was at 25% which was the threshold that our doctor in Cape Town had said would be enough to clear us for the flight back to Portugal on the 31st. 

I had already reached out to some friends of our South African friends in the US who live in a town between Windhoek and the Etosha Pan because we knew that we would not be able to make the distance without stopping somewhere overnight.  They run a cattle farm but also are very involved in development work with a community living in their vicinity.  They have an AirBnb and are in the process of developing a lodge that will offer opportunities for tourists to stop on their way to Etosha to visit a traditional Himba village.  

In our case we were desperate for a place to stay because our plan to drive up had been scuttled by the late appointment.  

It was such an enjoyable experience!  Even though they didn't know us at all they treated us like family.

We arrived just after the sun set.  

Sunset on Otjiwarongo Farmstay

Another golden rule of the road in Namibia is to not drive after dark because of the risk or running into an antelope, the big ones sometimes try to jump over a car and they are bigger than a horse and therefore very dangerous on the road. The guest apartment we stayed in has a balcony outside and I was able to capture a night shot of the Milky Way from there.

Milky way from the back ports of our room

On the way up to Etosha we started to feel as though the Namibian vacation was finally starting.  So many obstacles, a close encounter with my eye (and on the road) were behind us.