We have finally made it to Windhoek, the oasis of civilisation in the world of nothingness that is Namibia!.Ok, before we start getting death threats from any Namibian readers, I mean nothingness in a good way!
The utter remoteness and desolation in Namibia is one of the reasons many people come here. It is amazing when after climbing a slight hill, you look around you and for 360 degrees all you see is the road you're travelling on and bushveld, interrupted by the odd koppie (hill) sticking out of the flat plains.
Namibia does at least have some hills (especially as we neared Winhoek) which allows you these great vistas. Botswana on the other had is so flat, all you ever see is the bush on either side of the road, and if you're lucky you'll spot a bit of wildlife on the road or running across the road to take your mind off the cycling.
The ride from Maun in Botswana to Windhoek in Namibia was challenging in a new type of way for us.. The Africa we are used to cycling through has always been about screaming kids running after us, many villages along the road (where if we lucky we can get a cold Coke), uphills, downhills and other cyclists carrying either passengers or hundreds of kilos of bananas on the back. All of this is great for distracting your from, what can be, the tediousness of the cycling. In Namibia and particularly Botswana, there is none of the above, and so your mind is often focused on your odometer and counting every 10m increment, while you keep thinking to yourself, "are we there yet?".
I think its a combination of unchanging scenery and the lack of the
"Coke" stops we've become used to (at least 4 a day usually) that has
made the past few days so tough. However at the same time I must say I
don't think we particularly miss the screaming kids (the utter lack of
them is fantastic) and the fact that there was hardly any traffic on
this stretch allowed us to have some lengthy chats. These would cover
various topics ranging from how we would solve Africa's problems to how
much money I would have to pay James to extract a mug of drinking water
from a fresh pile of elephant dung!
We found ourselves spending the night mostly in the thick bush,
surrounded by hungry jackals and Mosquitos. To get into the bush always
requires us to hurdle a barbed wire fence with our bikes and all our
kit in between traffic going past, which we have become quite good at
but is always a bit frantic. One evening in Botswana we managed to
convince the local police chief to let us set up camp at the back of his
police station. Unfortunately we had to share this area with a horse
and a donkey (tied together with a rope) who were friendly enough but
didn't allow us much sleep with their loud eating right next to our
tent.
We did manage one or two nights of relative comfort however. The first was a lovely campsite just after the border crossing into Namibia, which had the most lush green grass we have camped on since leaving the UK! And again in the farming town of Gobobis we found a nice campsite overlooking the local water reservoir dam. The great thing about these campsites is that they almost always have a swimming pool, which is the first thing we head for after getting off our bikes.
We have passed through some serious "one horse" towns along this stretch of road. Most of the land in these parts belong to either cattle or game farmers, and in one particular town called Witvlei we even had a cattle auction to keep us entertained while eating our pap & worse (maize meal and good sausage for the non-SA readers).
The people in this area are as varied and interesting as the different birds you see along route. There are the farmers in their big white toyota hilux double-cabs (they all drive exactly the same vehicles) who speed past you at 160kph without a wave. Then there are the indigenous San (bushmen) people who we encounter in the villages who discuss these crazy white boys on bicycles with the clicks and pops in their language, which is a treat to hear! There are also the cowboys on horses who race along with us on the side of the road, as well as the locals here in Namibia who have an accent that sounds like it originates in Mitchell's plain in SA.
When we finally did make it into Windhoek we were pleasantly surprised again by how un-typically African this city is. It's incredible how, just 3km out of the CBD we were still surrounded by hills and bushveld, and at no point did we pass through any slums or squatter camps.
Windhoek itself is a really relaxed city which is just what we needed. We've mostly been chilling out at the Cardboard Box backpackers and catching up with our old friend Heinz (who in fact had his camera stolen from him today unfortunately). But we have also been out and about in the city and stocking up on provisions for the long road south.
For us this is the start of the end, the last leg which at the beginning of the trip seemed like a distant world away that we would never get to. I think this last section is going to be bitter-sweet for both of us. We are really looking forward to seeing our girlfriends, family and friends again as well as all the mod cons and comforts we so miss. But at the same time we realise that possibly the greatest adventure of our lives is drawing to a close...
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