For the past two and a half weeks we had been traveling with our friends Calvin and Sharon. We covered some 5000 kilometres as we drove through northern South Africa, through Botswana and then back down to Windhoek. Although We had some amazing experiences together, it unfortunately had also taken a toll.
It's the beginning of August, Calvin and Sharon are flying back to Canada tomorrow and I'm absolutely exhausted. Thinking I need a holiday seems to be an absurd thought, but all I want right now is sun and sandy beaches. It looks like we will be in Windhoek for a while as we have several issues to sort out with our Landy. The carburettor was busy falling apart and spewing fuel in the engine compartment, surely this did not help one of our top concerns, the appalling fuel consumption. On the worst day, we were driving through thick sand in the Kalahari and consumed 45+ litres/100km. This situation had to be remedied before we went anywhere. We also needed to repair or replace one of our rims that had blown apart just 20 km's outside of Windhoek; luckily at low speed. For good measure, we planned on doing a full service and address some of the other nagging items.
We checked into the Chameleon Backpackers Lodge. Some places have character, some places have friendly staff and then you have some places which just feel like home! After being at the Chameleon for just a few days, we were feeling fat and comfortable. The staff is the most friendly we have seen so far and within the first 12 hours on the premises, they all remembered our names! The bathrooms are clean, which is always a good sign, the cooking facilities are great and the swimming pool (although a bit chilly) was a definite bonus. Oh, and did I mention the bar!? For those lazy days, the TV room stocked a healthy selection of movie favourites, albeit on VHS.
welcome to the Chameleon Backpackers Lodge
No rest for a Landy owner though. Our days were consumed with wandering around town from one garage to another talking to various mechanics with a wide range of expertise. I started learning things about the Landy that seemed to escalate our predicament. Apparently we had a R6 model which were only built for a couple of years in Spain for the military or police in South Africa. This meant that finding spares would be that much harder. I already noticed this as I couldn't find a replacement rim anywhere. I could get Defender rims, but the offset is different.
We ended up at this shop in Prosperita, a suburb of Windhoek, called Theatre Garage. We had been told that the mechanic there knows about Chev engine conversions and still works on carbs. Maybe he could help us?
some time was spent at Theatre Garage
My first impressions of Theatre Garage were quite favourable. Compared to some of our experiences in South Africa, Theatre Garage was clean and organized and Oubaas, the mechanic, performed his work meticulously. We ordered a carb kit and several days later went back to rebuild the carb. At the same time, we did a tune-up and replaced a few components including the vacuum advance. Still not stellar, but our fuel consumption dropped to about 25 litres/100km at cruising speeds which was already leaps and bounds better. Oubaas had come in on a Saturday to complete the work on our truck. As the job was near finishing, he brought out the Coke and Brandy of which we enjoyed a few glasses. A clever way of priming the client for a hefty bill. I discovered that at close to $100cdn/hour, Oubaas was certainly not the cheapest mechanic we had come across.
We were deliberating what else to do on the truck. I knew the suspension wouldn't last but was reluctant to dump large sums of money into the vehicle, besides which, no one could give me any impartial advice on Series III leaf spring suspensions. The Landy wasn't properly outfitted for safari either. In Cape Town we had slapped together the bare minimum, just to get going. Uncertain what to do, the bar and pool back at the hostel sounded like a good plan.
At the end of a usually unproductive day, it was always nice to come "home" to the Chameleon. The allure of the ever changing atmosphere was addictive. Couples with young children, a group of senior travelers, singles, beautiful women, a boisterous group from Ireland, young couples, lone adventure seekers and the occasional eccentric character all made for interesting dynamics.
some of the people we met at the Chameleon (and John's rock)
Of course Landy owners were among the favourites; they're a special bunch to begin with! We met new people almost every day, many of which we hope to stay in contact with. John, the bearded one, who had a likeness of a wizard except for is partiality for guns rather than wands, took us under his wing during our first few days and showed us around Windhoek. Having lived in Windhoek several years and owning an ex-military Land Rover himself, he knew of a few places that might be of interest to us. John walked around barefoot. Everywhere. At first I thought it was a little strange. Nice slacks, button up shirt and walking through town without shoes; an odd sight no matter how you look at it. John has dabbled in a variety of vocations. He used to run luxury safaris through Africa. With $40,000 for a six week trip you ate from fine china and drank from crystal glasses every night. From one extreme to the next, John now conducts two week long walking survival tours in Namibia. You leave on day one with a litre of water and nothing else. From there, everything you eat and drink you find in nature. Fascinating. I'd be keen on joining one of these adventures. While he's not meandering through the Namib landscapes in search of comestibles, he told us of his mining project in Mariental, a few hundred kilos south of Windhoek. I imagined this mine with heavy machinery, but no, it's just John with his pickaxe, chopping out junks of green laced agate from a reef he discovered on a farm. And yes, he's barefoot while mining too. His comment? "I'd be stupid to hack into my own foot!" Tom was another long term resident at the Chameleon who had an affinity for white wine. He had been there weeks before us. His passion is wildlife and he had been applying to every applicable organization, hoping to get on with an interesting project. He eventually left around the same time as us, but for South Africa, where he landed a cool job working with white lions. Peter is a tour guide in Namibia for half of the year and works at a telecom company in the Netherlands for the other half. Most would say, a pretty charmed life. A great natured guy and national pool champ, the latter I only found out after getting my ass severely beaten a few times. We shared cooking duties with Peter which varied our menu for the better. Later, we met up with Peter again in Swakopmund where he joined us for a couple of days on a trip to Spitzkoppe. Mike, the writer from London was extraordinarily engaging to chat with. Despite his claimed mid-life crisis, his humorous disposition towards life was refreshing and inspiring. He is chronicling his adventures in a book which I reckon will be a must read! Ultra-light in tow, he's planning on seeing Africa from land and air. Then of course there was Kate and Gareth, a couple with whom we would travel with for several weeks. Kate is from Australia, Gareth from England, their Land Rover had been shipped from Australia to Cape Town and the trip would take them from South Africa back up to England in the course of a year, or so. Not wanting to follow the more mainstream eastern route, Kate and Gareth hoped to cut west and experience a less traveled part of Africa. After meeting them, we quickly shared Landy tales and found out that they too had some rather unpleasant experiences in Cape Town. Seems that a good number of the so called "specialists" there all specialize in the same kind of bullshit work. It struck me like lightening - K&G - the original plan was to travel for an extended period with our good friends Kiran and Gunter. So here, afterall, we were going to travel with K&G. In our correspondence with Kiran and Gunter, Kate and Gareth were fondly dubbed "the substitutes".
much time was spent playing games
Backgammon, Trik-Trak (a cool version of backgammon) and Bao were the games of choice. Hours were spent engaged in friendly matches while Burn, the Chameleon's resident pooch, kicked back in the sun and dreamed about her favourite plastic bottle.
trip to the hot springs at Gross Barmen
The occasional outing broke up the monotony of scouring the town for Land Rover parts and drinking savannas by the pool. The natural hot springs at Gross Barmen lie about 100km's north of Windhoek. The once luxurious setting now more accurately resembles a ghost town. With its 40 some cabins and dozens of campsites, this place was once a main attraction. Now, neglected and run down, only the odd lost tourist ends up here. Despite the peeling paint and cracks in the concrete, the pools are still well maintained. It was nice to have the place basically to ourselves and enjoy a swim in both the hot springs and the cooler outdoor pool.
day trip to Daan Viljoen Park
Daan Viljoen Game Park sits 25km west of Windhoek in the Khomas Hochland. We read in the Lonely Planet that the park is rich in wildlife and that the sightings of over 200 species of birds have been recorded. We entered the park and soon after saw billowing clouds of smoke rise above the hills in the distance. A little closer and we saw the flames dancing along the dry landscape in rhythm with the gusts of wind. Curiosity about the fire put the game viewing on hold. We found out that a helicopter had crashed behind the park the previous day, setting fire to hundreds of acres. We came across a crew of volunteer fire fighters who asked if we wanted to help. Why not? We took a 4x4 trail out past the park where crews of men were extinguishing spot fires with big rubber flaps on broom sticks and attending to hot spots. Although our help was limited, it was certainly interesting to see the fire scoured landscape, especially as night began to set in.
the park is on fire!
wildlife in Daan Viljoen
After all of our new discoveries in Windhoek about our vehicle, it certainly seemed like it was even less suitable for this Africa trip, but I had little desire to return back to Cape Town on the sealed roads. We decided to at least explore Namibia while we were here and take advantage of what we had. During conversation with Kate and Gareth, we found out that they too wanted to explore the Damaraland and Kaokoveld. As guide books highly recommend a group of at least two vehicles to enter the remote areas of the Kaokoveld, it seemed like the ideal opportunity to venture there with our new found travel buddies.