Rather than going straight to Walvis bay, I decided to take a detour to another part of the Namib Naukluft Park, the Naukluft mountains.
Naukluft Mountains
The up to 2000 metres high Naukluft mountains form the eastern border of the park, and deep canyons make not only a spectacular sighting, but also allow for adventurous trails.
The Naukluft mountains were formed some 850 million years ago during the formation of the continent of Gondwana when the converging of land masses produced mountain belts formed from shallow water marine deposits. One giant piece of limestone moved westwards for about 120 km to become the Naukluft mountains of today. http://www.landscapesnamibia.org
The website was not really helpful so I was not even sure if the campsite was open and although the entry gate was abandoned, it was not locked. Could be a good sign, but I am still in Namibia so this actually means nothing.
It is another 16 km to the camp but alone the drive and view is worth it. The road is going up and down and at the end I found a lonely security guy sitting in front of the closed office. He told me the campsite is open, another guest is staying there as well, and the arrangements can easily be done tomorrow. Great! Just about 700 metres down the road, surrounded by the mountain outcrops, I found the shady little spot that was actually beautiful!
The other guest was also there and introduced himself as David from Hamburg, quite an easy-going person and after I settled down, we chatted for a while when suddenly warned me of a guest that tried to break into the tent. I turned and saw a baboon, a big male, that sneaked up from behind.
Baboons are curious animals and adapt quickly to humans, not shy to come close and always trying to steal anything they can get. They are strong and weaponed wit long, sharp teeth, but the normal reaction to us is flight. So that is what I expected when I got up and approached this guy, shouting on him and waving arms. But when I came around the tent, the big boy was not running away as I thought, but even approached me, baring his teeth and growling. Upsi … that didn’t go according to plan … I thought, screamed, turned around, and ran towards towards the safety of my camping companion in hope the baboon would not want to fight the two of us – what he luckily didn’t! My word, these baboons are vicious!
The next day David and I went for the Olive trail, a 17 km hiking route. Equipped with sun cream and enough water, we started right after sunrise to avoid as much of the sun as possible and decided to also walk to the entry point of the hike which is about 4 km away from the camp, and started our journey into the mountains.
None of us had a printed map but and his navigation was not always getting reception so within the first hour, we already got lost for the first time and had to go back a couple of kilometres, which did not bother me at that point. The trail then led us into a riverbed, full of rocks and steep shist to both sides, which luckily provided some shade.
While in the riverbed, the trail was quite clear, there was nowhere else to walk, but back on the mountain itself we often lost the route. To be honest, the signs were neither obvious nor plenty, and the heat started to pick up quickly. My word, that was a looong hike! I must say that I did not really care about getting lost from time to time as I rather enjoy the route itself than being fast to finish it, and the landscape was indeed spectacular, but I have to confess I was happy once I saw the parking lot again that made the entry to the hike. I was exhausted! And when we just walked down the last metres, we found out that we walked the trail in the wrong direction. Does it matter? Not really, just that the signs would have been very visible if we had done it the right way, and we would have probably done the supposed 17 km instead of 25 km 😊
As if that wouldn’t have been enough, when we came back, I learnt that that the baboons had broken into my car and stole the pizza bread I’d prepared the evening before! Can you imagine? They had opened the boot of the Landy, climbed into the car, and took whatever they could grab before the security guy chased them away. And they obviously liked it so much that they came back again later to see if there is more to steal, but I was prepared this time, and weaponed with small stones and a stick (not to hurt but to scare them!) and we played hide-and-seek for a while before they understood I am not giving away anything else!
Don’t be misled by that innocent look, they are devils
After the Olive trail, I planned to drive all the way up to Walvis bay, but I was so unbelievable tired that I hardly made the 70 km to Solitaire. It’s said they have the best ‘Apfelstrudel’ so of course I had to try it. It was rather an apple crumble but just amazing! Unfortunately, a bit more than expected and it drove me straight into a digestive coma. I had to find an overnight location. There are often signs along the road that announce B&Bs, Lodges, or Campsites, but most of them were another 50 to 70 km inland which I was not willing to drive, so I was thankful when I found one not far from the road: the ‘Rostock Ritz’ … what a name, and what an entry gate
Got an affordable rate including this beautiful landscape, cute hobbit house, friendly atmosphere, and breakfast! Walvis bay had to wait until the next day.
Good night,
Sininho
Sininho´s World 
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