Archive for ‘Eleanor’

Blog posts by Eleanor

Windhoek

We spent a few days in Windhoek. We really liked Urban Camp, and made some friends. There was a swimming pool, and Daddy liked the bar. We had to stay because the car needed some new parts. We got a new brake hose, 4 new tyres and coils to replace the air bags.

In Windhoek we went to the national art gallery. It was different to other art galleries because the art was not just paintings. The artists were all local and used ‘mixed media’, like newspaper, nails, string, beads, animal horns and wood. The art was all for sale too. My favourite piece of art was called ‘The seed of identity’ and was of a twisted horn. (Sorry, no photo!) I also liked one called ‘Etosha’ which was a scene of cows, made of twigs tied with string. There was one room that was filled with different pictures of rhinos. It was very good.

After this we went to the Museum. It was interesting, but a bit run down. Some of the lights didn’t work. These are some of the things that we saw/learnt:

  • A house made by the Nama people, and made out of reed mats. It is the only one left as people now use modern materials.
  • Some people get their grain by breaking into ant nests and stealing it!
  • There was a wooden wagon with a canopy that early settlers used. The wheels were wooden with a metal rim to protect them. I think that this is the same sort of wagon that Laura and Mary used in ‘Little House on the Prairie’
  • There was a rhino skin, that was very thick and hard. Daddy said some people used it for armour.
  • There was a guano platform between Walvis Bay and Swakopmunda. People used to collect it and sell it for fertiliser! Guano is bird poo – I would not want that job!
  • We saw musical instruments. I liked the honey bird whistle. People hollowed out an apple, and used it to call the honey bird. The bird takes the people to a hive and they all get honey. There were reed flutes that they left in milk when they weren’t being used.
  • We learnt about growing and collecting Omahangu, which is millet. People turn into flour and then eat it as porridge.
  • We saw how they made ostrich egg shells into necklaces by breaking them into little pieces, then shaped them into circles and drill holes. They change the colour to brown or black by frying it!

 

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The Petrified Forest and Omatozu Safari

After the awesome elephants, Daddy wanted to get to Windhoek, (the capital of Namibia) to get some new parts for the car. So we started driving south. We drove slowly because we didn’t really have brakes. On the way we stopped at a Petrified forest. We got a guide to take us on a tour.  We walked up a small hill and found some fossilised trees. They were huge, one was 40m long. It had cracks in it because of earthquakes. There were pieces of trees everywhere! On one stone tree you could see the rings to show how old it was. The trees were 125 million years old.

Then our guide showed us some plants that were used for traditional medicine. There was one tree, called a butterfly tree, that you had to pick 10 leaves and make a tea to drink. It would stop you having diarrhea. Another tree was called the Bushman’s Candle. Our guide squeezed out some sap and said you could rub it on mosquito bites. She said that the Himba people mix it with ochre to make sunscreen.

Then we stayed at a campsite called Omatozu Safari. We did a 7km walk on our own. We saw some warthogs and some rock hyrax. But the best thing was seeing some giraffes. The next morning we did a drive around the lodge. Mummy and I sat on the roof for a bit, the view was good, but we stopped when there was a camelthorn tree in the path. Mummy got some thorns in her hand, but I was fine. We saw a few antelope and warthogs, and we got really close to more giraffes. We were hoping to see a cheetah or a leopard, but maybe next time.

Now we are in Windhoek.

 

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Kaokoland

*** This is another good post. You want to open it on the blog, rather than on Facebook so you can see the videos and photos. There aren’t many car photos! ***

After the worst road in the world we drove through the Marienfluss.  All you could see for miles and miles was sand, with mountains in the distance. There were a few Himba villages, that had some stick huts with mud on the top. They also had corrals for their animals made of sticks to keep the wild animals out. We also saw fairy circles, which are circles with no plants in them. It was weird.

Then we went past some old drums. They were painted different colours. In the past they were put there to store petrol. But now there are funny things, like a computer keyboard that doesn’t work. A model caravan with a visitor’s book in it. We decided to ‘bang’ on the drums. See the videos:

Then we had a wild camp in a riverbed. It was awesome! We collected lots of wood and made a big fire. There were also pretty stones that was marble.  The most amazing thing happened at sunset. A giraffe appeared on the horizon and watched us. It looked a bit like a dinosaur, because to begin with you could only see from the neck up. Daddy thought it looked like the Loch Ness Monster. That night Mummy and Daddy found some scorpions with the UV light. They glowed green, but were actually really little.

The next day we had a good and a bad day. First it was a good day because we found some rock men. We found 2!! One was sitting next to a tree and another was on top of a hill of rocks.

It was also a good day because we saw lots of animals! There were ostriches, which we call battle chickens! We saw vultures, and a falcon. We saw lots of antelope, like gemsbok and springbok. We saw lots of zebra and in another riverbed we saw 2 giraffes. And then when we got close to our campsite we saw an elephant!

It was a bad day because in one of the riverbeds we burst another air spring. But that wasn’t the only thing. We couldn’t open the bonnet to get the jack. And when the air spring burst it also broke a brake hose. Daddy said a lot of bad words.  We had to drive 20km to the camp very slowly.

The next day we woke up to elephants in the campsite! There was a mummy and a baby! They went right next to our tent! We saw their tracks too! An elephant has a big footprint! It was amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

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Van Zyl’s Pass (The worst road in the world)

*** You want to read this post on the website, not on Facebook, so you can see all of the photos. (Though there are lots of car photos!) Click the link… ***

After Epupa we drove to Van Zyl’s Pass. This was a road that Daddy really wanted to do.  The first day was pretty fun. The road was very bumpy. There was one bit where we had to go up a hill and some boys who were looking after their goats ran up next to us asking for ‘sugar’. We stayed at a community campsite, which was very sandy. We made friends with Beth and John, who were going to do the pass too. They had a landcruiser. And there was a group of Germans with 3 hilux cars.

The next day we did the pass. The start of the pass was fine. We caught up to the Germans really quickly.  Mummy, Genevieve and I had to get out and walk a few times, because the road was going up and down and was very bumpy. The road wasn’t very good.

There was a good lookout, about 2km from the end. We could see over a big plain called the Marienfluss.

After the lookout the road went straight down! Genevieve and I had to walk down hill for 2km! The road was very steep, there were lots of holes and big rocks.  Daddy had to get out and look at the road before he drove it. The car went on a big angle and Mummy had to hang off the side. I would not call this a very good road. I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the car. It was better to walk!

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Daddy did very well driving. I was glad when we all got to the bottom. Then we had lunch in the Marienfluss. Daddy had a cold beer.

 

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Epupa Falls

We drove north all the way to border with Angola. On the way the road had lots of big dips. at the bottom of one dip there was a big bang and we burst another air spring. But we had a spare and Daddy fixed it.

We stayed at a campsite with a big pool. It was fantastic, but the bottom was a bit slippery. There were some cool lizards with orange and yellow heads!

We went to the Falls. They were big, but we didn’t see any crocodiles!

We have also seen some baobab trees. They have massive trunks and look like they have roots where the branches should be. We tried to put our arms round it, but it was too big!

We did see lots of Himba ladies selling bead bracelets and wooden bowls. When we come back to Namibia we are going to go to a Himba village. The ladies don’t wear any tops, but have lots of necklaces. Their hair is plaited and looks like it is covered in orange mud, except for the ends which are black and tufty.

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