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Botswana and NamibiaThis stage has finished. Click on the silk road or arc of asia trips for up-to-date expedition information |
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Our first stop in Botswana will be the capital, Gabarone, where we’ll
spend a day or two enjoying this beautiful city. There is some inner-city
cragging to explore but our patience will be thin…we’ll be keen
to get out into the Kalahari desert for a couple of unforgettable driving
days crossing Botswana on our way to Namibia.
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So turn the stereo up, lean out the windows, check out the wildlife and let the wind blow through your hair as we see what Botswana will offer us. We have up to a week in Botswana in total as this is virgin territory for Hot Rock and we don’t quite know what to expect. |  |
There
are few reports of climbing potential here but a week will allow us to explore,
and if we strike gold then we can stay for a few days adding new chapters
to the Hot Rock new routes book. If not, we’ll head to what is many
people's favourite African country for the sheer majesty of the landscapes:
Namibia, and some of the best climbing of the entire trip on the world famous
Spitzkoppe.
Entering Namibia, we will get to see the biggest dunes in the world at Sossusvlei. We will walk up to watch the sun set and the moon rise, and then again the following morning for sunrise. It's hard work, battling up these sandy giants, but it's worth every drop of sweat as you drink in the views from the top - wind sculpted parabolas burning red under the unforgiving desert sun, ridges stretching hundreds of miles in every direction, and everything almost totally lifeless with the exception of beetles than you can bury under a foot of sand before watching them dig their way out again.
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Passing via Windhoek, the capital, it will be a time to say farewell to some and hello to some new faces. The trip never aims to be rushed and a couple of days will be spent getting to know everybody and exploring the city before we continue on to our main climbing destination in Namibia - Groote Spitzkoppe. Rising to 1759m, and towering 700m or more above the desert floor, it's known as the Matterhorn of Africa, with huge sheets of folded granite soaring upwards. It was not climbed until 1946 when an extremely bold attempt succeeded on the VS (5.7) line that is now the easiest route to the summit. It's about 9 pitches of climbing plus a lot of difficult and intricate scrambling. At one point you squeeze through a cave and emerge on the other side of the mountain looking down a sheer 500m face. The summit book lists fewer than 400 people that have ever been to the top, but those few will never forget the extensive view of the barren desert that it affords. |
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We will spend about a week camping in one of the sheltered, shady bush camps in amongst the scattered boulders below. With about 50 sports climbs established on the 10-30m high boulders, there is plenty to do around camp. You could take on one of the many multi-pitch bolted routes on the granite slabs of the Sugarloaf, Hippo Rock or Klipdachswand, or one of the trad routes on the Pontoks peaks. For a real challenge, you could attempt one of the more serious undertakings that the SW face offers, such as the 18 pitch 'INXS' (E4, 5.11 c) where every pitch is on your toes and high stepping fun.
It is in places like this that having our own expedition vehicle really gives us the freedom and independence to make the most of things. We have all the food, water and firewood on the truck to stay out in the desert for a week. We'll have the time to climb lots of classics and to find new routes, and we'll have the bolting gear to equip them if necessary. If we want to stay longer, the truck can even do a resupply trip into nearby Swakopmund.
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There
is always somebody lounging around camp to keep an eye on your tent and gear,
and dinner is cooked for you at the end of the day (unless it's your turn
to cook it - cook duty operates on a rota system, with everybody doing their
bit to feed the group.) Days settle into a pattern of morning climbing, relaxing
around camp when the mid-day sun beats down at its hottest, then a bit more
climbing as the sun falls low in the sky. Evenings are a time to write the
diary, crack open a can of beer, compare destroyed fingertips and trade friendly
insults between different nationalities.
After
a time in the desert, we will drive directly to Swakopmund. Swakopmund truly
is Pepsi Max Heaven. I am sure you will go straight out to the drop-zone to
meet Craig and sexy Jo-Jo. It's a great place to get your freeefall sky-diving
ticket or do a tandem dive and fall at terminal velocity towards where the
vast Namib dunes meet the Atlantic. A day must be taken out to go sand-boarding,
either on snowboards or, even better, on flat pieces of polished plywood that
can have you hurtling down 150m hills at speeds in excess of 80kph! Lunch,
a beer, and even a ramp to jump off is provided out in the desert, then it's
on to high-powered quad bikes to scream at alarming speeds over the dunes.
If that's not enough there is jet-skiing and micro-light flying from our base
in a youth hostel (with bar and showers) in the centre of town. Or you could
just relax and lie on the beach with the seals.
From here we will drive North, via a cheetah orphanage where we can watch these breathtaking animals in action as they are fed in the fading light of dusk, and via Terrace Bay on the Skeleton Coast, the final resting place of many of the ships that try to round the Cape of Good Hope and enter the Southern Ocean, the roughest waters in the world. It is an amazing sight, this shipwrecks' graveyard in endless mighty, red, wind-blown dunes. Those wrecked here were doomed - the waterless desert runs right down to the raging sea.
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Drink in the sights; from here we leave the Atlantic, and the next few months will see us cross coast to coast through Africa with the Indian Ocean being our next beach. The contrast will be stark; Namibia's aptly named Skeleton Coast on the west and the tropical paradise of Zanzibar on the east.
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Our
final major destination in Namibia is the Etosha National Park, which offers
some of the best game viewing in Africa. The saltpans and savannah of the
park are astoundingly dry and arid, with a small number of watering holes
providing the only source of moisture for many groups of animals. This makes
game viewing very easy - drive to a watering hole, park up, and wait for the
animals to come to you.
Sat
next to these watering holes, it is possible to view a staggering variety
of animals, including elephant, leopard, lion, giraffe, zebra and rhino, and
many species of bock and gazelle. We will stay in the game lodges and we'll
escape the mid-day sun in their pools and cafes. Many people rank Etosha as
the best game viewing they've ever experienced. Last time we sat up all night
watching rhino and baby giraffes drinking from the pool as lions roared unnervingly
nearby.
Driving through the park you will also be able to see the Ondundozananandana mountains (that's their name but we won't be going there because I can't even pronounce it. Can you imagine the guidebook cover?)
From Etosha we will drive across the geographical oddity that is the Caprivi strip, wedged between Angola and Botswana, briefly re-entering Botswana and the Chobe National Park In Botswana lies a magical place called the Tsidilo Hills. The spiritual home of the Kalahari Bushmen, this region is blessed with large amounts of clean and untouched rock, and roads permitting there is an option to visit. This will go to the vote as usual. We can also stop to see the 2nd biggest meteor crater on the planet and maybe camp at pretty Popa Falls.
