Off to the super south

The largest clusters of quiver trees, the se-cond largest canyon on earth, Namibia's largest winegrowing area at one of its few perennial rivers, a uniquely beautiful ghost town and the highest dunes on earth - Namibia's south is virtually brimming with superlatives. And always worth a visit. An AZ proposal for a grand tour.

The road is a dead straight line, stretching ahead of us for miles, as far as the horizon and beyond. The steering wheel is idle. You could in fact switch onto autopilot and relax in your while enjoying the scenery. It is monotonous in places, then spectacular, but always of vast proportions. We are driving from Windhoek on the B1, dubbed the Cape to Namibia Route, via Rehoboth and Mariental towards Keetmanshoop. After 500 km on the road, just before we reach the hospital of the small town of Karas, the regional capital, we turn left. Because this is where the first highlight and the first superlative of our journey through Namibia's south are waiting for us - the Quiver Tree Forest (admission fee: N$ 60).
KeetmanshoopNowhere else but on the privately owned farm Gariganus are so many quiver trees found in one place. They are 250 to 300 years old, scattered between and on top of granite rocks. The quiver tree, an aloe species (Aloe dichotoma), is one of Namibia's emblems and only occurs in the south of the country. The San people used to hollow out the fibrous, spongy branches to make quivers for their arrows. Not far from this 'forest' and still on same farm there is the Giants' Playground, an impressive venue of rock debris. Countless blocks of dolerite rock are stacked on top of one another as far as the eye can see, some in the shape of pyramids. It looks as if giants had some fun playing with building bricks.
The next morning we pay a brief visit to the museum (open Mondays to Fridays from 07h00) to learn more about the region's history. The museum is housed in the former Rhenish Mission church, built in 1895. A Nama hut next to the church is part of the exhibit. The former Imperial German Post Office, dating back to 1910, is also worth seeing. These days it serves as a tourist information office.

Then we are on our way again, first for a short distance on the B4, towards Lüderitzbucht. Instead of driving into Seeheim and turning left onto the C12 we turn left a little earlier and continue on the D545. Welcome on Namibia's dusty sand and gravel roads. The D545 also leads to the C12 but it passes Naute Dam, the third largest dam in the country. In order to keep Keetmanshoop supplied with water the seasonal Löwen River was dammed up in 1972.

Just after turning from the C12 onto the C37 amusing little boards on the roadside ask us: thirsty? Or: hungry? They guide travellers directly to the Cañon Roadhouse, an old farmstead where not only the rustic Wheels Bar but also a delicious Amarula Cheesecake entices guests. The Roadhouse is one of four accommodation establishments in privately owned Gondwana Cañon Park, which covers 115000 ha east of the Fish River Canyon, the second stop on our journey of superlatives.
Fish River CanyonIf you don't want to drive to the Fish River Canyon - second only to the Grand Canyon in the US - in your own car, you can book a drive of roughly three hours (N$ 370 per person) in Gondwana Cañon Park. Harold, our guide, is already waiting. Past springbok and ostrich, with a brisk air stream blowing into our faces, he takes his guests to several lookout points. Today they actually witness one of nature's rare spectacles: after quite a lot of rain during the past weeks the Fish River, some 500 metres below in the gorge, is in flood, rushing around Hell's Bend as we look down in awe. The views into the canyon are simply gigantic, its bare rock faces a picture book on Earth's history. Man seems very small all of a sudden. Three cheers for freedom.

From Harold, who is a Herero, we learn that the canyon is between five and 27 km wide and 160 km long. The Fish River is Namibia's longest river. With a total length of 650 km it stretches from the eastern flank of the Naukluft Mountains all the way down to the Orange Ri-ver, the border to South Africa. From the main lookout point with a view onto Hell's Bend we walk over to nearby Hiker's Point, the northernmost lookout point. During the 20-minute walk along the gorge and past the occasional quiver tree we are ever so often rewarded with fascinating canyon vistas. Hiker's Point serves as the start for the 85 km Canyon Hike which takes several days. Because of the extreme heat du-ring summer, hiking in the canyon is only allowed from May until September and participants have to produce a certificate confirming their physical fitness. "Down there it is 10 degrees hotter than up here", says Harold.
Orange RiverFrom the Fish River Canyon many visitors head directly west to the coastal town of Lüderitzbucht. We, however, continue further south for the time being, right down to the Orange River which forms the South African border. And - let me tell you beforehand - it really is worth your while. The Orange River is one of the few perennial rivers in Namibia and you can have the time of your life canoeing, or simply relax and enjoy the clean air and green riverbank.

The riverbank is lined by huge lush fields of grapes, something which you won't see any-where else in Namibia. On 1150 ha of Aussenkehr Farm northwest of Noordoewer, or rather, Aussenkehr Nature Reserve which co-vers almost 100 000 ha, table grapes (it's too hot for vines) are grown for export worldwide; seven companies are involved in the production and processing and provide jobs for up to 6000 people. The workers and their families (some 15 000 people altogether) live in a small village with countless thatched huts, many bars, a church and a primary school.
Nature lovers can drive a 45-km-route to and through the Orange River canyons by themselves. The only prerequisite is a 4x4; a map with exact distances is available at Norotshama River Resort in Aussenkehr. A similar tour of 100 km, called "German Outpost", takes history fans to an old military outpost and war graves from German colonial times. (A more detailed story on the Orange River appeared in the May issue of Tourismus Namibia!).
And now we are ready for Lüderitzbucht. The shortest way would be the C13 to Aus and then west on the B4. But as it had been raining before we set out on our tour and the Fish River came down in flood and once again washed away the ramps to the Fish River Bridge (C13) between Aussenkehr and Rosh Pinah, we have to take the B1-B4 detour via Keetmanshoop. One of the most impressive features of Lüderitzbucht is the ride to the little harbour town. We are driving through desert, nothing but desert. Sand whirls across the road from one side to the other. And then, from this landscape of dunes and moon-like scenery, suddenly the town rises on granite rock and behind it the open sea beckons.
Lüderitzbucht/KolmannskuppeDespite the detour we still have time for a little tour in the afternoon - the Church on the Rock, Goerke House with its typical German colonial architecture, the Waterfront. We learn two things: weather conditions in Lüderitzbucht are often rough, and on Sundays the 'cradle of modern South West Africa' may present itself deserted, like a ghost town. Hartmut Hälbich, the proprietor of Pension Zur Waterkant, already told us so when we arrived.

But Kolmannskuppe is the ghost town, not Lüderitz. Since sandstorms are raging in the afternoon we visit the former German colony's diamond metropolis, 15 km east of Lüderitzbucht, the next morning (admission fee: N$ 42). The grey little town casts its spell even at first sight from the B4 trunk road. Welcome in a different world. When a black railway worker picked up a diamond from the sand in 1908, the town was created out of nothing. In its heyday the diamond fields yielded more than 20 percent of worldwide production and the town had 300 inhabitants, most of them German specialists and their families. As early as the late thirties the mine at Kolmannskuppe was closed, however, and the last security officer left in 1956. Since then the town has been dilapidating spectacularly. The desert is claiming back what was ta-ken from it. Sand seeps into the houses through open doors, the roof and broken windows and spills out on the other side.

"Things were really happening here", says Hälbich, our landlord, who also happens to be one of the guides who take visitors on tours - Mondays to Saturdays at 09h30 and 11h00, and Sundays at 10h00. The tour starts off in the large gymnasium and ballroom in the casino. Hälbich stands next to one of the two pianos in front of the big stage. Even the mechanism from which the rings were suspended is still in place on the ceiling, bars and springboard are in the next room which opens onto the former main road. Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße has long since disappeared beneath the sand. The teacher's house, somewhat modest in size and completely taken over by a dune, used to be on the main road, behind it the architect's house and that of the accountant, and behind them the house of the mining director. The latter was freshly painted last year and therefore doesn't quite fit into the dilapidated ensemble. But the paint is already flaking off again - thank God. Hälbich hopes that previous plans entertained by diamond producer Namdeb to restore the houses and use them again, are now finally a thing of the past.

He points to the oblong hospital, once the most modern in Africa and equipped with the first x-ray machine, supposed to put a stop to diamond smuggling. The 69-year-old tells us that for "diamond recovery", as it was called, a demitasse of castor oil was administered to suspects. Even though the fine desert sand fills the houses waist-deep and more by now, the former prosperity is still tangible. We have made it to the ice factory, then the first one in the country. "The Germans wanted butter, so everybody needed a fridge", says Hälbich. It made perfect sense to have the butchery right next to the ice factory, giving it first-rate cold storage.
We descend on the café for a home-made hot chocolate, and then it is back to the future. Without glitzy stones in our pockets, of course - Hälbich warned us of the possible temptation, as Kolmannskuppe is situated in the Restricted Diamond Area - we don't drive straight back to Lüderitz but turn to the left before we reach town, to the peninsula. Past the picturesque Second Lagoon we first head for Sturmvogelbucht where we find the remains of a former whaling station. The rusty ovens were used early last century for making train oil. The reddish brown wooden hut is now used by scouts, among others.

A little further west is Diaz Point where Portuguese seafarer Bartholomew Diaz erected a stone cross in 1488. There is a small café with a miniature golf course at the foot of the lighthouse, and there are even camping facilities. If you want to negotiate the little footbridge to the rock bearing a replica of the original cross you definitely have to be able to stand your ground against heavy gusts of wind.
We are told that it can also be windy on the highest sand dunes on the planet - the next stop on our journey of superlatives. And so we head out of Lüderitz on the B4 and soon turn north, though not without stopping at Garub, of course, just before we reach Aus, to visit the feral horses which are descendants of German colonial horses.
SossusvleiWe arrive at our destination early enough for an excursion to the Sesriem Canyon, a deep, narrow gorge - before getting ready for the Sossusvlei dunes (guided tour: just under N$ 800) early the next morning. With our guide, Riaan de Klerk, we join the line of cars in front of the gate at the crack of dawn, quickly pay the entrance fee (N$ 80 for foreigners) as we pass through, and before we know it we are at Dune 45. The number indicates that we are 45 km from the entrance gate, but by no means are we on our own. Earlier birds have brought out camping chairs and tables for breakfast, others are already labouring up the dune along its crest. The glowing colours of the dunes, especially at sunrise, are beyond description. Getting up early is worth every minute of it.

After 65 km - the last bit is deep sand and requires a four-wheel drive like Riaan's - we get out of the car once more. The track to the left leads to Deadvlei, a pan which is completely enclosed by dunes and never sees any water. The trees are dead, the place is mysterious but strangely beautiful - almost like Kolmannskuppe. Nearby Sossusvlei, on the other hand, at least has an influx of some water every couple of years. Dunes up to 300 metres high tower around the famous clay pan. If you put up with the sandy winds and drag yourself to the top through the deep, loose sand you are rewarded with views of a seemingly endless sea of dunes which will probably remain with you forever. And you realise that dune doesn't equal dune: there are star-shaped ones and longitudinal ones, for example.

It's time for a picnic. As we settle down in the shade of a camel thorn tree Riaan, who is 40 and married with children, tells us that he intends to start his own tour company. He also wants to learn German, he says, because 60 to 70 percent of the visitors he takes to Sossusvlei are German-speakers. On the way back to the park's gate we notice that the wind has already erased just about all of the deep footprints left on Dune 45 in the morning.
Bye-bye Sossusvlei, bye-bye south. We return to Windhoek via the C19, C24 and B1. The odometer has clocked up 3000 km; the number of pictures in the camera has risen by just as much. These, too, are superlatives of Namibia's south.