February 3, 2012-Driving in Namibia

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Namibia

Namibia is not a crowded place.

We rented a car on Wednesday and headed out. On Thursday morning we drove across the Namib Desert and for half a day and we encountered only two other cars.

That afternoon we saw four more cars and at the check point they said that they were having a busy day.

Wild Horses

But we are glad to be here; the sights in the desert are amazing. On Wednesday we visited a ghost town where diamonds were mined for 50 years. We saw a herd of wild horses. We stayed the night at a roadhouse in the desert with good food and old cars, mostly American ones.

On Thursday we drove to a huge canyon, the Fish River Canyon, which is said to be second in size to only the Grand Canyon and we were only one of three cars (and a couple of motorcycles) there. We drove along the edge of the south rim for two hours. There were no guard rails and no guards. We could have driven off and no one would have known.

We drove though mountains which border the Namib and then along the Orange River which flows from South Africa to the ocean along the border between the countries.

On the way home we drove through a sand storm.

We were glad for the reliability and air conditioning of our rented ford truck.

And we were glad to get back to Wings anchored in Ludertiz Harbor.

Luderitz

Tomorrow we sail for Walvis Bay, another port in Namibia.

Click here for more photos from Namibia

Fred & Judy (and Randy and Laura) SV Wings, Ludertiz Bay, Namibia