An amazing New Year’s Eve
We started the day by visiting the rock carvings at Twyfelfontein. The name really amused me, it sounds upper-class British, but it actually means a rather mundane “doubtful spring”. A little guide to came with us, and it was good fun scrabbling around the rocks, spotting plants and animals, and the carvings were interesting.
Then we set off on the day’s driving. It was so beautiful and the drive was much more stimulating. We were on dirt roads most of the time, which makes progress slow but the driving is more interesting – although the corrugations are truly annoying. On the way to Skeleton Coast the scenery was astounding and changing. You’d go from brown mountains to slightly more fertile land to mountains that had bits of sand on them. Once we’d paid to get into the Skeleton Coast National Park it was breathtaking – the oddest scenery I’ve ever seen and just miles and miles of it. There were flat plains with little plants forming mini sand-dunes. There were bigger dunes, some white, some covered with a layer of dark soil. We saw mirages on the planes – I’ve only ever seen them on the road before – and as we got closer to the sea, it looking like the sea came further inland than it actually did, making it look like there were lots of little islands along the shore. We even saw mirages of bits of land stretching out into the sea. It was so strange, not being able to trust the things that your eyes were telling you. We saw stretches of salt under which lay water. Ben was very happy when we saw some wrecks. First we saw a little bit of wood on the shore that had clearly come from a boat. Further down we found the road to the boat, worn wood and a rusted engine. It all looked very atmospheric. Then, before we got to Swakopmond we saw a boat that looked like it was docked – and then I realised that it was on the wonk and it was actually wrecked – again, quite eerie.
On the way down we stopped off at Cape Cross to see the seals. When we found that it would cost N$90 (£6.50) Ben said “are you sure you want to go? We’ve seen seals in Skye”. We really hadn’t seen seals in Skye compared to this – oh my goodness it was amazing. The book had warned about the smell, and wow, it hit you when you opened the door. There was a wooden gangway for viewing and underneath it were loads of pups looking for shade. Along the shore were hundreds and hundreds of seals and pups. It was amazing, like something off a nature programme. The noise was quite phenomenal too, pups calling for their mums and some of the adults fighting. In the water there were yet more, hunting for fish, jumping out of the waves, being washed up the shore – it was fascinating to watch them all. The pups had been born around the 10th Dec and some were still suckling. Sadly, there were lots of dead pups scattered around the sand, and under the decking. The information said that in hot weather they needed to get into the water, but you could see that there was quite a push to get to the water and some just sought shade – but died in the process. It said that up to 30% of pups could be lost in just one hot, windless day. Finally Ben managed to drag me away because we still had a lot of ground to cover.
We got to Swakopmond to find no room at the inn. We tried a couple of campsites in town and in the end had to come 6km out of town to Mile 4 – and pay £20 a night!!! There’s no hook up point, taps near the pitch or toilet paper in the loos – it’s a rip off. Trying to find a restaurant for dinner was a similar story. We were amazingly lucky to find a table in this amazing German restaurant/museum because the couple who had booked the table didn’t turn up. It was gorgeous inside, like a German Christmas with a lovely decorated tree, a nativity scene underneath, swags round the doors and tasteful decorations from the ceiling.
We were truly unsure of what to do after dinner, and when Ben asked the proprietor why town was so dead (reminiscent of a ghost town) she said that most people go into the desert or to the beach and do their own thing – a braai, a campfire. We decided to go for a drive and found what was in essence a massive beach party. There was a bar and dance tent and all along the beach were people – families, teenagers, yoofs, groups with picnics, chairs, braais, rugs and cars. It was quite awesome. As it got closer to midnight, people started setting off fireworks and then they lit a MASSIVE bonfire that we were sat in front of that had a mast, and anchor and a sign on it saying: welkommen in. At midnight many people popped champagne and sprayed it over everyone. It was all rather wonderful and atmospheric.
