No Fixed Abode: Hot Tea

Tue 21 Jun 2016 - Travel Day about 250 kms

It was with heavy hearts that we packed our bags in readiness to depart our chalet at the Alte Kalkofen lodge as we’ve really enjoyed our stay here. There is something magical about the place. Before we dropped the key back with Frikke and Hilde we took a stroll around their collection of Lithops, tiny desert plants that grow amongst the stones and look just like them except for the tiny, delicate coloured flowers. Evidently their collection is world famous and they are sponsored by the British Cactus and Succulent Society for the work they are doing to re-introduce rare, or sometimes extinct, species back in the wild. We bade them a long farewell and set off for our overnight stop at Maltahohe.

For the first few km we travelled along the tarmac of the B4 before turning off on the start of our journey north for several hundred km - all on dirt roads. To be honest, initially the road was as smooth as the B4 and certainly just as busy with lorries and cars passing and overtaking us swamping us in clouds of dust. Fortunately Glenn had managed to borrow a spanner from Frikke to adjust the car boot latch so at least our luggage and paraphernalia was now dust free.

As we passed through the small town/village of Bethanien we remembered the advice given to us by Felicity and Graeme, way back at Nature’s Bay, to fill up every time we pass a fuel station, as they are few and far between out here and not always open.

The journey was km after km of savannah, not quite desert with a few more bushes and trees, that seemed to go on forever. With our tummies rumbling we pulled off the road in the middle of nowhere to grab some lunch, remembering to hastily close the windows every time a vehicle came by, then it was back on our way.

When the 2 o’clock snoozies started to take hold of Glenn we pulled over once more for a cuppa, having finally remembered to fill the flask we bought weeks ago with some boiling water. How very British, standing on the side of a desert road in the blazing sunshine sipping tea from two china mugs - we even had a couple of rusks to dunk.

Mid afternoon we arrived at Maltahohe, which is a reasonable sized settlement in, you’ve guessed, the middle of nowhere. Spotting a supermarket Glenn remembered he was running low on yoghurt so went inside to take a look. It was surprisingly well stocked and clearly the only place for miles around and as he reached the checkout he listened to two of the tellers chatting to each other in their unusual language that incorporates clicks. We’d heard and read about this, and even listened to snatches, but this was the first conversation either of us had listened to properly. There seemed to be several varieties of click, made by sucking their tongues against the roofs of their mouths with different mouth shapes, but Glenn could not determine if they preceded, followed or were part of the word. Back at the car Yvonne revealed that she had read the clicks are written as exclamation marks or vertical lines. It was all very strange.

With the yoghurt stock replenished we followed our google directions to the Namseb Lodge, driving out of town for 13km then turning down a minor road for 3km. There was nothing there so we drove on for few more km but still nothing. Maybe we should have remained on the main road? So back we went then travelled up there for a few km but still nothing. Having dismissed the idea of returning the 13 km to town we decided to explore even further along the minor road. Still nothing. It was now only an hour to sunset so in desperation we returned to town to seek directions and just at the junction with the main town road we found a sign on a ramshackle affair of a gate stating Namseb Farm 17km. Was this the place? Fortunately the sign also had the farmer’s surname which matched the name on our AirBnb confirmation so we decided this must be the place. Beyond the gate the private track was quite rough so we had to slow to a steady 40kmh to dodge the rocks and negotiate the deep sand - it was Cederberg sweaty palms all over again.

The setting sun was now shining directly in our eyes making vision difficult but we drove as fast as we dare to make it before darkness. Eventually after two more gates, a very, very steep sandy hill and nearly two hours of searching we arrived just as the sun dipped below the horizon in a last blaze of scarlet. Our host Aileen was waiting for us and we had a few words about the directions, inconsistent signs and our general disgruntlement at how long it had taken us to get here, so she quickly showed us around and legged it before we could start again. The gorgeous African sky and our dinner returned us to more cheery spirits and we nestled in the somewhat basic lodge for the evening promising to provide some useful feedback to Aileen in the morning.