Savanna
We almost didn’t go to what turned out to be perhaps my favourite place in Namibia: Spitzkoppe, a fabulous mountain in the Demaraland. We were all glad that we did, though. There’s a superb community-run campsite around the base and some of the campsites themselves are soooo cool. Check the pics, if you don’t believe me. The granite rocks are easy to climb and the views out over the savanna were breathtaking, especially at sunset. Then, when the stars came out…magic.
Sunset at Spitzkoppe
We hired a guide to take us around right when we arrived and he was pretty good – although he did seem more interested in the Liverpool match on the radio… After he showed us the main cave drawings at the site, he rang the pueblo and directed us over so that we could see a real Demara village. Well, not the swankiest place I’ve ever been and when he further elaborated that we would be visiting the house where they make their own beer, my stomach had distinct Memories of Amoebic Dysentery in Honduras… The crew at that place were exceedingly friendly and we drank a bit of the beer in the end (tasted like a meady lager) and then bought a big bottle of it for 2 bucks. As I bought the suds, Philippe was busy talking to some of the more lubricated locals, one of whom first offered to give Philippe his dog and then told him that he could buy his latest baby for just 500 american dollars… ay yai yai… We booked it out of there and thought we were heading back to our campsite, which still had to be set up before it got too dark, but no, our guide told us to drive up to a nearby shed and said that he needed a drink and a cigarette! So out he hops and pops into a Namibian cantina… he told us to have one too but we all demurred although I’m sure that it would have been one helluva story had we got hammered and then driven back the few kays to camp…
Campsite at Spitzkoppe
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