The wind had dropped completely, but it was bitterly cold. We were obviously dropping down south now. Ginger kitty arrived as soon as we were up. As the campsite was far from any staff housing we wondered if it had been abandoned in the campsite. I gave it a small tin of tuna which was quickly gobbled up. A lady from the other group came over to ask us how we managed camping with our cat. We explained the situation and she said that she had planned to bring her cat with her and had even got all the paper work done before she decided it was too risky. She agreed to give the ginger kitty some food until they left the next day. Paul and Petra decided to go for another soak, but we declined. I did not want to feel too debilitated while driving south. Before we left, I carried ginger kitty across to the other campers. It purred the whole way. We were already at reception to check out when Paul and Petra arrived. The thermal pool had been accessible, but all the other facilities including the change rooms had not been opened yet. Petra wanted to buy some more of the lovely T-shirts, but got to hear that she had paid too little for the one she had bought the previous afternoon and that she owed them money!! They were quite aggressive about it. I spoke to what might have been the manager to complain and he got on the phone to his staff. He wanted me to speak to his superior and lay a complaint, but I declined. It was best that we got away from this rather sad place as soon as possible. Petra just handed over some more money and we left.

It was a good distance to the Brukkaros (530 km’s) and we still had to bypass Windhoek. The new road certainly improved the drive between Okahandja and Windhoek and our GPS also correctly showed the way around the capital. It was as always a beautiful drive south of Windhoek through the Auas mountains. After dropping down from mountains we pulled off at an open space with trees for a coffee break and then just kept going south. We were very keen to get to the Brukkaros in the early afternoon. We stopped for fuel in Rehoboth and Stephen found that the Terra (Tarzan) veldskoens were on special at the Agrishop. He insisted that I buy a pair! Now three of our party were wearing Tarzans!! Only Petra still had to be convinced. Stephen bought a seed net that was also on special. There were now quite a few modern service stations to choose from in Rehoboth. We also learnt that the once lovely Rehoboth Spa was still closed and I wondered whether it would ever open again. We had stopped there often in the past and had some good soaks and fun there.

It is a long straight road south. I am always fascinated by the strange flat calcrete ridge with its radio towers that stands out so prominently parallel to the BI as one drives towards Mariental. The road was not too busy and we made good progress. We were looking for a lunch spot, but they all seemed occupied or did not provide good shade. We ended up stopping in Kalkrand, where the little tourist center, which had shown great promise as a possible stop for me with my tourists, was also not operational any more. The toilets were now not operational either, but I found a new little place across the road where I had to pay to use the toilet. I also discovered that the entrepreneurial lady was setting up a coffee shop. South of Mariental we hit a snag – the first STOP/GO did not take too long, but the second one was a real stopper!! We never found out what really caused the delay, because vehicles were not moving in either direction. We just stood there for almost 45 minutes and some of the drivers were getting very irate. We had quite a scene in front of us. A hopelessly drunk white fellow just about fell out of a taxi and could not keep himself upright while he was trying to pee. The poor taxi driver was trying to keep him from falling over. Apparently he had already made a mess in the taxi and the passengers were complaining. He had drunk almost a litre of wine while underway in the taxi! The driver threatened to chuck him off the taxi at the next stop. This was a “nothing place” called Asab. When we passed it later, we thought that he would need another litre to recover from the shock of being there! I decided to walk around a bit and started to chat to various drivers. One group still had to go all the way to Oranjemund and they were getting seriously worried. A German tourist with a terrible accent started scolding a poor construction worker who also did not know what caused the delay, while one 4x4 pulled off the road and started driving in the road reserve to try and make progress. Despite the long delay, it was actually quite an amusing scene. Paul and Petra were a few vehicles behind us. When we eventually got moving again, we realized that we would perhaps not make it to the crater before sunset.

One could see the crater from far since it dominates the landscape rising 650 m above the plains. It certainly looks like an extinct volcano. The circular crater has a diameter of about 2 kilometres and was formed about 80 million years ago. The magma pipe, molten rock and a mixture of organic matter came into contact with ground water about a thousand metres below the earth’s surface. This heated the water to the point where it turned into vapor and expanded. This caused the surface to swell and the magma below led to various explosions leaving material ejected from deep in the earth in a gaping crater (like a plug bursting open). This process happened several times over millions of years. These ejected deposits would erode over time to leave a 350 m deep crater floor. It is therefore not really an extinct volcano, because no magma erupted and reached the surface. A dry waterfall and a subsequent gorge formed as some the crater material eroded down onto the plains below.

We got to the Berseba turnoff as the sun was setting. The gravel road was in perfect condition, but probably one of the most dusty we had encountered. Paul and Petra had to fall back far behind us to be able to see anything. Thankfully the road was not busy, but when the one vehicle did pass us, we could not see a thing for a while. There was not a breath of wind and the dust just hung over the road. When we crossed the Fish River bridge we realised why the other roads on the map that seemed like short cuts did not get to the mountain. They were stopped by the river! Once we turned off onto a more minor road towards the crater, just before Berseba, conditions improved. The silhouette of the crater rim against the orange sky was quite dramatic and I tried to take some pictures while we drove towards this impressive mountain that jutted out of the flat landscape. As darkness set in, we passed through a cute gate and got to an open space which was obviously intended to be a parking place. There were some structures which indicated that this was once a campsite. The track went up the mountain steeply, but we decided that we should rather stay at the bottom and do the ascent the next morning. We made ourselves comfortable on the flat parking surface and even found some light wood to supplement our own supply. Soon we had a good fire going and enjoyed a very special evening at the foot of the Brukkaros. Stephen and I had been up to the rim of the crater before, but we had not explored any further and we were very keen to find the ruins of the historic solar observation station, which had been erected there in the 1930’s by the Smithsonian Institute. We had also read that German Schutztruppe had established a heliograph station on the eastern rim. We would not have time to try and find these ruins on this trip, but it would be a motivation for going back a third time! It was the last evening that we would be together as a party, because Paul and Petra had to get back a day earlier than us and we would be saying goodbye to them the next day. Our thoughts went back to the past month and everything we had explored together.

Geschreven door Leartravels