Exploring Namibia Africa by motorbike - Episode 5

In this episode, I reach the Atlantic Ocean and explore the trails around Luderitz. I ride back into the desert and wander down some random tracks. I then ride into a green valley where I find a magical place to camp. In the previous episode, I'd explored the ghost town of Colmanskull, which was being consumed by the desert. I rode out past all the abandoned buildings. I wonder what it would be like exploring this place at night. On the next sand dune over, there were other buildings being engulfed by the desert. I descended down towards the coast. I had made it to the coastal town of Luderitz. It is one of the few towns along the Namibian coast and is right on the edge of the Namib desert. It's known for its German colonial buildings. It also has a protected harbour, which made it an ideal place to set up a town. I'd found a place online to stay for the night. It was number 256 on 2nd street. Well, I think that might be the place. It was a small self-contained apartment, which was ideal, and gave me a chance to get some clothes washed. After dropping off my gear, I thought I'd check out the town. It was the weekend, so they had a kids sports carnival on, plus a football game at the main sporting ground. I went past some of the old German colonial buildings. That building was constructed in 1911, and the orange one in 1909. At the end of the street was a church called, here we go, my bad German again, Hilschenkirche, which translates to rock church. Name that due to its location on top of this large rocky hill overlooking the bay. The church was built in 1912. On my way in, I'd seen a dirt road, so I thought I'd see where it led. Well, I wasn't expecting that, so I rode along the train line for a bit to see if there was anywhere to cross. The track divided into two, so definitely not getting across there. I turned around to see if there was a crossing in the other direction. Although hard to see, I followed what looked like the track. Following the train line had taken me all the way back into the edge of town. So I really didn't get that far, but I did finally find somewhere to cross. I made my way around to the outside of the harbour. I saw a lighthouse in the distance, so I took what looked like a track towards it. The track actually led me out onto a tidal flat, and it already had water coming across it, so I thought best to keep following the main track the long way around. The track ran just behind the beach, so I pulled in to check it out. I've come down to the peninsula, which is just south of town, and there's obviously a lot of dirt tracks and roads through here. It's a lot rockier than I expected being on the beach. Still quite cold. The wind coming off the Atlantic is refreshing. First time I've had to put a second layer on. I think you can go right around the peninsula and back to where I started. A couple of guys fishing out the front there. I wonder if they're catching anything. Yeah, pretty mellow. I rode the short distance towards the lighthouse. I followed the track into the rocky point. There was a track up towards the lighthouse. Over the far side of the bay, and to the left of the town, was the iconic sand dunes of the Namib Desert. From there, they ran for hundreds of kilometers, right on the edge of the Atlantic. I made my way back towards town. Just watching the sun set over the Atlantic. Tomorrow I'll be heading back east and then basically up behind the massive desert sand dunes that are to the north from here. Gonna find somewhere to camp. I think I've got a spot and apparently the road can get a lot of sand on it. So I'm gonna go early in case it's slow going. We'll find out. There has been rain even further up. I'm not sure exactly how far up. So hopefully we don't come into anything too major or we'll just have to turn around. That's why I'm gonna go early, just in case. We'll find out. I said goodbye to the lady who ran the accommodation, and like all the people I've met in Namibia, she was really friendly and helpful. The people of a country do make a massive difference to the experience of traveling. I rode through town. As soon as you exit the town, you're already in the desert. Morning. It's quite cool this morning. Got that second layer on. Glad I put it on. Just stopping to adjust some stuff on the bike before I start to cross this part of that desert. Heading into the sun. So give it another 20 minutes and I won't have it in my eyes because of the peak and the cap. Just stopped outside the old ghost town. Looks a little eerie from here. So heading back to the town I stayed, Ost, I think it is. Refuel a little further and then I'm going to turn onto, I think it's the 13 and then head up and hopefully turn onto the 707 and we'll see how much sand's on it. Apparently they just say sometimes it's hideous and sometimes it's fine. So we will see what I get. I didn't last long before I had to pull over and put another layer on. I pulled over as there were more Namib desert horses hanging about. Just stopped to take the puffer jacket off as it's warmed up again. Just go over that rise up there as you come into Ost, A-U-S. Yeah, just warms our way up like 10 degrees. I was also told this track, got a little pin that there's some rocks at the end of it. Big boulders, rocks, boulders, large boulders. So thought I'd quickly have a squiz then head into town, very small town, get some fuel and then continue on. I've heard that the national parks, I think it is, they've got some fuel stations around and they're not filling them up for some reason at the moment. It was just a message the lady said back there. So best to fill up whenever I can. Let's see what this track's like. I'll get this jacket off. I saw some boulders to my left but they weren't that big so I kept on searching. I eventually came across the boulders. A lot of them were fenced in for some reason. I rode a bit further where I saw a family. Hello. The lady said they were farming pigs so that was the reason the part of the pig pen structure. The pigs must have still been in their pens. I could continue on this track which would link up with a C13 dirt road I was going to travel on next but I still needed to fill up with fuel in the small town as it was going to be a long time before I could get fuel again. So it meant I'd have to ride back down the trail I came in on. Oh well, if I must. It was a quick stop for fuel then back out onto the road. I had made it to the turn off onto the C13. The road was as straight as an arrow crossing the section of the desert towards a mountain range. The surface changed from firm dirt to sections of sand but it wasn't deep sand. Well I've reached the 707. This road has a reputation apparently of being a nightmare but it can be quite easy. It just depends if there's any sand on it apparently. I'm going off all second-hand information here. It's about 47 kilometers or somewhere around that till where I can turn off to where there's a campsite that I've been suggested to go to. Apparently it's pretty beautiful and then it's 10km in from there so if I get there I can stumble my way in. I may, I don't want to jinx it, have come in a bit of luck. This section has definitely been graded. I don't know how far they go but if that's the case well I'm just not going to say. It might be only a kilometer. And again another total juxtaposition where this is really green on the other side is a desert wild and if it ends up being above my skills I can turn around and there's a town just down there about 50 kilometers. Let's try it. This track was a real divide through the landscape. One side sandy desert, the other a mountain range. I stopped to see how deep the sand in this section actually was. It was about two to three inches deep. The desert was encroaching on the track as it got a lot sandier which was slowing me up a bit. I still need a lot of time riding in the sand to get used to it but Namibia is probably a great place to learn. I finally made the turn. Somewhere roughly 10 kilometers up the end of the valley was a campsite. It seems I'd made it to the front gate of the Naptib property. It's amazing how just a bit of rain can turn everything so green. I had made it to the homestead and lodge and checked in. The campground was a few kilometers away down another track. Made it to the campground and it is really peaceful. There's a bit of a breeze blowing but there's no other sound. The ride in wasn't that bad actually. There was a little small section that you're about 30 kilometers from the turn that was sandy. The rest you just call a dirt road with little sections of sand. But even then I just slowed down a bit and just cruised through it. I mean the guys out of West Australia would probably say it wasn't even a sand track. But I just cruised along. So if you had ridden off-road it's fine. You wouldn't have an issue with it. If you ride in a lot of sand you wouldn't call it a sand track. So if you ever want to come here it's definitely worth it. So I went to it's a farm actual farm working farm and then they've got the campground and the lodge there. And the lady at the lodge said this green has only been here this week. So when I was at the Quiver Tree camp all that rain was this. Before it was totally brown. A week and it's well just under a week and it's that's quick. So they're hoping for one more rain before the end of the wet season which it probably should have been already. I set up my tent with no help from the wind. Tent set up and it seems to be holding in the wind. What I've noticed is the wind dies down on the sun. Should be good tonight if that happens. Or it could be a fun night if it decides to. I laid down under the tree on my air mattress and just chilled out for the rest of the afternoon. Just trying to get one more shot of the sun breaking through the tree I'm camped under. See if I can get it. Oh there's some other campers just up the road there. They've invited me for dinner. Poiki I think they said. Vegetables and tomato something. The sun finally got low enough to get the shot. I went to the next campsite to eat and watch the sunset as the light constantly changed. Made it back to the tent. I was actually invited by a very nice South African couple a bit further up the path there for dinner and they gave me vegetables in I think it was a tomato paste. It was really good. I mean I was debating whether to have pear halves or I think I had apricots slices. But their meal was way better. So friendly everybody here. Another good day. This place is gonna camp. This place is a must. It is so chilled. Fell asleep under the tree. The sunset here was insane. I guess that's it for today. Tomorrow's gonna be a longer day on the bike I think. I've got a fair distance to cover and we're heading towards some more sand dunes. But I think in the morning it might be quite nice straight out front. We will see tomorrow. In the next episode it's an early start riding into the desert. I get to an oryx crossing but no signs on this one. I pass a castle. I end up having to turn around. I race another oryx. I ride through an incredibly green desert valley and end up staying beside a massive sandstone wall.