All A Quiver

Tues. 14^th May 2024

Well, our first night camping was a success. It was cosier than The Beast in Australia and a bit warm at times but overall once eye masks were in place we had a good night’s sleep and no nocturnal trips required. After a cup of tea we were ready to start the day. The tent and our belongings stowed away easily. We saw the hotel safari vehicle drop our neighbours back after their sunrise safari and then slow next to us with the remaining passengers staring to their right. We soon saw what they had spotted, two ostriches munching at the dry shrubs which dotted the campsite. Whilst Dave was washing up, I was busy with my camera trying for candid shots. Of course the sun was in the wrong place for any decent photos.

We made a quick stop at reception to check out and use the Internet before being on our way. Having arrived on the back road from the north we left heading south on the recommended entry route. Well the road surface was much rougher than the way we arrived yesterday. No wonder the grader was out on the north end of this road but it had a long way to go from north to south. It was also a fair way to the main road but once there on tarmac it did not take long to arrive at the Spar in Mariental and a coffee stop. Luckily Dave was able to put the hot spot on his Namibian SIM so we could achieve two things, post the first blog post and Wordle (to keep our 700 odd day streaks going) !!

Mariental was a reasonable size town and quite busy even had a train station. Now down to some serious dirt road driving to our next campsite. The road surface was quite even and so we could keep a steady 80 km per hour and soon we were eating into the miles (or should I say Km?). Being in the Kalahari desert the scenery was pale sand with small shrubs and the occasional tree. Not very exciting at all, which left me wondering if we should have stuck to the tarmac road to save time, but to be honest I don’t think we would have been much quicker and certainly the scenery would not have been as good. Still it was great rolling along completely alone, rarely seeing another vehicle, person or even animal. There was an occasional solar plant on the industrial side, game resort, or just cows grazing on the roadside.

By mid-afternoon and after a couple of rotations of driver, we were very excited to catch our first view of quiver trees growing on piles of rocks. This was what we were coming to see. This spurred us on to complete the last few km to our campsite. Well, what a contrast the Mesosaurus campsite was from last night. As we pulled up at the reception we were given a friendly welcome and a topical talk about Mesosaurus fossils found locally. Apparently the owner’s son found one of the fossils when he was 8 years old. The fossils are now protected so no-one can dig there. The campsite comprises of six sites around one very basic ablution block. We selected site 2 away from the noisy weaver birds and found a very quiet spot. We did however practice our photo skills to focus on the tiny birds in the huge nest. Tick done, so now ready for faster elusive game animals later in our trip.

Soon we were set up and Dave made some interesting snifters with gin and the green lemonade we had bought for lunch. The campsite was on a private bush camp and we were free to wander where we liked. The limiting factor of our walk was the sun setting and being dark. As we were surrounded by these surreal looking trees (and indeed one of the points of coming here) it was time to pick up the cameras and get serious with photography. A definite challenge to getting a good composition (or even separation between trees) but definitely absorbing – and we are hopeful about the quality of some of the pictures.

There were no restaurants close by so, and the sun dipping below the horizon, it was time to exercise our cooking skills and light the braai to cook some marinated pork belly strips and jacket potatoes in foil. It’s clear that we need to work on our braai cooking skills! The meat was tasty enough but the potatoes under-cooked. We should probably have lit the braai before going off to take photos. No matter, we were in no danger of starving. The temperature was quite comfortable and we sat reading and savouring our Safari Drive wine until at least 10pm when we decided it was time to turn in and set the alarm for 6:45 to see sunrise in this amazing place of quiver trees and bare scenery shared only with two other camper vans.