Namib Desert Delight

I had arrived back in Johannesburg at 23:00 on the Wednesday from my holiday in Zanzibar and was back at the airport at 04:00 on the Thursday to depart for Namibia. This was for work. We were being sent there to cover Giniel De Villiers and his new Toyota Motorsport team testing their vehicles ahead of next year’s Dakar Rally in South America.

Now given that I do not know the difference between a piston and a petrol cap, plus I identify cars by their colour, there was arguably no worse candidate for this mission. But since I had not been to my country’s Orange River neighbours since the age of two I was not going to let a little thing like that stand in the way.

I researched furiously to the point where when we arrived in Walvis Bay (via Windhoek) I could at least hold a conversation on motorsport with a preteen. Walvis Bay was misty and cool when we touched down around 10:00. From there we got into a couple of 4×4’s and were taken into the heart of the Namib Desert, some 25km south east of the coastal town.

I had been to the Sahara in early 2007 and had the time of my life among the desert dunes. I anticipated more of the same. The more I contemplated what I was doing in Namibia, the more I realised that while I was there for work, this was a working holiday.

We spent most of Thursday in camp with the Toyota team. They were fine tuning their cars and interestingly used actual batch parts during testing. While out in the Namib’s tough terrain, Toyota’s number two driver Duncan Vos went down an “avenue” he should not have and got stuck. The automatic hydraulic jacking system failed.

The first day ended with a stint in the dunes. This was my territory. I took it upon myself to scale the highest one I could find and get a pseudo panoramic view. I took as many pictures as I could but as is often the case, my camera just does not do the scenery justice. I have said before that what I love about the desert dunes neighbouring the blue sky is that it just does not look real. It looks more like a Windows 95 background.

That evening our hosts provided us with food and began to drink. Furiously. I really do not mind having a beer or a glass of wine with anyone but these men (average age around 45) drink like students. I knew it would be wise to distance myself when I heard a 56-year old comment earlier in the day about what a wild night it was going to be. Assuredly I say unto you, twenty-year olds are unable to replicate such behaviour.

The second day we were predominantly in the dunes and I once again took it upon myself to scale the highest dune. However this time I was unable to. I ran, walked and even crawled but I just could not make it up there. Eventually I just collapsed as my legs became like jelly and I gave up the fight. The hung-over group laughed at me but I was pleased that upon returning home I would be able to write this letter rather than just say, “Oh sorry, I can’t remember anything about the trip.”

Later that afternoon in a desperate attempt to find a cell phone signal, for work purposes, I took off my shirt and ran into the desert. For whatever reason we could get a signal there. So off I went. This time I did scale the highest dune and it required all my strength to get up there.

Day Three was all about packing and leaving. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Namib Desert. I actually enjoyed it more than my time in Zanzibar. I guess when I see desert dunes or ruined buildings my eyes just light up because I want to see how high I can climb them.

The highlight of the trip was when I climbed into the passenger seat of Vos’s car and he took me for a 9 kilometre voyage through the Namib’s harsh landscape. We went up, down, straight and even flew. The best way to describe it is to say that it beat any rollercoaster I have ever been on.

So I missed out on 12 beers and 10 jagermeisters a night but while they all came back with headaches, I came home having had a great time and wanting more. I had fun. I guess they will claim they had fun too. If that is the case then that is good.