On the road again – Dancing with dust devils

As I headed north from Windhoek in the driest time of year, dust devils danced across the thirsty earth. In the next few days, I would greet elephants, walk in dinosaur footprints, swallow the sun, climb up to the Waterberg Plateau, stand at the base of the Vingerklip rock formation looking out onto the Etjo terraces and arrive at an oasis under the mopane trees with its heart of fresh greens.

Two hundred kilometres on, I veered eastwards in the dusty haze, passing the two Omatako mountains, the Otjiherero word for buttocks although their buxom form more obviously resembles mounds higher up. The flat-topped Mount Etjo slid by as I cruised into the lodge, just in time to hop aboard the game-viewing vehicle for their afternoon drive. Before we had fun drinking in the setting sun, we were privileged to meet a range of African wildlife from the smallest antelope, the Damara dik-dik, to the largest mammal, our beloved elephant, and everything in between. Kamati, a large bull who loves entering the lodge grounds if he can sneak in, surprised us at twilight from between the trees, setting our hearts racing before he sauntered on, ending our drive in happy bubbling laughter.

‘You are 1000 steps from 200 million years away!‘ a sign informed me the next day on the walk from the Dinosaur campsite. This area of Namibia has relics of the past that are so ancient that we can barely comprehend their origin, our human lifespan but a brief flash in the long journey of infinity. The ‘Saurichnium damarense’ left their three-toed tracks in the soft mud 230 million years ago in the Triassic Age. I put my foot into the fossilised footprints, and leaped, not even coming close to reaching the next tracks of these large prehistoric beasts. To follow in the footsteps of these giants required more than a leap of faith – or imagination. In my mind’s eye I could see them bounding across the landscape.

Earth history had another chance to imprint its image on my soul later in the day at Waterberg Plateau Park. Shaken up from the corrugations in the road like a James Bond Martini, I erected my table at the campsite to mark my spot and followed the road to the foot of the beautiful mountain, fringed with trees and nourished by the water which trickles through the rock. Banded mongoose squeaked on the verge, warthogs challenged each other, baboons barked and grey louries ‘kwêêd’. On the way up, I had to stop regularly, not just to catch my breath on the rocky path and to admire the view, but to soak in the colours of the rock, painted in rich rust and orange and speckled with green as if the artist had enjoyed daubing his paintbrush on the rock. The late afternoon sun lit up the rockface and the vista from the plateau, where I breathed in great big gulps of Life before making my way back to the campsite to set up my tent before nightfall and to cook supper. The lilting sound of a pearl-spotted owl welcomed me. Sporadic baboon screeches and the ‘sawing-wood’ call of a leopard punctuated the night until the ‘roosters of the wild’, the francolins, woke me up and heralded the day with their lively conversation.

On my way to Damara Mopane Lodge, east of Khorixas, I appreciated the dramatic scenery again, this time from the base of the 35-metre-high Vingerklip (Finger Rock). Gusts of wind blew my hat off and threw sand in my face as I climbed up the steep shale path to the base of this gigantic rock that juts into the sky with such an audacious life-affirming presence that it seems to say: “I am here, where I am meant to be”.

The dancing dust devils had followed me, coating me in fine sand. When I arrived at the refreshing lodge, I ended the day’s journey in the turquoise swimming pool amid the lush mopane trees, surrounded by the free-standing rooms built like small houses. I wandered (and wondered) along the path past yards planted with spinach, carrots and lettuce to my charming home where the verdant stems of onions lit up the soil. Later, at supper under the stars, I piled my plate with fresh produce, taking a moment to give thanks for the abundance of the earth in all its forms.

(Join me next week when I continue rock-hopping to the Twyfelfontein rock engravings and Brandberg before heading southwards to Swakop and the desert.)