Something special I missed on the last post was this very cute beetle, called a Tok Toki. So here it is.
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
We finally departed the Twyfountain (which means “doubtful water”) airstrip at 1:35pm, about 3.5 hours late, and landed at the skeleton coast at 2:40pm. The coast was clear and dry and warm. We quickly settled into our room in the Shipwreck Lodge, which is about 3 kilometers from the ocean.
The lodge, built in 2018, is the only concession in the Namib National Park, which was founded in 1971. Namib is the oldest desert on the planet at 65-80 million years old.
Upon arrival, Claire hiked to the ocean, played in the surf, found a huge set of oryx horns and took lots of photos. The three of us enjoyed an early dinner and an early night.
Thursday, March 25, 2026
Up early, published a long post, which I hope you find not too long, had breakfast and went on a quad ride over and around the sand dunes at 8:30am. Our guide, Ballach, was informative and pleasant. We had a delightful dune ride for a couple of hours.
At one point we stopped and Ballach explained some details about the color of the sand and how the redness in it was caused by particles of Janet stone from the Drackensberg Mountains that came via the Orange River, which began in South Africa and forms part of the boundary between Namibia and South Arica, and entered the ocean at the intersection of South Africa and Namibia. From there the particles drifted up stream on the currant and were blown onto the Namib desert by the wind.
Meanwhile, the dry Hoarusib River, which begins 200 miles inland, brings sand downriver during floods and helps build the dunes.
After the dune ride, we relaxed a bit and then took a car ride to the beach for a BBQ lunch. There were 9 guests taking part. We walked along the beach and Mark tested the water.
Lunch provided the best cooked chicken and pork we have had on this trip. After lunch we went back to the lodge to get away from the hot sun and slow down after the intense last few days.
During the lazy afternoon, Mark and I made a list of all the African countries and counted 34 that we have visited and 20 we have not. I am not much attracted to visit the remaining 20, but Claire thinks there are a few more we should see.
The food looks reasonable, but I am not drawn to anything we have been served. This evening I had a fish called klipspringer, that was very steaky and flat tasting. Other times there has been tough chicken or a bland vegetarian dish. We enjoyed the pleasant evening sky and went to bed about 9:30.
Friday, March 26, 2026 Mark’s 73rd Birthday
Mark woke up to a very nice email from Rick Benson thanking him for his donation to the eye side of the Dental Vision Clinic of an ophthalmic operating microscope, an essential item needed for eye operations. He found RIck’s words very moving.
After breakfast we took a ride up the dry Hoarusib River bed looking for animals and expecting to see a sandstone formation called “clay castle”. We saw 4 springbok, an oryx and a few baboons and had just reached the castle formation at 10am, when we saw water flowing toward us in the river bed. We soon realized that the rain upstream was slowly flooding the river. We followed the river on foot, then got ahead of the flow in the car and eventually realized the water was moving inexorably to the ocean. We guessed it would take at least 4 hours to reach the sea and decided to visit the skeleton ship down the coast 20 miles and get back in time to see the river arrive at the ocean.
The wreck we saw was the Karimona, which came too close to shore and sank in 1976. Not terribly interesting, but something. Near it was the remains of the engine. More importantly, we got to walk on the seemingly endless beach, which goes for miles and miles with no people or buildings. The three of us walked a fair distance before getting back in the car so we could get back to see the muddy flood water enter the sea.
We got back with time to spare. It was after 6pm when the water began spilling into the ocean.
As we watched the water spill over the sand bank, we saw the bank fail and slide in with the water. The scene was very dramatic and the several of us who had gathered to watch were all mesmerized. We took stills and videos and hope we captured the action. It was like a flash flood with no one getting hurt.
Back at the lodge, we took showers to clean up after getting mud everywhere. Over dinner, the conversation was lively. Near the end of the meal, the 15 staff came into the dinning room together singing Happy Birthday and bringing Mark a chocolate cake with a candle.
They were very charming and sang and danced an additional couple of tunes before exiting into the kitchen. Everyone in the nearly full room laughed and clapped. Mark declared he had had a wonderful birthday from the early message from Rick, a chat with his mother, and the dramatic river running all day, to the staff singing after dinner.
Saturday, March 27, 2026
This was a travel day. Departed Shipwreck Lodge at 8:30, drove 30 minutes to the airstrip, met our plane and pilot at 9am, and were off the ground by 9:25 in a Cessna 208, a caravan for a very smooth 1.5 hour flight to the north end of Namibia where we landed at a place called Ondangwaa, where we went through customs. Then another 20 minute flight across the border into Angola and landed at a town called Ondjiva. Here we went through customs and immigration, got back on the plane and were off by 12:15 for our last flight of the day, a one hour leg. The scenery was mostly level ground covered with green trees and the occasional farm.
The few towns were composed of compounds with several small buildings interspersed by dirt roads. The only pavement we saw was the runways we landed on. The countryside was the same in Northern Namibia and in Southern Angola.
Adventures with Julia 