I really enjoyed the resting at Ai-Ais but after a day of hanging around the springs I was quite ready to move on again. I first visited the fish river canyon viewpoint.
It's a pity you're not allowed to do day hikes down. I enjoyed the view though. Quite amazing you can walk down the whole thing in 5 days. I would love to do the hike sometime in the future. After taking some more pictures I set out again towards Ludertiz. After a while the gravel road turned into tar and took me through the wide open desert landscape all the way up to the coast. I was surprised it was so cold even though the sun was shining so fiercely. Later on I learned it's the cold wind coming from the sea which cools off above the cold gulf stream that passes before the coast of Namibia. If you're standing still or moving slowly the sun is quite hot, but as soon as you start moving at a certain speed you actually cool down quite fast because of the cold air. I was actually shivering before I put in the wind tight liner in my jacket.
Along the way to Ludertiz I stopped at a small place where there used to be a gas station sometime in the past. Now it was just a deserted town in the middle of the desert. Quite eery.
I made a quick pitstop in Aus for fuel and continued onto Ludertiz where I arrived just a bit after the sun had set.
I stayed at the Ludertiz backpackers and was actually the only one staying there for the night so I had the whole place to myself. I took my time and cooked some proper dinner since it had been a while since I had a proper kitchen to my disposal. The next morning I went to visit kolmanskop, a little deserted diamond mining town. It was nice to learn a bit about the mining industry and the history of the area. When I got back I did some shopping and got myself a Namibian sim. I still had some time left and decided to go out towards the south of Ludertiz and drive to Diaz point to watch the sunset in the sea. Along the way I found quite a few 4x4 tracks going through the sandy dunes, so I had a lot of fun along the way. There were lots of bones scattered around and I found this skull lying somewhere. I wonder what animal this is. Could it be a hyena skull or is it rather a jackal or some other small predator?
Along the way I also encounters two springbokkies they didn't really seem afraid funny enough and instead of making a run for it they just happily pounced ahead of the bike at a leisurely pace just 5 or 10 meters in front.
Diaz point is a beautiful place. It was totally deserted when I got there, and there is this bridge which just consists of the start and end part, but the middle piece is totally gone.
Quite a nice sight to have this bridge leading into nothingness. Luckily it was low tide so I could walk over to the 'point' for the sunset. It really gives a strange feeling. This place which is a meeting point of two vast places of untamed wilderness: the desert and the sea.
I got to see a couple of seals playing around in the water just a bit further. Really nice to watch them jump out of the water and play around with my binoculars.
The next morning I drove off early to make as much headway to sesriem as possible. A 100km down the road I realized that I had left my laundry hanging in Ludertiz. Haha stupid me. So I had to turn back. Luckily the road was quite scenic and I got to see some of the horses that are roaming the desert there. They were left there by the German soldiers after the First World War and they somehow managed to survive.
So I didn't manage to make a lot of headway that day but I still made it to sesriem the next day. The little detour along the D707 was real scenic and because I drove early in the morning the road was full of oryx and springbok. I got to measure their top speed driving along as they were running for it and some even made it up to 80km/h! Also the brown reddish mountains with the clear blue skies and gold/yellow fields is some beautiful sight. Unfortunately I didn't really manage to get it on camera.
As I arrived in sesriem I actually found out you weren't allowed to drive there on bike so I had to hitch a ride with someone. Luckily I met Hubert, a tour guide on one of the overland busses, and he allowed me to come along with them. I hung around with them the rest of the day.
I climbed big daddy, the highest dune around.
Saw the deadvlei.
And we also visited the canyon which was there close by.
I got along with them really well and they suggested that if I would arrive at etosha around the same time as them I could actually drive around with them. Now that was a nice opportunity! The first morning when we went to see the sunrise it was quite cloudy and we didn't get to see the famous sight the shade of the rising sun gives on the dunes. So the next morning I hitched a ride with a couple from holland and we still got to make the famous pictures.
After this lighting visit early in the morning I set out again and drove to swakopmund. There I had the bike serviced by the guys from duneworx a big Yamaha workshop. I also sent a couple of things home by post, because I was carrying too much stuff around. The guys at Yamaha did a nice job and everything was looking fine when I set out the next morning. 32 km out of swakopmund the engine suddenly gave out though. At first I thought it might be the spark plug because it sounded like there was no combustion in the engine. After replace it that didn't turn out to be the case. I didn't get to doctor it out further, because by that time the battery gave out. Luckily I wasn't too far from swakopmund so I gave the guys from Yamaha a call and they picked me up. After we got to the workshop the bike was running normal again. Strange. I had noticed some fuel leaking out of the airbox earlier. So we figured that perhaps the fuel needle had gotten stuck on some dirt or something and flooded the carborator. That was our best guess since for the rest everything seemed to be working. I replaced the battery though, because obviously the old one didn't have enough grunt in it anymore since it gave out so quick when I tried to start the bike earlier. I also went to a phone shop to get the camera on my phone fixed. Because as you might have noticed there are little black specs in all the pictures I took.
The next day I was on my way again and decided to head to spitskoppe. After couple of hundred km or so the bike's engine gave out again. After closing the fuel tap and giving the carburetor a couple of knocks I was able to drain out the fuel and the bike stated again. I was really happy I replaced the battery though because I doubt if the old battery would have been able to run the starter engine long enough to get it going again. From this point onwards I don't really have any pictures because at spitskoppe I noticed that the camera on my phone was working but wouldn't focus anymore. Darn it.
The next day I headed out again because in two days I would have to be in Etosha. Along the way up I saw I was passing the waterberg plateau so I decided to pass by there before going to Etosha. I got there in the early afternoon so I was still in time to join for a afternoon safari drive and do some hiking in the area as well. The hike up the plateau gave some really nice sights of the area and during the game drive we got to see buffaloes and and a rhino from real up close at one of the waterholes. I'm really glad I got to pass by here for a bit still. I didn't want to stay at the campsite because they were charging me for a campsite plus for me as one person, and they wouldn't even let me drive up there with the motorbike because 'it was too noisy'. I passed some real deserted gravel roads earlier, so I just set up camp a bit of the road. The next morning I got up with first light and after breakfast set off again. In Otjiwarongo I made a quick stop to buy a camera, because I did't want to continue the rest of my trip without pictures.
I actually got one with a bit more zoom on it and it's way better than my phone's camera, especially for wildlife picture. So I guess it was a bit of a blessing in disguise.
I got to Etosha, where I left my bike at the entrance, and got a ride to okaukuejo just in time to meet up with Hubert and the French overlanders. We had lunch and in the afternoon we set out to drive around in the park.
When I started this trip I hadn't expected that I would enjoy the wildlife viewing so much. But man the time in etosha was really nice. It's really something else too see these animals in their natural habitat. Especially if you take your time and don't just rush through. Of course my time was still limited, but got to see some cool stuff and take some really nice pictures. I'm really happy I bought the new camera. The first two days I browsed through Etosha with Hubert. And then I hitched a ride back with a French couple. They wanted to see lions and in the end we found a couple with some 6 cups. I think we sat there and watched them for more then two hours, but out waiting was rewarded. First they were really far in the distance but in the end they were just playing and walking right next to the car. Amazing, and I got in some really good shots.