doublediamond
Pack Dog
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Day 7 (Part 2) Sesfontien – Camp Elephant Song (S19 13.114 E13 27.275)
Ok let’s get the script writing for Disney channel out the way;
There is magic in an African Sunset, the night pauses, before it cast’s its cloak across the sky, catching the sun unawares as she blushes her way past the horizon in a hue of color so breathtakingly beautiful that every living creature stops what it’s doing to behold and honor her. And if you are paying attention you will hear that brief moment right before darkness where it becomes deafeningly silent. And then the sound of your fire crackles through the quiet and the cacophony of the night creatures begin.
God I love Africa!!
I will let these photos’ of me enjoying the sunset speak for me....................
I realize I have cemented any doubt that might have existed in your minds about my lucidity on that day and I am probably the only one who has ever felt the need to stand naked watching the sunset. So I apologise unreservedly to all hetro male WD’s or any others of a more sensitive disposition who might find the following picture offensive, however this was the purest expression of how free I felt at that precise moment at that precise time, it was like a sunset skinny-dip & I loved it!! (And I hope you are able to view it in the spirit it is intended).
We forget how dark it gets when you have no ambient city lights reflecting off the night sky, I do not ever recall a time in my life when I experienced such an all pervading darkness, the cliché that “the darkness consumes you” is fitting. The stars were intense and were splattered across the sky, I truly felt that I could have reached up & turned the Southern Cross around.
Our senses are ill equipped to function effectively at night. Without my headlamp on I fumbled around in the inky, fuzzy grain of darkness, although I did feel far more perceptive to sounds, shadows and smells. My eyes failed me, so I found myself tilting my head & cocking my ears in the direction of sounds, trying to decipher the sounds of the night is like trying to learn a complex new language, “What was that noise?” “How close was that?” “Is that the sound of something walking in the sand?” “Did that bush just move?” “Was that shadow moving?””Is that the wind?”
It would boost my ego no end to tell you all that I felt no fear & just relaxed through the African night, but my bravado was shallow that night. I sat around the fire, for what seemed like hours, but I was vibrating with a disconcerting vulnerability the whole time.
And then every single hair on my body sprang to attention like a porcupines quills in what would have been a honorable but futile attempt to protect my person, when I heard the all too familiar primitive and visceral, sounds of lions at night. The sound of that first long guttural roar that descends in a syncopated rhythm into short barks almost had me cowering in the fetal position with my thumb in my mouth crying for my mommy to come change my nappy!!
Click here for an example of the Lion Roar I am referring to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2gq5fwbk-Q
Although my experience assured me that they were far away, I hastily retreated to the safety of the boma & my sleeping bag, it was around 8pm. I am sure the universe giggled with morbid amusement as it conspired to pull a Leon Shuster on me by slowing down time as well; about 3 hours later I checked my watch to discover it was now 8:15pm, it was going to be a long night.
There were times when it sounded like the lion were down in the river bed beneath me and times where I could hear them vaguely in the distance. These roars seemed to becoming from multiple sources.
I did not really sleep much that night, every hour or so I got up & added some wood to the fire. Mostly I lay still, fearful that every time I moved I expelled my scent into the air which then went a wafting through the wilderness to be used as homing beacon for felines who had a predilection for homo-sapiens. Although they would be briefly confused if they did find me, for when they ripped open my down filled sleeping bag they would think - damn this is one big duck!
Day 8 -Camp Elephant Song (S19 13.114 E13 27.275) - Epupa
By the time the sun had returned I had carried the first load of luggage to where donkey had slept next to the recently devoured ex-caretakers hut, about 800m from the boma. I found this sign at his hut that seemed rather fitting & I saw it as certification from the universe as to my state of mind.
An hour later I was packed, & had walked my exit route to get the best possible line across the sand & over the river bed, when I was certain I found the path out, I took a last photo back towards the camp because I was not going to lose momentum by stopping to take pic’s. I will refer back to this time later, but this photo was taken at exactly 07h43.
I gave it horns over the sunamabitch sand, approx 80 kph through the river bed and through & up the donga between the bushes in the photo below, remembering that I was now riding towards the photo taker away from the mountain.
Psychologists & learned academics who study these things tell us that when we are confronted with a perceived threat to our person we subconsciously default to a fight or flight response. For the record I am a fighter, many a time, poor souls who have thought it humorous to jump out from behind walls to give me a fright have come within an inch of me going Bruce Lee on their ass !!
For a millisecond I froze, no flight, no fight, I froze - I was paralyzed with a fear that squeezed the breath out of my body, and clamped its claws around my throat, my tongue swelled to the size of a watermelon & my heart exploded like a limpet mine in my chest cavity!! The fright was unfathomable. Call me chickenshit, but I have never ever EVER been more afraid than I was in that moment.
To my left as I exited the donga, in the shade of some tree’s , a pride of I estimate 4 Lion, sprung to their paws approx 60-100 meters from where I was now & from where I had walked & taken the photo mere minutes earlier.
I was still moving at about 80kph and descended with the path back down in to a ravine, the flight response managed to wrestle back control from paralysis & I gave the throttle a handful, Alfie Cox would have struggled to keep up with me! I had no idea whether or not the Lion were chasing me or if I had lost them. I lost sight of them when I descended into the ravine. In retrospect they more than likely got equally as big a fright as me & made off in the other direction, but this was not one of the thoughts that crossed my mind at the time.
About 2km’s later I came upon a particularly gnarly piece of path, deep ruts filled with fine sand, I was going too fast and I ran out of talent in a big way, donkey & I came down hard in cloud of dirt & dust. Without pausing I yanked the bike back up and high tailed it out of there.
I did not stop until I reached the general dealer at sesfontien. I was physically & emotionally drained. My body was palpating & shaking from the adrenaline & I was nauseous & dehydrated, as you can tell from the photo.
Donkey had a few wounds of his own from our skirmish with the rut’s; The right rearview mirror was snapped off, right front spot snapped off, right rear indicator broken and some minor scratches & lacerations, but nothing too serious & un fixable.
It is amazing what a bit of motivation can inspire you to achieve, this photo was taken at 08h49, a trip that took me almost 4 hours the day before, took me just over an hour with some feline inspiration. I spent an about an hour at the store just chilling.
When my wife & daughters read this chapter it will be the first time they discover the full story of what transpired that day, I did not inform them at the time because I did not want to be a cause for concern & did not want them to worry unnecessarily.
What a rush, the whole episode was marginally more intense than I had anticipated and I was seriously rattled. My ride over the next day was labored with the images & emotion replaying itself over & over in my mind. However, I absolutely loved the fact that I could have an adventure like that, not within the confined fences of a nature reserve, but out in wildest Namibia’s back yard!
Namibia is an enigma, a kaleidoscope of constantly shifting landscapes, cultures, customs and experiences. To the uninitiated it is a harsh, barren & desolate environment, unforgiving and brutal in its beauty. To me it was all of that & more, it was everything I had yearned for and was every bit the little African odyssey I had hoped it would be. I would not change a thing about any of the experiences I had lived so far & would re-live every single experience 1000 times over again if given the opportunity.
Donkey & I refueled in sesfontien & headed north on the C43 through Opuwa & onwards to Epupa.
Earlier in the RR I mentioned I would introduce you to some of the true adventurers I met along the way. This is David; David humbled me & put my own adventure into perspective when compared to his. David was cycling through Namibia solo, a pretty impressive accomplishment on its own but what truly moved me was David has a mild cerebral palsy!! We chatted about our respective adventures over water & some dried mango & then bid each other well & off we went. WOW did I not feel inadequate now ! I never told him about the Lions.
I leave for Mauritius tomorrow, but I will have WIFI at resort we are staying at so I will update RR while I am relaxing on beach.
Please keep comments coming.
FREEDOM
Ok let’s get the script writing for Disney channel out the way;
There is magic in an African Sunset, the night pauses, before it cast’s its cloak across the sky, catching the sun unawares as she blushes her way past the horizon in a hue of color so breathtakingly beautiful that every living creature stops what it’s doing to behold and honor her. And if you are paying attention you will hear that brief moment right before darkness where it becomes deafeningly silent. And then the sound of your fire crackles through the quiet and the cacophony of the night creatures begin.
God I love Africa!!
I will let these photos’ of me enjoying the sunset speak for me....................
I realize I have cemented any doubt that might have existed in your minds about my lucidity on that day and I am probably the only one who has ever felt the need to stand naked watching the sunset. So I apologise unreservedly to all hetro male WD’s or any others of a more sensitive disposition who might find the following picture offensive, however this was the purest expression of how free I felt at that precise moment at that precise time, it was like a sunset skinny-dip & I loved it!! (And I hope you are able to view it in the spirit it is intended).
We forget how dark it gets when you have no ambient city lights reflecting off the night sky, I do not ever recall a time in my life when I experienced such an all pervading darkness, the cliché that “the darkness consumes you” is fitting. The stars were intense and were splattered across the sky, I truly felt that I could have reached up & turned the Southern Cross around.
Our senses are ill equipped to function effectively at night. Without my headlamp on I fumbled around in the inky, fuzzy grain of darkness, although I did feel far more perceptive to sounds, shadows and smells. My eyes failed me, so I found myself tilting my head & cocking my ears in the direction of sounds, trying to decipher the sounds of the night is like trying to learn a complex new language, “What was that noise?” “How close was that?” “Is that the sound of something walking in the sand?” “Did that bush just move?” “Was that shadow moving?””Is that the wind?”
It would boost my ego no end to tell you all that I felt no fear & just relaxed through the African night, but my bravado was shallow that night. I sat around the fire, for what seemed like hours, but I was vibrating with a disconcerting vulnerability the whole time.
And then every single hair on my body sprang to attention like a porcupines quills in what would have been a honorable but futile attempt to protect my person, when I heard the all too familiar primitive and visceral, sounds of lions at night. The sound of that first long guttural roar that descends in a syncopated rhythm into short barks almost had me cowering in the fetal position with my thumb in my mouth crying for my mommy to come change my nappy!!
Click here for an example of the Lion Roar I am referring to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2gq5fwbk-Q
Although my experience assured me that they were far away, I hastily retreated to the safety of the boma & my sleeping bag, it was around 8pm. I am sure the universe giggled with morbid amusement as it conspired to pull a Leon Shuster on me by slowing down time as well; about 3 hours later I checked my watch to discover it was now 8:15pm, it was going to be a long night.
There were times when it sounded like the lion were down in the river bed beneath me and times where I could hear them vaguely in the distance. These roars seemed to becoming from multiple sources.
I did not really sleep much that night, every hour or so I got up & added some wood to the fire. Mostly I lay still, fearful that every time I moved I expelled my scent into the air which then went a wafting through the wilderness to be used as homing beacon for felines who had a predilection for homo-sapiens. Although they would be briefly confused if they did find me, for when they ripped open my down filled sleeping bag they would think - damn this is one big duck!
Day 8 -Camp Elephant Song (S19 13.114 E13 27.275) - Epupa
By the time the sun had returned I had carried the first load of luggage to where donkey had slept next to the recently devoured ex-caretakers hut, about 800m from the boma. I found this sign at his hut that seemed rather fitting & I saw it as certification from the universe as to my state of mind.
An hour later I was packed, & had walked my exit route to get the best possible line across the sand & over the river bed, when I was certain I found the path out, I took a last photo back towards the camp because I was not going to lose momentum by stopping to take pic’s. I will refer back to this time later, but this photo was taken at exactly 07h43.
I gave it horns over the sunamabitch sand, approx 80 kph through the river bed and through & up the donga between the bushes in the photo below, remembering that I was now riding towards the photo taker away from the mountain.
Psychologists & learned academics who study these things tell us that when we are confronted with a perceived threat to our person we subconsciously default to a fight or flight response. For the record I am a fighter, many a time, poor souls who have thought it humorous to jump out from behind walls to give me a fright have come within an inch of me going Bruce Lee on their ass !!
For a millisecond I froze, no flight, no fight, I froze - I was paralyzed with a fear that squeezed the breath out of my body, and clamped its claws around my throat, my tongue swelled to the size of a watermelon & my heart exploded like a limpet mine in my chest cavity!! The fright was unfathomable. Call me chickenshit, but I have never ever EVER been more afraid than I was in that moment.
To my left as I exited the donga, in the shade of some tree’s , a pride of I estimate 4 Lion, sprung to their paws approx 60-100 meters from where I was now & from where I had walked & taken the photo mere minutes earlier.
I was still moving at about 80kph and descended with the path back down in to a ravine, the flight response managed to wrestle back control from paralysis & I gave the throttle a handful, Alfie Cox would have struggled to keep up with me! I had no idea whether or not the Lion were chasing me or if I had lost them. I lost sight of them when I descended into the ravine. In retrospect they more than likely got equally as big a fright as me & made off in the other direction, but this was not one of the thoughts that crossed my mind at the time.
About 2km’s later I came upon a particularly gnarly piece of path, deep ruts filled with fine sand, I was going too fast and I ran out of talent in a big way, donkey & I came down hard in cloud of dirt & dust. Without pausing I yanked the bike back up and high tailed it out of there.
I did not stop until I reached the general dealer at sesfontien. I was physically & emotionally drained. My body was palpating & shaking from the adrenaline & I was nauseous & dehydrated, as you can tell from the photo.
Donkey had a few wounds of his own from our skirmish with the rut’s; The right rearview mirror was snapped off, right front spot snapped off, right rear indicator broken and some minor scratches & lacerations, but nothing too serious & un fixable.
It is amazing what a bit of motivation can inspire you to achieve, this photo was taken at 08h49, a trip that took me almost 4 hours the day before, took me just over an hour with some feline inspiration. I spent an about an hour at the store just chilling.
When my wife & daughters read this chapter it will be the first time they discover the full story of what transpired that day, I did not inform them at the time because I did not want to be a cause for concern & did not want them to worry unnecessarily.
What a rush, the whole episode was marginally more intense than I had anticipated and I was seriously rattled. My ride over the next day was labored with the images & emotion replaying itself over & over in my mind. However, I absolutely loved the fact that I could have an adventure like that, not within the confined fences of a nature reserve, but out in wildest Namibia’s back yard!
Namibia is an enigma, a kaleidoscope of constantly shifting landscapes, cultures, customs and experiences. To the uninitiated it is a harsh, barren & desolate environment, unforgiving and brutal in its beauty. To me it was all of that & more, it was everything I had yearned for and was every bit the little African odyssey I had hoped it would be. I would not change a thing about any of the experiences I had lived so far & would re-live every single experience 1000 times over again if given the opportunity.
Donkey & I refueled in sesfontien & headed north on the C43 through Opuwa & onwards to Epupa.
Earlier in the RR I mentioned I would introduce you to some of the true adventurers I met along the way. This is David; David humbled me & put my own adventure into perspective when compared to his. David was cycling through Namibia solo, a pretty impressive accomplishment on its own but what truly moved me was David has a mild cerebral palsy!! We chatted about our respective adventures over water & some dried mango & then bid each other well & off we went. WOW did I not feel inadequate now ! I never told him about the Lions.
I leave for Mauritius tomorrow, but I will have WIFI at resort we are staying at so I will update RR while I am relaxing on beach.
Please keep comments coming.
FREEDOM
