After we left Etosha National Park we headed for the town of Kamanjab. As soon as we left the park we entered a land of game farms. The roads were straight as an arrow through the bush, with high game fences on both sides. Apparently it was pretty much sub-divided into small private landholdings -- it felt like a magazine promoted real-estate development, like houses "close to the mountains" in Arizona. There was a fence with a gate crossing the road just about every kilometer, which made travel slow. I used the stops to scan for birds and wildlife wild Dona dealt with the gates.
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| Dona and one of many Gates |
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| Thorns and Yellow Blossoms |
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| Purple Roller | Pale Chanting Goshawk |
We found some great Sociable Weaver nests, which can get pretty dang big...
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| Sociable Weaver Nest | A few birds for scale...
these nests were huge! |
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| Sociable Weaver | |
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| Xxx Dikdik |
We pulled into Kamanjab Rest Camp just before dusk. It was a pleasant, quiet camp with birds of several species and good facilities.
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| Camp near Kamanjab | |
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| Cinnamon Breasted Bunting (Female) | African Red Eyed Bulbul |
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| Dona Writing |
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| White Browed Sparrow Weaver | White Browed Sparrow Weaver Nest | |
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| Southern White Crowned Shrike | |
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| Namaqua Sandgrouse | |
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| Double Banded Sandgrouse |
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| Xxx |
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| Red Headed Finch | ||
We left Kamanjab Rest Camp and headed east; every kilometer it seemed to get drier and sparser.
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| Car Body |
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| House, Animal Shelter, or both? | |
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| House Compound |
We saw a lot of donkey carts in Damaraland; people using them to haul water and other goods, and people using them as general transportation. When we came upon these two guys and their donkey cart, I felt bad for the donkeys. It was hot and they'd probably been traveling for a while; the man was using his whip pretty frequently, and not just to make noise.
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| Donkey Cart | |
Like much of Namibia, Damaraland is flat where it's flat; and then the mountains just pop up without any foothills. There are a lot of butte and mesa-like formations, and it reminded me of parts of Utah.
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| Damaraland |
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| African Red Eyed Bulbul |
A number of the different native peoples of Namibia have Khoisan languages -- languages which use clicks. These include the San and the Nama. While English is the official language of Namibia, and most signs are in English, while travelling around we sometimes saw signs in some other local native language. The click languages have different types of clicks, and the clicks are written using different symbols just like normal letters. I have no idea how to pronounce whatever this place was...
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| Sign with Clicks |
Damaraland is big, wide-open country. It just goes and goes and goes. You could explore it for years and still have more to see. As long as you could find water.
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| Damaraland |
Somewhere between Rootberg Pass and Palmvag we found a small stream which appeared to be perennial, much to my surprise. It didn't appear to flow very far, but it was a sight for sore eyes. If I didn't know better I would have stuck my face in it and had a drink.
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| Stream | |
There was a family compound nearby and they had a small stand out by the road. They had some small baskets that Dona wanted to look at so we backed up and pulled over.
The little stand had a bit of everything -- some pots, some rocks ("minerals"), some baskets, some sticks, a couple of sets of horns... There was no-one around when we pulled over, but in short order three women and two young boys appeared. Dona dug up the last of our raisins and gave some to the boys. When she asked about paying for the basket she had settled on, the woman asked us if we had anything to trade -- clothes, shoes, or "medicine" were suggested items. Dang! We had left all sorts of clothes in Windhoek, which we didn't really want to take home. I could have gotten rid of some ties! Or shoes I didn't want. For medicine, they would have loved something like Tylenol or Aspirin. I got the impression their self-medication was not particularly scientific, so one would have to be careful about handing out medicines.
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| Dona and Damara Boys | Dona and Damara Women |
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| Damaraland |
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We climbed up to a pass where there was a check station and entered the Skeleton Coast area.
This page last updated on 2015-02-14.
