Hiking next to the Kunene, Strike 1

The Kunene river, draining from Anglo, forms the north western border of Anglo and Nambia between Raucana and the Atlantic ocean. On this section of the river two incredible waterfalls can be found Raucana and Epupa Falls as well a massive gorge. This gorge which starts a Epupa Falls and ends at Otjinhungwe, is what drew myself and a mate, Chris, to the area a few years ago. The main gorge has only been paddled once by Darron Raw and co. He speaks of insane rapids, steep gorge walls and many many crocs. Since we are not crazy good paddlers we decided it would be a great idea to hike in the area. So the plan was to hike the gorge... no hassle. We had maps and ignorance, what is the worst that could happen?

We had a lada, well Chris had a lada. So the plan was to drive to Epupa falls, mission to Otjihungwe. Leave our car there and hitch hike back. What could possibly go wrong? We arrived at Epupa falls two days after leaving Johannesburg, sipping beer on the lip of the falls, could life get better?
The following morning we heading off to do this "drive round". After a few hours of driving, very few kilometers and coming across even less people we realized that this was not going to be as easy as we thought. The road was, well not the 60km/h track we where hoping for. In fact we were probably averaging little over 30km/h and in low range 4x4 much of the time. Well... so much for getting back to Epupa falls the same day.

A little after midday we arrived at a particularly steep and rocky section of road. With ease Chris' Lada raced up 99% of the incline, then stopped. We tried to get it running without much luck. We realised that the car engine was either not getting fuel or spark. So we hauled out the tools and proceeded to dismantle bits in the hot Namibia mid day sun. We handed been at it ten minutes when, while my headed what over the coil, it exploded. This proved to be a moment of excitement of the trip. Once the smoke had settle we realized we where in a bit of a pickle.
My Mom had advised us to get an sat phone for the trip. We thought this was silly, but she insisted and hired one for us. This could have been one of those time when it could come in handy. But, to be honest who the hell do you call when you are broken down in the middle on nowhere.

We called a few people, but after some time and much wasted money it became painfully apparent to us that we would have to sort this one out ourselves. We had come about 60km from the closest town with people that could speak English. Walking at night we could probably make it in two days. After writing a note to all that came past, we headed off heavily loaded with water.
Chris and I pretty much walked through the night and were with 30km of the town when it was simply too hot to continue. We lay under a tree in a dry river bed, mixed up some pronutro and chilled for the rest of the day.
During our time under the tree, we were visited by some Himbas (locals in the kaokoveld). I had coincidently just unpacked my entire bag. The Himba guys happily when through all of my stuff. Eating what they could, even giving a double A battery a go.
Now there is one thing that is really unpleasant in the Kaokoveld and that is the flies or midges. These little bastards are small enough to get through mossi nets some who. But big enough to piss the hell out of you. They also happen to be particularly keen on your bodily fluids. So, they are always in your, eyes, ears and mouth. So one flew into my ear, quite far into my ear, so far in fact that I couldn't the little bastard out. That was quite possibly the least happy I have ever been in my life, if I had a gun I may have shot myself. Thankfully I never, but had some water which I used to drown the midge. I think I was still there but at least it wasn't buzzing.

We headed off for the next leg of our trot late that afternoon. About an hour in a missionary drove passed who kindly gave us a lift to the village. Now we were planning on arriving in the town in the morning, not night. It also happened to be the chiefs son's funeral, so most of the town was drunk and screaming at us. Not a great time. After some missioning around we found the police station/ petting zoo and stayed for the night.

In the morning we hitched a lift in a old Nissan 1400 bukkie, with a woman in the back who was breast feeding her child every 10 minutes. We landed in Opawu, which is quite possibly the worst town in all of Namiba. Being Sunday we had no luck in getting help. Monday saw us getting a new coil and enlisting two locals chaps to drive us to our Lada and fix it. About six hours later we arrived at the car, fixed it and headed off.

Now we had heard and been warned of Van Vyl's pass. Being ignorant once again we headed for it, what is the worst that can happen. Well we thought we had done the pass a few time before we got there, as the sun was going down. The view was breathtaking, however so was that is the pass. So with little other option we headed down and made it in one piece... we thought.

Above Van Vyl's Pass

After some driving the the Marinsflus the car started to make a strange noise, which after some investigation we realised was coming from the engine. Basically, we had driven to nowhere and headed for the middle. Breaking down here would not be a good idea, especially since we had very little water and the chance of someone coming past us in the next days was dodgy at best. The car started making the noise about 80kms from the Kunene river. If we made it to the river and small campsite we should be able to get help. So with little respect for the car we headed for the river. For about and hour life got a little crazy, noises, dashboard light and headlights came and went. With 100 meters of the campsite all the oil poured out the engine and it seized.
We awoke to one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We did not however awake to other people or a way of getting this little pickle resolved. We resorted to yeh odle sat phone again. But after much chit chat and making people back home panic we didn't get much closer to solving our little problem.

Luckily there is one person in the area, Koos. And he happened to be leaving in a few days time. So for four days we filled our days lying under a tree, drinking water and chatting about life, love and science. So after a few days (4 I think) we left the car and headed off with Koos. Before leaving we buried some bully beef along with notes to ourself which vowed to reclaim once doing the hike in the future.

Once back in Opuwo we hitch hiked back to Windhoek and flew home. Not before a massive bender, experiencing the night life of Windhoek.

Driving out 

All Photos by Chris or me.