Read Online No Stopping for Lions by Joanne Glynn - Free Book Online
Authors: Joanne Glynn
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ladies pouring the last of it into their tea in the kitchen when we first arrived.
Further north into the Namib Desert in Damaraland, just 70 to 80 kilometres east as the crow flies from the notorious Skeleton Coast, is Twyfelfontein, Namibiaâs first World Heritage site. Here, an enormous number of engravings and paintings by hunter-gatherer communities, said to be more than 2000 years old, cover an absurdly small area of rock face. There are several theories as to their purpose but this uncertainty seems to add to the enigmatic draw of the place, and we had resolved early on to see it for ourselves. Now weâre heading for Doro Nawas, a lodge within striking distance of the site.
The main building of the lodge sticks up brown and forbidding from a single rocky outcrop in the middle of a floodplain rugged with rocks and dry yellow grass. On our approach the staff appear at the entrance, hands shielding their eyes to focus more clearly on the beautiful machine humming up their track. They trot down the steps and greet us with a cool drink and a joke, and the drivers, mightily impressed, jostle for the privilege of taking the Troopy around the back to the car park. Weâre shown to our chalet, which is glamorous and large, and it has a large bathroom with an isolated toilet, which is just as well because both Neil and I have picked up some sort of bug and have diarrhoea.
On our second day there we go on an afternoon drive looking for desert elephants. The guide, Barnabus, is greatly intimidated by a South African bird expert aboard and stops answering our questions after the birder constantly corrects him, but one thing he does tell us is that there are no predators in the area. So driving back to camp after finding the elephants we are startled when a big dark cheetah appears going like the clappers parallel to our vehicle, in pursuit of a springbok. This follows hot on the heels of a near miss with an incoming light aircraft after Barnabus, unaware of its approach due to him being rattled by the birder, drove across its path at the start of an airstrip. In all the excitement my crown again becomes loose.
Driving through the countryside, past villages and small homesteads, weâve commented on the number of abandoned bandas . These simple thatched dwellings are always well built and look to be weatherproof, so weâve speculated as to why squatters havenât moved in, or at least purloined the building material in a land where any possession is precious. Barnabus provides the answer by telling us that these dwellings are usually not abandoned, but temporarily vacated. As villagers move around seasonally with their goats or to tend crops, shelter is needed in different places and at different times, and itâs accepted by all that any banda , whether currently occupied or not, is private property.
Over the next three days Barnabus shows us many weird and wonderful things, including the amazing welwitschia plant, a prehistoric leftover which grows only in the Namibian desert and can live for hundreds of years, just one spongy leaf which splits and furls into a low, convoluted mass sometimes metres wide.
We leave Doro Nawas with an early start for Grootberg Lodge via the town of Otjiwarongo, where I have an appointment with another dentist. Weâve been on the road for a couple of hours when Neil realises that weâve forgotten to visit the rock art site at Twyfelfontein, so wrapped up were we in old plants, loose teeth and even looser tummies. But itâs too late now, so we press on to Otjiwarongo and locate the dental surgery. What a difference in practices. Here everyone is chatty and helpful and genuinely trying to help. My recalcitrant tooth is stuck back in with extra strong glue then off we go.
Itâs late by the time we get to the wild and desolate Grootberg Plateau, and almost dark when we come to the turn-off to the lodge. Their road is one of the worst Iâve ever driven on,
Further north into the Namib Desert in Damaraland, just 70 to 80 kilometres east as the crow flies from the notorious Skeleton Coast, is Twyfelfontein, Namibiaâs first World Heritage site. Here, an enormous number of engravings and paintings by hunter-gatherer communities, said to be more than 2000 years old, cover an absurdly small area of rock face. There are several theories as to their purpose but this uncertainty seems to add to the enigmatic draw of the place, and we had resolved early on to see it for ourselves. Now weâre heading for Doro Nawas, a lodge within striking distance of the site.
The main building of the lodge sticks up brown and forbidding from a single rocky outcrop in the middle of a floodplain rugged with rocks and dry yellow grass. On our approach the staff appear at the entrance, hands shielding their eyes to focus more clearly on the beautiful machine humming up their track. They trot down the steps and greet us with a cool drink and a joke, and the drivers, mightily impressed, jostle for the privilege of taking the Troopy around the back to the car park. Weâre shown to our chalet, which is glamorous and large, and it has a large bathroom with an isolated toilet, which is just as well because both Neil and I have picked up some sort of bug and have diarrhoea.
On our second day there we go on an afternoon drive looking for desert elephants. The guide, Barnabus, is greatly intimidated by a South African bird expert aboard and stops answering our questions after the birder constantly corrects him, but one thing he does tell us is that there are no predators in the area. So driving back to camp after finding the elephants we are startled when a big dark cheetah appears going like the clappers parallel to our vehicle, in pursuit of a springbok. This follows hot on the heels of a near miss with an incoming light aircraft after Barnabus, unaware of its approach due to him being rattled by the birder, drove across its path at the start of an airstrip. In all the excitement my crown again becomes loose.
Driving through the countryside, past villages and small homesteads, weâve commented on the number of abandoned bandas . These simple thatched dwellings are always well built and look to be weatherproof, so weâve speculated as to why squatters havenât moved in, or at least purloined the building material in a land where any possession is precious. Barnabus provides the answer by telling us that these dwellings are usually not abandoned, but temporarily vacated. As villagers move around seasonally with their goats or to tend crops, shelter is needed in different places and at different times, and itâs accepted by all that any banda , whether currently occupied or not, is private property.
Over the next three days Barnabus shows us many weird and wonderful things, including the amazing welwitschia plant, a prehistoric leftover which grows only in the Namibian desert and can live for hundreds of years, just one spongy leaf which splits and furls into a low, convoluted mass sometimes metres wide.
We leave Doro Nawas with an early start for Grootberg Lodge via the town of Otjiwarongo, where I have an appointment with another dentist. Weâve been on the road for a couple of hours when Neil realises that weâve forgotten to visit the rock art site at Twyfelfontein, so wrapped up were we in old plants, loose teeth and even looser tummies. But itâs too late now, so we press on to Otjiwarongo and locate the dental surgery. What a difference in practices. Here everyone is chatty and helpful and genuinely trying to help. My recalcitrant tooth is stuck back in with extra strong glue then off we go.
Itâs late by the time we get to the wild and desolate Grootberg Plateau, and almost dark when we come to the turn-off to the lodge. Their road is one of the worst Iâve ever driven on,
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