Namibia.
The driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa
and one of the least densely populated in the world.
It's home to the Namib Desert from which the country derived its name.
In October of 2021, I joined a group of runners from around the world
to run the 7 day Namib Desert stage race, part of the Racing the Planet 4 Desert series.
Together we'd run 250 km through sand dunes, canyons, and moon-like landscapes
battling heat and high winds, while carrying all of our food & camping equipment
for the entire week on our backs.
Follow along in this 9-part series documenting my entire adventure
before, during, and after the race in one of the oldest deserts in the world.
So I'm just in Frankfurt, Germany after a 10-hour flight from Vancouver
and here I've got about a 10-hour layover
before hopping on a second roughly 10-hour flight onto Namibia.
I wasn't able to sleep at all on the plane ride over but I did manage to get about 4 hours
sleep here at the airport and I'm hoping that I'll be able to sleep again on my second
flight because it's going to be about 10 PM local time when we board and I'm kind of losing sort of
a night's sleep here otherwise. So just a few hours more to kill here and then I'll hop on my flight
Oh that's the good stuff!
Namibia is a relatively sparsely populated country at twice the size of Germany
but with a population of only 2.6 million people.
Over 19% of the country is protected, a total area of some 130 000 sq. km
and in 2010 Namibia became the first and only country
to have its entire coastline protected through a network of national parks.
So I finally arrived in Namibia, just outside of the capital city of Windhoek
which sits at 1,650 meters.
And it was actually quite cool this morning when I got off the plane.
It was single digits. But it is starting to warm up and it's supposed to get up to about
25 degrees celsius today in the city.
And I've actually stopped off here about 15 km south of the city
at what's called the Heroes' Acre. This site is dedicated to the
Namibian people's struggle for independence.
You can see here depicted are the various struggles Namibians have faced throughout history
starting with the oppression under German rule
their struggle for liberation in the 1960's from South African occupation
and their finally achieving independence in 1990.
And this site was completed fairly recently in 2002
but I thought it'd be a fitting place to start both this story and my journey here in Namibia.
I spent the rest of the day exploring Windhoek by foot
to check out some of the other historic sites and monuments.
Many of these monuments felt distinctly North Korean
which, as it turns out, is no coincidence.
A North Korean company was contracted to build many of them.
Elsewhere are constant reminders of the country's colonial past
with reconciliation being very much a work in progress.
The next day I left the capital to begin my journey to the coast.
So I've arrived at my next destination after about a 4 hour drive in a small mining town called Uis.
And there's a fairly big tin mine nearby that I'm told just recently resumed operations
after being closed for quite a few years.
Now this town is typically used more as a rest stop
rather than a destination in itself, but I'm going to base myself here for the next couple of days
so that I can explore some nearby sites.
I brought a small tent with me, so I was originally planning
on doing some tenting at one of the community campgrounds
but I decided to upgrade for an extra 10 bucks
I think it's about 25 bucks a night for one of these luxury safari tents instead
which has lighting and electricity and it gets me access to the nearby washrooms and showers
not to mention there's a restaurant and even a pool, although I think the pool might be broken
because the water looks a little bit questionable at the moment.
And there's some resident cats and some pretty hilarious talking birds that will be keeping me company.
I also needed access to wi-fi in the evenings so that I could take a few work calls
before I go completely off the grid next week
and I'll be spending plenty of time sleeping on the ground then.
I'd made my way from Windhoek in Central Namibia to Uis in an area known as the Southern Damaraland.
This was ideally situated near the Brandburg massif which I planned to visit the following day.
So it's a beautiful morning I'm gonna go check out some rock art about a half an hour up the road.
It's a site called the white lady, but I am hoping to get there before it gets too hot so let's go.
Brandberg Mountain is the highest mountain in Namibia at 2,573 meters.
This granite massif contains one of the world's largest concentrations of prehistoric rock art
with an estimated 900 sites featuring over 43,000 paintings and engravings
between 1,000 to 6,000 years old.
The most famous of these works of art is the White Lady
which is actually now thought to depict a medicine man
or possibly a young boy having been covered with white clay during an initiation ceremony.
So the polychromatic drawings, the ones that are multiple colors
they're believed to be about 2,000 years old
and you'll notice that they're all pointing to the left-hand side.
Whereas the monochromatic ones, the ones that are just one color and they're all pointed to the right
they're believed to be up to 5,000 years old.
And I just think it's so cool to think that people were here and possibly even lived here
thousands of years apart and now we're here thousands of years later as well.
The male is the colorful one and the female is the other one
and it's obviously the mating season right now.
It's from a leopard.
So I got out early this morning to explore some rock art
and now it's time for me to check out a nearby sand dune
so that I can test out my gaiters and do a little bit of heat training
because it's 36 degrees celsius this afternoon.
And it's actually more of a gaiter system that I've put together for myself
to try to keep out some of the sand that we're going to encounter next week during the race.
It really is one of the primary challenges in a race like this, and it's why so
many people use something like these specially designed desert gaiters.
The idea is that this velcro is glued along the outsole of your shoes
so that the gaiters can slip on and be secured.
But everyone I've talked to agrees that they need to be both glued and sewn on to the outsole of
the shoe in order to withstand the wear and tear of multiple days of use, and I just couldn't seem
to find a cobbler in Vancouver who could do it for me, both because of the design of the shoe
and because, apparently, the rubber is just too soft. So instead, I'll be relying on the built-in gaiters
that the Salomon S-lab Sense has along with these ankle gaiters over top. The tongue is also fully
gusseted so, in theory at least, this should be as good, if not better ,since this system should be
more breathable. I've then got some long socks that I could fold down over the top if I need to.
The only thing I'm worried about is whether this upper material, because it's designed to be so breathable
might let in a lot of fine dust and sand. Worst case, I have a backup plan. I have a pair of the
Salomon S-lab Cross 2 which is designed with a rip stop material for the upper which definitely won't
let any sand in and also has a fully gusseted tongue, and the built-in ankle gaiter.
The only problem is that these are likely to be a lot warmer which could cause my feet to sweat
and in turn could cause blisters.
So I'm going to test out the other ones first to see how they perform.
Well, not bad. I didn't have too much sand in my shoes but somehow I had a lot of sand in my socks.
So I'm not sure if that's coming in the shoe and then getting inside the sock
or coming in the top of the sock.
But I guess I've got a decision to make.
The next day I left Uis to travel the rest of the way to Swakopmund to prepare for the race
making a small detour north to the seal reserve at Cape Cross.
So I just stopped to stretch my legs on this moon-like landscape here.
The roads here in Namibia are actually quite good and renting your own vehicle
really is the best way to see the country.
There isn't much in the way of public transportation but
it's considered really safe to drive on your own.
The main highways between cities are quite impressive. The speed limit's 120 km/h.
But I've been driving mostly on the B roads and C roads like this that are crushed gravel or sand.
They're in surprisingly good shape and seem to be graded pretty regularly.
I've seen a couple of trucks out resurfacing the roads already.
But this is the dry season so they're not having to deal with potholes and washouts from rivers.
All the rivers are dried up here and I'd imagine it's a different story once the rain starts.
What you really want to do is rent one of these trucks with a pop-up tent and all the
camping supplies and that'll get you access to the more remote regions and less visited sites.
But this little sedan should have no problem getting me where I need to go on this trip.
Namibia is famous for its incredible variety and abundance of precious and semi-precious stones.
Gemstones are sold at stalls along roads all around the country
and many Namibians make a living by digging for them.
So I just arrived here at the Cape Cross Seal Colony
and let me tell you, it smells pretty bad!
There are colonies of cape fur seals all along the coast of Namibia
though none as large and easily accessible as at Cape Cross.
The Cape Cross Seal Reserve is home to one of the largest breeding colonies
of cape fur seals in the world, at times numbering over 200,000 animals.
The reserve is occupied all year round, although mid to late October
just happens to be when the large bulls arrive to stake their claim.
Females will each give birth to a single pup around late November to early December.
The pups will remain with the colony and will continue suckling
for the next 10 or 11 months.
This small headland is also the site where a Portuguese ship landed in 1485
while on a search for a sea route to India and the spice islands
making it at the time the furthest south on the African coast that any European had reached.
They erected a stone cross in order to claim the point for Portugal
although the two crosses that currently exist there are replicas.
This is how Cape Coss was given its name.
Now it was time to continue down the coast
to the seaside resort town of Swakopmund
before leaving for camp in just two days.
On the next episode of Racing Namibia.
So I've arrived here in Swakopmund
and this is where the race is being staged from.
We're effectively quarantining here at camp before starting the race on Sunday.