After a short flight, we arrived in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The next morning, we come out of our hotel to see that our Land Cruiser was delivered. Holy shit! I guess I didn’t fully realize how hardcore this thing was going to be. This wasn’t just some little safari jeep… with its tent roof racks, gear compartments, gasoline jugs, and all of the equipment, this thing looked fucking insane.
The guy gave us a 2 hour run down on how everything worked. How to set up the tent on the roof, how to operate the tire compressor, fridge, tire differentials, various compartments, how to change a tire, how to use the big jack and sand ladders to get it unstuck if need be, the satellite phone for emergencies, etc etc. It was information overload, and I hoped that we’d be able to remember it all.
Eventually, we are all set, and hopped in to take off. Driving this beast was… daunting. It was a huge vehicle. I was driving on the left side of the road. And driving stick with my left hand which I’ve never done. I cautiously drove the few blocks we needed to get to the grocery store, feeling super nervous every step of the way. We did our grocery shopping at a giant supermarket, which was also confusing. But really, that’s often what I love about traveling, all the new and whacky experiences.
Finally, we were off. We had a 5 hour drive ahead of us. The scenery we drove through was incredible. Felt like we were on another planet. Soon, the paved road turned to gravel, which made driving more difficult and bumpy. And then, just a measily 2 hours into our 21 day driving adventure, our tire blew out. Fuck.
We pull over to the side of the road to assess the damage. The tire is shredded to bits. Luckily the vehicle has not just one but two spares. Ok, time to change a tire. I look under the car trying to recall where I was supposed to place the tire jack. Fuck, with the 2 hour lecture of stuff, I had forgotten this one critical part. So, I place the jack where I think it should go, and start jacking it. After a while, the car looks higher, but the wheel itself hasn’t budged. Maybe the jack is in the wrong spot?? I lower the whole thing and start over. After a while I am tired and dirty and it doesn’t feel like any progress has been made. Shit. Now what?
For some stupid reason, Verizon doesn’t work in this country, so my phone is useless. The agency had given us a local SIM card which we had put in Yana’s phone, but it turns out there was no credits on it, so our attempts to call for help on her phone didn’t work either. Finally we try the satellite phone. Again and again it just says “network error”. So here we are. Over a hundred miles from the nearest town, in the middle of absolute nowhere, and no way to get help. We did have a fully loaded Land Cruiser with a roof tent, so worst case scenario, we could just spend the night there as a last resort, but really hoped to not have to do that.
Well, there was “the big jack”. The big jack was for getting the car out of deep sand, and the guide had specifically told us not to use it for changing tires because it wasn’t that stable. But, desperate times and all, so we get this beast of a jack out. We start jacking the car up, and things look ok… until the whole thing lurches to the side, almost tumbling off. Ugh. We lower the jack, reposition and start over. This time we manage to raise the car high enough to get the wheel off the ground. We pry the wheel off, but the tread had completely come off the tire and had somehow lodged itself around the axel. We pulled and yanked, but couldn’t get it to budge. Plus, given the shaky jack, we were too scared to really get under there to try to disentangle it.
Luckily, a bit later we see a car driving down the road and were able to flag it down. Soon another car passed by and also stopped. They joined forces and were able to jack the car up and pry this damn tire tread off. We couldn’t believe it, we were so thrilled. But then the guy says that there is some weird issue w/ the brake release. He’s worried about it rubbing on the wheel. What happens if it does? Well, he says, it can get hot enough to catch fire. Uhhh… what?! He advises us to drive 10km and feel the brake inside the wheel. If it feels hot, we’d have to drive the car for 10km at a time, letting it cool down before continuing. We thank him profusely for the help. We get back in the car feeling rattled. We drive 10km. We feel the brake and it feels fine. We drive another 10km, and again it’s fine. I guess we’re ok?? But damn, that was rough.
At this point, we had spent 2.5 hours dealing with this and its getting late. We need to get to camp since there are no towns between here and there. Rule #1 that we had read again and again and again…. Never drive in Namibia after dark. There are no lights, visibility is shit, and there are bound to be animals in the road. But we have no choice at this point. We drive on.
Soon its dark. We’re driving down bumpy dusty roads. At times we have to slow to a crawl due to dust storms. Two Springbok bounce across the road. Later, we have to brake as a hyena scurries past. It really hits me how crazy this is. Here we are, driving through the middle of nowhere Africa, dodging antelope and hyenas. It just feels unreal.
Eventually, we make it to the campsite. There are strict rules and the guard tells us he can’t let us in after dark… but eventually takes pity on us after we tell him about the tire etc and lets us in. We make our way to our spot and have our very very well deserved beers. We eat and then set up our rooftop tent.
On our way back to our campsite from the bathrooms, a large Gemsbok is blocking our path. We hadn’t expected wildlife literally in the campsite. Uhhh… what do we do? It seemed harmless… but it’s also a 500 pound antelope with massive horns. We stand there for a while feeling unsure, but eventually the Gemsbok gallops away. Later that night, we see a jackal run across the path. Crazy.
Eventually, we crawl up to our rooftop tent to go to sleep. It’s been an eventful first day in Namibia. We fall asleep to the high pitched yelping of jackals in the night…
