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25 -28 June
After leaving Hobas we aimed for Keetmanshoop (a regional
center). Here we were hoping to do a bunch of vehicle repairs.
We had to work on the air leak in the fuel system, the headlights
had stopped working and we wanted to do some work on the hubs.
We were also hoping to find out more about the South Eastern
region.
Well, the headlights turned out to be a loose connection
on a lonely and stray fuse that had not been put in with the
rest of its counterparts in the fusebox. We tightened up every
bolt, screw and wire in the fuel system and hoped that would
solve our morning hassles in starting Nyathi up. We also managed
to get our hands on cork sheeting and made up a gasket for
each of the front hubs. We suspected that the front drivetrain
was permanently engaged and slowing us down.
After all these fixes we were happy - the next day - to find
that Nyathi started up with no problems, the headlights still
worked and our fix on the hubs had increased Nyathi's performance
a fair bit. A very successful day all in all.
All of this vehicle maintenance took place in our campsite
alongside a Quiver Tree forest that is a National Monument.
Quiver Trees are so named because the Bushmen (San people)
used the hollowed out stems as quivers. These trees are endemic
to Namibia and quite striking.
The next day with a much improved Nyathi we headed off for
the Duwisib Castle. We were chugging along just fine until
13km past a little town called Bethanien. Nyathi suddenly
let out a great big bellow and wouldn't stop. After gazing
mystifyingly at the engine for a while we dutifully turned
the old girl round and limped back to Bethanien. Fortunately
there was a very hand mechanic - Suipie (short for Sabrant,
but a play on words because Suipie is a colloquialism for
a little drunkard in Afrikaans) - who helped us. Suipie is
basically the fix-it man in town. He fixes vehicles, farm
pumps, fridges, etc., etc. He also owns a Land Rover.
Well, it turns out that Nyathi had a ceased valve which had
bent the pushrod. Fortunately there was no other damage. After
3 hours of snoozing under a tree, Nyathi was back in working
order and much quieter to boot. Obviously the valve had been
a problem from the start.
Another couple of hours driving and a few wrong turns along
the way and we finally rolled into the Duwisib Castle camping
site at 8:30pm on a very dark and cold night. We setup camp,
bolted down some 2-minute noodles and headed straight to bed.
The next morning we found ourselves in a grassy valley with
lots of large trees all round. Duwisib Castle itself was only
a few minutes walk away. The castle was build by a German
aristocrat just before WWI. He and his wife only lived in
the castle for 5 years before he joined up with the German
forces when WWI broke out, and was killed 16 days later.
The castle is a very unexpected structure out in the middle
of nowhere. Much of the material for the construction of the
castle was brought out from Europe, and a whole bunch of tradesmen
were apparently imported for the job. All very impressive.
In the end we spend two days here (we were in need of a clothes
washing day), before heading off to the Naukluft Mts in the
Namib Naukluft National Park.
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