N a m i b i a

[lupussonic]

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[lupussonic]

We probably know more about the surface of Mars than these places.

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[lupussonic]

Desert mongoose. Dude ate most of my dinner.

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Attachment 80702

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'Goodbye and thanks for all the Boerworst'..

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[Jim Bow]

Fantastic! Is that some kind of drilling truck? Drilling whells?

That's what's known as a CMP (Canadian Military Pattern). Developed for the Canadian Forces in the late 30s, it became the British Commonwealth standard truck after losing so many vehicles at Dunkirk. Standard cab powered by Ford and Chevrolet, used on everything from 1 ton on up. Manufactured in Canada, Australia, and S Africa.

[Gib Etheridge]

Wonderful photography of a place I've never even thought about. Stark! I find myself wondering how the first people there ever found enough to eat or drink.

Looks like you found a more effective way to post, yes?

Yes or no, thank you for going to the effort Martin.

[lupussonic]

Thanks Gib.

Here's some more fixer-uppers. As usual, an inflatable donkey for anyone that gets them identified.

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[Garret]

The 4th one is a 49-53 Chevy 3 window. Most likely a 1/2 ton (3100 series).

[lupussonic]

6.
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6. (Interior.)
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[L.W. Baxter]

marvelous.

im with gib, never even thought about namibia, beyond noting it's existence. you have put it on the map for me.

[Bobby of Tulsa]

The 4th one is a 49-53 Chevy 3 window. Most likely a 1/2 ton (3100 series).

Number two is a 1928 one and a half ton Chevy truck I had one just like it.

[lupussonic]

I did a 5 day canoe trip on the Orange river.

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I made a self tending mizzen out of sticks, twine and a bed sheet, I got fed up with keeping my nose into the wind, or wasting a tail wind, depending on which way it was blowing. With apologies to anyone that ever made a sail.

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[lupussonic]

I made this for my guide Salam. He was awesome.

Can you do this?

[amish rob]

I made this for my guide Salam. He was awesome.

Can you do this?

Sure. I could do that. Until I got stuck about half way and died that way, stuck forever as an ugly pretzel wrapped around a double paddle.

[webishop14]

Unafraid of UV rays and/or melanoma?

[lupussonic]

Unafraid of UV rays and/or melanoma?

Lagged in sp 50, also long sleeve shirt, wide brim hat and trousers after 1000 am.

[Garret]

I got to know a couple from Namibia who ended up in Maine on their beautiful Alden sloop. I fixed their Mercedes engine for them & the dinner in payment started a way too short friendship - but they had to head for the Caribbean. They were very worried about their country - but I got the sense that one reason they'd taken off was to not lose all they owned - not that they ever said that directly.

Great video, BTW - you guys were having fun!

[lupussonic]

In recent years I have frequently heard of Namibia, because it is a photographer's destination!

I actually didn't know that.

I was working in Germany all last year with the pandemic unfolding., alongside an assistant originally from SA. We machinated and made our plans for off time in winter. I was planning to go to France to the middle of nowhere, the scene of a former thread, but then France shut its border momentarily. My colleague said he was going to Namibia, hire a cheap car and just bum around for a few months.. Almost zero Covid, hot, cheap, animals, landscapes etc. It was that or miserable freezing Covid infested Europe. I bought a ticket the next day.

I regret not photographing more people. But for me photographing people has a huge amount of politics involved. By far the most fascinating people for example, are the Himba, particularly the women, who cover themselves in red ochre head to foot, braid and ochre their hair into a Himba 'do' , with beads and metal jewelry, and always shirtless. They are herders in the North West. There was talk of a guided tour to a Himba village, which although I kind of wanted to go, declined. They are not entirely cut off from the 21st century.. They have basic phones and know what the Internet is, a bit. But like many in Namibia, they live in roundal huts and tend their livestock and live their traditional lives in the mountains. I am from another planet as far as they are concerned, and the last thing I wanted was to point a camera at them. I did not even want to pollute them with my presence. I am still not sure what to think about that... If you paddled up the Amazon, and saw one of the last remaining tribes unaware of anyone else, would you make contact, knowing what you know? OK, non pareille, but similar. There are photos of the Himba all over the Internet, go look. Visually and actually fascinating people but I could not bring myself to photograph them.

I did however have a song sung to me by a Himba musician... Will post it tomorrow.

[lupussonic]

The second largest canyon in the world.

Fish River.

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..and with rain.

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[lupussonic]

Mr and Mrs Agama Planiceps.

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[lupussonic]

Animals with a 50mm isn't easy, but here goes...

Greater kestrel.

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Plover, I think.

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Secretary Bird (ground eagle).

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Dark Chanting Goshawk.

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Dark Chanting Goshawk.

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[lupussonic]

Peroxide Warthogs.

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De-horned White Rhino.

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Steenbok.

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Hartmanns Zebra.

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[lupussonic]

Glossy Starling.

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Kudu. Best steaks ever.

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For Gib.

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Wood Hoopoe.

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Wildebeest.

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[lupussonic]

Red Hartebeest.

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Steenbok.

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Kori Bustard.

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Ovambo Tree Skink.

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[lupussonic]

Bull Elephant and Bateleur Eagle.

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Kudu.

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Another gratuitous Lion shot.

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[lupussonic]

Poor old George.

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[bamamick]

What a gift of a thread! Thank you for sharing these marvelous images of a place few of us know much about. I have read a bit about the Boer War and WWI in Africa, and have heard of the Skeleton Coast, but that's about it, really.

Thank you once again.

Mickey Lake

[lupussonic]

Thanks Mickey.. I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm finished I guess.. I may have one or two more to post as I process more photos, but the bulk of it is done. I hope you all enjoyed it...I'm happy to get out of the spotlight now and let this thread slide downwards.. but I'll sign off with this short clip.

I have no idea what he was singing.. probably 'Who is this *sshole...come here to my village...I hope he has some cornmeal....or even maybe some beer...yes some beer would be great....nice and cold....I like beer...'

[Garret]

I'd rather you didn't get "out of the spotlight" & had more to post - but I get it & will again say thank you - these were all wonderful & I appreciate the time you took to put them up here for us.

[John B]

A real education. I've been googling the country, a truly horrific history but it sounds like one of the more enlightened places now.
Thanks for the thread, I'll take more notice of Namibia now because of it.

[brad9798]

Amazing pics and information. Thanks for sharing.

[webishop14]

One of the best bilge fresheners I've seen.

[gypsie]

Stunning, loved every moment of this thread!

[lupussonic]

Thank you gentlemen for your enthusiasm, I really appreciate it.

As I said before, I have completely missed the entire DSLR evolution, and have a steep mountain to climb..(aperture? what are you talking about? Shutter speed? I don't have one? ISO? really?) but it has been so good to get back behind a viewfinder again, like a child let out of a cage. I promise to make a nuisance of myself in this regard more often here.

I have never been to Southern African countries before. It has been a revelation and an education, in just about everything. I met people from all walks of life, many walks I did not even know existed. All in all I did ok; 3 months, 11,000 km...many opportunities for things to go wrong, but I kept it all together; nothing broken, nothing stolen, no tragedies. A small accomplishment for me. I went with the remit of discovery, learning and photography.

The dynamic of adversity there is acute and in focus. Eat or be eaten. Kill or die. Walk to water or don't drink. An animal will only attempt to kill if it has the advantage, if it is not sure it will not make the attempt. Injury = certain death. Only go where you want if you are really sure... and be aware of what can kill you where you are going and be alert, constantly. This may seem melodrama for most, but an animal without back up will not move in, a tree without rain and ground water will not survive, and an idiot without nous nor skill soon loses their life. There is an acute competition for survival in Namibia. The animal behaviour I witnessed there was instructive; I watched for about 5 hours a play unfolding between a rhino family, two calves and two adult females, a hungry lioness, and a giraffe one night at a water hole. The calves were on the ground, at first I thought they had been injured by the lioness as they were motionless. The Lioness was 40 meters away, grunting for her pride to join her, a terrifying sound that made the very ground reverberate. Male rhino arrived, 'Hoorah!' though I, the tables have turned.. Advantage Rhino. He then drank and moved away uninterested in the fate of his offspring. Advantage once more to the lioness. Then one calf got up and appeared ok. Lioness kept calling. all the while a giraffe was standing off, waiting to drink for over 2 hours. It then moved in, and stood 20 meters from the lion facing it directly. Dis-advantage Lioness. The giraffe stood there for half an hour, ten meters tall and a kick that can kill...just staring directly at the lioness. She stopped grunting after a while and thought better of it. She retreated...but it could have been food for a month for her entire family had it gone the other way. A close call. A bird will not fly somewhere if does not need to, an antelope will only graze in open ground in a herd, a leopard will only rest in a place it can survey for a kill. There is no flim flam casual will.

And so it goes with the people there. No bones about it, there is real desperation. People also want to survive...NEED to survive. Some are directly out to survive off you, others are more subtle, others have given up completely, crushed by the constant effort of their lives and the way of the world. The cost of my camera is unimaginable wealth to most people there, given that even if they had a mind numbingly boring job, it would most likely only bring them in $50 a month. There were times of danger for me, but mostly if you are sensible you will never see the dark side, Inshallah. I met a few native Namibians who had seen the dark side, and believe me brothers and sisters, you don't want to know.

From another thread...

I pulled into a supermarket in Windhoek. Dozens of chancers trying it on... 'Can I have a dollar?' 'Hello Sir, look after your car 5 dollars, please Sir, 10 dollars?' Car park hyenas. They don't go for the Black guy sitting in 100,000 dollar BMW, they go for a white scruffy dude in a 10 bucks a day rental.
Guy rocks up, 'im hungry Sir, can you buy me some food please?' 'I don't want money...'. OK I say, I'll get you some food, just chill out.

I go to buy my shopping, and get him a sausage and chips from the deli, pay for my stuff and go back to the car. When I get to my car he's there with 5 buddies. All selling, all begging talking 9 to the dozen. Dude next to me in his BMW completely absorbed in his smartphone. I pack my stuff into the car amidst the jabber, and then give the man his dinner. He looks, at it, and says it is too cheap, too small. I'm furious, tell him to piss off, and try to take back the food. Ingrate. A scuffle later and the sausage and chips is all over the car park asphalt. He squats down and starts eating it off the car park looking at me and saying 'see, I even eat it off the road, I'm so poor and hungry.. Ass hole white guy.. .' I tell him that he's not the only one to have been poor, I was too, and squat down with him and eat off the floor with him. He is shocked. I pick up half a sausage and eat it AT him. He picks up some fries from a dirty spot and puts them in his mouth with mock relish..I rub my nasty morsel of sausage in an even more dirty spot.. And there we are in a dirty eat off, trying to get our messages across. I stood up to go to my car, telling him that when he asks for help, and somebody helps him, he should learn some manners. Just say thanks, no biggy.. One of his buddies who was trying to sell me some crap, agreed, in fact he would start to teach his ungrateful
friend some manners, he would start that very evening he told me. Could he just have 5 bucks to pay for his teaching lessons? Sheesh.

I also met many many 20 - 30 year olds who were clued up, honest business minded people who I trusted and thought highly of, and want to interact with again. Materials are hard to come by and logistics are difficult, but where there is a will there may be a way... the hunger to climb the ladder has bred a new generation of strivers who are clued up, communicative and open to ideas.

The sun is the most violent thing I came across. Imagine bombing down a road with the AC on full blast, and still getting burnt from the radiating heat coming off the windshield on the inside. It is fierce. Come 0900, if you want to find people or animals, look for shade. You cannot afford to not cover up, it will injure you. Most days it felt like a hammer, even under a hat. Even under a tarpaulin it can give you a headache at noon. Crazy.

The potential of the country is huge, starting with the people. Warm, funny, easy going and willing. Politically quite liberal and stable for now ( Nam Dollar is linked to the Rand.. who knows for how long these 2 countries will continue their solidarity), religiously free, open for business (there is a unused 100 tonne boat cradle and empty warehouse area waiting for someone to breathe life into it in Luderitz if anyone is interested), Namibia is an incredible kaleidoscope of people and landscapes, cultures languages and psychologies. I was only a tourist traveller.. I admit that I can only give a snapshot or two of the place, I am not a trans African with 20 years of adventures and understanding under my belt. Most business owners, entrepreneurs are white. Education for Namibians is sporadic, they have realistic dreams of a lesser ambition. Farming is not what I know as farming, it is basically keeping animals for tourists to look at, but there is some intensive crop farming where water is available. There is a serious table grape enterprise at Aussenkehr on the Orange river, which comes with its own social issues, but the finest blush grapes I ever tasted.

Namibia is heavily dependant on tourists, and during these times, there simply aren't any. It is sparse at the best of times, but seriously now, there's no one there at all. If you want something made, get it done there. It has next to zero covid, if you want a break in the heat, go and do it. I met a guy with a saw mill and 200 tonnes of mesquite stacked up around his property...cheap as chips. The seas are full, and largely untapped. You could pay double the average wage and buy loyalty, care and enthusiasm and still not feel it.

I am still digesting, but tempted to move to Luderitz; a great little town with friendly people and a small tight knit business community stuck out in the 8rse end of nowhere. Cooled by the sea breezes, plenty of wind, harbour, cheap buildings...Wonderful.

Thanks again to you all for your kind comments and time reading this thread.

Martin.

[webishop14]

You have it backwards, Martin -- it is we the bilge denizens who owe you a great heap of thanks for your photography and your insight into the country, even if gleaned from only three months immersion. Still it is immersion.

[Jimmy W]

Thank you again Martin. Enjoyed the thread and learned more about the country.