Spitzkoppe, (1)

Finn picked Spitzkoppe as a destination.

My “Namibia” book said “ the highest is Spitzkoppe, which at 1,728m towers 600m above the surrounding plains: a demanding technical climb. Its resemble to the famous Swiss mountain earned it the name of Matterhorn of Arica, while the extreme conditions found on its faces ensured that t remained unclimbed until 1946.“ The writer, Chris McIntyre, also highly recommended this campsite and said this belonged to the community and “is well worth supporting”.

However, we were very skeptical and worried when getting close to the campsite. A lot of local, poor houses around. Kids stood in the front ofof their souvenir stands and wove at us. We feared we might camp right in the middle of all these. It was a big surprise when we drove inside the campsite. More than a campsite it’s a “mountain park” that has the whole mountain area closed-in and the campsites scattered around the hill base. The distance from the very left campsite to the very right one can be two miles apart (my guessing), and each campsite was shaped by the natural curve of the hill curve. Finn drove around and finally turned to the campsite No. 14 which was far from the road. It was amazing to have a mountain in the “backyard”, like we owned it. The mountains were granite-like rocks, and some lower ones shaped like buns, the mild slope and even surface made it very easy to walk up. For Finn it was like “back home”. He spent years and traveled around the world to climb rocks. He looked at the cliffs that went straight up and assessed how he could climb it. He showed me the small cracks where to land the feet but the hands, if no cracks to hold, simple put on the rocks and let the friction take the weight. The hands became leathery after the skins were pilled off too many times.

Finn opened the canopy shade, so we used every function that the car provided. It was quite big and not too hard to open. I used the last available food to cook dinner, grilled chicken breasts in tomato mushroom sauce. We will stay in a hotel tomorrow so it’s better to consume every bit of the food.

Birds gathered around and looked for some scraps when we were having dinner A pair of birds with huge beaks were the most fearless ones. They landed on the tree next to us and won’t leave. Finn took out his camera and approached one that landed on the lower branch, one step at a time until it flew away when he got really close. I was behind the scene and took many shots of the bird and Finn.

It was still bright after the dinner. We walked up a rock and sat there to watch sunset. Through binoculars I could see a small animal going up along the ridge of the hill. It would be nice to stay out longer. However, Finn didn’t feel safe. He pointed the poops on the ground and said he wasn’t sure which kind of animals have been here, what if it was a kind of predator. I didn’t think it was. The poop looked like from the animals that ate vegetation, not meat. But if he didn’t like it it was no fun to stay longer.Read more