The road improved and we headed away from one gem of a geological landscape, through a pass and into another. I spoke about one that swam but was still as large as an ichthyosaurus. Alexis spoke of a dinosaur as big as a brontosaurus. We had both read a little about the fossil site. We didn’t stop to see the forest today, preferring to get to the Mesosaurus camp this evening and head back to the Quiver Tree forest on our return to Keetmanshoop in the morning. Some creatures, like kudu, though can eat these leaves and draw moisture from the trees. They grow luscious looking leaves and bright yellow flowers, both of which are unbearably salty for humans. If you were to cut open a dead tree you would see a network of channels which soak up and store water. Their outsides are shiny and smooth with the odd hole into their spongy interior. They are well adapted to desert life, to the extent that a period of drought is a necessary part of their survival. Quiver trees are known locally as Kokerboom. 16km later, we stopped for lunch number 2 in the shaded garden of the Quiver Tree Forest campsite and reception, sharing a cold drink and having a rest in the hammock and hanging seat. These clouds enveloped us and obliterated sight of the road ahead and behind for a short while. It was a sandy and dusty road, even the cars which slowed right down created a thick cloud of fine dust.
After a few kms we left the B1, and its smooth tarmac, for the C17 which leads to the Quiver Tree Forest and Mesosaurus Fossil Camp. Supplies, and pies for lunch number 1, purchased, we headed back to camp for our bikes and left Keetmanshoop on the B1. In the end we bought tickets for a double cabin to Wiindhoek on Friday, figuring out that we could explore the sights of interest around Keetmanshoop by then. We had hoped to travel by train for two nights in a row and avoid staying in Windhoek for two days. All passenger trains between Keetmanshoop and Walvis Bay travel overnight. It was now Thursday and we could get a train to Windhoek on Friday or Sunday, there were no trains anywhere at all on Saturday and the trains from Windhoek to Walvis Bay left on Sunday and Tuesday. At the station we found out that the trains did not leave on the days we had expected. Unfortunately the bakery closed long ago, but Alexis is used to such disappointments now. The main drag is dotted with familiar southern African supermarkets, we had our pick. Keetmanshoop is a neat town with wide streets and low buildings. The next morning we packed up our bikes, Ferdinand who runs the site let us store them in the kitchen which he would be working near, and walked into town in search of provisions and the railway station.
0 kommentar(er)
