Destination Erongo

Join us on a road trip around the Erongo Mountains in Namibia and explore a landscape of house-sized boulders, hidden shelters full of rock art and so much open space it feels like you’re the last person on earth.

- ESMA MARNEWICK

A cloud of dust approaches on the dirt road that cuts a dead-straight line through the landscape. I’m watching from up high at Erongo Plateau Camp. It feels like a scene from a movie: the good guy, hidden away, watching out for baddies. But the only thing thirsting for revenge today is the sun.

Photographer Shelley Christians and I walk through the sweltering campsite with Absalom Nghidipohamba. It’s November and Namibia is in the grips of a severe drought. Everything is brittle with thirst. Absalom and four other men live here and tend to this campsite in the middle of nowhere.

Over the next few days, we’ll visit many similar places. Welcome to the Erongo Mountains, where being alone takes on a whole new meaning.

On the edge of a crater

The Erongo Mountains are south-west of the town of Omaruru. Millions of years ago, a volcano rose from the landscape as tectonic plates shifted and Gondwanaland split into continents. The mountains are the remnants of this giant volcano, which once stood 3 000 m tall before collapsing in on itself. Go look on Google Maps – you can clearly see the crater.

Our route will take us around the crater, from Omaruru to Usakos, along the D2315, D2306 and D1935. Then we’ll follow the B2 to Karibib and the C33 back to Omaruru – a road trip of about 200 km.

Half an hour after leaving Omaruru, we drive through the gates of the Erongo Rhino Mountain Sanctuary Trust ( erongo mountains.org) – a huge area of mostly fenceless farms. The farmers inside have worked hard to reintroduce black rhino and blackfaced impala. (We’ll only leave the trust area again in two days’ time.)