On the Road to Aus...and back again

The tiny town of Aus is only a few miles east of the wild horse herd and since we were in the neighborhood, we thought we'd drive a little further to check it out. The word “Aus” in German translates to “out”. But then, the Khoi-Khoi word translates to “place of the snakes”. Hmm … perhaps this really wasn't a place we wanted to visit? Ah, but we did.

Aus was an internment, “prisoner of war”, camp after the Germans surrendered to the South African troops in WWI. We traveled along a bumpy, gravel road to view the war memorial and the ruins of the site.

Ruins of the camp buildings built by the prisoners themselves were still visible. Crumbling foundations, rubble and detritus were all that remained of the site where 1550 German soldiers were held in captivity for four years (1915-1919).

Returning to the little town of Aus, we found that Aus isn't much at all. The tourist info office, which we'd heard good things about, was closed. There's a scenic little church, St. Theresa's, at the bottom of the hill by the railroad tracks. Aus is the end of the line for the train which primarily is used for ore movement.

Further up the road there are a few odd camping sites and a self-catering accommodation and then there is the Bahnhof Hotel. Truth be told, this was the reason we'd come to Aus. The Bahnhof Hotel restaurant offers a fine luncheon menu, but it is particularly well known for its sumptuous variety of cakes … and after all … it was David's birthday.

After a filling lunch followed by coffee and cake, we waddled to the car and started back for Lüderitz. We noticed the gravel road turn-off for Klein Aus Vista with a very inviting entrance and since we still had plenty of day left, we decided to do a bit of exploring. We hadn't gone far before a gate with a cattle guard stopped us. The sign just said to close the gate behind us. We continued on. What was the fence keeping in or out?

The circuitous road turned and twisted and dipped and finally straightened and stretched out with the desert all around us. Ostrich, wild horses, springbok and oryx all grazed peacefully together.

Up ahead in the distance, we saw a car … a very old, rusting hulk of a car … a 1934 Hudson Terraplane, to be exact. It seems there's an interesting story associated with this old car that goes something like this. The two thieves who owned the car stole diamonds from the Sperrgebiet (Forbidden Diamond Area) and were chased into canyon by the Diamond Detectives, who shot them dead. There are bullet holes in the car door to prove it. The diamonds, however, were never recovered. It is said that on moonlit nights, the thieves haunt the Geisterschlucht (Ghost Canyon) still hunting for their diamonds. No sign of ghosts or diamonds, but this car in the middle of nowhere was cool.

We could hear birds chirping nearby and finally figured it was coming from a huge sociable weaver nest in a camel thorn tree. I was somewhat tentative about standing directly underneath the nest considering the number of occupied weaver apartments above me. The birds quieted and were not at all sociable while I stood there. They were, however, most courteous and dropped no bombs while I photographed.

We retraced our track out of the canyon and as usual, saw things differently on the return trip. The expanse of desert seemed more vast from this perspective. A beautiful gabar goshawk patiently stood sentry, perched high  in a tree ready to swoop down for an afternoon munch if the opportunity presented itself.

We saw an albino oryx grazing with his more colorful kin and wondered if being “different” in the animal world posed as many problems as it did in the human world.

Back on the B4 to Luderitz, we passed by an abandoned house, situated along the railroad line that no longer runs to Luderitz. Constant sand on the tracks and repair issues caused termination of the service a decade ago. It was to resume in 2009. So far, still no train to Luderitz. TIA!

We arrived back in Luderitz in early evening. The sun had dipped below the horizon and the glow of a fine day lingered over the pier as we dinghied back to Nine of Cups.

In Search of the Namib Desert Horses

Rent a car and drive 75 (125km) miles out of Lüderitz into the Namib Desert? Wild horses couldn't drag us there! Well, actually, they could. We did hire a car and drove 75 miles to view the wild desert horses at Garub… and we're glad we did.

We were looking for an interesting way to spend David's birthday. Our friend, Liz, made several suggestions, all of which we thought were worthwhile ideas. Seeing the wild horses was right up there at the top of the list. It was an unusually cold, very windy, overcast day as we walked up Bismarck Street to pick up a local rental car. We'd packed water and a picnic lunch and headed out on the B4 highway, the only road in and out of  Lüderitz, into the Namib Desert.

The desert begins immediately after leaving the coast with a huge sweeping landscape of sand … a panorama of tawny browns and tans, russet and raw umber interrupted by granite outcroppings. Scrub and hardy desert grasses cling to the desert floor. Sand blows relentlessly and drifts across the road.

We spotted an ostrich close to the side of the road, well-camouflaged until we startled him. He began to run at an amazingly fast pace, feathers ruffled, neck stretched out and his legs propelling him in maximum stride. He certainly wasn't sticking around for tourists.

Miles before we got to the turn-off for the horse viewing area, we saw a warning sign up ahead … Horses  Next 20km. We didn't have to wait long to catch sight of them.

There were horses on the right, horses on the left and horses crossing the road in front of us. With a population numbering somewhere between 100-150, these scruffy, lean equines are considered the only feral herd of horses in Africa and the only desert-dwelling feral herd in the world.

There are several theories floating around as to their origin, but even with genetic testing, none has been positively verified.  One theory purports that “they were descended from German cavalry horses abandoned during the WWI when the South Africans invaded.  Another is that they were brought by Nama raiders moving north from beyond the Orange River, whilst a third claims they're descended from a load of shipwrecked horses en route from Europe to Australia. More local (and believable), is the story they were bred from the stud stock of Baron Captain Hans-Heinrich von Wolf."

Throughout the years, the horses have gathered at a man-made bore hole (well)  near Garub, in the middle of nowhere and graze in the barren lands surrounding it. Though considered “exotics”, since they are not native to Namibia, they've been allowed to remain because of “their ties to the country's history and draw as a tourist attraction.” We found the little, poorly marked turn-off to the Garub waterhole and headed along a bumpy, dirt road into a parking area with a hide. There was not a horse to be seen! Just as well, it was so windy, we could barely open the car doors. It was blustery and cold. David lost his hat twice.

We headed back along the dirt road and were met by a line of horses coming our way. We stopped the car and sipped some tea and watched. They were neither fearful, nor interested in us. They just ambled on across the road and began grazing on the sparse grass.

We spotted one foal, trailing along behind the herd. He seemed to have a problem with his hind leg which didn't bode well for his continued survival in this harsh environment. We've read that brown hyenas prey on the weaker horses, keeping the population in check.

We had only seen brown and black horses thus far, so when we spotted a small herd of white horses gathered under a camelthorn tree, we were pleasantly surprised. We pulled over to observe them. Judging from the look on that horse's face, I guess he was surprised by us, too. He stopped whinnying in mid-sentence!

I'm not sure exactly what we expected, but we thoroughly enjoyed our short visit with these desert dwellers. Definitely a hard life, but these are free-spirited animals, roaming wild and unfettered and it was a joy to watch them.

Since we were close to the little town of Aus, we headed onward to see what we could see. Stay tuned tomorrow.

Interested in more about the Namib Desert Horses? There's a film entitled Running Free available from Amazon.

Lüderitz's Agate Beach

About six kilometers north of Lüderitzbucht is Agate Beach. Our new local friends, Doris and Ian, invited us to go with them to see this interesting beach where agates and jasper mix on the gravelly shore and the desert sands touch the ocean. They spiced up the invitation with the promise of seeing oryx and springbok along the way and maybe more. An offer we couldn't refuse.

The route is rather circuitous through settlements of small clusters of tiny homes and then it turns towards the sea in a large arc through a narrow corridor of dunes and granite outcrops on one side and the fenced Sperrgebiet (spur-ga-beet) “The Forbidden (diamond) Area” on the other. As advertised, oryx (gemsbok) were grazing beside springbok. The oryx, the biggest of the antelopes in Africa, are absolutely stunning in coloration and grace.

The springboks are a bit more timid, but posed dutifully nonetheless.

Doris and Ian know the area well. Ian is quite the naturalist and provided lots of interesting commentary on the animals and geology and desert life. We came across a salt pan where a flamboyance of bright pink greater flamingos sifted the water for a late afternoon snack and some end-of-day flamingo camaraderie.

Across a ridge of dunes, three ostrich made their way in the shifting sands, barely visible with the naked eye.

Just before the beach, Ian stopped and we jumped out to search for desert roses. Desert roses are the local name for “rose-like formations of crystal clusters of gypsum or baryte which include abundant sand grains. ...The rosette crystal habit tends to occur when the crystals form in arid sandy conditions, such as the evaporation of a shallow salt basin.” (Wiki) The roses seemed delicate, but in actuality they're pretty robust, based on the one that made it back to the boat having survived being in my pocket for several hours.

Doris led the way down to the beach, joyfully glissading down the dune, then over tufts of tall Bushman grass and six thumbs to the shoreline. We combed the pebble-strewn beach looking for treasures, but found only quartz. No agate on Agate Beach this day. No matter. It was exhilarating just being on the beach and climbing midst the dunes. Besides, it's not as if we need more rocks aboard Cups!

We climbed back up and joined David and Ian at the top of a sand dune. We surveyed the beach below while sipping sundowners and munching snacks that Doris had thoughtfully brought with along with her.

The wind played as artist on the sands surrounding us, where delicate patterns etched and formed ripples in the shifting sands.

The pièce de resistance? A gorgeous sunset with new friends.