4x4 DESTINATION

Namibia’s Brandberg has one foot in Damaraland and the other in the Namib. This three-day route takes you from Henties Bay clockwise around Brandberg. Along the way you’ll see an ancient volcano crater, marvel at the desert plants adapted to survive here,

Henties Bay is famous for its fishing waters that attract anglers from across Southern Africa. But a hundred years ago there was no town here. Back then, in 1929, Hendrik (Hentie) Stefanus van der Merwe shot a rhino. He had heard about an American museum offering good money for a complete skeleton of a rhino, so he took a small hunting party into Damaraland to find one. Rhino shot and bones collected, Hentie and his party ran out of drinking water. They headed for the coast, and then southwards until they found water near the mouth of the Omaruru River. Once he had sent off the bones and collected his reward Hentie returned the following December to build himself a small holiday shack. Gradually, more people did the same and that’s how Hentie’s Bay came to be. Today the town is busy during summer holidays but a sleepy hideout for the rest of the year. House names like Rendezvous, A-Team and Ougat reflect the kind of people who have an affinity for Henties: retired Namibian farmers who drive around town in their 1970s Cruisers, families who gather here once a year, and fishermen who don’t mind a bit of good, clean fun around the braai fire. But what if you come here to fish but the fish aren’t biting? The following route offers three days of escape from the chilly fog of the coast – a perfect antidote if you’re not one of those people who are happy to stay indoors and fill out a crossword puzzle. The route is 478 km, so make sure you fill your tank (and take an extra can or two) before you leave Henties as your next fuel is only in Uis on the third day of the route. You also need to buy a permit to access the Dorob National Park. Get onto the C34 (also called the salt road) and drive northward out of Henties toward Cape Cross. Where the C35 (the road from Uis) joins the C34, stop and zero your odometer (S22.06678 E14.25713). Keep going on the smooth salt road, which makes a lovely swooshing sound under your tyres. You’ll pass fishing spots like Popeye, Sarah se Gat and Mile 72, and see salt works and small roadside stalls where you can buy quartz and salt crystals. These stalls are unmanned, so if you stop and take a piece of quartz, leave your R50 in the tin. At 47 km, just past the turnoff to Cape Cross, you turn right (S21.73393 E13.98764). Stop and deflate your tyres – you will drive some bad corrugations and later sandy and then stony sections of road. ONCE YOU’RE A COUPLE of kilometres into the seemingly featureless desert, stop and get out. Breathe in and listen

Get down on your haunches and take a close-up look at the ground, which seems to be covered in an orange carpet

to how quiet it is. Get down on your haunches and take a close-up look at the ground, which seems to be covered in an orange carpet. The orange fluff is a type of lichen – you’re actually in the middle of a vast lichen ‘forest’! Lichen thrive here thanks to the moisture that drifts in from the Atlantic Ocean. Lichen aren’t plants at all, even though they photosynthesise. They’re compound organisms that consist of a fungus living in a symbiotic relationship with either an algae or cyanobacteria. Small as they are, they play a big role in the environment by absorbing carbon dioxide, breaking down nitrogen and even serving as food for some antelope species. The mountain you’ll see straight ahead is Brandberg – the peak Königstein is

Namibia’s highest point at 2 573 m. To the left of Brandberg is a lower range called the Goboboseb. The Brandberg massiff is huge and 23 km in diameter from south to north and 27 km from east to west. About 24 km after you’ve turned off the salt road, you’ll encounter the first good stand of Welwitschia mirabilis at the foot of a koppie (S21.57155 E14.13694). Even an average welwitschia can have a lifespan of 1 500 years. They are truly remarkable desert survivors. The road forks 5 km further, keep right (S21.53665 E14.16953). If you take the left fork, you’ll drive to the foot of a blackish hill called Koppiealleen which you’ll see from where you are. The road there rejoins your route a little further. The best navigational tool for this trip is a GPS with Tracks4Africa route maps loaded. It is often hard to figure out which track is the ‘main’ track, and which is just a side road – with Tracks4Africa you’ll have peace of mind. About 7 km along, the track swings into the hills; this is the southern edge of the Messum Crater (S21.49288 E14.20455). This crater is about 20 km in diameter and formed 130 million years ago when a volcano collapsed into itself. Messum Crater and Brandberg date from about the same time when the supercontinent Gondwana was breaking up and Africa and South America were violently being torn apart. To view the remnants of this spectacular volcanic action someone has conveniently put up a picnic table!