Day 26 – Kuiseb Delta

Sept 23rd

Sand Dune tour
Before setting off on our quad adventure, Franie, our male tour guide, explained how the delta came into being, why the delta developed and what the area was like before the “sea of sand” succeeded to cross the river delta. The prehistoric Kuiseb Delta is older than the Namib Desert (the oldest desert in the world). After each inland rainfall, the delta floods with water, moving over the sand dunes and mixing into the salt-water sea. Thus, the area has a good portion of vegetation that supports both human and animal life. When the rain stops, the sand blows back over the delta and covers everything in sand once again. Later, we saw evidence of this from the leafy stems peeking out of dunes that were actually completely covered trees. Geared in ‘Speedracer’ white helmets and protective goggles, we hopped on our quad bikes and headed off into the Namib Desert. Starting off on small dunes, Barbara, Marg and I (the inexperienced) quickly got a feel for the bikes. Even while we were just getting comfortable sliding down steeper sand cliffs, the others joyously made donuts in the sand nearby. After some practice, Franie took us off into the delta to show us the yellow dunes up close. All the dunes had a beautiful, soft red color caused by quartz pieces that are laced throughout. As we got further into the river delta, smaller and wilder turns appeared that caused each of us to go flying and leaping around curves and turns. At one point, I missed a turn completely and spot out onto the bumpy tuffs of rock and bushes. I was holding on for dear life, until it dawned on me I was griping the gas pedal. After a moment of recovery in my cloud of dust, I could heard Barbara and Marg sprinting after me to check if I was okay. Luckily we were stuck at the pack of the pack, so non of the experienced drivers could sit and laugh. Our final off-roading count was me – 1, Marg – 4 and Barabara – 9.

Meeting a Topnaar
During our tour, Franie took us to meet Charlie, a Topnaar (local inhabitants from a tribe of the Khoi-Khoin) and he shared with us the seeds of the !Nara plant, which you crack open with your teeth and eat the inside. The !Nara plant (the ‘!’ is pronounced as a throat click in the Xhosa language) is a green spiky ball connected by long green, thorny vines. The ripe inside is a bright yellow dotted with black seeds that tasted something like a vanilla almond. Charlie also gave us some fruit leather they make from !Nara to eat during the winter. They place the green balls under the top layer of sand to ripen in the sun, then remove the yellow inside fruit of the plant to boil, mash and push through a strainer. Finally, they pound the mush together and form it into a strip to dry. Franie shared with us a story of his friend who eat the soft buds of the plant and got high. Upon hearing that, we began harvesting like migrant workers to bring ziplock bags full to sell to students back on the ship. Charlie was also kind enough to also let us tour his Topnaar midden (living places), what he eats (which is almost exclusively the !Nara plant) and what tools he uses in everyday life. After meeting Charlie, Franie took us to meet a small gathering of other Topnaar. One of them named Jacky sold self-taught artwork to Franie’s tour groups. He made beautiful pictures of desert animals and dunes. We got to play with the most adorable Topnaar children and share with them some !Nara seeds for a snack. One little girl wore an adorable, cotton Powerpuff Girls t-shirt. They don’t have electricity in the middle of the desert, so I doubt she has seen the show.

Things from the past
After continuing on our adventure, Franie took us to a dried river valley with 500 year-old, petrified animal and Topnaar tracks. We saw tracks and prints from elephant, rhino, buffalo, eland, onyx, kudu, giraffe, baboon, cheetah, steenbok and different human prints. You could actually see the difference between narrow feet from San (Bushman) people and wider feet from Topnaar (Sand) people. Their feet evolved to be wider to make walking up sand dunes easier. While driving around the delta we also got to see gazelle, lizards and beetles. Though it is home to jackal, elephant, oryx, dune lark and snakes, we didn’t catch any of them on our trip. Thankfully, we never ran into a Black Mamba, which is the most aggressive snack in the world. Along our adventure, we stopped to experience the “roaring dunes.” Essentially, when you walk up dunes or slide down them on your butt, there is a loud tuba sound that grants the name the “roaring dunes.” Franie explained that it is caused by the compression of air between the sand bits. We also came across centuries-old ostrich eggshells, pottery and human skeletons stuck in the sand for which the Namibian coast is named the “Skeleton Coast.” I actually got to hold a 600-year-old human skeleton baby in my hands. Pretty creepy.

Rest of the Day
After a grimy day on the dunes, we headed to Crazy Mama’s to refuel over lunch. I discovered beer shanty, which is carbonated lemonade and beer, which paired nicely with a banana and beacon pizza. (Seriously, it was really good.) After walking around a bit to spend our last few Namibian dollars, we showered and spent the night catching up with friends about our Namibian adventures in port.

Highs and Lows
My “high” was having a crazy local challenge me to a dual when he wagged his finger at me and pointed to an advertisement for a gun store. My “low” was coming around a dune bend to find Goldie sprawled under her overturned quad bike. (Thankfully, she lives.)