The sign also said to watch out for vipers and puff adders on the trail!
As I said, we tried to get an early start.
But when you know that you don't have a travel day, you really want to go at your own pace. So we did. It was 8:00am or so by the time we made it to breakfast. But we wanted to get on the trail as early as possible because it was going to be a very hot sun. And it was a steep climb!
First pic, taken at 8:48am. It's all uphill from here!
Wasn't long before we had a nice view of the lodge.
Kevin, on the trail.
The rocks are very sharp on your hands. In fact, the reception desk lends out leather gloves for you to wear so that you don't cut your hands on some of the steeper sections, and we were glad we had them!
Took this to show you how steep the trail was that we were climbing up.
There were some odd looking trees at the top. Really stumpy with hardly any branches.
Turned out the hill was only 118 meters (350 feet) high, so it really didn't take us that long even though it was fairly steep. Never did see any snakes, in fact we didn't see any wildlife at all. Nice view from the top though, and we could see the highest point in Namibia, far in the distance...
The highest point in Namibia is in that range of mountains in the distance.
We climbed back down and it had only taken us an hour and ten minutes. It didn't really feel like four kms, yet we had followed the markings exactly, or we thought we did. I'll have to try and map it out and see if it really was four kms.
We drove into the town of Khoraxis about 30 kms (18 miles) away and bought some grocery type items. We've been buying lunch or dinner at the lodges, and then having snacks and things at other times. Breakfast has been included, so we always have a good breakfast!
Oh, and filled up with fuel again. Man, we've been doing a lot of driving. Figured out that we've put about 3,000 kms (1,800 miles) on our little Dhiatsu 4x4 from Namibia Car Rental since we picked it up on December 4th...only two weeks ago!
Then we simply relaxed for the afternoon. They have a beautiful pool at Damara Mopane Lodge...
The pool at Damara Mopane Lodge.
really glad you didnt see any of those snakes, extremely poisonous. nice view. pool would look good after that hike
ReplyDeleteTo be honest we would love to see a snake, as long as we see it first!
DeleteHm, I wonder if that funny looking tree is a Baobab? Just a guess. The pool sure looks nice. Sometimes it's hard to tell you're in Africa.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible that it might be the Madagascar baobab tree. I will have to ask someone to verify that. Thanks for the help, Bob.
DeleteYes, sometime it is hard to tell we are in Africa, in fact many times the scenery reminds of of Mexico.
Snakes are just one of the things that keep me from going back to Africa:(
ReplyDeleteWhy? I and my family have lived here for forty years and we rarely come across any. They are most welcome as they eat rats and mice, which I prefer much less.
DeleteWe would actually love to see a snake while we are here, we would just like to see it first. We think just about everything here is interesting to see, right from the little insects (ok, not the mosquito) right up to the big animals.
DeleteBoy your title sure gave me pause. Glad to see you out on the trail again.
ReplyDeleteSo are we. We love the hiking here but we have to get up early if we want to do an of the longer hikes.
DeleteAn nice hike then relaxing by the pool, sounds awesome.
ReplyDeleteYep, I think the two go hand in hand together.
DeleteGreat walk and views. You might want to put the Endomondo app on your phone, it tracks all your walks, drives etc and then shows you distance, route, pace, elevation etc.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion Glen and Steve but we would first have to get ourselves a phone in order to use the app. Maybe one day, we will join the ranks but for now we will stay phoneless.
DeletePS and you can link the Endomondo app to your Facebook page then we can all see what you are up to !
ReplyDelete