Day 4 - Goodbye to Namibia (Updated)

It was pretty hard to get up this morning – and we even slept in later than usual until 6:30!  We had coffee at the lodge (without amarula) and met up with Peter and two new companions – Clint and Barbara from Sydney, Australia.  We got along with them famously – very friendly, colorful folks.  The five of us walked across the plain behind the lodge (about 1.5 miles) and then climbed about three-quarters of the way up a mountain to a natural cavern formed by a layer of black limestone jutting out over the face of the cliff.  

The long cutout in the middle of the mountain was our destination.

View from the top with the Lodge in the distance.

Here Peter showed us cave paintings from bushmen that date back hundreds of years.  The bushmen were a semi-nomadic people that gradually moved across the landscape for centuries.  Over time, their tools became more advanced – evolving from rounded stones and flat rocks (like those still up in the cavern today) to smaller, sharper objects that were small enough to take with them when the moved on from an area.  

A rock used for grinding by the bushmen

The cave paintings – of giraffe, ostrich and possibly warthog – may have been used to tell future groups of bushmen the types of animals living in the area for hunting.  Another image – of a group of humans – may have indicated how many people were living in the particular cavern at a point in time – or perhaps some other meaning.  Very fascinating piece of archaeological history – definitely worth the climb. 

Close-up of the previous picture showing the oryx

It's like an I-Spy book. Do you see the giraffe?

We walked back down the mountain and had one last breakfast at the lodge with Clint and Barbara.  It was interesting to hear their perspective on the U.S.  They have quite a trip ahead of them - 4.5 total weeks, including hiking in Rwanda to see gorillas!

Our little plane left the airstrip shortly after 1:30 and flew to Windhoek.  The majority of the flight was much smoother than our flight in, but the last 10 minutes was rather bumpy.  The size difference between the Sossevlei airstrip and the Windhoek airport airstrip is almost laughable, as is the size difference between the Cessna and the jets we pulled up next to.  

We had two pilots on the way back - both very young guys in their late twenties.  The guy who had the controls for most of the flight was still in training with the company (Scenic Air), though he has been flying for years.  After we landed, both guys popped one some neon yellow vests with "Scenic Air" on the bag, took our bags, told us to follow them, and then marched straight through the immigration and passport check.  Our suitcases had been delivered and stowed with another travel company, so we swapped out our luggage and said goodbye to our lovely pink bags.  Our pilots said that they might have a flight out tomorrow, so they'd be staying in Windhoek for the night.

We checked into our SAA flight to Cape Town and went through security and immigration.  After a two-hour flight (which took off 25 minutes early), we landed in Cape Town and were met by Jen Gow, who shuttled us to her place.  It was dark so we could not appreciate the landscape, but Jen assured us it was nice.  Her place is on the side of a cliff in Clifton, which is on the south side of Cape Town.  On each side of the road there are houses - on the east side the houses go up the cliff, on the west side they are topped with a parking lot on the roofs and then go down the cliff and end at the beach.  As we stepped out of the car you could hear the surf crashing a hundred feet or so below - and see white waves undulating on the ocean below.

After some delicious takeout pizza (on which Deacon, the chihuahua-yorkie, was quite fixated) we called it a night!