Epic Blow out in Namibia!
We continue our Epic Travel Fail series today in Southern Africa, one of my favourite places! Thinking about epic travel fails, I realize that most of them revolve around transport! From airport transfers to ferries, flights, buses and of course, cars - drama is never far! Going on an overland adventure through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe is a breakdown waiting to happen! At least once! Having lived in South Africa for nearly a decade, I have experienced my fair share of car drama. Some could have been avoided, some were just fate, but it's always been an adventure! Today, we shed light on the trials and tribulations of travelling through Namibia in your 4x4 vehicle. Don't miss out on it!
Let me start by saying that Southern Africa is one of the best places to go on a road trip! The roads are (mostly) great, it’s easy to navigate and the landscapes are so diverse and always amazingly beautiful! Having a car at your disposal gives you the freedom and flexibility to explore the region on your own terms. Plus, to be honest, there isn’t much choice as it comes to public transport infrastructure. Public overland buses are relatively widely available, but it’s usually a long and not very enjoyable journey. Train routes throughout Southern Africa are extremely limited and often not very reliable! Unless you join a guided group tour, renting a car is the best way for the intrepid traveller to get around. However, with great freedom comes great responsibility!
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
Driving through Southern Africa, you have to keep a few things in mind! Meanwhile, the roads are mostly good you won’t find many multi-lane highways where you can speed along. Outside the major cities, roads are often relatively small, leading through towns and villages where you have to slow down. You do find some good tarred main highways, but be prepared to spend most of your time on smaller roads and sometimes even on rather rough gravel roads. Some are better, some are worse. Most can be travelled on with a normal car for others driving a 4×4 vehicle is the only option. Therefore, keep in mind that travelling 200 km on Southern African roads will take longer than what you are probably used to. Throw in a few construction sites and you have yourself a day trip.
Also, an often underestimated fact is that distances are vast with usually very little to no civilization in between. This makes driving here so beautiful, but it also means there won’t be anyone around if anything goes wrong. If you have a long drive and you see a petrol station, get petrol and check your oil, water and tyres! Don’t faff around, rather be safe than sorry!
If you plan an overland trip with a rental car through several countries, make sure you rent a car that matches your planned route! If you choose to camp – at least for a part of your trip – I can only recommend a 4×4 vehicle with a rooftop tent. Those vehicles are comfortable in any terrain and it comes fully equipped with tent, bedding, towels and kitchen equipment! We rented a 4×4 camper with Britz in South Africa and had great experiences!
The Epic Southern Africa Road Trip!
In 2018, my husband and I were lucky enough to take some time off to travel. To this day, I think my favourite part of our travels was our 6-week overland road trip in our camping 4×4 vehicle! We started in Cape Town, South Africa, travelled through the lengths of Namibia, dipping into Botswana and then travelling down South through Zimbabwe to Johannesburg! I had partly travelled this route 10 years earlier, working as a translator on an overland trip. We had planned to revisit the highlights along the way as well as explore the new places I didn’t get a chance to see back then. Only now we would be able to travel on our own, in a 4×4 vehicle, camping in style with our rooftop tent! A blissful 6 weeks were waiting for us with plenty of nature, sitting by the fire at night, taking in the sounds of the African bush!
The Cornerstone of our Trip - The Vehicle!
As mentioned, we rented our camping vehicle with Britz, starting our trip in Cape Town and ending it in Johannesburg! The pick-up from the Britz Cape Town office which is located close to Cape Town International Airport was enjoyable! The staff was friendly and gave us an in-depth briefing before we hit the road! We learned how to set up the rooftop tent, where to find tools in case we have to change the tyre and how to switch the car into the 4×4 mode! Having learned from previous mistakes, we tried to pay close attention because there would be no help or turning back once on the road.
After we stocked up on food in a nearby mall, we put on some good road trip tunes and we left the big smoke behind us to start our big trip covering 10,000 km around Southern Africa!
When you are planning your own overland trip through several countries I would suggest booking your rental car pick-up and drop-off in the same country. While it’s usually pretty affordable booking different cities, starting and ending in different countries is usually extremely expensive. Also, make sure to inform the rental company of the countries you plan to travel in since you will need cross-border documents and insurance cover.
Down Namibia's Rocky Roads
After an ice-cold night camping in the beautiful Cederberg region, we spent our last night in South Africa at the banks of the Orange River before entering Namibia. So far, we had travelled on perfectly tarred roads, but we didn’t have to travel far on the Namibian side to hit our first gravel road. The transition from the smooth surface of the tar road to the rocky gravel road was quite enerving at first. The car went shaking and rattling, making every pot, pan and plate jump and shudder on the rough underground.
After only one day of bouncing around Namibia’s gravel roads, we had our first minor incident. We stayed the night at the Canyon Road House Campsite, close to the Fish River Canyon! As we opened the back of our trusty vehicle we found the whole compartment in total disarray. The metal rails holding the heavy camping table clamped neatly under the roof had broken and the table had fallen on our luggage and some minor kitchen utensils. Not being able to weld the rails back into place – obviously – we just had to find a new place for the table in the back of the van. Meanwhile, not a drama, it was a first indication that no matter how much the vehicles are made for rough terrain, the tough Namibian roads still took a toll!
The campsites in Namibia are all pretty outstanding! We always had good ablution blocks with warm showers and clean toilets. Many campsites have great restaurants and lodge accommodation available as well. Perfect to spend the evening, when you don’t feel like cooking or even to stay if you cannot be asked to pitch your tent that night. The camping rates are usually very good and beautifully set up. If you travel in the usual high season between July and October, make sure you book some of the camps long in advance! Especially in the national parks like Etosha and Namib Naukluft Park are often booked out already months in advance, even for camping!
That One Time We Went to Damaraland!
We had stayed one night in one of my favourite campsites on this trip at the Brandberg White Lady Lodge! Having heard about the Desert Elephants in an area called Damaraland, I insisted on spending a night at the Palmwag Lodge campground! The roads in this rather untouched part of Namibia had already been quite intense leading up to the Brandberg White Lady Lodge. We, therefore, decided to leave early the next morning to give us enough time to cover the more than 200 km on the rocky roads to Palmwag! In the morning we got more petrol at the next available station and made sure the tyres were well filled!
The first few hours were the most intense, the road was so rough, everything shuddered and rattled so hard you could barely hear a word! In our heads, we tried to picture the chaos that would welcome us as soon as we would open the back hatch! We tried to take it as slow as possible, stopping here and there for breaks.
We finally got on the last stretch towards Palmwag Lodge with only a few more kilometres to go! It was early afternoon and the sun was burning. We hadn’t seen a human or anything resembling civilization for hours. After a long day on the bad roads, always fearing that a loose stone would crack our windscreen or cause worse damage, we couldn’t wait to get to our campsite and relax.
Not So Fast!
All of a sudden, we heard a big bang, the car sliding left and right until I managed to stop! As we climbed out of the car, we saw that our right rear tyre had not only gone flat, it pretty much had disintegrated, with only sad little black bits hanging off where the tyre used to be!
Having paid attention to the explanation of how to dismount the spare tyre and where to find the jack and other tools, we got straight to work. We have previous experience of changing a tyre, so hard can it be changing a tyre on a camping 4×4 vehicle. Right?!
We got to work, the hot desert sun pounding down on us. I decided where to set the jack and started to turn the crank to lift up the car. It turned out, there was a lot of turning and not much lifting! We took turns trying our best to lift the heavy vehicle far enough off the ground to take the wheel off. All the while other campers came past us, looking at our feeble attempts to change the tyre, without stopping!
So, now we had a car with only three wheels, unable to fit the fourth one. Great Success! I also didn’t dare to lower the car again – which would have taken us another probably 20 minutes – in case it would roll over on its side! I am not sure if this was a founded fear or just plain silly, but it’s needless to say, we felt deflated! Tired and overheated with no idea how to solve this issue. Since none of the other campers stopped for us, we contemplated walking the last two kilometres to the lodge, asking for help!
And then a Hero Came Along!
This is always the most amazing thing in Africa. You drive for hours, not seeing a single soul, no house, no nothing! And then suddenly, out of the blue, someone walks along the road minding his/her own business, clearly with a destination in mind! How on earth did you get here miraculously?
And so it happened with us as we stood there contemplating our fate! Suddenly, out of the blue appeared a young local, asking us if he could help! Unbelievable! He turned out to work in the kitchen at Palmwag Lodge and was on his way to start his shift! He had a look at our poor handy work and the shemozzle we had gotten ourselves into! After a few moments of expertise contemplation, he asked if we had a shovel. Thanks to our well-equipped car, we got the shovel out and he started digging the hard gravel road from under the tyre! How did we not think of this?
We took turns between the three of us, sweating and hacking away on the hard ground. We managed to finally get enough ground away to fit the new tyre on! What a relief being mobile again!
We shared our last water with our amazing helper and offered him a lift to the lodge. The two kilometres to Palmwag got pretty cosy since we only had two seats for three people in the front!
With a small financial token of our appreciation and many thanks, we wished our gracious hero farewell!
That 'Aaaahh' Moment!
As we arrived, we shared our story with the receptionist asking if he knew where we would be able to find a new tyre in the neighbourhood! To our surprise, he booked us straight in for a new tyre fitting at their very own mechanic on the lodge grounds. As we drove past, the lineup for new tyres was quite impressive so we felt a little less silly for our blowout! It seemed rather common.
As we finally moved into our campsite for the night, we came to chat with our neighbours. The Afrikaans couple from Gauteng, South Africa, were seasoned Africa travellers and 4×4 enthusiasts. They took one look at our tyres and nearly collapsed! We had pumped as many bars as possible into our tyres in the belief, more air would cushion the blows of the gravel road. Unfortunately, quite the opposite is the case and you always have to let your tyres down if you travel on gravel! As soon as they said it, I felt like a vague memory from our briefing reappear! Too little, too late!
In Hindsight...
What an epic fail with no one else but ourselves to blame! Needless to say, we let our tyres down and purchased a new spare tyre for 200 USD from the Palmwag Lodge! According to our rental contract we were supposed to get our money back against the receipt but unfortunately, the money never came! I guess the tyre refund debacle was the only critique I would have with our rental company!
We ended our trip with many more adventures, but no more breakdowns. For having driven about 10,000 km in 6 weeks, I guess one blown tyre is not a bad result!
What do we learn? ALWAYS let your tyres down when you travel on gravel roads! And once again, it was a lovely local who somehow appeared like a guardian angel to lend a helping hand! Should you see someone along the road, do stop and make sure they are alright! It’s Karma and will come back to you in a good way.
I hope you enjoyed this post and you join us again next week for the last episode of our Epic Travel Fails series! If you missed last weeks post, How to Get Stuck on the Wrong Side of Paradise, read up on it here!
Thanks for staying until the end. If you enjoyed reading this, please give it a Like and Subscribe!
Enjoy your week and until next time!
