From Sesfontein to Camp Aussicht

We reached Sesfontein, which has an old German fortress and a small village around. As we are now in the Kaokoveld, the area every off-roader dreams about, we had considered if we could do a tour through the most empty part of Namibia. The D3707 would lead from here to Puros and back to Opuwo further north. We were not very confident, that this is a pad for our car, but we decided to drive the first part and see. We turned around very soon. The road was not too difficult, just very strenuous to drive and that for a very long distance, with the knowledge it would get more and more challenging with deep sand and steep river crossings. It would have been fun with a Toyota Hilux, just not with our car.

Fort Sesfontein

The government of former German South West Africa built the Fort Sesfontein in 1896. It served as a control base for poaching, smuggling of weapons and the cattle plague. It already lay in ruins, before it was reconstructed and used as a lodge with pool and restaurant. The inner courtyard with big trees is like an oasis in the desert.

One of the things we discovered during our time in Namibia, was the Rock Shandy or Malawi Shandy, a non-alcoholic drink, always served in a big glass. It consists of equal parts of soda / ginger ale and lemon soda with a dash or two of bitters served very cold with ice – very refreshing.

Stop at the supermarket
Promises, promises,…
That was more the reality
500 metres of concrete – yeahhh!!

Our campsite for the night was called Camp Aussicht, a farm owned by a German man, who has a small copper mine on his land. He also does guided tours to a Himba village, which was sadly booked out for the next day. But we could watch the porcupines he feeds every night, which was lovely to see again.

Marius Steiner @ Camp Aussicht

We had read many bad comments about the road to get to the campsite, which is 5 km of rough track through the river and up the mountain. In the end, it was no problem at all, even with our big car. We just had to watch out for the trees, but we made it without taking the saw out.

View @ Camp Aussicht

We had our own “loo with a view” and a bucket shower, where you had to heat the water in the donkey first, then fill it into the bucket above your head and your shower was ready.

In the evening, we were sitting quiet at the terrace of the farm, waiting for the porcupines. A family with a 6 month old arrived and we could watch them munch on the food provided. Every minute all of them froze for a second, and then continued their dinner. It was fun to watch them.

Porcupine family

We will continue our way north tomorrow – more soon.

4 thoughts on “From Sesfontein to Camp Aussicht”

  1. Ulrike Scharrer

    Wir waren am Ende der Regenzeit in Camp Aussicht. Der Fluß war schon spannend, die Straße wirklich schlecht. Den Ausflug zu den Himbas konnten wir mit Marius machen – auf dem Rückweg hat selbst er sich bei der Flussdurchfahrt festgefahren. Wir waren froh, am nächsten Tag heile wieder auf der anderen Seite anzukommen. Das Jahr hatten wir aber auch viele Überschwemmungen, ganze Brücken sind weggerissen worden. Dafür war die Landschaft traumhaft!

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