Camping at Namibgrens

The weekend there was crazy snowfall in South Africa was the same weekend that we went camping at Namibgrens, about 2.5 hours south of Windhoek. The same chill and biting wind came with it too, lucky us. I know I am weak after four years living south of the equator, but daaaaaaang it was cold!

Namibgrens is a slab of private land that farms cattle and goats. It's been passed on through four generations. Between a private house, chic chalets, farmhouse rooms, and camping, the place draws personalities and enthusiasms for all kinds of people. Several of our friends say it's their favorite place to camp, plus dogs are welcome, so we decided to see it for ourselves. This camping trip would be Jim's first one in over 8 years.  After his first and only attempt camping in Shenandoah National Park, Mark and I swore off ever taking him camping again. He was so anxious and freaked out, no one got any sleep. That jerk kept pushing me off my sleeping mat and couldn't stay in one place.

We decided he would sleep in the kid's tent.

The open spread of land and lack of other campers (there was only my group of friends) ensured that Jim could explore freely. Considering he gets tired after a 20 minute walk at home, I didn't think he would do much. In fact, he was up in the rocks with the kids for most of the day. For an 11 year old dog, he ran himself silly before curling up into a tight ball and passing out well before the kids did.

Mark had ordered 6 cm thick cut pork chops from the butcher so he set to making a fire a good three hours in advance of dinner. The rest of us attempted a 4x4 trail to catch the sunset but ran out of time, returning with chilled hands and extremely empty tummies. It's funny: the owner said it was only a short drive up and over a few rocks. It was more like up and over a few mountains that required careful tracking, through five cattle gates with baboon skulls, past farm tenements (I still can't believe how tough Namibians are!) and past one thousand goats with their several protective goat dogs. 

Dinner over the hot fire was so joyous. I ate until my pants split. Then I ate some more when someone produced legit American style marshmallows. Namibian marshmallows, which likely come from South Africa anyway are all strawberry flavored and melt weird. We also had Cadbury chocolote and breakfast cookies to make s'mores, but the mouth feel is totally different than with classic Hershey's and grahams. 

The night was frosty, but mercifully the wind died down. The stars exploded overhead and I enjoyed them as long as I could. I crawled into my tent which was inside canopy tent and went to sleep listening to my children farting and snoring in the next tent over. I followed suit. We woke early as usual and wasted no time downing cup after cup of coffee and left over magical pork chops before packing up and heading back to Windhoek still chilled and saturated in smoke and dirt. Jim got home and didn't move for another 24 hours. I guess that is a sign that he had fun?

My second flat in Namibia. Our current tire count replacement is now at 7.
But this is why we always carry two spares.

Deets showing Vincent the ropes.

Campsite with cars trying to block out the wind. 

The boys.

A pending sunset that we never got to really see. 

My mountain goats. Photo credit to Mark.

So many damn stars. SO. MANY.
Credit: Mark