Mudorib – Crowther’s Ridge – Xai Ais
Morning has always been special in the Mudorib camp, and bearing in mind how special they usually are when we’re wild camping, this makes them really special. Because it is in a valley we don’t see the sun rise, but we see the effect of the sun rise. We watch it touch the tops of the mountain, and watch the sunlit mountain tops grow downwards. As the sunlight illuminates more of the mountain, shadows of the canyons appear, ridges are emphasised. In the half light the mountains can seem two dimensional, now canyons and pimples have definition. Initially the light is orange, but as it descends to the valley floor it loses that early morning tint, and becomes blinding, searing, sun.
This day really was our last in the Hoanib – for this trip. We packed up and began to retrace our journey from two weeks ago. A journey which would eventually take us back home. Although, I think the 20 days of camping was beginning to catch up with me, and I was weary, I was also sorry.
The remainder of that day was fairly uneventful. But as always, when I had just said to Nigel that I thought the landscape a little unchanging, it did.
We drove past Blackridge, with its beautiful but windy views. We decided to give Kharokhaob Plains a miss, as we had explored it quite well on the way out. Because we weren’t going to Kharokhaob Plains we took a slightly different route, and in the distance saw something rather odd under a tree. We had to drive off the track to find out what it was.
It was a burnt, completely destroyed camping car. It had obviously happened sometime back but when? In deserts, with little rain, there is not much decay.
There were a few recognisable items from someone’s holiday – a burnt pot of moisture cream, a fork, camping hot plates. We would have loved to know the story of what happened, of how they were retrieved – there is no phone signal here, and I doubt many people took a satellite phone like we did. They must have had to wait for the next passing vehicle. How long? In the four times we have come through this area, spending at least two days each time, we have only once come across another vehicle.
We decided to have lunch at Crowthers camp. Ideally we were hoping to get to Xai Ais by evening. We felt there was nothing we wanted to explore on route, as we had done that on the way to Hoanib, and there were no animals to watch – the drought was taking its toll and there were considerably less wildlife than we had seen in 2020.
Crowthers camp was on a hill like Black Ridge. The view was amazing, possibly better than Black Ridge. We could see right over to the Etendeka mountain, I think – scale is impossible. It was very hot. Over the distant mountains large cumulus clouds were developing. Perhaps they would get needed rain, but it was a long way way from where we were – or so we thought!
We drove on to Ais Xai and made a campfire. I got out the 5 kg bag of flour I had bought in Sesfontein to make bread. I opened it to see it was crawling in bread mites. We left its contents for the birds at Xas Ai.
I saw a very pretty striped mouse under the wheel of our vehicle, and started to worry that it could get inside, and in our bedding. Once in Kenya, we stupidly left our patio doors open at night. We had watched mice run up and down the tree opposite our room. So, it was really stupid. The following day I happened to move a blanket on the bed, and the mouse ran off. For some reason I started obsessing about it getting into the campervan.
Nigel was in a really upbeat mood, but my anxiety got hold, and I spoiled the mood. Of course the mouse did not want to get into bed with us. I think my weariness was getting hold and feeding irrational anxieties.
The solution was gin, which worked. We spent the rest of the evening watching the rain clouds grow over the distant mountains, with occasional lightning adding to the atmosphere.
At midnight we were woken by the most amazing thunderstorm. It went on for a couple of hours. Thunder, lightning, pounding rain – in the desert. I had to keep reminding myself that we were safe and not in a riverbed (flash flood), or out in the open (lightning). But I didn’t always manage to believe myself. Especially when Nigel got out of the campervan, and said there was water everywhere. He retrieved our flip flops which had floated off, and cleared the driver’s seat in case we needed to make a quick getaway – we didn’t.
Desert Wonderers 