Update: Otjiwarongo, Namibia April 23, 2011

As you probably all heard the screaming and crying, I managed to find a puddle of oil on the curve around a turn signal in Cape Town, South Africa about 2 weeks ago. As will happen when the front wheel hits oil, I went down and sort of ran over my right foot, ankle, leg and banged the left one a bit as well. This was about a week after banging up the left leg on rocks going up Sani Pass into Lesotho, but that leg was well on its way back to “good to go”. For the new injury on tarmac, I got only a little road rash at the knee in spite of the fact that I was wearing shorts at the time instead of my “crash pants”.

I have been limping along and thinking “maybe it’s getting better”.

There is a small town on the coast of Namibia called Luderitz; a tar (short for tarmac) road covers the 300 km over to it from Keetmanshoop. It was in Luderitz, where the present gang of 6 all came together. Patrice and Christianne with whom I traveled in South America and Dom an Englishman traveling the world alone (sometimes) and I were joined by Daryll and Angie late from Ushuaia having ridden down from their home in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Six days ago, in Luderitz, I finally decided to get a second opinion about the leg situation – from a doctor! He seemed to know what he was doing and concluded that I was about 5 days from dead! Major infection –septicemia in the right foot, in the road rash, and in a spot about the size of a Namibian $10 coin on the left leg. He would send me into hospital for 10 days of intensive care, or if I didn’t want to do that, I could try healing it myself and get to Windhoek – where the best hospital in Namibia is located, just in case my self treatment didn’t work out.

There has been lots of soaking in anti-septic, fancy ointment and bandages, wrapping the swollen leg tightly, and elevating the leg – all while getting myself to Windhoek – 800 kilometers away – just in case I was still dying. Note: today is day 6 and I’m still hanging on.

I am taking the maximum allowed dosage of penicillin, soaking the foot in antiseptic solution morning and night (bought a plastic cake holder that my foot almost fits into for that), putting some ointment on all the open sores and bandaging them twice daily – and whenever I can, putting my leg up as well as wrapping the leg to add pressure on the swollen parts.

It is about 500 miles - from Luderitz to Windhoek. I made it in 2 days, but not much chance to put the leg up yet except at night. I stayed there for 2 days, but decided yesterday that the foot looked a lot better and I was not dying. I rode about 300 km north toward the Etosha National Park where I hope we will all reunite for a two day, one night visit inside the park. I am now in a nice little hotel in Otjiwarongo, Namibia and I’ll stay here at least for one more night. I hope to see a doctor today for a little follow-up on the infection, get the oil changed on the bike (over 6000 km already), do some laundry, and figure out how to go about renting a 4 wd van that will hold the 6 of us for our visit to the park – motorcycles aren’t allowed in; too many riders were chased down and eaten. 

The foot has gone from hurting a lot to very bad and this morning seems clearly to be heading toward good again. It is still painful all the time and except for the swelling, the bruises, and redness, it almost looks normal – except for the big toe which was bent under the foot and tore some muscle and cartilage but didn’t break or come off.

So where did everyone else go?

Many days ago, on the way from Cape Town to Springbok, Pat lead us (inadvertently he says) over a tortuous roundabout scenic route that included 40 kilometers of dirt road with 4 inches of dust on top and sand in places – not a great ride with a lame foot. It was on that 40 kilometers that I decided I was going to stay on tarmac until the foot was healed.

My friends went off-road from Aus (part way back between Luderitz and Keetmanshoop) to see a castle built and abandoned back around 1914 and the famous dunes that everyone but me will have their pictures taken in front of or riding down the face of, and eventually on to Swakopmund on the northern coast of Namibia. I stayed on tar back to Keet… and on to Windhoek and here. We plan to meet wherever I arrange for a van. After that, on to Zambia and Crocodile Creek.

Namibia never had as much rain as it’s getting now. In the Caprivi Strip along the border between Angola and Botswana reaching east to Zimbabwe and Zambia, the government has evacuated 20,000 people because of flooding and they have also declared many places in Namibia “Malaria Zones” because of all the standing water which was never there before. We are all taking Malaria pills now. The ones I bought at home for $25 each cost about $1 each here!

It is very weird here to see blacks and whites (and coloreds! – everyone else) all living and working together and wandering about in the mall etc. , but at night, almost all of the “not white” people go to a location just out of sight (like over the hill) to either their old shanty towns or the new government build modern (very small and very modest) new towns. Luderitz has about 500 white citizens and 20,000 black citizens and at night, the town is nearly all white; everyone else went over the hill to “the location” – what everyone calls the former “Black Township” where all black people had to be at night before 1994. There is no official segregation anymore here or in South Africa, but with significant exceptions of increasingly wealthy Black and Colored citizens, the large majority of Africans live separately at night. Everyone counts it as progress.

Unemployment is 63% among those over 18 years old in Namibia; only 43% in South Africa! But, people are generally upbeat about the future with the major worry being widespread government corruption which was present under the old White regimes, but seems to be expanding and more blatant under the new Black regimes. Everyone here is friendly.

Oh, did I mention that in Luderitz, you can pick up diamonds in the back yard, on the street, or strolling down the beach? Just don’t let anyone see you doing it – if you don’t turn yourself in for the 40% of wholesale value reward, you are a felon and might spend the rest of your life in a Namibian prison. Don’t tell anyone, but I got a small stash in my pocket which I hope will more than pay for this trip when I get them to Amsterdam.

Here are some pictures of stuff I’ve seen so far along the way to my possible end here in Namibia. Lots of ostriches strutting their stuff in the desert usually in groups of about 20 to 30. So far, only a couple of Oryx by the railroad tracks to Luderitz; they are very big and don’t seem like the kind of animal that should live in a barren desert.

The view back toward Cape Town from one end of Robin Island where Nelson Mandela spend many years a prisoner working in the rock quarry.

Me in front of Mandela’s cell – something like 5’ by 7’ with bucket, table, and blanket – that’s all.

OK, one shot of the ugly foot.

If you get a magnifying glass, you can clearly see there are two Oryx just across the railroad track.

One group of Ostriches also just across the tracks. There were dozens of small groups like this in the most barren parts of the Namibian deserts. What do they eat? Diamonds?

The port in Luderitz. There is no fresh water in the ground, no lakes, anywhere near Luderitz. They used to bring water for the workers and townfolk in kegs from Cape Town by ship. Now they have a 150 mile long pipe from an underground aquifer that will run dry in a short time – decade?

Downtown Luderitz. It is an example of the German style of architecture that is rampant in the town and which tourist come to see – mostly German tourists.

More desert.

More desert. I couldn’t figure out what the fence was for – only rarely did I see a cow or horse….

More desert – long straight roads to more desert over the hill.

The Namibian desert is very big and vegetation varies from absolutely nothing to thick grasslands and even trees. Other than 100s of ostriches, I haven’t yet seen many wild animals.

Both the landscape and the number and kinds of wild animals should change next week when we all gather together again up north to go into Namibia’s Etosha National Park for 2 days of the real thing  - snakes and all.

Bye, just for now - I hope.