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namibia

All That Glitters (Part Five)

By Carolyn Chon

August 20^th, 2019

I got tonnes of are you crazy looks when I told locals that I was driving up to Purros. Everyone said to me how bad the roads were, I must drive slow, my tyre pressure must be right...etc.

After maybe the third person, I was thinking to myself : "Jess!! Why didn't you warn me about Purros?". How hard could a drive really be? How bad can the roads (or lack thereof) really be?

palmwag to purros

I left Palmwag probably around 9am, right after breakfast. I was hoping to reach Purros around 3 at the very least. From Palmwag to Sesfontein (a decent small town before Purros) it was a decent drive of about 110km. I saw plenty of other wildlife while heading to Sesfontein, which was nice. I had planned to stock up on food for Purros there, but didn't really see any proper stores, so I didn't. I figured my biscuits, bread, instant soup and Nestum (which I brought from home) would do it.

I made a pit stop at the petrol station in Sesfontein to check on my tyre pressure, as per advice by many. Tyre pressure checked and I was set to go. Just into the third km into the drive from Sesfontein I was already worried, as the road or should I say path was rocky and bumpy as heck. So, I took my time with the drive, thinking at the back of my head that I have 6 hours of daylight and that is technically more than enough for me to get to Purros, which was about another 100km away.

that 100km to purros

I drove the entirety of the trip without probably ever going beyond third gear. Yes, slow loris I was. Please do remember the fear that I had of having to step out of the car to change a punctured tyre.

There were lots of going up and down hills in maybe the first 10-15kms of the drive, the road was narrow and barely any other cars were on sight. I think I maybe passed a max of 5-7 cars, all of which were going towards Sesfontein's direction. There were even caravans, but mostly 4x4s. I thought to myself, it must not be as bad as I imagine it to be.

I remember I kept looking at the odometer, counting down to when I would reach Purros. That bloody fear that the locals had unintentionally given me, was really creeping inside me.

At one point of the drive, the road became complete sand. Sand like on the beach kind of sand. Super soft. I wasn't sure how fast I could've been driving, but I maintained my slow loris speed, I even wanted to stop and get out of the car at one point because the scenery was so vast and epic. But nope, I didn't. I powered through with fear and just wanted to get to Purros asap.

I followed tyre trails as there wasn't any proper road indications anymore by then, sure there were arrows and signs, but they weren't the most helpful to this nervous Asian girl.

I finally reached about 3 hours later, yes I took 3 hours on a 100km journey.

purros community campsite

Believe me when I say it was a real relief to have finally reached there, the last 20kms of the drive got me even more and more nervous as the GPS showed me the route, but there were also alternative routes appearing as I was driving.

Even after the turn off where the Purros Community Campsite sign was at, I depended more on tyre tracks than the GPS. Nevertheless, I made it!

Upon entering the campsite vicinity, there was a little hut where the reception was, though there wasn't anyone there. So, I waited for a bit and a girl came jogging towards me soon after and led me to my campsite.

As I was driving towards my campsite, I passed by another campsite which lo and behold, were three Defenders 110SW parked, with their roof top tent set up. Hurrah! I think I was suddenly more excited to meet these campers than I was to check out what Purros had to offer. Ha.

*For those who don't know, the Land Rover Defender 110SW is my dream car.

What a glorious sight it was for me!

My campsite was unassumingly cosy I have to say. From the front you'd think that I had just reversed into a bunch of trees, but if you walked around the back, you'd see an opening into a snug little concave that the branches has created. The photo with my chair shows just how snug and cosy the site was, and next to it was a wash basin for dishes and stuff.

The WC and shower was located at another unassuming tree probably about 30 steps away, again it was built beautifully around an existing tree. I don't really have a photo of the toilet, but I will post up a bunch of videos of the places I stayed at later.

Now, setting up the tent was the least fun bit for me. It's not exactly rocket science, but being my height and the complete lack of upper body muscle made it just a tiny bit harder to set it up. I did it anyway, so yay to me and from me.

After setting it up, it was time for me to intrude on the other campers.

hello, i love your cars.

I think I said that or something to that effect when I first introduced myself, interrupting the ladies as they were reading, and the men as they were setting up stuff.

Turns out these three couples drove all the way from Cape Town and in fact, it was their second time there in Purros! I was there chatting with them for maybe 15 minutes or so before I excused myself as I didn't want to interrupt their down time, but before I left they invited me to join them for dinner later in the evening.

And joined them for dinner I did.

Due to my lackadaisical planning and self-care, I was to be on a liquid diet while camping there. I was starving by the time the sun started setting, I didn't run out on my instant soup and Nestum, but I had to conserve seeing that I had one more night there. So....joined them for dinner I sure did.

360° of purros

The next morning, I got up to go on an elephant trek. My guide headed out not too far from camp and drove around for a bit, he then brought me to the top of this hill to have a 360 view of Purros. Seeing all that different shades of brown, with pockets of green... damn! It was really nice to see a completely different landscape than what I'm usually used to.

There's actually a Himba village in the first photo, right at the bottom of the hill, but it's so far away you can't quite see it. In case you're wondering, no I didn't visit the village. This trip was purely just about wildlife for me.

irrelephant where the elephants are at

We head back into the car and drove towards the Purros town, and by town it isn't what you imagine a town to be, not what I had imagine anyways. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos there as I was a bit weary of getting lost and finding my way around.

My guide brought me to town, first to get some drinks for himself and then to help me get some fuel because I didn't fuel up as the indicator showed that it had only went one bar down. But, I was paranoid anyhow despite my guide telling me I had more than enough to get back to Sesfontein. So, in town and at the shop where he was getting his drinks, he called over two school girls to lead me to where they sold fuel.

The girls hopped into the car and for some reason couldn't stop giggling. Turns out they were on their recess break and they usually just head home for recess. So, they guided me towards the "fuel" shop, but turns out they have sold out. I kept calm and decided not to worry any further, but they got off there and I was to head back to the shop to meet my guide.

I got lost. Even though it was a mere 300m-400ms away. Thing is about this town, is that all the houses (which are mostly made out of wood or clay) and whatever other shops or structures were laid out so sparsely. I turned a few rounds nervously until I found the shop again. Phew!

Onward for the hunt of the elephants!

We drove around for a bit and I realised it felt like we were driving around my camp area, we split duties and he would look out for the elephants on his side while me, on my side. I think within a few short minutes, I spotted two elephants munching away!

Hurrah!

We got out from the car and slowly walked towards them, while keeping a safe distance. My guide, (for the life of me, I have forgotten his name) told me that these two were brothers, and the older brother took over to caring for the younger one after their mom died.

So, there we were watching them eat. It must've been mundane for my guide, but it was amazing for me.

We ended up parking the car back where my campsite was and just started walking after, or should I say creeping after the elephants. Whispering to each other as we trailed behind them.

from heavyweight to featherweight

After creeping around those elephants for a couple of hours under the scorching heat, my day was pretty much done. I saw what I wanted to and so I chilled out at my campsite after. Not long after, this pair of birds started distracting me with their calls. I looked out for them, but it was a game of hide and seek within the thick foliage that provided me shade.

(As I type out this paragraph, I text my friend Charlie who's a guide as well as a wildlife photographer, to find out what this bird is called.) You should also check out Charlie's photos here!

Turns out, this bird below is called the Grey Go-Away Bird. Ha! How apt! Otherwise also known as the Grey Lourie. Yup, I wiki-ed this up. It's called the Grey Go-Away because they make their presence known by making loud and nasal-ly calls.

first time in a looong time

I ate meat.

I was on my unintentional but also kind of intentional-yet-accidental liquid diet, and I was starving. I had maybe two cups of instant soup, a cup of Nestum, and some crackers, and after the heat sweltering trek, I was beat.

But thankfully, I had my luxurious dinner invite already sent out to me the night before from my neighbours.

Turns out they even baked a birthday cake and ate it in the afternoon! It was one of their birthday the next day. These three couples were in their late 60s and early 70s! Talk about #couplegoals !!

They fed me beef sausages the first night, to which I did not decline out of politeness and out of hunger. On the last night with them, we had yummy pasta Bolognese.

It was really nice to have had company at the campsite. As much as I enjoy traveling alone, it's also chance meetings such as these that make the travel so, so, so much more enriching.

After dinner, we'd sit facing away from the fire and looking out into the beautiful starlit sky and chat away. We talked about both our local politics, personal lives and our collected adventures over the years. They had obviously travelled around the African region quite a bit and recommended some new places to go.

In the midst of our conversation, a local came by to join us. He was rather drunk though. And like all mothers would, the ladies got me to park my car next to theirs, just to be extra safe. We all agreed that the local was probably harmless, but it never hurts to be extra careful.

We went to bed early and I got up in the middle of the night, quite a few times. Out of cold! I was rather nervous about going down to retrieve my extra blanket that the rental company gave me because well... the elephants do roam around the campsite. So, this girl from the tropics endured the cold.

We all woke up just before the sun came out and I gave the birthday boy a birthday hug. We all packed up, bid our farewells and carried on to our next destination.

Mine, Etosha and theirs, Khorixas.

Every birthday of mine now, I'll always think of these couples and it turns out one of them and I share the same birthday. A Capricornian serendipitous encounter in Purros!

Dear Geoff, Margie, Denzil, Sandy, Jack and Sheila...

Thank you so much for your companionship, conversations, food, care and warmth those two nights in Purros. I'll never again go camping on my own and I'll make sure I'll stock up on food, just so I can feed another hungry camper like you all did with me.