Fourth stop in Africa: Namibia
#Namibia Namibia is a vast country with mostly no asphalt roads and poor public transportation. Tourist attractions are very far apart, so it is more convenient to drive. Car rental here is very expensive with insurance at NT$2,700 a day. The road conditions are extremely poor and there will definitely be flat tires. Cars often overturn in desert areas. The area is vast and sparsely populated and there is no signal, so it may take a long time to encounter a car. Therefore, you must take a class before renting a car, be informed of the precautions, and then be taught how to change tires before the car is handed over to you.
There is no asphalt road ten kilometers out of the city, and the road conditions are washboard all the way. When driving at dusk, you will encounter giraffes, ostriches, warthogs, oryxes, wildebeests, baboons, zebras, buffaloes... running all over the road, so you have to be very careful when driving. Those who don't have time to arrange a safari in the national park can choose to drive in the afternoon. There are a lot of animals on the road that you have never seen in South Africa.
We planned to go to the famous red desert Death Valley first, because I have seen the Gobi, Atacama, Sahara... and other deserts, and I had no interest in the red desert. However, the desert ecology here is quite interesting, with orbs running around, and the sand dunes are very clean, which is great for taking pictures. However, the campsite was too expensive at 1,600 Taiwan dollars a night, so we did not stay overnight and only bought park tickets for more than 200 Taiwan dollars. We had to climb the sand dunes at noon, and our feet felt like sugar-roasted chestnuts. However, we were the only group of people on the sand dunes in this horrible weather, so we could take pictures however we wanted. It was so sunny that I saw mirages in front of my eyes before we ended today's trip.
As dusk approaches, the temperature in the desert will drop from 40 degrees to more than 10 degrees, which is very sleepy. We found a place with network signal on the side of the road and prepared to sleep on our phones. As a result, the people here were so enthusiastic that they thought our car broke down. Every hour someone passed by and dug us up to ask if we needed help. The people here are so warm-hearted. We had no choice but to go to the free campsite to sleep to avoid being misunderstood as stranded.
Namibia is a country with relatively good public security in Africa. Except for the urban area which is relatively dangerous, you can camp safely outside the urban area. You can often see several cars parked together on the roadside to camp. If you are afraid of sleeping on the roadside or want to take a shower, you can go to a paid campsite, which usually costs NT$800-1600. A living room tent and a double bed are NT$1200-4000. There are also very expensive cabins, which may not have internet, so we have never stayed in a paid campsite. Google Maps will mark some free camping spots. There is no signal in the free campsites, so you need to download an offline map before leaving the town. Campsites usually have dry toilets and fire pits. When you rent a car, you will usually be provided with a roof tent and picnic equipment, but I think the seats in the car are more comfortable to sleep in, and the tent makes me feel insecure, so we rented an SUV and fell asleep looking at the starry sky for five consecutive nights. These were the best days of sleep I had in Africa.