I was headed for the Etosha Pan a large reserve in the north of Namibia. And again the day would be a long day. My GPS estimated 9 hours of riding 350 miles of gravel of course.
I left Swakopmoud early in the morning, the first 50 miles I rode the hard salted sand roads along the atlantic sea. The fog was cold and heavy like the day before. Once I turned east way from the ocean the hard salted surface turned into loose sand which I was afraid was going to be the case. When the fog finally lifted the cold air quickly turned into hot dry desert air. I told myself I was going to go very slow and just manage the road as best as I could and to keep me from over heating.
What was different about this road was that I was in a very very remote area of Namibia . Very little tourist traffic if any traffic at all. I can across mostly very tiny villages with most homes only simple huts.
The people with the reddish mud are Himba who do this to protect themselves from the hot sun. The woman with the hat is from the Herero people how are cattle farmers.
This was to me the best gravel road yet because of my exposure normal people and the non tourist road. I came across my first elephant crossing sign that was in a non park or reserve area. I keep looking to the sides and watering holes but I also had to keep an eye on the road still.
Again the landscape changes some much that its fascinating to me to see the changes. This part of Namibia is what many imagine when they thing of the Africa Bush.
I came across the large termite hills about 4 to 8 feet high