#1: [20-Jul-04] (incomplete)

06-May-2021 -- This is the last out of 5 confluence visits on our drive through the North-East of Namibia. The story starts from 20°S 13°E and continues from 17°S 13°E.

I had already kept an eye on this unvisited confluence while we were in Opuwo, the provincial capital town about 18 km west of this confluence point. From the previous visit, I could not retrieve the information, from where they were able to reach the village Ovivero that is about 4 km from the confluence point. But I spotted a track on the satellite image that would lead to the confluence directly from Opuwo. However, the track turned out not to be driveable. At a distance of 17 km, we already had to give up.

Three days later, we came into the vicinity of this confluence point again, while driving southwards on C35 towards Windhoek. This road misses the confluence by 32 km and runs east of this confluence. Again, I spotted a track in the satellite image – this time it turned out to be drivable. Actually, Google Maps has digitized that track and routes for it – but forget about their driving time estimation. Instead of 20 minutes as suggested you can calculate 2 hours. The track is not used often, and offers some gimmicks for 4WD, but we overcome them all. The track misses the confluence by 4.5 km. However, there was another track due north that we could follow up to a distance of 2.8 km. We parked and I ran to the confluence point. Running was difficult due to the vegetation, spider nets and the nasty burrs on my feet and socks. Since there where so many burrs, I soon gave up pulling them out and put up with an offensive hurt on my feet. When I had returned to the car, my shoes and socks had a unique hair-do.

The confluence is in a typical savanna flora. Since unusually much rain had fallen this year the leaves are still green on the trees and the grass has grown high. Also unusual was, that we didn’t encounter any humans while driving or walking. We also didn’t enter the village Ovivero, as our goal was reaching the confluence point.

We returned the same way that we had come. Nevertheless, we accidentally left the right track and got into a difficult situation. But, as you can see by reading these lines, we must have somehow gotten out and reached the main road.

As I write these lines, we are already in the capital city Windhoek, ready to fly home to Switzerland tomorrow morning – after spending 5 wonderful months in Southern Africa.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to a road: 32 km
• Distance to a track: 2800 m
• Distance of car parking: 2800 m
• Time to reach the confluence from the car: 25 minutes
• Time at the confluence: 11:06 AM
• Measured height: 1320 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 1 m
• Position accuracy: 3 m
• Topography: flat, a hill nearby
• Weather: partly cloudy, 32° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Lonely Longtrack Confluence

The story finishes here. Pictures of our trip can be found here.