Greetings.
Up front, I want the reader to know that the entire, sole purpose of the existence of this undertaking is to warn people about the dangers of driving in Namibia. But before I go on, a little background on me.
I am a traveler. Visiting new places is a type of excitement for me that cannot be duplicated by any other activity. This is a great companion to my vocation as a photographer. We, my wife and I, have traveled extensively in North America and Europe, and have some scattered explorations in Central America and Asia. We have been traveling now for almost 20 years, by car, train, boat, and airplane. We are not novices. Now, on to the important matters.
This post will deal strictly with what I consider an important enough topic that I feel warrants my action, to provide as many people as possible have access to the story and information so they are informed and prepared for a visit to Namibia.
Let me start by saying we loved our visit to Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and our several hour trip into Zimbabwe this past July and August. 23 days were spent across these 4 countries and numerous positive memorable experiences were had. But one episode severely dampened our holiday, and it could've been much, much worse. We had a single vehicle accident driving north from Sesriem, about 7 kilometres south of Solitaire, Namibia. It was our last day in Namibia, as we were headed back to Windhoek, which was 4-5 hours drive, to turn in the Toyota Hi-Lux and make our flight to Cape Town. The morning had started clear in the Namib Desert where we had been visiting the area of Hidden Vlei, when a sand storm developed. It was right when we were leaving the park, and the intensity was so that visibility at times was zero, so I pulled off the road until I could safely see the road. We drove for a little over 90 minutes on Sesriem Road and then on C-14 once the conditions improved. And as time passed, the sand settled to where visibility was normal and only a slight wind remained as we approached Solitaire. By this time I had been behind the wheel for a week in Namibia. We had landed in Windhoek, driven up to Etosha, down into Damaraland, over to the Skeleton Coast, and then down to Sesriem. I had also spent several days in the same type of vehicle driving in Botswana. I was driving at least 10kph under the posted speed limit on C-14 of 100kph. It was only later that I found out that the national speed limit for gravel roads is 90kph. Why this and other gravel roads we traveled on had speed limit signs posted of 100kph is unknown to me.
It was a little after 11am, with no sun in my eyes, on a straight, smooth section of road, when the truck slowly started to swing sideways, with the rear left quarter turning clock-wise if you are looking down at us from above. The truck made it's way to the right-side of the road, where by the time we made contact with the mound of dirt along the edge made from the road grader, we were traveling backwards. As we hit the pile of dirt along the edge of the road we began to roll, with side mirrors breaking off, windows on both sides exploding glass into the cab allowing sand and dust to cover us. We rolled twice, coming to rest back on the wheels. The tent, along with the topper over the bed, were now lying upside-down on the desert floor, along with most of our belongings. With seatbelts on, Radhika felt bruised and battered. On our first roll while upside down, my head hit the roof and unbeknownst to me created a long gash, which spattered the inside of the cab and dashboard during the second rollover. Still unaware, my wife reacted in fear when we settled on the wheels and she saw my now blood soaked shirt. My hand felt a mixture of moist warmth and sand on the top of my head, so I grabbed a towel and pressed it against the top of my head. I knocked out the remaining bits of glass left from what was the driver's side window, and waved down a passing truck. Our doors would not open so I climbed out of my window.
Once on the ground we started gathering our things with the help of the gentleman who had stopped to assist. We put what we could in the bed of his truck as we drove to the lodge in Solitaire. Needless to say we were both quite shaken by the ordeal, and I was replaying it in my head trying to figure what happened. The lodge was kind enough to provide a room for us, along with some food, which I couldn't eat at the time. The manager took a look at my head to see what to recommend to the hospital staff in Walvis Bay. They handled the area we were in, so if we decided we wanted a Windhoek team to come get me via ambulance and treat me back there, the state would relinquish all financial and medical responsibility. So, we would be making the long trip in an ambulance to Walvis Bay where I would receive treatment at the hospital. The ambulance was due to arrive at Solitaire around 5pm, so in the meantime I rested, ate a little, and tried to clean my wound of as much sand as we possibly could with warm water in the shower without causing the bleeding to start, which had stopped due to ice, coagulation, sand, or some possible combination. My wife dealt with decision-making, and spoke with Aloe Rental, who was quite worried about their truck but made little to no inquiries about the human cargo in that truck.
The ambulance arrived about 30 minutes early, and after they looked me over and applied an IV, I was loaded into the ambulance and they were able to accommodate our luggage, which we were told may not be possible, which would've created another set of problems to overcome. We arrived at the hospital after 7pm, and it took about 2 hours for treatment that culminated in 9 stitches across a jagged laceration across the top, left-side of my head. What hurt the most was the shaving with a straight razor!! That was tough to mentally ignore! Once past that, the surreal feeling of having your scalp pulled off your skull and adjusted could be confused with something drug-induced. I was very satisfied with the care I received. Originally told I would have to spend the night at the hospital, the doctor said after the procedure that was not necessary, and I was given pain medicine for my head and tetanus shot, and antibiotics for possible infection. We left the hospital, and searched for a place to stay the night in a cab that was quite literally one pothole from falling apart. We found a place, and it provided a much needed nice shower, meal, and restful sleep.
I will complete the story soon, as it is far from over.
