The ascent of Pontok 3, has given us cause to declare a day of rest! The mental and physical effort involved in yesterday’s ascent has left us feeling a little drained. As such, no alarm was set and we woke at 8, after a fitful sleep due to a sudden increase in wind speed through the night. That’s not something that would usually be a problem for seasoned campers like us, but when your tent is lashed to the roof of your car, you certainly feel the gusts, and there were several powerful enough to wake us in the night! The sun was already up, but we have a lovely shady pitch (for reference, we are at Camp 11 in Boulder Valley, literally tucked in under some impressive boulders).

After deciding not to make an attempt on Spitzkoppe (the big peak above camp in the photo above), we drove over to Felsenteich Western Buttress, to scramble up the easy flanks (no ropes needed) and get the view from the top. Think Hay Tor on Dartmoor x 100. On the way up, we passed a rock pool with a huge Rock Monitor lizard that was well over 50cm long! (Like a little croc!) And a Rock Dassie and ground squirrel. 

The rock has been sculpted into incredible features. 

And as expected, the views were great.

We moved camp areas after this, and had a superb lunch under a shady tree. By this time of day, you have to be in the shade to survive!We are now in ‘Camp 12’ which is at the end of a dead end track, so much quieter and therefore home to more birds and animals. It feels much more peaceful and hopefully sheltered from any further wind?…

There is a big natural rock arch near here which recently became famous on social media, so we thought we ought check it out. Word had obviously got out that it’s ‘the place’ to get your photo, as there was a line up of hire cars and tour buses in the parking area and people were literally queuing to get a photo. To be fair, it’s a pretty impressive feature!

Back at the solace of our campsite, we watched the sun set with our binoculars, watching birds, some Klipspringer Deers and scoping out some nearby rock climbs we might try tomorrow. The climbing ethic here is similar to that of the North Wales Slate quarries back in the early 1990s. That basically translates as bolts are only placed as a last resort after climbing up into a wildly insecure or dangerous position, rather than making it a ‘safe’ fully bolted sports climb. As such, you need a bit of time to learn and get used to the climbing style of padding gently upwards on the, at times, crumbling granite. And be prepared to climb a long way before finding any protection! As such, to keep things as safe as we can on this trip, we are having to choose our cliffs with care!

We ate dinner by moonlight, and just before we went to bed, the sky began to cloud over! The first clouds we’ve seen since arriving in Africa!