18-Apr-2021 -- This is the last out of 5 confluence visits on our drive from Eswatini to Swakopmund in Namibia. The story starts from 28°S 19°E and continues from 24°S 16°E.
This confluence is in the Namib-Naukluft Park, just 50 km out of Walvis Bay in the desert. We parked at the main road M36 near the branch road to the Vogelferderberg. When we arrived, it was the hottest and sunniest time of the day. The desert can quickly become a fatal trap in the extreme heat without mobile connection. So we decided that I will run to the confluence while Elionora will observe the car.
After almost three quarters of an hour running, I had reached a cairn with some metal signs without any inscriptions. The degree lines were drawn with aligned rocks from the area. It looked like a semi-professional arrangement from the military or another organisation. It was in a distance of 80 m which shows that either the cairn was erected when SA and Anti-Spoofing allowed GPS accuracy of only 100 m or that the measurement was not based on the WGS84 Datum but on a local country grid.
The actual confluence point was on barren ground covered with little gravel stones and some scattered hassocks of grass and some green bushes.
The return was already a bit hard due to the heat. I was extremely sweating and although I had drunken a litre of water before my departure, I arrived already dehydrated at our vehicle. After the visit, we drove the remaining 90 km northwards to Swakopmund where we are currently spending the next two weeks.
CP Visit Details:
- Distance to a road: 6000 m
- Distance to a track: 6000 m
- Distance of car parking: 6000 m
- Time to reach the confluence from the car: 40 minutes
- Time at the confluence: 1:19 PM
- Measured height: 474 m
- Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
- Position accuracy: 3 m
- Topography: flat, but hills in the distance
- Weather: mostly sunny, 35° C (felt temperature)
- Given Name: The Stone Cross Confluence
The story finishes here.