Africa Adventures: Part 4 (Steep Spitzkoppe)

Spitzkoppe. Like the others so far, this region’s climate is very desert, and it is known for its brilliant stargazing and historical cave paintings. There are huge granite peaks that rise out of the desert that reach about 5,887 feet. The nickname for this formation is the Matterhorn of Namibia.

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We were very excited to see the cave paintings as they are estimated to range between 2,000-4,000 years old. We found a great campsite that had a fire pit and checked out the cave paintings!

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With dramatic cliffs surrounding us, Andre decided he would participate in some free solo climbing. This turned out to be one of the most stressful parts of the trip thus far, but I want the kids to be able to explore and have fun. The only rules were, we must be able to see you and you must be able to see the camp.

Well, in about 5 minutes, the kids were out of sight. Owen popped his head over the cliff and starts muttering something we can’t understand. Jeff asks directly, “Does Andre need help?!?!” The fast response was, “YES!” We rush up the mountain, and Andre has positioned himself in a climbing position requiring Jeff to help him get down so he doesn’t fall. Jeff grabs his arm and pulls him to safety. Success!

The next day we are eating breakfast, and Andre is discussing what a great climber he is. We joke around about how Dad needed to get him down the day prior, and this resulted in Dre deciding he needed to prove himself. He starts to venture up the side of the wall by our camp that really didn’t seem too high. I start expressing my concern to him that it doesn’t look like a good route and that he should come back down. He ignores my advice and keeps advancing.

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I continue telling him it’s time to come back. “You are too high and it’s not safe.” To which he replies, “I can’t go down, I will fall.” Shortly after, his last statement was followed by “Then he states that he “I can’t go up anymore either because there is no where to hold onto.” Jeff rushes to start to climb but can’t get up to him because it’s too steep. So I put my socks on and start going up the “safe side” to try and get him from the top while Jeff assumes a futile catching position below. Welp, turns out that the “safe side” is too steep of an edge for me to grab him.

Andre starts to panic. He is yelling to hurry up because he can’t hold on much longer. I position my pinky toe on the smallest little piece of granite jutting out and place an inappropriate amount of my body weight on it. I look over and see Dre is holding on with his arms spread as wide as possible, chin holding onto the granite side, and his legs are shaking like a leaf. I knew he was going to fall in the next 10 seconds if I couldn’t grab him.

Time slows when you are in these life altering moments, and I literally thought about all the movies where they let the person fall and don’t really even try. This was not going to be me. I was either going to grab him and pull him up or I was going to fall trying. There was no in-between. I tell him I am going to grab him and that he needs to climb up fast. I reach out, sooooo much weight on my crinkled pinky toe at this time, and I grab his wrist as hard as possible and pull him while he scurries as fast as possible.

I move from my position, shaking like a leaf now as well, and we give each other a big hug. Both SO thankful it worked out. This experience definitely made Dre respect the mountains a bit more. He then asked, “If I would have died, would the trip be over?”

“YES DRE, the trip would be over!!!!”