The Penguin Runner
2700km unsupported through the oldest desert on Earth
The thermometer pushes 45 degrees, its a dry dusty hot, the kind of hot that is impossible to escape. With no respite more than an overheated tent; a 36-year-old scuba diving instructor is running through the oldest desert on earth to raise awareness for a Penguin.
On the 18th of October 2012, South African, Dave Chamberlain started a 2700km continuous run from Walvis Bay, Namibia to Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Why would a Scuba Instructor from Pretoria embark on such an adventure? The first reason was to help Bird Life South Africa raise awareness for the African Penguin. The other driving forces would be established after accompanying Dave for 4 weeks of his 4-month run
Walvis Bay is a very unique part of the world, wedged between the cold currents of the South Atlantic and the desolate Namibian sand dunes. Stepping off the plane, one expects to be struck by an oppressive dry heat usually associated with such an environment; instead a 10-degree windblast pushes across the desert from the west. I travel east through what can only be described as “nothing”. From the air it would be difficult to identify the road; that is the monotony of the environment. Dave had planned to run approximately 30km per day. As I progressed, it struck me that I’m passing through 30km in a matter of twenty minutes. It takes barely half an hour before the cold coastal winds soon evaporate into dry hot desert.
Further inland away from the cold coastal winds, Solitaire is a tiny outpost in the southern deserts of Namibia. Approaching after more than 40 hours of travel, I note it has been 2 years since I last saw Dave, teaching me to scuba dive on a tiny, remote Nicaraguan Island.
Within a few days of befriending Dave on Little Corn Island, I knew he was up for a challenge. One afternoon following a dive, Dave casually mentioned, “I have been wanting to swim around the place; how about it?” So off we set on what turned out to be a continuous four and a half hour swim covering the entire 8km circumference of the island. Battling sharp shallow reef, speedboats, sharks and what seemed to be an endless school of jellyfish, a friend and I emerged stinger-stained half an hour after Dave. I learned a few months later that swimmer Dave had a little run-in with the said speedboat.
Around 5pm I finally reach Solitaire and find Dave chatting with anyone who will listen to him. He is not what you would expect of a long distance runner, 5’8”, solid, with a certain bounce to his step. It’s been 5 days since he began in Walvis Bay and he has covered 232km. I asked how he faired on those first few days, “that Kuiseb pass was a killer; the sand was so soft I had to pull my pram up the hills… oh and I lost my phone”. So now Dave was not only unsupported, but without his only form of communication.
Pushing a pram containing a tent (for the nights and hot days), water, spare shoes, two t-shirts, a pair of shorts and spare rubber, there is not a whole lot of room left for much of anything else. Given this, and to make his efforts even more remarkable, his diet for the first half of the run consists solely of protein supplements and meal replacements shakes. “The legs are actually feeling pretty good. The body has a remarkable ability for recovery. Add in a few recovery days and supplement juice, and they give me no problems. A massage would be out of the question though, right? Not too many spas out here”.
Over the next four weeks we progress south towards the South African border. Landscapes and road conditions change, the weather stays the same — hot and dry. Mentally dealing with such an undertaking is not for the fainthearted. “The mind, well, its been tough, but not for the reasons you would necessarily expect. It’s the liquid diet and the lack of a set camping type routine. There is no stopping each day, brewing up some coffee, cooking some pasta. All I have to look forward to at the end of each day is a litre of hot plastic-tasting water”.
“You get upset, there are ups and downs, but then you look where you are and think, what the crap am I bitching about. This is stunning”
Mentally dealing with the climate, which is what I expected to be the biggest challenge, is the next thing says Dave. “Because of the temperatures during a large portion of the day, you are really limited in when you can start. You’re having to get up really early. You don’t want to miss that slot of cool temperature. Sitting in that tent for those 8-9 hours, there is no shade, nothing to do, no escape. You are literally sitting in a tent, sweating for 8 hours, which I have to say has tarnished it a little from my side. There is incredible beauty in this area, but for a major portion of the time, I’m just stuck in a tent”.
In 2010 Dave ran the length of Argentina along RN40, covering the 5100km in six months. “The beginning of this run is very similar to parts of the Argentina run. There were times when we would only see one car a day, so the isolation is not something new for me and not such a concerning factor. It’s just that here it seems so helpless. There is so little water around, you just get the feeling that if you ever got lost or in trouble in a place like this, I don’t know if you would have even the will to try and want to survive; it is pretty brutal.”
The photographers paradise that is the Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia
At one stage of the run, Dave’s only refuge for water turns out to be a farm reservoir. During a midday break, after chugging a litre and filling all his bottles, the farmer offers a swim in the reservoir to cool off. As he climbs in he discovers that his lovely supply of drinking water contains a number of half rotting birds. Quite ironic, Dave laughs, “What was suppose to bring them life has ultimately been what killed them”.
While slow by normal travel standards, Dave has been setting a cracking pace. In the four weeks I was with him, he had two rest days. After a few days visiting the Fish River Canyon I planned to meet back up with him in the Namibian mining town of Rosh Pina. Ever so casually Dave utters, “I knew I had to make it here to meet you today, so I did 85km and ran through the night”. His legs might be able to cope, but that 85km day chewed through one whole front tyre of the pram. “It’s a catch 22; I can run faster on the asphalt”, as apposed to the soft gravel. “But the tyres cop a hiding. Packing the pram evenly and alternating the wheels seems to be the key.”
Travelling in such a slow manner is a dream many people never achieve. You become aware of a place on such a deeper level of understanding. “It is such an intimate way to experience the country and meeting the locals going about their daily lives; not just the interactions you might make with people working in the tourism industries”. Running between Aus and Rosh Pina, a truck driver who must have seen Dave a few times stops and gets out a cooler with two cold beers. “As a non drinker, already dehydrated and undernourished, a long neck in the desert… well half a long neck… soon put me on my ass. I was a wreck. It did however result in a nice afternoon nap.”
During those months he travelled through Southern Namibia, he couldn’t help but notice the resilience and openness of the locals. They display a sense of pride in themselves and their country. “In general most people love talking about their home — they love the fact that you are doing something in their country — so hopefully this run is the second of many more to come”, says Dave.
“Although attitudes have been mixed, there have been very welcoming aspects. People have gone out of their way to help me”. On the other hand, he has encountered some “less than positive experiences”. A few days earlier Dave had been running through a small town with the midday sun approaching — a time when shade becomes an absolute necessity. “I approached the people of this town with two basic requests: could I sit under some shade until 5pm, and could I have two litres of water?” Both of which, Dave was flatly refused. “I was a little alarmed to tell you the truth.” He puts it down to a mentality that if you are out here in this tough environment, you should be able to cope on your own. In complete contrast, Dave recounted stories of an overly generous Argentina, “Well it got to the point where we had to stop speaking to people because the moment you started speaking it was food, drinks, come inside! I would have never finished.”
In saying that, Namibia had been full of incredible surprises. Dave recalls that one of the more memorable moments was a meal he shared with a cow herder. “This guy works his butt off and once a month gets a 25kg bag of maize and a bit of other food; that’s his salary. He offered me the hugest portion, set the table with knives and forks because I’m a westerner, and then proceeded to change the radio to a more western style of music. Those are the moments, right there — eating 3-week-old dry beef and porridge”.
Running through the African desert isn’t without its hazards, although Dave is quick to discount anything more than the obvious. “Some cows have looked at me in a not entirely friendly way… Oh and there was a little run-in with a cape cobra.” To allow some additional breeze through his tent during a particularly hot day, he hadn’t zipped up the mosquito netting. “By pure luck, I sit up as this cape cobra was heading straight for the shade of my tent. The snake rears up, we both look at each other, awaiting the next move. The snake does its whole cobra thing, and then, keeping its head dead still, slowly moves backwards.” Dave being Dave, always puts a positive spin on things: “To see the thing so close, just move back, was incredible. Although I was a bit of a nervous wreck for the rest of the afternoon.”
Dave not only has a thing for adventure, he also has a passion for conservation. The southern African run is in aid of Bird Life South Africa, and in particular, to raise awareness of the African Penguin. His run traverses the former range of the species. I asked how difficult it was to promote penguin conservation in the middle of the Namibian desert, “A lot of people are aware of the penguin. Some have no idea at all, but what is generally not understood is their current situation. Everyone knows about the rhino and are up in arms, but here is a fantastic creature that has just got so much personality and, you know, they deserve a bit of recognition”.
Rather than lecture people about the penguin, Dave prefers to discuss human interactions with nature and leaving something positive for future generations. “I just want them to be able to enjoy the wild.” Promoting conservation in this part of the world is a difficult undertaking. You are generally talking to people who are really scraping by day to day. Conservation in that manner is a luxury of the middle and upper classes. “We have the luxury of choice, so I feel I personally should not be lecturing someone who’s life and impacts on the planet are far less than mine”.
Dave intends to speak with a number of different people in different industries as the run progresses closer to the coast. The north west coast of South Africa is a large diamond mining area. He hopes to meet with some diamond miners to discuss their jobs and the impacts of what they do for a living. “They will be a fantastic source of information about changes in the ecosystems over the years. I also want to speak with fisherman about the impacts of the big commercial fishers”. As the run progresses along the coast, Dave hopes it will become a lot more penguin-orientated. He strives to get down to the nitty gritty of the reasons behind their declining numbers.
Following the completion of this run, Dave is planning a trans Canada run beginning in St John in March and finishing in Victoria around November. Beyond this, he has thoughts of Australia and the Scandinavian countries. “I would love to do two continents — Alaska through to Terra Del Fuego — but, you know, the body has to hold out and money becomes an issue.”
I knew when arriving in Namibia I was going to bear witness to a rather incredible feat. Travelling and camping beside Dave gave me an unparalleled insight into the mind and driving force behind his run. I had not, however, been prepared to discover the innate ability of a determined individual to not only physically deal with difficult situations, but to mentally dominate such adventures. To run 30km before 9 am, sit in a tent in 40-degree heat for 8 hours, and then proceed to run another 15-20km on consecutive days, week after week, is something only a dedicated few can achieve. Add to this a 30kg pram, soft sandy conditions, dust, wind, the risk of dehydration and wild animals, you are just starting to understand this adventure. His aims are to show people that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. “Yes, not everyone will be able to go to such extreme lengths, but that’s not important. Set a goal, no matter how big, and attempt to see it through. You will never regret that decision”.
Words and Photography by Morgan Cardiff of Rhys Morgan Images
Originally Published in Trail Run Mag Australia/New Zealand
The film can be rented or purchaced here http://steepedge.com/categories/trekking-walking-travel/the-penguin-runner.html
