Day 12 - Rundu to Mahango Park

Drive : 172km
Accommodation: Ngepi Camp site

No better way to be waken up than by the song of many birds. Waking up under the trees in Mukuku offered just that. Dozens of alarm calls running off all at the same time.
Enough to get us promptly out of bed and head back to the jetty to watch the sunrise and admire the birds. Many new checks on our bird booky!

Our next destination was just around the corner, a short 3.5 hours away, so we took our time to catch up on reading, blogging and napping by the pool.

Getting excited for the next part of the adventure we headed off just after lunch to Ngepi, a stop-over to break the long drive to Botswana. We didn’t have much expectations for this camp but it seemed like a cool place to chill for 2 days by the river.

A long and straight tar road to Divundu, once again zigzagging between cows, goats and smiling students, and we were ready for our turn off. Many little villages are organized here around the Kavango river, selling their wood fire and wood sculptures to the tourists passing by.

Finally the Ngepi sign "7km down" followed by a multitude of fun notes about the road, some encouragements and generally loads of notes taking a piss at 4x4 drivers (see pictures)

As we arrived in Ngepi, we discovered an amazing camp site, just on the Kavango river. A well decorated bar, a beautiful restaurant on a deck overlooking the water, loads of trees and thick grass to sit and read.

We heard a little commotion coming from the observation deck: a pod of Hippos napping and playing around on the bank accross.

But the highlight was truly to discover our camp spot, a patch of grass under the trees with an incredible view of the river. It was like stepping into a 3D projection of "Planet Earth"! The other side of the river was part of the Mahango Bwabwata National Park and looking straight from our camp we could see elephants, hippos, water bucks, warthogs, buffalo and many different bird species.

We set up camp and we were ready to hop on the sunset boat cruise. Meandering between the pods of Hippos playing in the water, we made our way to the other side of the river, by the former "Buffalo military Camp". The soldiers have left and nature took back what was rightfully hers.

The first sighting, one of Lars' much expected one, the fish eagle, watching proudly over the river. As we continued gliding on the water, crocodiles, little bee eaters, and many elephants came to greet with the most incredible sunset in the background.

Coming back to camp and as starting to cook, the symphony of the night started, all the birds singing and all the hippos chatting in the water below our camp. Just then, one of our neighbors, a little girl came to tell us that the previous night, the hippos came out of the water to graze on the camp grass, "so just if that happens, stay in your tent and you'll be fine". What an adventure !!

As we dined on Leo's sauté potatos, bacon and snails in the Potjie, surrounded by so much nature and wild life, we truly felt like the luckiest people on the planet.Read more