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England BotswanaTutume20°15’0” S 24°48’54” E
January 20, 2020 in Botswana ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
I slept well until 3am but then woke up with things on my mind that I ran over and over until I had to get up in the cool of the early morning at 5.30am. I was greeted with a high crescent moon, a reddening sky and a beautiful morning as I went into the shower where elephants have been known to put their trunks in for water during the day season. We had a breakfast of fruit and eggy bread before setting off on the next leg of our journey. We ploughed through miles of low scrubland on a bumpy road seeing occasional elephants feeding near the road.
After a couple of hours we stopped off in a small to buy food for my cook group and buy some lunch which involved my first trip to the renowned 'Nandos' chicken restaurant. I had decided to start eating some meat and break my vegan diet in order to improve my protein intake which is something I had given myself permission to do prior to the trip.
We soon arrived at the nearby hotel and campsite, 'Sedia Riverside Hotel', which had a sandy campground and a nice, if expensive, restaurant and a very nice long pool. We rested by the pool in the afternoon and had a well needed dip in the pool as the heat was almost unbearable. It was the kind of blistering hot weather where you needed to stay in the shade. We had a meal cooked by the cook group in the evening and all got nearly nights ahead of another early start in the morning. The crickets and seemingly infinite multitudes of insects chirped loudly as I crawled off to sleep in the hot and humid night.Read more
BotswanaNgamiland East19°44’36” S 23°28’36” E
January 21, 2020 in Botswana ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
We had a very early start at 5am after I woke up at 3am and couldn't go back to sleep. We packed all the things from the truck we would need for our wild camp in the Okavango Delta including all our tents, cooking utensils and food for our cook group which I was helping to cook along with fellow travellers, Lauren and Grant.
The safari vehicles we would be using for the trip arrived at 6.30am. We loaded the vehicles with our equipment and set off for the Okavango Delta park which has 18,000 square kilometres of wetlands which varies in size with the seasons and the amount of rain in fat off Angola. We all got wind blasted as the vehicle had no front screen to shield is from the wind on the main road. To our relief, we turned off the road and drove through scrubland into the park for a land safari up until we reached the waters of the Okavango Delta. We didn't see any animals and were happy to arrive at a point by the water where there were a large number of canoes, guides from the local village and a fee groups of tourists waiting to be boated into the Delta. We offloaded all our gear and, with the help of our male and female local guides, we loaded the canoes for our trip. Then it was our turn to climb into the two man canoe. I shared me canoe with Lauren and we positioned ourselves with Lauren in the front and myself further back. Our local guide and boatman was a young man called Nathan. He propelled the boat with a long polenta bit like the boats in Venice and had a very accomplished technique, no doubt practiced since childhood. We set out on a beautiful waterway edge with long grasses and many lilies and lily pads floating on the water. We passed a group of hippos on the open water to the right. We entered narrower waterways again edged with high grasses and covered with water lilies. There was a huge density of bird life to see along the way including, open billed storks, darters (large cormorants), egrets, Jesus birds (that walk on water lilies) and a very large heron. The feeling of moving peacefully through the water was wonderful. The waterways had a very evocative and timeless atmosphere. Time seemed to temporarily stand still as I trailed my fingers in the warm waters that we were pushed through by Nathan. After an hour or so of deeply calming and relaxing boating we arrived at the shore of our bush camp on an island in the waterways. I was disappointed that we couldn't have continued on the waterways filled with life for longer as I could have done that for hours. But with the fierce and hot sun it was probably sensible that we rested in the shade. We put up our tents on the island and then had several hours to rest until we began a walking safari through the bush at 4.30pm. We had nice pasta salad lunch cooked by the cook group. We also had a cooling dip in a shallow area of the waterways safe from crocodiles. This was a wonderful experience to kneel in the warm copper coloured waters to our necks, with small fish in the water beneath us, large snails floating by on the surface, and a riot of birdlife passing overhead including a kite. The sun was very intense and I had to reluctantly retreat when my shoulders started to burn in the water. I watched fellow traveller, Brian, from Englamd try to steer one of the canoes and falllimg nto the water rather dramatically backwards.. spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and playing some football with fellow travellers, Oscar and Simon, recent arrivals from Switzerland, and one of the local guides. I was curious about a bird which had a distinctive descending call and one of the local guides informed me that it was the woodland kingfisher.
The afternoon sun remained very hot as we boarded the canoes to take a short trip across the waterway to where the bush walk would begin. We disembarked from the canoes and soon cam across a large hippo feeding in the grasses near a small lake and then returning to the safety of thewaters. We then walked by a small lake that had a large congregation of hippos some of whom yawned widely as a sign of aggression in the reddening evening sun. We walked on through bush and open grasslands. The scene again seemed timeless and evocative. After some time walking through the scrubland, we saw about six or seven giraffe walking in the distance, also surrounded by a large herd of zebra and some buffalo feeding in the grasses. We watched them for some time through binoculars. A couple of giraffes walked across closer to us. Nathan also gave us a lot of his knowledge about the local plants and animals, their uses and behaviours respectively. For example one cactus like plant could be used for making rope and was growing next to a forty year old termite mound which he told us about. We watched the many animals in this area for quite a while before moving across the scrubland plain and over to an area where we managed to get close to a small herd of zebra who moved together and muzzled each other affectionately. There were other walking groups here which took away from the experience somewhat. We then began to walk back to where we started and passed thr bones and skin of a long dead large male giraffe. We also passed termite mounds that had been dug out by the nocturnal aardvark to a depth of some three to four metres. We also saw the small mounds created by the mole rat. Apparently, it is seen as bad luck locally to see a mole rat. We returned to the lake with the hippos still moving around each other and making their low rumbling calls. We walked back to the canoes for a cooling trip back across the waterway as the sun began to set and turn the light to a golden yellow reflecting beautifully in the water. The day lilies were slowly closing their petals. As we disembarked from the canoes near our camp, a camp fire had been lit and the red flames of the fire were echoed in the red flaming sky as the sun sank beneath the horizon.
It was time for us to cook thr meal for the group. It was quite testing cooking sausages and mash with fried onion, cabbage and gravy. The heat and smoke of the cooking fire combined with the heat of the evening was quite overwhelming. The rest of our fellow travellers sat down by a campfire below the camp were wonderfully entertained with traditional singing and dancing from the local guides. The sounds were very evocative of an older Africa where the sounds of people singing (and it seems that all the local people still sing and dance together naturally and easily) combine seamlessly with the sounds of the frogs and insects in the nearby waterways. After thr well received dinner we emulated the local singers by singing different Beatles songs while we cleared up the dishes. We returned to sit around the camp fire and were wowed by the night sky blazing with infinite stars. The milky way rising above the horizon could be seen clearly defined with shooting stars flashimg through the cleat sky. We mused about how planets out there contained life like the panoply of living beings that surrounded us in the fertile Delta. I retired to my tent with the outside fly sheet rolled up so I could see the stars and feel any breeze to break the stifling heat. I went off to sleep as the frogs and insects created the most fantastic din outside - they seemed as infinite in their multitudes as the stars in our galaxy shining above.Read more
BotswanaNgamiland East19°43’54” S 23°28’42” E
January 22, 2020 in Botswana ⋅ 🌙 23 °C
I woke up early again for the second bush walk we had planned in the morning. Lions had been heard roaring in the distance. As I walked down to the campfire which had been kept burning and its red glow was now echoing a sunrise of the deepest reds and oranges. Hundreds of birds filled the sky with their morning flights. Egrets shone bright white in the sunlight. We could see a hippo feeding on the lush grasses on the other side of the waterway along with several buffalo. We then walked down to the waiting canoes for our bush walk before breakfast. We crossed the waterway in the welcome cool and refreshing morning air. We walked past the hippos in the lake that shone as they yawned and vied for position in yellow early morning sun. We walked through the cooler bush and scrubland. We saw a few antelope ? specialised for life in the often waterlogged delta. We also saw buffalo running in the distance. As we continued on our walk we came across a large herd of seven or eight giraffe all congregating close together and eyeing us warily before loping off into the trees. This was another wonderful encounter with these gentle and stately wild animals. We returned to the lake to view the hippos for the last time before reboarding our canoes to return to the camp. We had some breakfast looking out across waterway and then packed up all our gear back onto the canoes. We got back into the canoes for our return through the delta's majestic waterways. This time I swapped places with Lauren and sat in the front of the canoe. I trailed my hands in the water as we swept past the grasses and the lilies with open billed storks taking easily into the air as we approached them. A malachite kingfisher flew across the front of the boat in a bright flash of fluorescent blue. We met some tourists coming in the opposite direction which created a temporary waterway traffic jam. I watched the one of the local female guides expertly and lithely paddle the canoe in front of us. Again, this evoked a sense of an earlier and wilder Africa. We saw the darters and the Jesus birds in abundance and saw vultures circling in the sky in the distance. I began to experience the relaxing hypnosis of this timeless place. The rhythm of the boat through the water made for a joyous experience. My only regret was that I couldn't spend more time on the water in this place of natural wonders.
All too soon we were disembarking from the canoes, loading our gear onto the safari vehicles and bouncing along the rough, riven park tracks back to the Sedia hotel. Once again we got wind blasted on the main road.
I had some lunch with Lauren at the hotel which caused some hilarity when Lauren was talking to me with a mouth full of ice cream and I couldn't understand a single word. There was then just enough time for a quick dip in the pool and a shower before heading to the local airport on the truck for our flight over the Delta. The heat of the day was almost unbearablle and I had to drink continuously to avoid dehydration. We checked in at the small local airport and passed through the security procedures. There were eight of us on the flight (Grant, Jemma, Lauren, Monica, English Brian, Irish Beian, Monica and myself). As we took the airport bus out onto the tarmac we had the choice of two small six seater propeller planes. Four of us got onto each plane. Lauren, Monica, English Brian and myself got onto one of the planes. The young male pilot went through a quick debrief for the flight and we were soon taxiing out onto the runway. We trundled down the runway behind the other plane before picking up speed and rising slowly up into the sky. It took a while to adjust to the wind buffering this small plane up and down. We soon reached our cruising height of only 500 feet to get as close a view of the Delta animals as possible. There was a beautiful vista below us of green trees stretching out to the horizon on both sides, interspersed with deep copper coloured, reflective waterways and small lakes. Before long we began to see antelope and buffalo. We saw many hippos huddled together in the waterways and many out of the water feeding on the grasses. I saw a waterhog and two giraffe pass quickly by below the plane. Lauren and I shouted out thr animals we saw and pointed to where we saw them. Then we began to see large, light grey elephants amidst the trees below. Then we saw a small group of about five rhinos far to the left. The pilot turned the plane so that we could get a close up of the dark grey coloured rhinos on the right hand side. As we approached the rhino we saw lots of elephants including a large heard. It was amazing to look down on all these animals and have a perspective of the density of large mammal life in this vast Delta of waterways drawn out like veins across the sun baked and sandy landscape. We continued to see many hippos, crocodiles and other mammals as we passed over the waterways. We also saw more giraffe. The other plane with our fellow travellers came alongside us at one point and then flew above us to come down on our left hand side. As we returned back through the Delta we passed over the camp where we had canoed the previous day. I could see a walking party heading out to the lake with the hippos. We also flew over the staging post filled with canoes where we began our canoe trip on the waterways. It was really special to get an aerial perspective of our canoe journey the previous day. We then returned to the airport after a 45 minute flight and landed with a tyre squeak and a small bounce in the cross winds. It had been an exhilarating experience to fly through the wind turbulence in this small plane and to witness such an abundance of mammal life below us. We all excitedly recounted what we had seen on the flight as we returned to the airport on the airport bus. We then got taxis back to the Sedia Hotel. A few of us ordered food in the hotel restaurant. The evening remained extremely hot and I guzzled down fruit juices and mineral water to try and quench my unquenchable thirst. Lauren joined us for her meal later in the evening and we chatted while she ate her dinner before retiring to our tents to try and get some sleep in the oppressive heat of the night. It took me a while to get to sleep in my tent with its rolled up sides to try and maximise its coolness and try and capture any breeze. I then woke up in the early hours with things on my mind and couldn't get back to sleep.Read more
NamibiaShaoha Island18°6’42” S 21°35’24” E January 23, 2020 in Namibia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
I got up early at 5am as I had been awake since 3am and couldn't get back to sleep with my mind running over something that was pre-occupyimg me. I got a shower and joined my fellow travellers for breakfast. We were soon heading off in the truck and stopped at a nearby shopping area to spend the rest of our Botswana puna before we reached Namibia. I was feeling tired and low in mood with my night thoughts and feelings still pre-occupying me.
We drove on over rough roads and sun baked bush and scrubland filled with small, hardy trees. The sandy soil was noticeably drier and presaged our passage to the desert landscapes of Namibia. We stopped by the roadside for lunch in the shade of a tree to protect us from the blazing sunshine. We then drove to the border with Namibia and had an easy and efficient passage through immigration.
We then drove into the Bwabwata National Park and saw warthog, impala, kudu and zebra by the road as we passed through the tree filled park.
It wasn't long before we arrived out our destination, Rainbow Camp which was a scenic campsite right next to the Okavango river which eventually fills the Delta and then dries into the ground without ever reaching the sea. There was a nice bar area and swimming pool with wonderful views over the river and river islands. We soon saw two hippos frolicking in the water by a nearby island.
As we arrived we were offered a two hour sunset cruise on the river which many of us decided to do. We set off on a covered river cruise boat with chairs up the river in the yellow late afternoon sunlight. We sailed up to some lovely waterfalls and rapids and moored on a beautiful, sandy, small river island where we could get a better view of the falls. We then headed downstream with wonderful views over the river and found a small group of hippos bathing contentedly in the waters. We were able to draw up very close to them and film them surfacing and yawning. Their skin shone in the bright evening sunlight as they eyed us warily. Further downstream we came across a hippo feeding on the grasses above the river but she quickly returned to the safety of the river water with a big splash as we approached. We saw a crocodile slide past the boat with only ripples in the water and his or her eyelids showing. We passed fishermen in dug out canoes and I considered how they were quite brave to fish on the river with so many potentially dangerous hippos around. We came across more hippos further downstream and again were able to get very close to them. There was a big thunder storm approaching which made for some dramatic photos of the clouds reflecting in the river water. All too soon it was time to head back to the campsite and we were also racing the darkening skies behind us to arrive at the campsite before the rain arrived. There were nice views of the setting sun as we returned and we passed more hippos on the water surface and then dipping down below the water as we passed. We docked back at the campsite and I raced back to the camp ground to quickly put up my tent before the approaching storm arrived. I joined my fellow travellers for dinner and wolfed it down so as not to get caught in the potential rain storm. However, as it turned out, the storm rumbled around the campsite with big blue flashes of lightning without actually raining on us. The evening sky darkened into black and the frogs struck up a chorus. I watched the lightning flashing darkness beyond the river for some minutes before retiring to my tent for an early night ahead of a very early 4.30am start the next morning.Read more
NamibiaHalali Airport19°2’24” S 16°28’12” E
January 24, 2020 in Namibia ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
I had the same issue as the previous night when I woke up in the early hours and the wheels of my mind started turning keeping me awake until i got up at 4am, packed away my tent, and waited for Jemma to arrive to unlock the truck so we could get our breakfast. I remained pre-occupied with the difficult emotions and thoughts of the previous day as we set off early at 6am as the dawn light began to give the river a morning glow. As we joined the main road, a stunning orange sun began to rise over the straight road behind us. At the same time a double rainbow appeared in the dark storm clouds ahead of us. It was another of those breathtaking scenes that Africa so often provides.
After a few hour's driving, we stopped at a shopping mall to buy lunch and exchange some money which was an interminable process in Namibia. We ploughed on through mile after mile of tree filled scrubland. After some time we turned off the main highway onto a long, dusty country road, passing through tree filled plains now interspersed with palm trees. We passed a school, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, where an exuberant group of teenage girls, then another group of boys waved and whooped at us on the truck.
We carried on through miles of scrubland dried and heated by a merciless sun. After travelling through the day we finally reached the 20000 square kilometre Etosha National park, renowned for its concentrations of animals around its huge salt pan and water holes.. it didn't take long after we entered through the gates of the park before we were seeing lots of animals. We saw wildebeest and zebra feeding on grasses in the distance. We saw several giraffe feeding in the trees. Herds of impala fed near the salt pan. Then, excitingly, we saw a large male lion resting under a tree that we watched for a while. We saw two red hartebeest standing erect and vigilant and later a herd of oryx. Suddenly, we stopped by a small corpse of trees and saw a female adult cheetah with three cubs lying relaxedly in the grass. We watched this wonderful scene for a long time as two of the cubs rose to join their mother. The mother eventually got up to walk languidly and purposefully across the grasses towards a herd of zebra. The other cub did not join them and only realised with some anxiety that it had been left behind and started to make a loud bird like call to try and alert its mother.. However, its mother was now far away across the plain. The poor cheetah cub grew more anxious by the minute and we had to leave without knowing the outcome of this wildlife drama. We drove on and saw another lion resting under a tree. We also saw kudu, a hyena, a vulture on a tree with outstretched wings, springbok, and the gloriously named glorious bastard bird which is a very large bird standing erect in the grasses. It had been a wonderful experience to see so many animals in this huge nature reserve.
We then arrived at our campsite, Halali Camp, within the park which had stony camping grounds and basic, but good, facilities. It also had a waterhole lit up with light to view the animals that visit it. We walked straight up to the waterhole and were rewarded by seeing a herd of elephants, including a young elephant, just leaving the waterhole and heading back out into the bush. We put up our tents, had dinner, and then headed back to the waterhole later in the evening. We were further rewarded by seeing an adult female rhinoceros with its young infant standing protected behind. The mother stood statuesque under the yellow lights for several minutes before slowly walking to the water to take a drink with her young infant following behind. A small herd of impala also fed around the waterhole and several of the male impala sized each other up by loudly locking horns. The rhino slowly walked away from the waterhole with her infant following behind. There was a majestic stillness to the whole scene. The waterhole at night created an evocative atmosphere with crickets chirping, birds flying over the water, and giant moths flying around the lights.
We returned to the campsite to pitch our tents and to eat some well needed dinner. After dinner, I returned to the waterhole to experience the deeply peaceful atmosphere once again, but only saw the impala readying themselves for sleep this. I had been joined at the waterhole by Lauren and English Brian and as we walked back to our tents we saw the great arc of the milky way over the clear night sky, ablaze with stars, and the Southern Cross constellation rising above the tree tops. I was very tired after a long day and fell asleep quickly after I returned to my tent.
Wildebeest, zebra, impala, giraffe, red hartebeest, lions, oryx, warthog, cheetah, rhino, eland, kudu, glorious bastard, hyena, springbok, Thompson's gazelle, vulture, honey badger,Read more
NamibiaOshikoto18°55’48” S 16°29’18” E
January 25, 2020 in Namibia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
I woke up early again and got up at 4.30am. After packing away my tent and eating some breakfast, I rushed up to the waterhole again to see if there were any animals there. There were only a few birds skimming the water for a drink but the early morning atmosphere was still calming and very enjoyable. Again, Lauren and English Brian joined me for a few minutes before we had to board our truck for a morning safari drive through the Etosha park. There was a beautiful sunrise as we were leaving the campsite with a large orange sun inching into the sky. I decided to go and sit in an area of the truck called 'the beach' which is an opening in the top of the truck over the front cab where you can kneel and have 360 degree views of the surrounding landscape. This was the first time I had tried sitting on the Beach and it wouldn't be the last as I really enjoyed the clear views of the surrounding countryside and wildlife. As we slowly trundled along white dusty roads we began to see animals. We saw herds of impala, a few eland and some oryx wandering between the sparse trees. Giraffe were also seen. Thousands of butterflies rose from the road verges before us and often filled the truck with flitting life. We saw a falcon fly elegantly into a tree and a lilac crested roller flash multi-colours through the sky. We saw a tiny duiker antelope and kudu. We then drove out towards the huge salt pan, dried lake. Many ostrich strutted around this area, flapping their wings to display to the females. We drove out onto the salt pan which stretched beyond the horizon with cracked, salty crust but damp wetter mud underneath.
As we continued along the edge of the salt pan we saw large herds of springbok, zebra and wildebeest. We arrived at our next campsite, Okaukuejo, at around mid-day and Often the driver let us know that there were animals at the waterhole by the campsite so we immediately went there past the plush chalets of the large and upmarket campsite. We were greeted with a stunning and timeless view of many different animals coming down to the waterhole. There was a herd of wildebeest sniffing and snorting as they drank the waters. Hundreds of zebra walled around the waterhole and drunk the water in stripy lines of threes and fours before departing and being replaced by more zebra. Several oryx walled deep into the water to drink. Springbok also added their delicate, thin legged presence to the scene. This was the quintessential experience of the animal filled waterhole in Africa that i had hoped for and it was one the highlights of the entire trip. The animals began to leave the waterhole in numbers and we left to put up our tents, eat some lunch and cool off from the intense heat with a swim in the campsite swimming pool. At 4pm we set off for an evening game drive on Chui the truck through the Etosha park. There were less of us on this trip and we took some alcohol to drink. I drank some red wine which allowed me to open up more to the landscapes and animals before us. We saw lots of animals in the park again. We saw large herds of zebra by the road, rolling extravagantly in the dust and living their lives as they have done for millennia. We saw herds of impala and springbok and red hartebeest. We saw a jackal running quickly through the low scrubland, ostrich, a falcon, and a vulture. We saw a lone hyena lopimg it's way through bushes. At one point we turned down a road towards the vast salt pan. As we passed the herds of zebra and springbok, with the wine relaxing me into this epic scene, I had an epiphany of sorts, where I deeply felt the spirit of Africa in this ancient place with the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth playing out over millions of years. As we returned towards the campsite, our special experience was capped off by seeing a young male lion close to the road with two of his make companions further on in the distance.
We returned to the campsite and went over the waterhole to view the sunset with a big orange sun dipping below pink and auburn clouds. We then rushed back for some dinner of burgers and fried potatoes. Lauren and I then headed back over to the waterhole as the stars began to appear in the night sky. Lauren and I have always been very fortunate when we view wildlife together, and this night was no exception. A female black rhino and her young infant were arriving at the waterhole just as we were arriving. We watched the mother gently lap water with her infant also taking a drink. After a few minutes the mother and her baby walked back up the hill and into the night. We waited and whispered conversation by the waterhole until the mother and baby returned again for another drink, sniffed the air as if to try to smell the humans watching on the other side of the waterhole and somewhat nervously retreated back in the darkness. We heard lions roaring in the distance which always makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. We waited late into the evening with the tantalising hope of the lions we heard in the distance visiting the waterhole. We didn't see the lions, but we were rewarded with seeing a different lone black rhino (all the rhino we saw in Etosha National Park were black rhino) come down to drink. As I watched it through my binoculars, I suddenly saw a hyena behind the rhino also making it's way down the bank to drink. We then had the amazing scene of a wild rhino drinking at the edge of the water with a hyena also lapping the water noisily only a few metres away from the rhino. They didn't seem to be bothered by each other at all and both eventually left and went their separate ways in the darkness. We waited and talked until 11.15pm until tiredness overwhelmed us and we returned to our tents. I watched the milky way in the clear sky and the flashes of lightning in the far distance before retiring to my tent and taking a long time to fall asleep with thoughts on my mind and lions roaring in the distance.
Animal list - Impala, eland, oryx, giraffe, falcon, lilac crested roller, duiker, kudu, ostrich, honey badger
Game drive evening- zebra, impala, springbok, red hartebeest, jackal, goshawk, wildebeest, vulture, ostrich, hyena, ground squirrel, lion x3Read more
NamibiaOshana19°9’42” S 15°58’52” E
January 26, 2020 in Namibia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
I had to get up very early at 5am for a 6.30am game drive through the Etosha park, and the wine and late night had taken their toll on me and left me feeling very tired. I showered. packed up my tent, had breakfast and boarded the truck for another safari. The morning was cool and pleasant as the sun rose between bright orange edged clouds. We were hardly out of the campsite and one of the white sroned roads, when we came across a large pride of female lions with many cubs crossing the road ahead of us. We watched them walk and then lay down in the grass. Then on the other side of the truck we saw a pregnant female lion lying close to the road and occasionally looking up at the truck. She took up a classic 'sphinx' like pose and looked majestic in the early morning light. She began calling to her lioness companions across the road with that evocative low rumbling roar and was replied to in turn by the rest of her pride. It was wonderful to witness this low rumbling roar up close for the first time. A little further down the road, we saw two impressive male lions with big, thick, dark brown manes, walking together across the open plain to small stream where they drank together, heads down, for some time. They looked regal and magnificent in the yellow light of the early morning sun.
There were lots of animals out in the cool morning with zebra, wildebeest and springbok all on view. We saw two ostrich walking away through the grasslands. We visited several waterholes bit only one was populated with many zebra, wildebeest and oryx. We next came across a female jackal with two cubs running quickly by thr roadside and sniffing out morsels to eat. They found some meat which looked like the remains of a snake which they ate with a look of satisfaction and contentment on their thin jawed faces. The mother then quickly ran off with one of cubs who had been curiously investigating the sound of a nearby bird. The other cub seemed to wait behind and hid beneath some undergrowth.
We saw the capercaillie like bird again which may be the koha?. It took off noisily and clucked loudly when disturbed by the truck. We then came across a large black rhino heading directly for us as we parked on the roadside. He came within a few metres of the truck, stood still for a few seconds, and then suddenly mock charged the truck which was a genuinely frightening moment which made me instinctively step backwards even though I was on the 'beach' at the top of the truck and perfectly safe. After the mock charge, the rhino quickly backed away and ran around the back of the truck. It was quite something to experience what a rhino charge would be like for the first time. Further along the road we saw another black rhino a bit further away. It was time for our safari to end and as we returned to pass our campsite and leave the Etiosha Park through the nearby south gates, we all agreed that it had been an amazing final game drive in the park.
We travelled on through miles of brush and scrubland towards our next destination in Namibia. The sun became very hot again as we stopped to buy lunch and food for our cook group. We travelled on in baking heat and I started to feel very exhausted from a string of nights where I had gone to sleep quite late and got into an unfortunate pattern of waking up at 3am without being able to go back to sleep. Everything I tried to do started to go wrong and my rucksack fell of a ledge on the truck and my water bottle spilled all over the floor. I clearly needed to stop everything and get some rest. We stopped at a traditional village for a tourist tour, but I decided to rest on the truck instead which was a good decision. We then drove on to our campsite for the night, Cheetah Park (see next blog).
Animal list - Lions - pride and female, two males, walking female. Jackal - mother and two cubs. Koha? - pheasant like bird. Rhino charge. Second rhino.Read more
NamibiaKhorixas Constituency19°36’24” S 15°4’12” E
January 26, 2020 in Namibia ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
We arrived at the Cheetah Park campsite in the late afternoon in burning heat. This was a park with a number of cheetahs. A few of the cheetahs had been hand reared and were tame around people. We immediately saw one of these cheetahs laid by the gate of an adjoining house. We were given a quick debrief on how to behave around the cheetahs and were then ushered through the gates along with a group of Russian tourists. The cheetah by the gate actually led us to the back garden where we would spend time with th cheetahs. - he had clearly done this many times before. It was humbling to walk alongside such a lithe, elegant and self possessed predator. Once in the garden, two other cheetahs joined us, and we sat on the ground as they came up to lick us on the arms and legs. Their tongues were rough like sandpaper as they licked my arm and leg. They purred with pleasure just like house cats. We were able to take lots of photos and videos of these magnificent animals up close. I had a special moment of connection with one of the cheetahs when he came up behind me to lick my arm and then lifted his head to lick my neck and face. I was left with a pungent smell of cheetah one my arm. The cheetah's keeper then brought in some meat for the cheetahs which they fed on lustily, chewing hard and breaking any bones with their tough bite. After this special experience we left the garden and boarded the back of a vehicle to drive to another area of the park where there were wilder cheetahs which followed our vehicles so that we could film them walking beside the truck. At one point we stopped while the keeper threw food to the cheetahs which they fought over until all the three cheetahs had been given their fill of meat. It was again wonderful to watch and photograph these animals at such close hand. We then returned to the campsite to find a lovely camping area in the wild bush to pitch our tents. I had a busy evening helping to cook thr dinner with Lauren and Grant. Our egg fried rice with vegetables went down well with our fellow travellers. There was a stunning thin crescent moon where you could see the darker side of it because of the light still reflecting from the Earth. Above lay a large, bright Venus. The stars filled the sky on the clear sky and I watched them through the mesh of the tent as I slowly fell asleep in the cooling night air.Read more
NamibiaErongo21°50’18” S 15°12’30” E
January 27, 2020 in Namibia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
It had cooled nicely under the starry night. I woke up in my current unwanted pattern at around 3.30an and lay awake watching the stars until I got up to shower and breakfast at 5.30am. The horizon had reddened beautifully for thr forthcoming sunrise. We set off from Cheetah Park to head further south into Namibia. We drove along stony rough roads that made for a bouncy and challenging journey. We stopped off in a small village for provisions. There were some local women street sellers in the topless dressing that is traditional in this area. Tribal name?They also wore bead necklaces and bracelets. We passed on into increasingly dry and arid landscape. The trees grew less and smaller and the areas of yellow sands grew bigger. We were now entering the Namib desert. We moved out of the flat plains and into a more mountainous area with impressive ochre coloured rock formations. The mountains also rose in a dusky red from the yellow sands. This was more the classic image of the Namibian deserts. We drove through scattered houses that had a ramshackle appearance of various poles shackled together. One house had strange mannequin figures outside and there were pieces of wood stacked in small square columns. The women dressed unusually with head scarves that had a long thin top to them.
The rock formations got more spectacular and the mountains got higher as we approached Spitzkoppe. They were formed out of a rounded, pinkish orange granite with large boulders balancing on their tops and sides. We turned off into a large campsite with spectacular views of the mountains behind. There were no facilities on our camping spot so this would be a more wild bush camp. We climbed up the rounded rocks behind the site which led up to a large rock arch where we stood and took photos. This was an atmospheric place with an austere but beautiful rocky desert lanscape all around. We sat amidst the rock formations before returning to the truck for dinner. We played cards on the truck before dinner which added some fun to the late afternoon and kept us out of the intense sun for a while. I pitched my tent without its waterproof outer cover to help stay cool in the night and watch the stars. I had to peg down the inner tent as there was quite a strong desert wind blowing.
The sun began to sink towards the horizon as the early evening approached and we wanted to walk up to a high point on the big rounded rock formation behind the camp. However, it was quite a challenge to get up there as the rough granite sides were quite steep. Lauren and I walked around to the back of the formation and managed to find a route up to the top but it still required some difficult climbs through rock crevices. We met some of our fellow travellers at the top who had jumped across a rock crevice and found a way up from the front of the formation. The view from the top had breathtaking views over the surrounding mountains and rock formations. The large orange sun slowly descended to a gap in distant mountains and created one of the most atmospheric and beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. The sun slowly disappeared behind the mountain and the sky reddened dramatically. We decided to pick our way back down through the rocks before it became too dark. Some of our fellow travellers tried to come down thr same side of the formation later and got a bit lost so we had to help direct them down the right way. I got some lovely photos of the reddening skies at the bottom. We then had a wonderful dinner cooked by our driver, Often, and tour leader, Jemma. There was a beautiful thin crescent moon and Venus shining bright nearby in the darkening night sky.
People retired to their tents early. However, Lauren and I decided to take photos of the stars and milky way in the clear night sky. We got some wonderful photos and it was lovely to spend time under a nightsky with no light pollution and so filled with stars. We could see the Southern Cross constellation rising. At around 10.30pm a large 4x4 vehicle drove past us and then returned and drove into our campsitr directly heading for our fellow traveller, Vincent, who was camping out of his tent to sleep under the stars. We had to literally run and jump in front of thr vehicle with our head torches on in order to stop Vincent getting run over. It turned out that the vehicle contained young Chinese tourists who wanted to visit the rock arch in the middle of the night. We advised them not to try and negotiate the tricky and steep formations in the dark with only phone torches. However, they ignored us and walked around the formations getting lost and talking noisily waking up our fellow travellers in the process.
We continued to watch the stars and take photos until I became too tired and returned to my tent to sleep at about 11.30pm. I slowly fell asleep in the warm night air looking at the stars through the netting of my inner tent.Read more
NamibiaKlein Spitzkuppe21°54’27” S 15°3’48” E
January 28, 2020 in Namibia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
I slept reasonably well until 5am but woke up feeling tired after my late night star watching. I got up and walked out to a nearby rock to take photos of the pre-dawn mountains that had a deep red hue. I packed up my tent and had some light breakfast before climbing the rock formation behind the camp to take photos of a beautiful sunrise which turned the granite rock from deep red, to orange and then to yellow.
All too soon it was time to get on the truck and.leave for our next destination. We headed towards the Namibian coast past dramatic and desolate, flat, sandy plains. The weather grew dramatically colder as we approached the coast with its cold seas welling up from the Antarctic and creating Namibia's unusual climate. We drove into the mists created by the cold sea air meeting thr hot desert air. We all began to put jackets and warm layers on as the cold wind blew through the trucks open sides.
We reached the coast with sand stretching for hundreds of miles and big rolling waves crashing onto the shore. We drove to where there is a huge Cape fur seal colony called the Cape Cross seal colony. We walked out to get very close to the thousands of seals with many young pups. A wooden walkway allowed you to walk along the top of this enormous colony. It was special to watch the behaviour of all these seals, fighting for space, calling loudly, walking to and from the sea and suckling their young. There was a very pungent, fishy smell coming from the colony which took a while to get used to. It was humbling to witness such a mass of mammal life in one place. My only disappointment was that we didn't have more time to spend with this remarkable scene of nature in all its abundance.
We drove on to eat some fresh fish and chips at a restaurant in a nearby town which was very tasty and enjoyable which sated my hunger well. Next we drove along the coastline and stopped to see one of the many shipwrecks along this notoriously dangerous coast for shipping.
We then passed miles of unbroken sandy coastline with big rolling waves, and stretching inland to miles of desert sands. We arrived at a more industrial mining area which led to the modern looking town of Swakopmund to our destination hostel/hotel, Amanpuri. We unpacked in a very nice dorm room and decided on our activities for the next couple of days from the debrief we received at the hostel. Everyone on the trip went for a nice meal at a local restaurant with some enjoyable local music from a male group at the end of the meal. I retired early to bed to hopefully catch up on my sleep on a comfortable bed.Read more
I am planning on traveling with oasis overland and discovered your blog while doing some pre-travel research myself! Your diaries are truly interesting and helped me get a closer insight to overland travels. Looking at these photos and reading your stories makes me wait for my travel date to arrive real fast too! Good luck on the rest of your journey!