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  • LouisaJames

Namibia

A 13-day adventure by LouisaJames Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 28, 2017
    LouisaJamesNamibiaLouisaJames

    Driving to Rainbow River Lodge

    August 28, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    The temperatures keep rising and Namibia is hot! We had a long drive but as soon as we crossed the boarder we were into a national park where the highlight was having a close encounter with an elephant bull that tried to charge us a couple of times until he realise we were much bigger than him. Our campsite was on the edge of a river and while we sat in the bar with a cool beer we watched over 40 elephants drinking on the opposite river bank. Hippos and crocodiles were also seen!Read more

  • LouisaJamesNamibiaLouisaJames
    1

    Etosha National Park Day 1

    August 29, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    It was easy to see how it got its name, which means great white place, as a quarter of the 20,000 square km was a flat depression that was once a deep inland lake. The white clay pan has small shrub surrounding it which is where most of the wildlife can be found, particularly surrounding the waterholes. Our first afternoon in the park was unbelievable. We were constantly seeing animals, including giraffes, 9 black rhino, elephants, zebras, Damara dik-dik (small 'Bambi') and blackface impala, native to Etosha. On our rush to get to the campground before sunset and the gates were locked we spotted a leopard. This time we sat and watched it as it walked along only 25 meters from us in the shrubs, a very lucky find as they are so hard to spot. Once at camp Halali we spent till late at night sat by the waterhole waiting for visitors and we didn't have wait long as there were spotted hyena, jackel, honey badgers, monitor lizard and two rhinos that weren't happy to see each other. Yet again, another highlight of Africa.Read more

  • LouisaJamesNamibiaLouisaJames

    Etosha National Park Day 2

    August 30, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Another 5am start to look at the waterhole before going on a 5 hour safari on Chui (our truck). Not as much about today but we still watched four lions and saw lots of zebra, springboks, kudus, dik-dik, wildebeest, hartebeest, black faced impala... It was a welcome relief to use the camp swimming pool to cool off from the mid day heat of about 35 degree, while having relay races! We had another game drive then sat by the waterhole again. This time a mother and her 3 or 4 month old baby rhino came to drink along with a rhino from the previoys night and jackels and hyenas. The best was when a gutsy rabbit stood infront of the rhino and her baby and made them both jump in surprise.Read more

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    Etosha to Cheetah Park

    August 31, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    A 5am start again so we could get out on safari again once all packed up. A highlight during the three hour drive was when we could see three of the big five in a straight line! The elephant and lion were at either side of us but crossing infront of our truck was another black rhino (more fierce than the white rhino). A four hour journey out of he park and we got to Cheetah Park, where we stayed for the night.Read more

  • LouisaJamesNamibiaLouisaJames

    Cheetah Park

    August 31, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    First we got to stroke the three tame cheetahs that the family have raaised since they were either the runt of their litter or unwell. It seemed odd to see their two year old toddler son walking around the yard alongside the cheetahs! Once we saw them being fed we went in the back of a truck and trailer onto their land where they have 14 wild cheetahs, many of them rescued. It was completely different watching them being fed as they showed their aggressive side, trying to pounce on the man. On the way our driver saw a spitting cobra.Read more

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    Cheetah Park to the Skeleton coast

    September 1, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    It was the hottest day yet today where even the wind coming in through the open sides and beach felt like a hair dryer on full blast. While stopping to pick up supplies we got talking to locals who speak in English but some words have clicks in the middle of them. In the afternoon we both travelled in the cab with Often where you get a good view ahead. We stopped on the roadside and used the time wisely to play throwing games with stones, as you do. We arrived in good time at the best wild camp yet that was in the middle of a wide circular valley, surrounded by hills. Camp fire, drawing competitions n the sand and a bbq of orix made fir a perfect evening.Read more

  • LouisaJamesNamibiaLouisaJames

    Skeleton Coast

    September 2, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ ☀️ 38 °C

    We started off with a warm morning in shorts and t-shirts that soon turned really cold as we neared the coast and entered the sea fog. We spent the whole day driving on just sand roads which looked odd when you got to road junction with signs through the Skeleton National Park. As soon as the truck was checked for any poached animals (rhinos here have suffered badly from this) we made our way to one of the many ship wrecks along the shore. At Cape Cross we visited a seal colony where the resident population is between 80,000 and 100,000. There are 8 similar sized colonies along the coast here although they are actually sea lions as they have little 'sticky out' ears. Nearly a quarter of the pups don't make it to adult life which is probably a relief to the fish stocks in the area as they are putting them under pressure. We got to Spitzkoppe National Park and spent the night there.Read more

  • LouisaJamesNamibiaLouisaJames

    Spitzkoppe National Park

    September 3, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Spitzkoppe is a relatively small area but stunning. The rock formations have the most unusual shapes and are much taller than you would think once we started climbing up them. Thankfully the rock type is very grippy. Sleeping under the stars with the huge silhouettes of the rocks was also worthwhile.Read more

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    Sandboarding - Naukluft National Park

    September 4, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    We spent the morning sand boarding in the dunes behind Swakopmund. It was a much more professional set up than we have experienced before as we were using proper boards, bindings and boots. With a little bit of instruction we set off down the steep sand dune. A few runs in and we both had a go off the jump, James also getting it sorted by the end. We also had a go at laying down on plyboard sledges, both achieving 60kph on the speedgun.
    Finished off with lunch and a few beers in the desert rounded off an excellent experience.    Read more

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    Quad biking - Naukluft National Park

    September 6, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Two hour trip out to the dunes again, this time on 250cc quad bikes. They were super fun racing through the amazing dunes, flat out through the fantastic wave shapes and drifting loose corners. James got an official warning for power sliding too much, but still continued when the guide was out of sight! Great fun with some of the guys off the truck.Read more

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    Bushman's Camp

    September 6, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We left Swakomund at lunch and drove to a camp in the middle of nowhere. The stunning scenery was constantly changing from flat desert to gorges with unusual rock formations. On the way we passed the Tropic of Capricorn and had to get the obligatory photograph. The last time we crossed it we were on the west coast of Australia just over three months ago. At camp we could hear the zebra running around while sat by the campfire and saw the moon rise red.Read more

  • LouisaJamesNamibiaLouisaJames

    Sesriem Camp

    September 7, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    On the way to our camp at Sesriem we passed through only one very small settlement called Solitaire. It oddly had a collection of old used cars, great for photo opportunities. Past Sesriem we continued on to Sossusvlei where we went on a very hot, ruggid 5km midday walk across the dunes to get to Dead Vlei, a large ephemeral pan set amongst 200m red sand dunes. The tress have died many years ago from too much clay in the sand but will never really rot because of the dry climate. It was quite a site to see amongst the red dunes. After camp was set up we went to Sesriem Canyon to see the sun set, so after a walk through it we set on top of the truck for sun downers over looking the canyon.Read more

  • LouisaJamesNamibiaLouisaJames

    Namib-Naukluft National Park

    September 8, 2017 in Namibia ⋅ 🌙 8 °C

    We left in the dark and walked up the 150m Dune 45 to see sunrise. We were walking up the ridge with the sun rising on one side and the moon setting on the other. It was nice to have breakfast ready for us at the bottom of the dune. After that we had a long driving day, not getting to camp until nearly 6 o'clock, but the views continued to be very dramatic with lots of orix to see and truck trivia to keep our brains active. We camped by Naute Dam, enjoying our last campfire of this trip.Read more

  • LouisaJamesNamibiaLouisaJames
    1

    Fish River Canyon

    September 9, 2017 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    We were at Fish River Canyon early this morning after a 5.30am start and walked from one view point to the next as the path winds its way along a small part of the edge of it. It is the second largest canyon in the world and has a double layer with the Fish River at the the bottom of the gorge. This is just another fine example of the scenery that Namibia has to offer ans a great place to eat beans on toast for breakfast too! It wasn't too long a drive to get to our final destination for the day, the Orange River, on our final journey in Chui, the big yellow truck. The rock formations on the hills and mountains was more impressive than before although we were very surprised to come around a corner and find huge vineyards in the midd of the dusty desert. We had to do the third and final truck clean in the heat of the afternoon but could at least cool off in the pool afterwards. A bit of a treat to be camping on grass after many nights sleeping on sand, dust and stones (it's the small things!).Read more

    Trip end
    September 9, 2017
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