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Namibia 2026
  • Misadventures Of Wanda
  • Misadventures Of Wanda

Namibia 2026

Follow our progress through South Africa to Namibia and Botswana Meer informatie
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  • Misadventures Of WandaNamibia 2026Misadventures Of Wanda

    Spitzkoppe Community Camp

    30 april, Namibië ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Today we packed up and left Goanikontes at 8am and drove just over 100 miles to our next sleepover. Spittzkoppe community camp is set around huge rock mountains in the desert. It is busy with people during the day due to allowing day visitors for hiking and climbing but at night there are only 17 pitches and we got here at 11:30am and got an amazing pitch. They are all totally isolated and off grid só even though we are not alone in the park we are alone camping. Some of the people that had arrived late got some really crap pitches that aren’t secluded and on route to the tourist destinations só we were lucky with our pitch.
    After lunch of a pizza each at the restaurant we went for a hike, first to the small bushman’s rock which we have to pay for só we turned around and hiked to the rock pools and rock arch. There is also plenty of bird life here which is great for when we are sitting in camp.    Meer informatie

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  • Misadventures Of WandaNamibia 2026Misadventures Of Wanda

    Rock arch without the tourists.

    1 mei, Namibië ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    This morning we headed across the road about 1km and back to rock arch. Ellie had the great idea of going just before 10am. This meant that the campers that were here last night had left but the new ones hadn’t yet arrived. Also the tourist buses hadn’t come in this far yet.
    Once we got there, there was one French family and us só we pretty much had it all to ourselves.    Meer informatie

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  • Misadventures Of WandaNamibia 2026Misadventures Of Wanda

    Ombo rest camp

    2 mei, Namibië ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    This morning we were up at 6am snd by 8am we were on the road taking a picture of the Spitzkoppe sign on the way out.
    We got diesel 20km later snd for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks put air back in our tyres. Then it was a 2.5 hour drive to Ombo rest camp. We are now just 2 days away from Botswana.
    Ombo rest camp is lovely, it has a small selection of animals, a tiny pool but it’s quiet and good enough for a nights stopover.    Meer informatie

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  • Misadventures Of WandaNamibia 2026Misadventures Of Wanda

    Xelda Game Farm - Last day in Namibia

    3 mei, Namibië ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We left at 8am and it was 380km and 5 hours of driving to our next camp just 20km from the Botswana border.
    Xelda Game Farm is set in a beautiful location 3km off of the main road. It is still under new development and we got to use the toilets in one of the new chalets as the ablution blocks are still being restored.
    The place is immaculate with a huge reception and bar area and all of the chalets have been restored to the highest standard we have seen. It is far too good for us. The campsites are huge and each has its own seating and Braai area and there is also a beautiful pool.    Meer informatie

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  • Misadventures Of WandaNamibia 2026Misadventures Of Wanda

    Ghanzi Shopping

    4 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We got to our camp for the next 2 nights at midday and we had to wait until 2pm to to properly check in so we took a drive down the road to Ghanzi to do the shopping. There was no real meat in any if the 3,supermarkets só we ended up with veggie burgers and rolls and veggie sausages for tomorrow with pasta.Meer informatie

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    Thakadu Game Farm

    4 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Finally after 2pm we were allowed to check in, it’s a nice camp with antelope and various non threatening animals roaming free and there is a lit waterhole at night.
    There is a big bar and restaurant and swimming pool and the campsite is basic but adequate for us. It’s not as posh as we thought but it’s not a bad stopover.Meer informatie

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    Maun Shopping

    6 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We spent last night with the owners of Thakadu rest camp and the reason there is no animals is because there was a drought last February and they were culled. A month later the rains came and the camp was under 1.5 meters of water and it’s been raining on and off since. Só except for our unwanted encounter with 2 snakes nothing came to camp. But we did see a warthog and 2 jackal at the waterhole.
    We left Thakadu at 9am and it was a 280km journey to Maun and the sitatunga camp. We pitched up and went straight to Maun for shopping. 2 days without meat and I was starving só for lunch we even stopped at wimpy.
    After shopping we stopped at the Botswana wildlife offices to get our permits for Nxai Pan, that was easier than we thought and we were back at camp by 4:30pm when we lit a fire with some left over firewood.    Meer informatie

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  • Misadventures Of WandaNamibia 2026Misadventures Of Wanda

    Elephant Sands

    8 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We left camp at 8am. Our first stop was Spar to get more meat and then hide it in a cool bag in the back of the caravan because of the foot and mouth disease precautions. Then we went back to chequers for avocado’s and bread.
    It was then a 380km, that’s roughly 250 miles to elephant sands and Ellie felt sick all the way and we had to keep stopping for her to throw up. The roads were a nightmare with huge potholes and the worst roadworks we had ever driven through. To top it off when we reached elephant sands we realised they had booked us in for March and they were full but the girl managed to squeeze us in.
    Luckily we got there when we did because we got one of the last pitches, everyone after us had no shelter or designated spot.
    This is not how we remember elephant sands, it has got much bigger with more chalets and designated camping areas. The whole place is chockablock.To top it off because of the recent rains there’s no elephants. Only one came down in the evening, but Ellie could do with the rest so we will have a relaxing day here tomorrow before moving on.    Meer informatie

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  • Misadventures Of WandaNamibia 2026Misadventures Of Wanda

    Elephant sands day 2

    9 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Today everyone left at stupid hour só at 8am we rolled the car and caravan onto the front row overlooking the waterhole.
    1 elephant had shown up in the morning and we have plenty of bird life to keep us amused.
    Later in the afternoon another couple of elephants came by. It is much quieter today, even by 4pm there were just 4 campers including us and a couple of the lodges.    Meer informatie

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  • Misadventures Of WandaNamibia 2026Misadventures Of Wanda

    On our way to Nxai Pan

    10 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    We left camp at 7:45am. It was the quickest of pack ups as we hadn’t needed to get the awning out.
    We turned right out of elephant sands and back towards Nata where we stopped at the local gas station and convenience store to pick up extra charcoal and water. Our next stop was another 100 kilometres away where we filled up with diesel and got breakfast.Meer informatie

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  • Misadventures Of WandaNamibia 2026Misadventures Of Wanda

    Nxai Pan

    10 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We got to the entrance gate of Nxai Pan just before 1pm. Whilst Ellie checked is in and showed our permits we had picked up 3 days ago in Maun I let the tyres down to just 18 PSI and entered low range. That’s lower than my gravel bike. Then we continued onto the pan itself and we had 40km of deep sand to plough through.
    Ghost didn’t even flinch at the terrain and deep sand and it lapped up the 40km in just over an hour.
    This is the most remote we have ever been. There is nothing out here except animals. Real wild animals, só we will be in bed before it gets too dark, light a big fire snd set the trap cameras.    Meer informatie

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    Nxai Pan Day 2

    11 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Today we spent the morning pretty much lost on the Boabab route which is deeply overgrown.
    This is supposed to be a top route for game drives here but we just found it to be super overgrown snd we did alot of bush bashing with the car.
    We didn’t see much on the boabab route but there are alot of bat eared foxes here that we have seen and jackal. We had lots of jackal in camp at dinner time and one even broke into our bin bag.    Meer informatie

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    Nxai pan day 4 - Baines Boababs

    12 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    This morning we were up at 5:30am and were the first to leave camp in search of the elusive lions. We passed Nxai pan and the waterhole near camp but didn’t see much except for zebra, giraffe and the bat eared foxes. After the initial loop we drove back down the 30km entrance road towards Baines Boababs. A group of Boabab trees Thomas Bain painted 150 years ago but despite being told the trees were accessible they weren’t for us.
    We did see a game vehicle and he did say we could drive through the floods no problem but we didn’t want to chance it and turned around.
    Baines Boababs was a fail and a must do next time.    Meer informatie

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  • Misadventures Of WandaNamibia 2026Misadventures Of Wanda

    Nxai Pan Day 5

    13 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    This morning we were up at 5:45am and left camp at 6:20am.
    We turned right out of camp visiting the first waterhole which was empty snd then we turned left onto Nxai Pan visiting that waterhole. Again there was nothing there só we drove the 15km loop road seeing zebra, giraffe and bat eared fox which are always great to see. They are in abundance here and live in small family’s of between 5-8.
    We got back to camp at 8:20am, had breakfast then had a nap and then left the camp at midday to see if we could reach the outermost pan. We couldn’t, it was too bushy.
    Then we went to sit by the waterhole outside of reception where there were 8 elephants and 3 of them walked straight past the front of the car, it was exciting and terrifying at the same time.    Meer informatie

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  • Misadventures Of WandaNamibia 2026Misadventures Of Wanda

    Nxai Pan Day 6 - Lions & Herds

    14 mei, Botswana ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Today we left later at 7am and we spent an hour driving up and down the camp to reception road looking for lions and found nothing. At 8am I decided just to call it and continue driving further into the park. Past the first water hole and towards Nxai Pan and just before we got there we found a game vehicle that had spotted a lioness.
    She was moving away from us and went into the bushes and we were about to leave when she popped back out and brought 2 tiny cubs. We couldn’t believe our luck as she brought them right towards us and into the road and then towards the Pan before ducking back into the bushes to hide her cubs and disappear. Mission accomplished .
    I’m glad we saw the lion but overall I’ve been really disappointed with predator sightings here. There’s been no hyena and we haven’t even heard them só they’ve obviously moved on, it could be because of the recent rains, or they are following the migration either way I was expecting to shit myself in camp and that hasn’t happened.
    In the afternoon we headed out early and found the biggest heards of Wilderbeast and zebra all with babies só that was impressive. We also found more bat eared foxes, they are common here but that’s a first for us, they’ve always been so hard to find. Today is our last day and it’s been a good one, would we come back? Yes, but probably a different time of the year.    Meer informatie

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    Rakops River Lodge

    15 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We left Nxai pan at 7:45am and it took us 90 minutes just to reach the top of the road where the main gate is, then we put air back in the tyres.
    We arrived at our next destination of Rakops river lodge at 12:30 and straight away we were disappointed. It is entirely fenced in and the place is really run down and to top it off we are the only ones here. After checking in we were shown to camp 4 which is right next to the ablutions so it’s a good job we’re the only ones here as they are shared by all 8 camps.
    After pitching, we drove into town to get fuel and supplies and decided then we were only going to do one night. Rakops town is like a black western town from the 1800’s but instead of horses everyone is on donkeys. However the people are exceptionally nice.    Meer informatie

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    Orapa Spar

    16 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    On the way to Kharma Rhino Sanctuary we stopped for groceries at Orapa. Orapa is its own little community completely gated in thanks to the second largest diamond mine un the world and 70% of Botswanas income coming from it. It mines approximately 200,000 carrots a year and this year they are expected to dig another 3-400 meters down. Everybody in town was lovely and we brought the guy at the gates some cigarettes.Meer informatie

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    Kharma Rhino Sanctuary

    16 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We left Rakops at 8:30am. We had caught a Genet overnight on the camera and possibly a porcupine and one part of us wanted to stay. But we didn’t snd couldn’t wait all day doing nothing to find out what visited at night.
    We arrived at Kharma rhino sanctuary at 2:15pm and luckily they had room for us a day early so instead of 2 nights we now have 3.
    The campsites are beautiful, offgrid and huge but the toilets look like something from the walking dead with electrics hanging off the walls above the shower waiting to kill you.
    Impala are running through camp already and there is an abundance of bird life and squirrels so we are happy here.    Meer informatie

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    Kharma Rhino Sanctuary Day 2

    17 mei, Botswana ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    We got up at 7am today and it was the cloudiest. Murkiest day of the whole trip and it was cold at 10°c.
    At 8:30am we headed out into the park for our first game drive and the lady who checked us in was freezing in her tiny gatehouse.
    We took a 2 hour drive seeing Impala, Zebra and Kudu and lots of different birds before stopping at the birdhide for 10 minutes. The bird hide was like a shed a toddler would have built, and more things were living in it than out of it.
    When we left we drove back to camp made a cheese toastie and a big flask and took it back to the lady at the gatehouse. She was very grateful.
    We chilled at camp and went for a run and at 4pm we headed back into the park and as it was warmer the rhino were out in the pans and we even spotted dwarf mongoose before heading out of the park at 5pm and driving back to camp and lighting a big fire to keep warm.    Meer informatie

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    Kharma Rhino Sanctuary Day 3

    18 mei, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Today is our last day here and first thing in the morning it was cold and damp again. We didn’t even bother getting dressed until 11am.
    Just after 12pm we headed into the park for our final game drive just as the clouds broke. We stayed in the park for 3 hours and saw 12 rhino which was pretty good considering the weather and even though we got lost in the thick bush we didn’t find a black rhino.
    We got back to camp at 4pm and searched around for some kindling and then lit another big fire using the last of our wood.    Meer informatie

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    Border Control - Martins Drift

    19 mei, Botswana ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We left Kharma Rhino Sanctuary at 7:45 and it was a good job we did. Our first stop was a Spar Supermarket to stock up in meat before heading back into South Africa.
    After that it was an another 90 minutes to get to the Botswana/ South Africa border crossing at Martins Drift and it was total chaos. The queues of Lorry’s started 4km back and we followed a coal truck passing all of them. We didn’t have a clue where to go until suddenly the border of Botswana popped up and a lorry diver directed us which route to take. After customs it was over a single lane bridge and into South Africa and it was total gridlock.
    The lorry’s were stacked 3 deep and queued as far as we could see and Ellie got out and walked down to see where we should be and a nice customs official told us to drive down the outgoing road passed the queue of lorry’s and then park up at incoming customs. All in all it took us 40 minutes which was good for a first time chaos crossing.    Meer informatie

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