Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Day 82 - 87, North Western Namibia
We had left Etosha in the morning to start touring the North Western part of the country. Our first stop was the town of Oujo, where we fueled up and asked in the local garage if they could weld our by now severely cracked car. The answer was negative, as they said the result would only last minutes once we took to some of the more remote roads. So we continued with the duct-tape arrangement. Before heading to our next stop, Oujo did delight us with a traditional German-style bakery, though. It seems curious to find such a place in a small Namibian town but it is not uncommon, as there are still remnants of the colonial times peppered across the county from the days when it was known as German South West Africa.
Some roads that afternoon proved to be pretty bumpy, leading us through many small, traditional hamlets with rondavel mud-huts. Our @house@ survived and that night we camped in Palmwag, but before retiring for the night, an oryx steak was in order. The taste could be loosely compared to beef, but it has its own distinct flavour and we really enjoyed it. The next morning we had visitors to our campsite, when two German kids started talking to Kai, asking him if he was writing a book (he was on the laptop writing the blog offline). They were heading to Etosha, so we were able to make some recommendations, whilst they happily shared their tips for the opposite direction and showed us their best pictures.
Next stop for us was Twyfelfontein, or "Doubtful Spring". The land in this part starts getting drier as it gets ever closer to the harsh Namib desert and people have managed to live in this area for centuries, but were highly dependent on the random water springs. Here we did another community sponsored tour, where we were shown some very impressive and very old rock paintings. Although originally we thought we could make it all the way to a mountain formation called Spitzkoppe, a "closed road" sign and the emminent sunset stopped us about 80km short of it. We ended up spending the night in the tidy and well-organized town of Uis, near the Brandberg mountain, at nearly 3000m the highest point in Namibia.
In the camp we asked about the closed road, as we really didn't feel like having to drive the extra 50kms on gravel to get to our destination. The guy assured us that with our 4x4 we could safely take that road and ignore the sign, so we did just that the following morning. It was a good thing too, as the landscape was stunning, with beautiful yellow hills, the odd-river bed and although hazy at first, a very good sight of Spitzkoppe, the so-called Matterhorn of Africa. It was at the foot of Spitzkoppe where we stayed in one of the more rudimentary, but probably most amazing camping areas of our trip. It was basically our car, surrounded by really interesting huge rock formations that turned fiery red as the sun set. We climbed the rocks to get a better view of the surroundings, and enjoy yet another stunning African sunset, next to the lizards and the rock dassies. Because of the remoteness of it all, the night was dead quiet. Although the moon was nearly full, we could also see clearly the Milky Way.
In the camp we asked about the closed road, as we really didn't feel like having to drive the extra 50kms on gravel to get to our destination. The guy assured us that with our 4x4 we could safely take that road and ignore the sign, so we did just that the following morning. It was a good thing too, as the landscape was stunning, with beautiful yellow hills, the odd-river bed and although hazy at first, a very good sight of Spitzkoppe, the so-called Matterhorn of Africa. It was at the foot of Spitzkoppe where we stayed in one of the more rudimentary, but probably most amazing camping areas of our trip. It was basically our car, surrounded by really interesting huge rock formations that turned fiery red as the sun set. We climbed the rocks to get a better view of the surroundings, and enjoy yet another stunning African sunset, next to the lizards and the rock dassies. Because of the remoteness of it all, the night was dead quiet. Although the moon was nearly full, we could also see clearly the Milky Way.
From Spitzkoppe, we headed west to the South Atlantic coast. As you drive through the dry desert towards the cold, wet sea, you can see the huge fog cloud that engulfs the coast, similar to how it is in the north of Chile or Lima. Our destination was the town of Swakopmund, but we first made a stop at the Cape Cross seal sanctuary. Here we were met by around 90,000 seals, all lying on the beach close together. Before we could see or hear them, we surely had smelled them - or rather their fishy excrements. Although rather smelly, it was really an impressive sight to see that many seals of all sizes, going about their daily activities in total oblivion of the dozen or so human visitors.
We then drove on to Swakopmund, a quiet German-style town, where we found a hostel to spend the next two chilly nights. In Swakopmund we checked out the lighthouse, bought some books in a quaint pretty bookstore and even went to the cinema. We also had lunch in a restaurant that looked like it could have been anywhere in Germany: The Swakopmund Brauhaus.
We then drove on to Swakopmund, a quiet German-style town, where we found a hostel to spend the next two chilly nights. In Swakopmund we checked out the lighthouse, bought some books in a quaint pretty bookstore and even went to the cinema. We also had lunch in a restaurant that looked like it could have been anywhere in Germany: The Swakopmund Brauhaus.
One of the highlights of the area is to drive into the Namib Desert, taking in the Welwitchia drive and Moon Valley. After having seen the Atacama desert in Chile, here we found ourselves in yet another moon-like landscape, with rugged valleys and alien looking flora. Kai certainly enjoyed driving the rougher desert roads and gave the recently abandoned 4WD mode a spin!
For the following morning, we had booked a boat trip leaving from Walvis Bay, 30kms south driving through the desert dunes. Soon after launch, we had our first surprise. A (rather large) cape fur seal swam behind the boat and climbed onboard. The captain teased the seal with some fish and encouraged it to reach up and put its flippers on my lap. I really wasn't expecting to have a seal partially on top of me, and between the laughs and excitment, I realized the seal was super soft and not smelly at all. We also got to see dolphins swimming by the boat, and plenty more friendly seals cajoling in the sea. On the return trip to the shore we were offered fresh oysters and champagne, as well as other finger-food, and we enjoyed the rest of the cruise with warm sunshine breaking through the coastal cloud cover.
At the harbour we were welcomed to the sight of a few very large pelicans walking casually amongst the tourists. And with that, we took off and said goodbye to the north-western part of Namibia.
At the harbour we were welcomed to the sight of a few very large pelicans walking casually amongst the tourists. And with that, we took off and said goodbye to the north-western part of Namibia.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Day 79 - 82, Etosha National Park, Namibia
After having been to three magnificient national parks, we were slightly concerned that Etosha might be turn out to be "just another one". Boy, we shouldn't have worried. If Kruger had been our entry park and Chobe and Moremi had given us ample wilderness and driving through the untamed bush, Etosha turned out to be another jewel with good infrastructure and more cat sightings than all of the other parks combined.
We arrived in the morning to Namutoni, our first camp of three, which is set around an old German garrison fort that housed a range of conveniences: shop, restaurant, swimming pool to name a few. Before settling down for the day we decided to try our luck on an afternoon game drive and although we missed out on any cat sightings at our chosen waterhole just before sunset, we did see quite a few other animals. The big draw of Etosha is that water is very limited in winter, so most animals crowd together in a small area of the park close to the waterholes. Conveniently, that area is criss-crossed with a number of good roads - which we now explored. Besides a fairly large number of springboks, zebras and other plains game, the highlight was a huge rhino crossing the road just in front of us.
Coming back just before sunset, we went to check out the arguably biggest attraction of the park, right outside the fort. All of Etosha's camps have an man-made waterhole next to the electric fence that runs around the camp. You basically show up, sit on a bench or stand around, and the animals drop by to drink all through the day. This is a markedly lazy way to do spotting and you had to share the moment with a few dozen other guests, but it proved to amazingly satisfying nonetheless. It is also the next to only way of spotting any wild animals after dark, as driving in the park itself is not allowed on your own after sunset. Contrary to initial assumption, a wide variety of animals showed up and weren't bother the slightest bit with the rather large amount of camera lenses and binoculars pointed at them from a few meters away. This makes Etosha a paradise for easy photo tourism and there were some ridiculously large cameras around when we arrived at the observation area. Our "welcome committee" consisted of three large elephants drinking, mixing with a few giraffes and antilopes. And half an hour later we hit the jackpot, as a fully grown leopard jumped out of a tree at dusk at the opposite side of the waterhole and slowly walked along the edge of the water. Leopard almost exclusively move at night and under stealth which makes them extremely difficult to find on self-drives, so we were super excited to finally get to see one. Even though it lasted only a few minutes, we were buzzed!
Day two in Etosha saw us moving to Camp Halali, slowly moving through the park from east to west. We got up early and took our time, leisurely driving around the park and looking out for the wildlife. We were rewarded with lots of sightings, including some hartebees (new animal!) and a pair of lions at one of the waterholes. Despite an armada of cars and people with monster cameras pointing out of the windows we initially didn't know about any lions and were trying to understand what everbody was looking at. There were so many other animals at the waterhole that we thought it unlikely for predators to be around. Only after about 10 minutes and changing observation point, we could see the twitching ears - which also explained the extreme caution of the Kudus and other antilopes around.
We arrived in Halali at noon, and after a quick lunch Yeya made a visit to the freezing cold pool which also served as the hangout place of about 30 odd junior rugby players from England that were touring Namibia. We decided to skip our customary afternoon drive in favour of a siesta and a longer sit at the waterhole in Halali and an arranged night drive, which turned out to be an expensive but very good decision. On arrival at the waterhole an hour before sunset we saw our second leopard of the trip, this time still in daylight. And during the night drive, the searchlight from the car hit a springbok on a ridge and seconds later we could see a lioness storming towards it. It missed out on the kill and our guide explained that the searchlight had probably disturbed her stalking and that she had had to attack before being in position. We felt sorry to have disturbed her dinner plans, but seeing her sitting 5m away from the car, reconsidering her next move and mustering us disapprovingly was breathtaking nonetheless. We saw about a dozen more lions on the drive, but most of them were further away and difficult to observe, so we felt very lucky that we had been so close to a hunt.
We had learned much about the prides of lions walking around Etosha from our guide during the drive, so come next morning we decided to try and capitalise on this information. We went back to the waterholes that were most promising and sure enough, we struck lucky when a huge male lion came striding right towards our car at one of the waterholes. Growling, marking his territory and drinking, he walked around for about 10 minutes before laying down for a siesta, giving us the opportunity for some fantastic pictures and videos. The rest of the morning drive gave us tons of more animals, including a giant (500+) herd of zebra, plenty oryx and springbok, another lion and two elephants before arriving in Okakuejo, our last camp in Etosha.
After the success of the camp waterholes, we decided to dedicate the evening exclusively to waterhole watching, again striking lucky. At least three black rhinos and a large pride of lions showed up over the course of the evening, together with the usual suspects of elephants and antilopes plus a surprisingly large number of black-backed jackals. We sipped red wine and enjoyed the show!
On our last day we leisurely ambled around the backroads of Etosha one more time, before hitting the exit gate at around noon. Happy and satisfied with our last animal-centric highlight of the trip we kicked the car into high gear and rolled of on the tarmac towards the Namibian hinterlands...
We arrived in the morning to Namutoni, our first camp of three, which is set around an old German garrison fort that housed a range of conveniences: shop, restaurant, swimming pool to name a few. Before settling down for the day we decided to try our luck on an afternoon game drive and although we missed out on any cat sightings at our chosen waterhole just before sunset, we did see quite a few other animals. The big draw of Etosha is that water is very limited in winter, so most animals crowd together in a small area of the park close to the waterholes. Conveniently, that area is criss-crossed with a number of good roads - which we now explored. Besides a fairly large number of springboks, zebras and other plains game, the highlight was a huge rhino crossing the road just in front of us.
Coming back just before sunset, we went to check out the arguably biggest attraction of the park, right outside the fort. All of Etosha's camps have an man-made waterhole next to the electric fence that runs around the camp. You basically show up, sit on a bench or stand around, and the animals drop by to drink all through the day. This is a markedly lazy way to do spotting and you had to share the moment with a few dozen other guests, but it proved to amazingly satisfying nonetheless. It is also the next to only way of spotting any wild animals after dark, as driving in the park itself is not allowed on your own after sunset. Contrary to initial assumption, a wide variety of animals showed up and weren't bother the slightest bit with the rather large amount of camera lenses and binoculars pointed at them from a few meters away. This makes Etosha a paradise for easy photo tourism and there were some ridiculously large cameras around when we arrived at the observation area. Our "welcome committee" consisted of three large elephants drinking, mixing with a few giraffes and antilopes. And half an hour later we hit the jackpot, as a fully grown leopard jumped out of a tree at dusk at the opposite side of the waterhole and slowly walked along the edge of the water. Leopard almost exclusively move at night and under stealth which makes them extremely difficult to find on self-drives, so we were super excited to finally get to see one. Even though it lasted only a few minutes, we were buzzed!
Day two in Etosha saw us moving to Camp Halali, slowly moving through the park from east to west. We got up early and took our time, leisurely driving around the park and looking out for the wildlife. We were rewarded with lots of sightings, including some hartebees (new animal!) and a pair of lions at one of the waterholes. Despite an armada of cars and people with monster cameras pointing out of the windows we initially didn't know about any lions and were trying to understand what everbody was looking at. There were so many other animals at the waterhole that we thought it unlikely for predators to be around. Only after about 10 minutes and changing observation point, we could see the twitching ears - which also explained the extreme caution of the Kudus and other antilopes around.
We arrived in Halali at noon, and after a quick lunch Yeya made a visit to the freezing cold pool which also served as the hangout place of about 30 odd junior rugby players from England that were touring Namibia. We decided to skip our customary afternoon drive in favour of a siesta and a longer sit at the waterhole in Halali and an arranged night drive, which turned out to be an expensive but very good decision. On arrival at the waterhole an hour before sunset we saw our second leopard of the trip, this time still in daylight. And during the night drive, the searchlight from the car hit a springbok on a ridge and seconds later we could see a lioness storming towards it. It missed out on the kill and our guide explained that the searchlight had probably disturbed her stalking and that she had had to attack before being in position. We felt sorry to have disturbed her dinner plans, but seeing her sitting 5m away from the car, reconsidering her next move and mustering us disapprovingly was breathtaking nonetheless. We saw about a dozen more lions on the drive, but most of them were further away and difficult to observe, so we felt very lucky that we had been so close to a hunt.
We had learned much about the prides of lions walking around Etosha from our guide during the drive, so come next morning we decided to try and capitalise on this information. We went back to the waterholes that were most promising and sure enough, we struck lucky when a huge male lion came striding right towards our car at one of the waterholes. Growling, marking his territory and drinking, he walked around for about 10 minutes before laying down for a siesta, giving us the opportunity for some fantastic pictures and videos. The rest of the morning drive gave us tons of more animals, including a giant (500+) herd of zebra, plenty oryx and springbok, another lion and two elephants before arriving in Okakuejo, our last camp in Etosha.
After the success of the camp waterholes, we decided to dedicate the evening exclusively to waterhole watching, again striking lucky. At least three black rhinos and a large pride of lions showed up over the course of the evening, together with the usual suspects of elephants and antilopes plus a surprisingly large number of black-backed jackals. We sipped red wine and enjoyed the show!
On our last day we leisurely ambled around the backroads of Etosha one more time, before hitting the exit gate at around noon. Happy and satisfied with our last animal-centric highlight of the trip we kicked the car into high gear and rolled of on the tarmac towards the Namibian hinterlands...
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