After a couple of nights in a really delightful guesthouse in the hills on the edge of Windhoek, we started out on the driving. The road out of the capital was easy to find and we were soon speeding (well 100km per hour) towards our next destination. Early on the raod was a dual carriageway with hundreds of Baboons patrolling the verges and the central reservation but we did not notice any road kill so they must be pretty good with traffic. The road was busy for the first few miles but soon became quiet. The scenery quickly changed to scrubby bush, almost desert like. Our first turning was some 200 kms down this very long and straight road but it was tarmac and very smooth. We went by 1 town in that first section before turning of onto our first “gravel” section. We were told these were easy and it was for the main. Gravel is not what we would call it as it was just dry dusty sand sometimes quite deep and we just followed other wheel tracks. The few cars that we saw created huge dust clouds.
Once on the dust road we could see the Waterburg Plateau rising from the scrub. It is a 50km long very flat ridge some 150metres above the surrounding flat area. It has a lot of history with a famous battle in 1904 between the Germans and the local Herrero peoples. The campsite we were in was part of the German police post and the restaurant is the actual 1904 police station.
We had two nights here for walking and getting on top of the plateau which is now a big game reserve. The area had lots of birds and the camp had its own troop of Baboons which were chased of every time they came round plus a cute mob of Banded Mongoose that ran round the tents looking for scraps.
Besides plenty of walking in this area we did manage to go for a game drive on the top of ythe plateau. Starting at around 3pm it was sunny and hot. Not a lot of game around at that time but as the sun went down more appeared especially around the water holes. The drawback to that was that by the time the sun disappeared it was freezing so the drive back in the open landrover was a little chilly to say the least.
After Leaving Waterburg the next stop was heading north to a small private game reserve in the Otavi mountains. The drive through Northern Namibia was uneventful and mainly on tarred roads.
We seemed to be the only ones camping here and could choose where we liked. We chose a spot on the reserve under a large Acacia Tree. We certainly chose correctly as we had a friendly ostich come and visit then when we woke up with the sunrise we had Springbok and Impala around us. The night before after our BBQ we sat with a bottle of wine by a floodlit waterhole watching the Eland and Zebra “discussing” who had the right to be at the water hole at any one time.
The next stop is the world famous Etosha Game Reserve so hopefully more from there.
Part 2
ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK (Fri 6th Aug)
First the apologies as we have been unable to get an internet connection that has been reliable enough since Windhoek so the Blog goes on
As we are writing this we are sitting at a waterhole on our last evening in Etosha National Park. It is a fantastic place with lots of animals. Right now at 8.00pm we have half a dozen Black Rhino drinking in front of us plus one very large bull Elephant. Not everyone can say that the evening drinks come with a view like that.
The park is huge some 200kms long. We started on one side and drove 75 kms through the park to our first camp site for one night then a further 75 kms to this one for a further 2 nights. The park is very dry and arid with lots of scrubby areas and the World famous Etosha Pan. This is a dried up lake bed and is now just salt flats. The landscape is amazing. Animals can be seen all through the park but especially at the many waterholes this time of year as it is the dry season. At each of the camps they have a waterhole that you can sit around and they are floodlit at night.
The list of animals is too numerous to go through completely but some highlights have been Mikes first Leopard sighting ever this morning at a waterhole, Lions, Elephants, Black Rhino, lots of Zebra, and antelopes of varying species. Hopefully some photos will be uploaded as well so check them out.
It is not just seeing the animals it is watching them interact at the waterholes. Just now we saw one of the Rhino squaring up to the huge bull Elephant. The Rhino snorted, grunted, mock charged and the Elephant just stood there without moving. Rhino turned and ran, he knew who was bigger.
It is not just the big animals, around the camps we have Jackals scavenging along with Honey Badger. (Look them up and see what they are like, also called Rattan). The Meerkats are cute and the birdlife is unbelievable for such a dry place.
Tomorrow we move on again into the mountains for 5 days and we are certain that the internet will not be available so the blog will continue
STOP PRESS
Wonderful encounter with a young female leopard in the mountains
More to follow on this
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