Namibia - April/May 2014

Namibia - April 2014

We were invited by our friend Adolf Huster, who we met through The Land Cruiser Club - Southern Africa, on a trip to Namibia which would include celebrating Dr Flip Stander's birthday. We were very excited because there was a chance we might see a desert lion. Flip has a web site http://www.desertlion.info/ which he updates regularly.

I dislike border crossings so decided to go south and avoid going through Botswana.

The journey proceeded as follows:

Monday 21 April - We left home at 7:45am and headed for Red Sands Country Lodge in Kuruman. On the way we visited our friends the Grobbelaars in Delareyville. We always enjoy dinner at the Red Sands Lodge and this night was no exception. When we use the 79 we have no excuse to use the lodge so we camp. The camp site we chose had a private bathroom and kitchenette. There was also electric power and our electric blanket was lovely.

Tuesday 22 April - Off went at 6:45am still not quite sure where we would get to on this day. At Kakamas we took on fuel and decided to cross the border at Onseepkans/Verloorsdrift. This was a very pleasant crossing. We had lunch at the roadside and then headed for the Canyon Roadhouse and Lodge. The wind came up and we decided to eat at their restaurant where the meal was also delicious. After dinner the electric blanket came into use again.

Wednesday 23 April - We rose at 8am and headed north. The Wimpy at the garage in Mariental was our lunch stop. More fuel. (I like full tanks when we are not sure where we are going.) That night we reached Omaruru and camped at River Guest House. The weather was much warmer and we did not even bother with electricity at the camp site for the electric blanket.

Thursday 24 April - 8am and we were off again. More petrol at Uis. On past the White Lady and then the Brandberge. Through the vet fence and more petrol at Palmwag. Past Palmwag camp site where we would meet the others in a few days. Ongongo - yippee a warm natural spring. This was something I had looked forward to. It had rained a lot and the cold water was flowing into the pool fast resulting in cool as in off cold spring.

Friday 25 April - We spent the day at the spring with our new found pets - two cats.

Saturday 26 April - Goodbye Ongongo at 9:30am. Giraffe, Zebra, Springbok and Ostriches welcomed us on the way and after about an hour we arrived at Palmwag. Here we explained that we were part of a larger group and they knew about that. They gave us a smaller camp site (which we eventually kept for everyone together with an adjacent site). That afternoon Fips and Dorothee Becker arrived and we enjoyed a chat before Fips set up his sleeping arrangements.

Sunday 27 April - That afternoon the others arrived. In the evening Adolf arranged for us all to have dinner together at the Lodge.

Sunday 28 April - We acquired a permit to spend the night in the concession area and then set off on the trail where we soon met Flip. The Kawakab pools appealed to many and much splashing took place. Sylvia enjoyed the waters while I remained dry in the sunlight.

Monday 29 April - At 9:30am we were off and we visited the Kaias Fountain where we looked around. Rhino had been in the area but we did not see any. Flip tested his quad copter and that was interesting to see in action.

Tuesday 30 April - The stationary lion was located by Flip. That day we drove down the river and saw lots of elephants.

Wednesday 1 May - Flip darted the lion and we helped translocate it.

Thursday 2 May - The most memorable bit was when I turned across a track in the river bed and got bogged down and had to be winched out. Thank you Jurie. That afternoon we parted from the group at Sesfontein. Ongongo was our destination again for the night. The water was fractionally warmer (imagination and self belief helps).

Friday 3 May - We took a track which we had taken on a previous trip but the beginning was very indistinct. It looked as if no one had taken that route for months. On the way we bought bread at Opuwo. That evening we arrived at Epupa Falls to be told that our planned destination was full so we stayed at a community camp also overlooking the falls which was pleasant.

Saturday 4 May - Change of camp site caused by the fact that today there will be a pool. We went for a walk to the falls but I found it too hot to go far. The idea was to swim in the rocks but the water was cold and there were hordes of foreign tourists.

Sunday 5 May - Goodbye Epupa Falls - Marienfluss ahead. That day we drove to Van Zyl's Pass. It had rained and parts of the road were much worse than I remembered. That afternoon we reached a point in a river bed before the last stretch of the pass and decided to spend the night there. With great interest I have been watching TV programs where you are advised to walk any difficult patches. Had we walked the difficult rocky sections it would have taken a week to do each day's drive.

Monday 6 May - Down the pass I drove with Sylvia directing and on through the Marienfluss to the Kunene where we drove to Camp Syncro. We were about to perhaps turn around when Ryan Christinger the new owner appeared and offered to open the gate. At that moment we decided to stay the day and camp overnight. Unfortunately it was really too hot to walk far which was a pity as I would have liked to walk up the river. The Anna Trees we remember so well were gone. The trees had died after the Kunene had flooded and the trees remained under water for six weeks. Ryan and his wife Sarah came and spoke with us about their plans. They have planted Fever Trees which are not found in this area but they were sure they would not spread - I really hope not as alien plants can be a pest.

Tuesday 7 May - Puros Community Camp was in our sights. There were some interesting narrow climbs through the rocks to Rooi Drom. It would have been very interesting to meet another vehicle approaching from the other direction. The camp was picturesque between the bushes and we walked around a bit to see what we could see.

Wednesday 8 May - The man looking after the camp arrived early "to see if we were still alive". Makes me wonder how many guests die during the night. After breakfast we drove down the river in the direction of Sesfontein. Then Palmwag - then The Waterberge where we arrived after a long drive. (On the way the fuel gauges were very close to empty and I kept calculating whether it was possible to walk to the petrol station.) We had dinner in the restaurant - mistake - expensive and poor.

Thursday 9 May - First thing I put down the tent as I am afraid of what the baboons may do if they get a chance. We walked to the cemetery which is beautifully kept and met the people who were tidying it all up. There was not a cloud in the sky. We booked for a game drive a you may not drive to or on the plateau on your own. Clouds formed and rain fell. Our neighbors got lost on a walk and arrived late only to find that their tent had been trashed by baboons. After a soaking drive - the previously mentioned electric blanket was switched on.

Friday 10 May - I wanted to avoid Windhoek so aimed at Gobabis where we had lunch. There we decided to return home via Botswana. Thukudu Lodge near Ghanzi was the destination and we arrived just after sunset. The Lodge was full but there was camping space and that is what we wanted. Our big lunch meant that we did not need dinner.

Saturday 11 May - We set off early and after a long drive, including border crossings and a puncture, we arrived home in the early evening.

Some notes:

It was a lovely trip and we would like to thank all the people who accompanied us as they added substantially to our enjoyment.

6464kms is the distance we travelled on this trip according to the GPS.

Some of the legs of our journey were quite long and it was probably a good thing we were alone as we had to push quite hard sometimes to reach our destinations by nightfall.

We used two cameras - a Nikon Coolpix P500 and a Nikon D7100 with a 70-200 2.8 lens

The light was very bright and a lot of pictures were overexposed and Picasa has unfortunately amplified some of the editing I did but perhaps you will not notice this. Many of the pictures were taken through the front window of the vehicle while we were moving.

The mistake I made was saving the D7100 pictures in JPEG and not RAW.

I will split the trip report pictures as there are three stages - 1) us alone on the way, 2) the main trip (two separate pages) and 3) us alone afterwards (also two pages).

The Picasa link is https://picasaweb.google.com/105203493367845189954/NamibiaApril20141?authkey=Gv1sRgCNz68pXm_v_p0AE and for some reason I can not just click on the link to load in the Firefox browser unless I copy the link and paste it in the browser or right click on the link and open it in a new tab.