Swakkie Parasail
Swakopmund is truly an adrenaline capital, and our trip optional activities included sand boarding, quad biking, fishing, sky-diving, sea kayak, etc. We chose para-sailing for our first activity. It was a great experience, though hiking up the dunes in a harness laden down with glider wasn’t easy. After a brief instruction from the pro, we started […]
Cape Cross Seals and on to Swapokmund
The Cape Cross Seal Colony is a breeding reserve for the Cape fur seals who lay and play along the shore. Seals are truly smelly, but it was fun to watch their antics: fighting, nursing, barking, swimming. We continued down the Skeleton Coast (named for all the shipwrecks dotting the shores). The seas are trecherous, […]
Spitzkoppe Bushman Paradise
We spent the night bush camping near Spitzkoppe, a huge collection of boulders and rock formed by the collpse of a huge volcano and subsequent erosion. Spitzkoppe is now called the Matterhorn of Namibia. The landscape was striking, and reminded us a great deal of Arizona or southern Utah. There were some bushman rock paintings under one of […]
Okuhepa Is Thank You: Himba Village
The Himba are a semi-nomadic people who lived mostly in northern Namibia’s Kaokoland. They herd cattle and goats, moving from place to place with the seasons. The houses they build are left behind when they move, and sometimes reused when they return (if there is anything left of them). The Himba have fairly successfully resisted […]
Outjo and Onward
We stocked up on provisions at Outjo(settled in 1880). There was a yummy German bakery there, and lunch was sausage rolls and meat pies. Mmmm. By late afternoon we reached the Cheetah Park. This conservation project is run by a farming family. The boys of the family grew up there, and have taken over most […]
Lion by the Pool
Our morning game drive highlight was a close encounter with a lion. We had seen a few from a distance, including a male clearly annoyed his female companion had strayed so far. Around the corner, the same male crossed the road just in front of and then just in back of the truck. We got […]
Halali
Our next camp was Halali, set in an area of dolomite outcrops and with it’s own floodlit waterhole. It was dustier and more spread out than Namutoni, and our site made for some rather large lumps under the tent. Etosha’s wildlife was again truly remarkable. The park is much smaller than it was originally, but Lonley […]
Etosha National Park
Even before we entered Etosha National Park, there were giraffe standing by the side of the road. We entered through the eastern gate and had a game drive on the way to camp at Namutoni. We were delighted to see more giraffe, elephants, countless hoofed creatures (springbok, oryx, kudu, impala) and zebra. The camp area […]
Omukwa Baobab
Continuing on our overland trip through Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, we were able to stock up on food and supplies in Rundu for the next few days camping. The power was on and off in town, and Donny and Rowan were on an unsuccessful hunt for a better tool to flap the morning […]
Flying Low
We had a VERY early morning to make up for the flights we missed the previous afternoon. Sunrise, however, was gorgeous. Seeing the delta from this new perspective helped everythingfall into place. We were in a tiny four-seater (including the pilot and me in the co-pilot’s chair). Everything about the flight was spectacular. Journeys of […]