Namibia Day 9

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Before we say what we have been doing today a quick word on yesterday evening: when we got back to our lodge from the main block after dinner last night we stood on the porch admiring the stars and we were joined by a bat in silent flight swooping round catching the insects attracted by the porch light.

Today we have had a day off from driving as we let the guides take the strain. This morning we were up early, very early to go out and see if we could find the desert adapted elephant. On the way we saw the usual springbok and ostrich, we also saw steenbok which is a very small antelope and loads of different birds. Our driver was very good at mimicking the bird calls to get them to sing.

We finally caught up with the elephants about 20km from the camp where they were feeding on the trees and what little grass is here as the rains failed last summer in this region. The desert adapted elephant is not a separate species but merely an African elephant that has adapted to live in the arid regions. They are slightly smaller with larger feet so they do not sink into the sand and they consume about half the amount of water per day as their larger cousins. They are unique to this region of Namibia. After a break for morning coffee we set off back towards the camp but came across the same group of elephants having a midday siesta. The mother of the smallest baby seemed a bit surprised to have us drive past and got to her feet and placed herself between us and the baby which would have spoiled the pictures somewhat if the baby hadn’t decided that it wanted to be star of the show.

This afternoon we went on an excursion to see the Twyfelfontein rock engravings that were drawn by the San Bushmen about a thousand years ago when they were the only humans in this part of Africa. It is quiet strange to us to see engravings of seals and penguins when we are a long way from the sea but they were a nomadic people and when put together with the rock that is engraved with all of the different tracks it is quite easy to imagine it being used as a school for the children. We only realised later that there were no pictures of humans (only footprints, with the other tracks) and therefore no hunting scenes.

We got back in time for sun-downer drinks again on the terrace and took some more pictures of beautiful sunsets; I hope the pictures do the views justice.

We are off to dinner now, and we are moving on to Etosha tomorrow so another day on the road.

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