Meg and Rob

Our last full day in Namibia, and a very cold night in our tent when it got down cold enough for frost to form. Due to an administrative error, another early start was on the cards as the alarm went off at 6am but we got to see a wonderful sunrise. Because we were early for breakfast we got to see the staff feeding the local bird population: we managed to count fifty lovebirds before they consumed all of the food and disappeared. We hit the road early again back to Windhoek with a quick stop at Okahandja to look at the craft market. It was OK but on approach looked more like a shanty town because of the cobbled together stalls. Browsing was not possible, as each ‘shopkeeper’ made a personal approach (the first as ... read more

I am always unsure how to start these blogs without using the word WOW. Well there we are I have used it again. Perhaps cheetahs, warthogs and black mambas would be a better way to start, with a bit of low-range 4x4 stuff to get to our accommodation for the next couple of nights. We left Etosha early this morning to start knocking off the miles of a busy day, we were treated to tarmac roads for the first leg of our journey to Outjo where we stopped at Etotwongo Lodge where they have an internet cafe so we could post the last three days of blogs, and a stop for fuel and cash before pushing on again on tarmac to Africat Foundation at Okonjima, where they have just started giving day visitor tours this August. ... read more

Wow what a day! Our first day on safari was even better than we hoped. An early start this morning to make the most of the day as we were out of the camp by 8am this morning and before many minutes we were seeing all kinds of wildlife. Meg has bought a bird book and has turned into a ‘twitcher’ extraordinaire overnight as each bird we see has to be marked off in the book: I am waiting for her to buy an anorak! I won’t attempt to name all of the birds we have seen, but there has been a lot including numerous birds of prey. Perhaps the most remarkable was the secretary birds which were almost as large as the nearby springbok. Before we left this morning there was a hornbill that took ... read more

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. ... read more

Well we’ve just got back from the Messum Crater, a round trip of 393km taking nearly 9 hours, but well worth the effort. The crater is 35km from the nearest road and 20km across with no roads or signs just tracks made by the previous vehicles to visit. We hit the salt road north along the skeleton coast towards Henties Baai. Just before the town is the wreck of the Zeila, an Angolan fishing trawler that was wrecked on the coast four years ago. We called into Henties Baai where we made a quick stop to purchase the guide to the Messum Crater. Then we pushed on north with the Brandberg Mountain on the horizon, until just past Cape Cross before turning off road for the 40km run across the dirt track to the crater edge. ... read more