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Published: January 23rd 2008
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Crossing the Tropics
The 'must have' tourist shot of us crossing the Tropic of Capricorn It is now the 23rd January (I started writing this entry on the 5th) and we are in Dar es Salaam after leaving our overland tour a day early to avoid traveling into Kenya. This is the first Internet cafe with equipment fast enough to upload photos etc that we have encountered in the last month! In order to avoid fatigue, yours and mine, I will break down the last several weeks into a number of different entries to be enjoyed at your leisure :-). Enjoy!!
After leaving Swakopmund, we headed for the Skeleton Coast of Namibia to an area known as Spitzkoppe - the "Matterhorn" of Africa. Along the way, we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and had a brief stop at the Cape Cross Seal Reserve - the enduring memory of this place was the smell!! Thousands and thousands of seals - large and small - litter a reasonably small beach and the stench was almost overpowering. There were also a lot of dead baby seals rotting on the shore (either due to disease or trampled by the large Bull Seals) which didn't help the stench. In spite of the smell, it was fun to watch the seals
Bull Seal
This Bull Seal was really showing off for us... cavort with each other and body surf in the ocean.
The scenery of Skitzkoppe is certainly breathtaking and if the scenery doesn't do it for you, the heat certainly will - it was easily the hottest place we had visited so far and was a great opporutunity for Janice and I to avoid pitching the tent and to sleep out under the stars - unfortunately it turned out to be a bit of a cloudy night, but the stars were great for a while.
After an uneventful night sleeping outside (scorpions sometimes find their way into sleeping bags), we headed off to Etosha National Park for our first serious game viewing opportunity.
Etosha National Park is one of the premier game reserves in Namibia and its main claim to fame are the lit water holes that allow visitors to observe the animals during the night when they come out after the heat has retreated for the day. Once we had set-up camp and recovered our composure from the long drive with a few beers, I headed down to the waterhole to sit and wait for the animals to show up. The first couple of hours was very
Surfing Seals
The seals at the colony loved to surf... quiet, but eventually some Oryx and a small jackal arrived on the scene and I witnessed my first (and only) view of a "kill" - the jackal snuck up on a guinea fowl by the waters edge, killed it and wandered off to enjoy his meal - not a bad start!!
As the sun proceeded to set, the animals began to arrive - first some giraffe, then a rhino and finally an elephant. Unfortunately, in all of the excitement I lost complete track of time, missed dinner and was not popular. Getting up at 4am, I went back to the waterhole and my lack of sleep was rewarded by seeing some more oryx, giraffe and rhino along with a number of Springbok and Kudu. Later in the day, we went for a game drive around the salt pan and saw lots of giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and elephants, but unfortunately no lions! (little was I to know that this would be a recurring event until the climax of our trip).
Once back at camp we sat and discussed the interesting group dynamic that was occuring on this trip - so far (and we were only two weeks into it),
Dan at Sptizkoppe
Me at the "Matterhorn of Africa" being very hot... three 'relationships' had developed (some between crew and passengers) as well as some real friendships (and dislike) - it's amazing how quickly things are accelerated when you're stuck together on a vehicle or in a camp 24 hours a day for long periods at a time.
On our second night at Etosha (Christmas Eve) there was a huge rainstorm which Janice and I slept through and we almost missed the special Xmas Eve BBQ that had been prepared. After grabbing leftovers, we headed back to the waterhole in the drizzling rain and were pleased to see four elephants and a rhino ambling their way towards the waterhole - we sat and watched them for a few hours and were disappointed to find out that a lepoard or lioness had also been in attendance, but our view had been blocked by the elephants so we didn't see it....oh well.
The next day was Christmas and we headed off for our Christmas Lunch at Joe's Beer House in Windhoek after which we proceeded to indulge in a LOT of Christmas cheer (which brought drama and tears as the group dynamics mixed with the copious amounts of alcohol consumed).
Feeling
"Ghosts" by the Camp Fire
During our night in Spitzkoppe, the locals from the nearby village came and performed native songs and dances for the group. decidely hung over (we all had KFC for breakfast on Boxing Day), we headed off for Botswana and the Okavango Delta.
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OMG... KFC!!
Sounds delicously American and unhealthy for an African Boxing Day treat! I can't wait to learn more about the social dynamics of the group one day. Oh yes, and of course, more about the wild animals and how they lit the watering hole at night... Great photos and riveting narrative!