Otjiwarongo to Windhoek & Home

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The flight from Epupa Falls was a hoot. Our little plane was still waiting for us at the short air strip, where the pilot had left it two days ago when we arrived. There had been no other planes either coming in or going out. This was a short airstrip, so the pilot really gunned the plane to get us off the ground before running into the bush.

It was a good thing we had all stripped down to not much more than our photography gear (no big lenses), a change of underwear and a toothbrush. Later we speculated on what would have happened if our group had been two more. The altitude of 8,000 feet for the flight didn't allow for much game spotting, even though we flew right over Etosha Park. The only thing Kayla spotted was a few pink blotches of flamingos in the salt water flooding the depressions at the north end of the park.

Crossing the 'Red Line', we were once again reminded of the huge divide between the 'real Africa' with traditional villages north of the Red Line, and the rest of Namibia, ,all divided up into fenced ranches and controlled game farms, and owned by a few. The divide was very obvious from the air. We know a little of Namibia's history, when many African residents were forcibly relocated to the northern regions.

Our driver Antonio tells us that there was a time when people had to have special permission to cross the Red Line from north to south. And everyone was supposedly living in the same country. Apartheid did some terrible things in Namibia, just as much as in South Africa.

The other thing that we learned later was the encroachment of bush caused by overgrazing of cattle. Most of northern Namibia was once vast grassland, but no more. The grass is gone, replaced by scrubby bush. That too was obvious from the air.

So on to Franz Indongo Lodge, set in a private game reserve outside of Otjiwarongo. We went on a game drive both afternoons there, and the highlight of that was seeing and photographing the rhinos both times in the setting sun. Once again, as the light faded, we cranked up the ISO, and kept on taking photos until there was no more light to be had.

Up at 4 am the next day for the drive back to Windhoek in order to make the flights everyone had scheduled. We said goodbye to our traveling companions, promising to share our best images as soon as possible. Kayla has 4500 images to sift through and it will be hard to choose the best ones. All in all, it was a great photography tour, and we would do it again in a heartbeat.

As for Africa, we'll no doubt be back, searching for those remote places where the wild animals still roam and the stars fill the sky.

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