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Published: June 14th 2008
Giraffe
Hey Carol, that looks like a giraffe!!Well hello people!! How is everyone??
Firstly, apologies for not writing in some time....internet connections in south africa are few and expensive. Also, we've been out in the bush so not been anywhere near a PC and the african bush pigeons would have been too slow. Secondly, we have quite a bit to cram in so sorry if it ends up being a little on the long side.....bare with us, maybe grab a coffee lol
So Wow.....Namibia has been amazing and already we are regretting only booking one month in Africa. We seen to have seen and done so much so far....it's all been go go go and we're having a rest day today which we are thouroughly enjoying and taking it easy.....well, once the blogs done (which we have discovered is quite a worry most of the time and a lengthy process).
As you know, 1st June, we flew to Jo'berg for a night. We stayed in a pretty cool hostal called Purle Palms and then back to the airport in the morning for our flight to Windhoek in Namibia. Another cool, busy hostal called Cardboard Box....the place to be it turned out with a lovely bar, pool
Leopard
Africa's best kept secret..... and good tour advice etc.
To ease ourselves into African life we heading out of the city and took a self hiking tour to Daan Viljoen Game Park, 20K out of the city. After being assured that we wouldn't encounter any big game we headed off, fully kitted out in our trek wear. Oh Yeah...Africa, we're ready! What a brilliant day. We choose the 10K hike and on our way saw Kudu, Mountain Zebra, Gemsbok, Blue Wildebeast, many birds and the worst nasty crickets imaginable. HUGE! YUK! We had been advised we would see most of the forementioned if we were lucky but nothing prepared us for stumbling across a herd of 8 giraffe. They were amazing and we felt so proud that we'd found them on our own.....and made them stampede which was unfortunate but still, we were well chuffed. Quote of the whole trip so far has got to go to Rich...it was pretty amusing. "Hey, look at that....it almost looks like a giraffe at the top of that hill". Reply from me "it is a f*cking giraffe you idiot!!" I chuckled a lot!
Windhoek turned out to be pretty scary after dark so we didn't really
Cheetah
Check out the camoflage head out much but not to worry as we'd booked ourselves onto an overland tour, lasting 7 days with a company called Wild Dog and Crazy Kudu, what a name! For anyone reading this and is ever planning to come to Namibia, we fully recommend this tour company. We had a blast and saw loads in the time we were with them.
Without running through our day by day itinerary, we will just go through a few of thye higlights and list the rest.
First camp, Okinjima. Really beautiful with bush showers and open toilets looking out to the African Savannah. This was probably our favourite camp out of 5 in total. All camping....all one with nature (literally because it was all around), great fun. Okinjima is run by an organisation called Africat, which rehabilitates big cats and re-releases them into the wild. Some of the cats that couldn't be released for various reasons are used for educational purposes and allow you to get up close and personal with them. This helps to raise money for the cause. We saw the most amazing Leopard who hears the engines of the truck and comes down from the mountains for food from
Family unit
Giraffe in background the keeper. He still hunts small animals for himself but most of his diet is subsidised. WOW....he was amazing and from a distance of about 2-3 metres we watched him eat. Amazing! Then onto the Cheeters....again, very close to the truck and when we pulled into their enclosure, they just appeared from the grass from nowhere, it was really clever as you really couldn't see them until they moved. We were in an open top jeep which they could have easily jumped into but they sat....quite happily a few metres away, 6 in total. Again, very cool!
Etosha National Park, what can we say, we were blown away. We spent two days there game driving and observing water holes during our lunches and evening. During days on the drives we saw Spingbok, Dik Dik's, Wild hunting dogs, Warthogs, more giraffe (we're actually quite bored ofthem now lol), Zebra and many more different types of Antelope. On our first drive we were also lucky enough to see a young leopard in the wild which is one of the hardest things to spot, 1st of the Big Five. On an evening drive we saw a small herd of Elephant at a
waterhole and on the way back a loan Male Lion, roaring loudly and marking it's territory as the sun went down, 2nd and 3rd of the Big Five. A few watering holes turned out to be nothing more than a good excuse to sit for hours and drink cold beer but one, Okaukinejo was pretty special as after an amzing heard of about 40 elephants passed through just metres away from us......Black Rhino's (including calf) also came and joined the party, 4th of Big Five!! It was so cool just sitting and watching them. At one point we had Elephant, Rhino and Lion all drinking together, watching each other and reacting to each other. It was brilliant and apparently quite rare to see 3 of the 5 together. Cool!
Waking up in all these campsites was pretty special. A few mornings we woke to the territorial roar of the lion, what an absolutly amazing noise to hear, not to shabby for an alarm call. Then there would be the Baboons playing and calling to each other, also a great noise. Then you have the mongoose (Rich's favourite), 50 of them running around the camp trying their luck at nicking
food and finally, the jackel, who would steel pretty much anything. Nature all around.
Other things visited on the tour were rock carvings, paintings of 5000 years old and the petrified forest. Good day although very hungover after gate crashing a punch party of another overland tour. Great night and good to meet some other young people who we've bumped into again a few times. Also, we visited the seal colony at Cape Cross which was cool.....but STANK! MOve on....to Swakopmund on the Atlantic coast. The extreme sports capital of Namibia. So we.......took a nice leisurely Dolphin Cruise....with champagne and eating oysters (well, not me as I'm alergic). We saw two different types of Dolphin, the bottle nose and another smaller kind too. Also, Pelicans and more smelly seals. Was a good cruise all on all and well chuffed I got to see the dolphins up close. Am sure we'll catch more around the world.
Another good out in Swakopmund with our brilliant tour guides and the rest of the group and then back to Windhoek....5 hour drive. Ouch!
After viewing all of these amazing, beautiful animals in the wild.....we decided it's time to complete the experience....and eat them!
Off to Joes Beer House, very well known for it's game. We tried.....Zebra (Rich liked, I couldn't see past horse so didn't like), Gemsbok (very good), Springbok (yum yum, very lean), Ostrich (YUK, rare and not tasty), Croc (fishy chicken) and our agreed favourite was Kudu! Very special steak!
We have met up with two Americans, 1 Scholar and his student (David and Sabrina) who we get on with well so have joined forces with them to travel through Botswana, where we are now. We spent yesterday travelling the trans-Kalahari highway and are now in a typical African town called Maun. From here we are using it as a base to explore the Okevanga Delta which are huge waterways created by Okevanga river emptying into the Kalahari Desert. We hope to see Hippo's and Crocs on our two day Mokoro, camping trip tomorrow. We'll let you know how we go.
Out of the big 5 we just have Buffullo to go and we should be able to see that on the tour we take from Vitoria Falls back to Jo'berg.
We're having a great time. Africa is a wonderful place, still struggling internally with political issues and
can be quite intinidating at times but we're keeping it safe and enjoying every minute! Like we said before....could have easily spent more time here. David and Sabrina are travelling on through Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania etc and we are very jealous. We have started an Uno, worldwide challenge also, which I am currently winning 2-0. Rich sucks! ha ha....sorry honey!
Think that's about it for now. Hope you're not too bored now get back to work! ha ha.
Love to all. Please can someone print for my Mum and tell her I love her lots.
Speak soon....will try not to leave it so long next time, although no promises!
Carol and Rich xxxxx
P.S. will add photo's and video when we get a chance so keep an eye out. Forgot camera leads today...oopsy!
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Diana
non-member comment
wow
Really sounds amazing !!! cant wait to see more photos. Keep safe xxxx