After a much-needed break in Windhoek (a bed, laundry, internet), we made our way west toward the Atlantic coast – Swakopmund (the bigger town) and Walvis Bay. We splurged on a 4-hour catamaran tour of Walvis Bay. No whales but 2 types of dolphins (Bottlenose and Duske) – Charles touched one stretching down from the catamaran – pretty cool. Also, we were seeing TONS of cape fur seals. We’re finding it amazing and totally eerie that there is NO – zero – vegetation leading to the coast. The dunes or sparse salt flats meet the sea. Same with the rivers – no riparian vegetation… a strange land indeed! Desolate, barren - the sailors who shipwrecked here were doomed. Skeleton Coast – totally. We drove up the Skeleton coast north of Swakopmund a couple hours but desolation did us in. We turned around and stayed at a B&B in Swakomund where we could converse and have some human interaction with the local population. There were barely 5 cars the entire 4-hour drive that afternoon so we needed to see people. Out to dinner at a pub, we met and dined with a nice German couple. People are SO incredibly nice here everywhere we go. We are meeting and getting invites/contact information from fellow travelers and the locals are so welcoming and hospitable. We get “(It’s a )Pleasure” every time they do a favor and we thank them. Nice nice!
ETOSHA NATIONAL GAME PARK
We left Swakamund and headed directly to Ethosha for a couple days. The roads were paved the whole way (and you would not believe how awesome that was!) We stopped right outside Ethosha to camp at a “Farmstall’. Super nice owners/farmers with a great camp ground set up (with the wood-fired hot water shower and braai!). Also they rescued four Cheetahs that were on death row after killing too many livestock on neighboring farms. So they took them in and now consider it part of their tourist business. We watched and helped feed these cats – beautiful animals. At their family bar/restaurant, they gave us information on the park, sold us beer, his farm’s biltong (kudu jerky) and an oryx steak, and gave us 2 shots of their home-brewed schnapps. After the Orxy braai and a campfire with another German couple, we were fast asleep!
Inside Etosha at the crack of dawn! Elephant, zebras, jackals, giraffes, tons of ungulates, and LIONS! We watched this pair of Lions for about 20 minutes and got very close to them (in the car of course). Great photos of other wildlife – tons of birds, snakes, squirrels, impala, springbok (see complete list below) and then camping inside the park. Etosha is FLAT flat flat – there is a huge pan which fills with water in the wet season (water is mostly on the east side of the pan). Being dry season now, animals were coming to the smaller waterholes in the pan so that worked nicely for us! At the Halali Park campground where we stayed, there is a lit-up water hole nearby the camp (you can view it from a rock overlook behind a wildlife fence.) Nice – especially the next morning when we watched an African Wildcat try to take down some sand grouse as they lifted off. Pretty cool. Mucho elephants, zebras, giraffes, impala, jackals (and a few sleeping lions we occasionally got a glimpse of when they popped their heads above the grass) on the east side.
BIRDS
Helmeted Guineafowl
Turtle Dove
Ostriches
Yellowbilled Hornbill
Kori Bustard
Blackshoulderd Kite
Namaqua Sandgrouse
Greater Kestrel
Crowned Plover
Starling
Lilac breasted Roller
Bateleur
Vulture
Hoopoe
Dabchic
Blacknecked Greebe
Redknobbed Coot
Secretary Bird
Palechanting Goshawk
Redcrested Korhaan
Northern Black Korhaan
Blacksmith Plover
Doublebanded Courser
Barn Owl
Giant Eagle Owl or Spotted Eagle Owl
Gray Hornbill
Black Crow
Southern Anteating Chat
Cinnamonbreasted Shrike
Redbilled Oxpecker
Whitebrowed Sparrow-Weaver
Forktailed Drongo
Groundscraping Thrush
Goldenbreasted Bunting
Southern Pied Babbler
Swallowtailed Bee-eater
Gymnogene (raptor)
Pink Flamingos
Southern Whitecrowned Shrike
Eastern White Pelican
Grey Heron
Swainsons Francolin
Redbilled Teal
OTHER WILDLIFE
Red Hartebeest
Blue Wildabeest
Burchell’s Zebra
Sprinkbok
Warthog
Oryx
Giraffe
Ground Squirrel
Black-backed Jackals
Lions (3+)
Honey Badger
Black-faced Impala
Kudus
Impala
Steenbok
Slender Mongoose
Small-Spotted Genet (small cat)
Marsh Terrapin (turtle)
Puff Adder (snake)
Cross-marked Grass Snake
African Wildcat
Bats (unknown)
Banded mongoose
Damara Dik-Dik
Wall Crab Spider
WATERBERG
We love Waterberg! Hugely needed hiking here at this national park – thank GOD! We’ve been traveling so much in a car at other parks (they won’t even let you THINK about exiting your car in the game parks) so we were both having a weird case of cabin fever at varying speeds between 30-40 kph (in the park) and 80-120 kph (outside the park). So when we got to Waterberg park, we hit the ground hiking. Late in the afternoon, we hiked up to the top of a mountain viewpoint as the sun was setting – scurrying over rocks and climbing up and back down big boulders….Ahhhhhh TERRAIN and TOPOGRAPHY!! Yes! The sunset was gorgeous on the red sandstone cliffs and our spirits were totally lifted. We made an interesting tomato-pasta dish with grilled cheese for dinner (trying to use up food stuffs we accumulated the last three weeks). Seeing what’s packable and not, we’re starting to look forward to the trip to Botswana and the Okavango Delta!
Next morning we started hiking right from our campsite (at the bottom of the cliff in the valley) doing the park’s loop trails and bird walks. We continued walking and wandering the valley trails and ended up hiking back to the shelf at the base of the cliffs…and back up the cliff’s to the top to see an incredible 180 view over the valley below. Beautiful! Turns out #1: we love getting into nature (and out of a car), #2: we love hikes and wildlife/bird watching, and #3: we love topography and cool views. Nice!
BIRDS
Redbilled Francolin
Helmeted Guineafowl
Laughing Dove
Rosiefaced Lovebirds
Grey Lorie
Bradfords Hornbill
Grey Hornbill
Acacia Pied Barbet
Redeyed Bulbul
Short-toed Thrush
Familiar Chat
Mountain Chat
Whitebrowed Robin
Kalahari Robin
Greybacked Bleating Warbler
Puffback Palewinged Starling
Melba Finch
Blue Waxbill
Pririt Battis
Melba Finch (female feeding 4 young)
Blackcheeked Waxbill
Swallowtailed Bee-eater
Monteiros Hornbill
Rock Kestrel
Forktailed Drongo
Lilacbreasted Roller
Palewinged Starlings
Ground Plover
Turtle Dove
Cinnamonbreasted Shrike
Burchell’s Starling
Whitebrowed Sparrow
Southernbilled Hornbill
Maricos Sunbirds
OTHER WILDLIFE
African Wildcat
Rock Hyrax
Baboons (too close to camp!)
Steenbok
Red Hartebeest
Warthog
Brown Hyena
Oryx
Farewell Namibia!! Thank you for the wonderful wildlife, scenery, desert beauty and kind and beautiful people!! We head to Maun, Botswana next to experience the Okavango Delta by mokoro (dug out canoe) with a poler/guide to take us through the delta waters. Can’t wait!
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