Harsh Reality

There are many cute things to be seen around the Lodges and campsites.  Monkeys everywhere, but they tend to keep their distance.  Baboons are not uncommon, but are definitely the delinquents when it comes to respect for property; you don't leave windows open.  The most novel 'pets' on a campsite have been a family of warthogs who didn't look very appealing, but on the other hand, they seemed to keep the site fairly clean.

The game drive can be very unpredictable.  We left at 6am as usual in the game vehicle and soon we were watching springbok grazing quietly and frolicking about in the bush.

We travelled on and saw a variety of other animals and birds before starting to make our way back and then came across a pack of about 12 wild painted dogs.

They were making their way with intent on either side of the track and were quite unconcerned about our presence.  Our guide knew that they had got the scent of the springbok and were looking for breakfast and was very quickly manoeuvring our vehicle to get ahead of the dogs to where we might have a good view.

The kill took place out of sight - much to someone's relief - b ut the spectacle then became that of the game drive vehicles all jockeying for position to get the best view for their passengers.

The traffic chaos was quite amazing as there were no rules; you didn't have to stay on the track; you could drive in any direction along the track; driving at right angles in front of another vehicle was considered reasonable and nobody seemed to swear!

Most importantly, no vehicle came into contact with any other, but it was unexpected to find that there can be a rush hour in the middle of a game park.

Eating

Our catering arrangements were always a bit of an unknown when we set off.  We knew that we had the facilities to cook in the van, but we had little idea about the availability of shops or supermarkets.  We know now – and there are a few complicating issues.

Like the temperature.  The sunrise is at 6am and the sunset a little before 8pm; unless it is overcast, it is hot from 9am onwards which makes the idea of cooking at all a lot less appealing.  The fact that the cooking is all done in a corner of the van with restricted ventilation is another discouraging feature; but that all presupposes the assumption that you have ingredients which motivate you to cook!

In some of the bigger towns, there are some reasonable supermarkets which carry a wide range of goods and which would allow you to continue with comparatively ‘normal’ eating habits.  However, once you are away from the main commercial centres, the range of goods in the supermarket is much reduced -  especially fruit.  Caravanners like us who make the most of cook-in sauces etc find that these are unobtainable and the meat can come from cuts from the animal which might never see its way to the counter in the northern hemisphere.

So this evening’s meal was mince with a tin of vegetables and rice followed by some yoghurtish stuff and tinned fruit; but it’s not all bad news, eating out is a lot cheaper than at home and the ostrich stew is to be recommended!

Livingstone

The Zambezi is very wide, but also very shallow which means that you can find Hippo right out in the middle of the stream.  They don't actually swim, they just walk underwater and poke their heads up to breathe.  Apparently they are related to whales!

But that is the reason why the Victoria Falls are so wide:

At this time of year, the falls may not be at their most dramatic in terms of the volume of water but they are still fairly impressive!

International Trade

It’s not often that you manage to tick off three countries in one day, and we managed to do it in about 3 hours this morning.  The nasty bit was getting up at 4.30 to be on the road by 5.30 – before sunrise – so that we would get to the border with Botswana before anyone else.  We got there as planned before any trucks which apparently slow down the process – and that is an achievement as the officials don’t seem to have any sense or urgency at all and it takes about half an hour to put everyone through the emigrations from Namibia – which is then followed by the immigration to Botswana which is then followed by the vehicle tax for Botswana . . .. and then followed by the fees for the Chobe Wildlife Park which has the highest elephant population in the world – so it’s big!

About two hours later, and having left the vehicles in store for a couple of nights and got some Botswana currency which is unobtainable outwith the country (!), we get to the border with Zambia where a slightly less protracted series of negotiations is conducted. We now have to cross the Zambezi to head towards Livingstone and realise that our problems are as nought compared with the hundreds of truck drivers who have to wait 2 or three nights in order to cross the river on the ferry which is just a variation on the theme of Glenelg or Queensferry.

In the background you can see the new bridge which was due to open before Christmas but will now open in 2021.  The ferry can only carry a maximum of 2 trucks at a time and there are literally hundreds waiting to cross as this is the main economic corridor between Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

As you travel into Zambia, you pass lots of cyclists with laden bicycles.  They are from Zimbabwe and are bringing goods such as cooking oil to sell to Zambia`s it is cheaper t5o obtain in Zimbabwe.  The load is heavy and so many men travel at night when it is cooler in spite of the serious risk of attracting the attention of elephants who can smell their goods and will be aggressive in that situation.

However, it was worth the journey as our destination was a rather upmarket hotel in Livingstone, on the banks of the Zambezi, where we have been able to enjoy the first bath in about three weeks!

But you have to read the small print

And watch out for the other residents.  You don’t leave washing out!

Roy's Rest Camp

As we leave the arid land of Etosha we gradually climb into the hills and notice that the landscape is becoming greener with flowers on the verges and then the occasional field.  The tyre pressures go back up to normal as we are now driving on normal roads - for the moment.

One of the uncertainties of a trip like this is that you never can be sure what the next camp site is going to be like.  At Okaukuego in Etosha we  had access to a pool and rather nice restaurant like this.

But there were far more ‘budget’ travellers who were on the campsite and had accommodation like this: well, actually this was their coach and their tents were stowed in the lower lockers.  They had to pitch them before they went off to get some drinks and some ice!

We have to mention a German coach with a similar sized trailer which was its ‘camp restaurant’ for the travellers; perhaps based on the experience of a previous generation?

We moved on to Roy’s Camp, a rest camp which was established by a farmer who needed to find a project to keep his son busy.  The result was this amenity in the middle of nowhere.  There is scrap metal everywhere:

But used very decoratively.

It contains all sorts of contrasts

And provided the first opportunity in about 5 days to get this blog back online.

Quaint – but it worked – and the food and drink were good too.

Lion Game Drive

We are now in Okaukuejo which is in the heart of the Etosha National Park.  There is water here, but there is not enough and we should be experiencing occasional downpours at this time of the year – but they are not happening. The animals are still hard to find and we were up before 5am in order to get out before dawn.

There are all sorts of things to be seen and when there is enough light, you can take photos of:

Steenbock,

and Springbok.

But they are all upstaged by a pride of lions who are to be found lazing in the afternoon sun at the side of the road.

Dad is big and keeps turning over to get more comfortable:

While a young male rests about 20 yards away, knowing his place in the pecking order – perhaps not the right word with these teeth!

Okaukuejo

This is the rest camp / lodge in the middle of the Etosha Game Park.  There has been a lot of investment here as well and there are a lot of facilities for both campers and other tourists.  While we have our restaurant and bar, the animals have been provided with bore holes which make water more regularly available than just at the natural watering holes; but there is plenty to see on the actual campground itself.

And these are the ground squirrels which inhabit the campsite; they look cute, like small meerkats, but you keep out of their way as they can be rabid!

This is the Sociable Weaver Bird;

and this is where he stays with lots of other relations.

From a tower, you can look out over the plains where the wildlife is to be found.  The land is very flat and arid with a huge saltpan which can be observed from space.  

It is all very hot which perhaps helps to explain why nothing happens very quickly and activity in the morning has to start at 6am when it is still cool. The disappearance of the sun at 8pm can actually be a relief.

Driving East

Leaving Palmwag we had to stop to pass through a checkpoint where the Namibians try to ensure that animal infections do not pass from one area to another.  At the side of the road was another group of craft stalls and beyond that a village of traditional dwellings.

The stallkeepers gesture and try to get you to come any buy and are very polite in comparison with the street traders who confront you at petrol stations and try to get you to buy their creations.  Many of them are children who explain that they are not at school because they are ‘in business.’

When you look more closely, then you can see that these houses are fairly primitive in their construction. In the foreground of this:

is the frame of what will eventually look like this.

These are the traditional rural people whom the government want to be able to educate, but find that the traditions of the countryside communities die hard.

Rhino Game Drive

We have reached the point where access to Wifi is unusual, and access to Wifi with the bandwidth to upload photos is even more difficult to come by and so posts are being composed for upload when access becomes available.

We have reached Palmwag Camp which is up in the hills and miles from anywhere and yet it shows that considerable investment has been made in trying to make the remote desert a more attractive spot for visitors with a campsite, air conditioned chalets a couple of good swimming pools and some cold draught beer – all chilled from a field of PV solar arrays!

The two of us set off on a game drive – starting at 6am - with a group of French tourists who are doing a similar tour.  We are in search of rhino, but we only find desert giraffe,

and Oryx

Either there are a lot of these, or there are a group of them that cover a lot of ground.  They a;ll look the same, but . . .  We are travelling in the back of a Toyota Landcruiser which is not the most comfortably appointed;

but on the other hand, it does manage to cover the ground.

The ground is parched as there has been no rain for two years.  There can be a few spots in an evening, but nothing to make any difference to the drought.  You drive through parched riverbeds and see dry gorges like this which show that there was regular water here once.

We stop at a desert camp where the game wardens are based to ask if there have been any rhino sightings and they agree to some and help us find them as they had seen them yesterday.

It turns out that one of the wardens is already out and we find him striding through the brush.  The wardens walk off up a valley leaving us at the side and then they walk down until they see the rhino and beckon us to join them SILENTLY on foot which means walking half a mile from the vehicle, and there we can view 33% of the Black Rhino population on the Palmwag Game Reserve!

There was no charge from the rhino, but the game wardens got a good tip!

Further North

We've been out of contact for at least 5 days, so there's a bit to catch up on.  When you are in a desert, it is not just water that is in short supply and wifi doesn't come in bottles!

We drove up the coast towards Henties Bay which is definitely another upmarket resort for the well heeled of Walvis Bay.  There is even a golf course although we were not sure whether it was in the middle of the beach or the desert as there is no clear dividing line between them other than the road.

At least this first part of the day had been on a metalled surface, but soon we were back to deflating the tyres as we got back on to the gravel roads and the dust.  This means that you are just as likely to meet this:

or this:

as the quality of the surface depends on the regular sweeping of the graders to level out the ruts. However, you are prepared to put up with ruts when you have scenery like this.

As you travel, you can find people walking at the side of the road, apparently in the middle of nowhere, or perhaps even a donkey cart for which there is frequently provision parallel to the side of the main roadbed.

And then there are the frequent roadside stalls of the people who are trying to augment their income from a traditional way of life.