Amendment

Namibia 2012, a set on Flickr.

The end

Flight to Johannesburg was quite uneventful. Passport control at transit there wasn't a problem this time, and then I was in the big shopping mall called Johannesburg airport. It sees you can buy everything that might be expensive (duty-free diamonds), and everything that might have the slightest connection to Africa. Pre-boarding started on time, but final boarding and take-off then was delayed due to problems with the catering (they were still loading when everybody was already on board. Just after dinner, they had to re-boot the entertainment system, which I took as a opportunity to go to sleep. Just woke up above the Mediterranean, just before breakfast. Now back in Munich, just got my luggage, and now hoping that there's someone out there to pick me up.

3912 km

Last night in Namibia. At least I wasn't the only guest again at the lodge this time. Finished packing after breakfast, then stayed a little bit linger out in the sun, watching the birds. As I had to leave the lodge at 11, went to the airport a bit early and returned the car. Now it's been 3912 km since I got the car three weeks ago. All was fine with the car, they were happy that I didn't have to pay to get my tire fixed (as I had insurance, they would've had to pay). Had to wait about an hour for the check-in counter to open (there were some very small but very noisy dogs at the next counter). As I was told there is a restaurant at the gates, decided to go through passport control and security and wait the rest inside (as there wad only one bar and no open shops outside. So now I'm inside, the restaurant is closed for renovation, and there.is one duty free and one souvenir shop. So just got myself a bag of chips (there's nothing else and I'm hungry), and will wait for boarding in about 2 hours...

Windhoek

Arrived at my last lodge early in the afternoon. It's located quite close to the airport, but unfortunately still too far to watch the airplanes. The road leading to the lodge from the main road was quite interesting; I'm glad I didn't come here on my first day. When I arrived it was all very quiet, I was shown my room (this time without heating, but with warm water bottle), and found out I would be the only guest again for the first night. As the holiday was slowly coming to an end, I decided to go on one last sundowner drive through the farm. But as it was very windy, we didn't get to see many animals (still more than we would in Germany). I then got my dinner and back to the room to get my hot water bottle ready. Just then all light went off in my room, the fuse had blown. As I didn't know where the fuse box was I tried to find someone, (I had already said good night to everyone, so I didn't know where to look). It wasn't a problem, the girl from the reception was still around on the grounds, as were two security people, who fixed my fuse right away. Next morning it was all foggy; happening about once a year in this area. (I guess since I hardly had any fog in Swakopmund, I needed some here.) But the sun slowly started breaking through after breakfasts, and I made my way into Windhoek. Even though it's the capital and biggest city in Namibia, it still feels more like a little town. Ok, I didn't go into all the suburbs, especially tried to avoid the townships (called the same, but not anywhere near SD bad as in Johannesburg). I basically only went into the city center, which I could easily walk through. Looked at some of the old, typically german buildings, like the famous Christuskirche. But a lot of them are in between newer, 80s style, not especially nice buildings. There is a weird mixture of shops, of course souvenir shops with anything you can imagine and might have to do with africa, a crafts gallery where you can actually watch a few people create the crafts (so you know it's not just cheap China import), extremely expensive jewelry shops, especially diamonds, a street market where people from all over the country try to sell their crafts, ... Also the other shops, from the cheapest bargain shops and people trying to sell stuff on the streets, to high end cloth shops (didn't see any of the big names, but still definatly too expensive for me). What I had already seen in Swakopmund also existed here from time to time: some shops had a closed gate, which would be opened by one of the security people (they existed in every shop anyway), so that nobody could just quickly get in or out. After I had spend enough money I went back to my car, paid for parking and for the guy looking after my car, and returned back to the lodge. Shortly before I reached it, a tree wad blocking the street. As there was even more wind than the day before, a bug branch of a dead tree had collapsed. But as the area next to the steer wasn't much different to the street, I just drove around. (Of course I told them in the lodge, so that new guests wouldn't have a problem finding the way).

Broken legs - hippo and cheetah

Leaving Omguma, I started heading south again, slowly back towards Windhoek. I decided not to take the main road to my next lodge, but a smaller road through the farmland. The problem with the main road was, that it would'be been 200 km longer, therefore although it was tar instead of gravel still a bit longer. Also I was told that on the main road from here to Windhoek I would have to be a bit careful, and better not stop anywhere. So because of all this, I chose the other road. At first I made a short stop at the meteorite, apparently one of the largest existing. Don't really know what I expected, but was actually a bit boring, just a stone. From here on the landscape had changed quite a lot, I was now in typical farmland, either corn fields or cattle farms. The only problem driving through farmland are the gates. Most farm have gate across the street. The standard rules apply: If it is open, leave it open, if it is closed, close it again after you. As I had read before that usually kids would come running to open the gates hoping for so sweets, I had brought some with me especially for this. Summary: In about 100 km there were 8 gates, all of the closed. Only once a kid came running, twice an adult opened it for me (they didn't get any sweets), and the rest of the time I had to do it myself. And what do I do with all my sweets now? I then arrived at my new lodge and found out I would be the only guest for tonight. Feels actually a bit strange to know that all these people are now only working for you. The lodge lies in a huge property, which is nowadays only used to keep wild animals for the visitors. Since they have quite a few animals, usually at the end of the dry season, they help out with some extra food for them, as not enough is left. Also for a few years now they have a few hippos, which usually only live further north, where there is more rain. And since hippos need up to 60 kg of grass every day, they also feed the hippos. I went on a sundowner drive to the hippo lake then, and didn're just see the hippos, but also buffolos and white rhinos. Since they knew that there was food for the hippos, they also wanted some. When the hippos then came out of the water to eat, I could see that one had a broken leg and couldn't really walk anymore. Poor thing! Apparently it broken it a year ago, running and dripping into a hole in the ground. Since this hippo now really can't get any food for itself, they took more care of it, and my guide always tried to chase away the rhinos trying to steel the grass. I wouldn't have dared to get as close to the rhinos (even though it was only the white ones), but I guess the rhinos knew they wouldn't get any more food tomorrow if they hurt him. (But even I could see that they weren't really happy. Next morning after breakfast I then got to see the feeding of the cheetahs. Cheetahs are endangered here, since farmer don't really like them and hunt them. On this farm they usually let the cheetahs live, as they would only pass by this area. A while ago however, they had found and injured cheetah lady, who had fallen into a canal and broken a leg, which had grown back together wrong. So also this cheetah wasn't able to catch food for herself anymore. So they took her in, gave here a big fenced in area to live, and fed her so that she would survive. A bit later then they got a male cheetah from the Cheetah Protection Center to join her. This one apparently grew up in captivity, and then was let free. As he had never learned how to hunt for himself he almost starved, before he was found and saved. So this way I also got to see the two cheetahs up close (since I didn't manage to see one in the wild). Finally I left the lodge again and made my way down to Windhoek, this time on the main road (there was no nice alternative), but as promised without stopping on the way.

Lions, rhinos and elephants

I was staying two more nights just outside the Etosha park, at Omguma Bush Camp, which is also surrounded by a big game park. I decided to take it a bit easy and go on some guided drives instead of driving through the park again on my own (I had already done almost 500 km in the park looking for animals). It started of with a night drive in the Omguma reserve, looking what is happening after dark. It was freezing cold in the open landrover, so I was very glad about the blanket and hot water bottle provided). As it was that cold, we mainly saw the antelopes and jackals trying to find some shelter. Also interesting that with each herd of springboks, there was one gnu for protection. We weren't very lucky with all the nocturnal animals, the only ones we saw was the spotted genet hiding up on a tree, and a rabbit. I guess most animal were trying to hide from the cold and wind. But at the end we even saw a small chameleon sleeping on a tree. Next morning I had to get up early again, as we went on a tour through Etosha from sunrise to lunch. It still seems to be quite quiet with tourists at the moment, so I was the only guest on the tour (and two guides from the lodge). I was told that all the guides are connected with radio, so if one finds something interesting, the others would know as well. However, our car wasn't yet equipped with the radio. So he would use his mobile phone from time to time. We saw a few giraffes close to the first waterhole (with a baby of about 2 weeks), some springbok and gnu, then again nothing. Eric, the guide, called up the others, also No interesting finds yet. We go to the next waterhole, and we see a whole lion family drinking water. Nine lions, one big male, two older female, one young male, and several cubs. They were drinking, playing, streching, really cool. (Of course then we told some others to come to this waterhole as well). It lasted for about 15 minutes, then they all had enough and went back into the bushes to find a nice resting place for the day. As they were gone, we also left the waterhole, looking for other animals. After a while Eric spotted a rhino quite far away. We watched it for a bit, and saw that it actually was coming towards us. This was a white rhino (before I had only seen the black ones), which us supposed to be the peaceful one, not the agressive one. We just stood there with the car, and the rhino came closer and closer. And it didn't look too happy about us being there. So we backed away a little (even though it's the peaceful one, we don't have to start a fight), but the rhino came after us again. Just after we backed away even further, it slowly moved on, still not completely convinced that we are harmless. A bit further then we also saw a black rhino, but this one didn't really care about us. The next waterhole then was empty (except some birds), but the one after this we got a quite amazing view again. A big family of elephants was drinking (at least 15-20), with big ones,  little ones, teenager,... Next to them was a giraffe drinking, which looks quite interesting since either their legs are too long, or their neck too short. Anyway, they have quite some trouble reaching the water. After this exciting morning we went back to the camp, where I enjoyed the sun for a while. In the afternoon I went for another drive, a sundowner drive (very typical here) in the Omguma reserve. For q sundowner you drive around for 1-2 hours, pretending to look for animals (sometimes you even see some, for example this time I learn all about the mating season of the impalas), and then when the sun sets you stop at a nice place to watch with a glass of wine or beer). And then you get back to the camp just in time for dinner.

Waterholes

After a good breakfast and saying goodbye to Jürgen and his wife, I made my way further east, to the southern entrance of the Etosha national park. I had to sign the waiver and all the park rules, the main ones being: you are only allowed in the park between sunrise and sunset, and you are never to leave you car while you are in the park. The only exceptions are when you are in one of the fenced in camps inside, where I would also stay for two nights. So I got to the camp, checked in, paid my entrance fees, and got settled in. The park is paradise for animal viewing. Don't get me wrong, you don't necessarily see heaps of animals as soon as you enter the park, and it can also happen that you drive around and don't see any for two hours (except for the birds you see almost everywhere, and the one or the other springbok, as they also seem to be everywhere). But when you see them, you quite often see big herds. Sometimes just on or next to the street, even more close to one of the waterholes. Since it's dry season and not so much water around, they usually have to come by to drink. My Etosha experience started at the waterhole at my camp, Okaukuejo. After getting settled, I went there just to have a quick look, and within five minutes I saw a huge herd of springbok (seemed to be never ending), a group of zebras (maybe 10-20) and two elephants. Since it wad already afternoon, and park gates would close at 5.25 (sunset)  I only went on a short tour to look at some of the closer waterholes. There, and on the way I saw zebras (big herds), a few giraffes, several different antilopes, some Oryx, sometimes one big herd across the street, sometimes a wild mixture at a waterhole. Later I went to dinner quite early, so I could be back to our waterhole (which was lit up by night) by 7, to watch the animals coming after dark. And there they came: first two rhinos, then two more, a group of giraffes (with their young ones), three elephants, a oryx, a few jackals, and even an owl. They all were white relaxed, enjoying the water, and didn't really care about the others. From far I could hear lions roaring and hyenas laughing, but none of them showed up while I was still there. Next morning I tried to get up quite early, and started of for a whole day driving around in the park. Apart from what became quite standard quickly (like herds of springbok, zebras, a giraffe here and there, as well as an oryx), I saw a few more kudus (they also taste very good, as I realised again at dinner), a few really mice birds, a few really cute squirrels, a whole elephant family right next to the street, and my first three lions. At night I saw again a few rhinos, zebras, and a younger elephant. I didn't manage to stay as long this night, as it was just getting too cold. Next day again, I made my way through the park, as my next lodge was just outside the eastern entrance. Because of their stupid rules that entrance fees are per 24 hours, I had to ne out of the park by 2, so I couldn't have a look at every waterhole on the way. Also I couldn't see that many animals today (still a lot, just not as many as the day before). I already thought it's because they also have a day off on Sundays, but at my new lodge I wad then told it's because of the wind, when they tend to hide a lot more. So I guess it wasn't so bad that I had to leave the park so early, and that way I could spend a nice and relaxing afternoon at the waterhole of the Omguma Bush Camp.

Kaokoveld - a glimpse

Another day trip with Jürgen, the owner of the Toko Lodge. This time we went up north, leaving the Damaraland, to catch a glimpse of the Kaokoveld. Only q glimpse, as most parts of the Kaokoveld are only accessible on a several-day, 4WD camping safari, no real roads exist there, apart from the main road to the capital Opuwo. The Kaokoveld is traditionally the area, where the people of the Himba are living. And because it is so remote, they have managed to keep living in their traditional ways. Before visiting a Himba family up there, we first went through Opuwo for fuel and shopping. Opuwo itself is a interesting mixture of all kind of namibian people. Due to its proximity to Kaokoveld, Damaraland, and the Ovamboland north of Etosha (more than half of all Namibians live in this small region), a wild mixture of traditions and styles can be observed in Opuwo. Starting with completely chic modern dresses, to the Victorian style dresses traditionally worn by the Herero women, to Himba men with the traditional loincloth, but also t-shirt and sneakers, and traditional Himba women, with their reddish skin and hardly any cover, only some wear a shirt for coming to town. The city is growing rapidly, more and mire people from around are moving to town, trying to find work, or being closer to their kids when they have to go to school. The whole area up north, north of the veterinary fence, is owned by the communities, and the people are living everywhere, usually taking care of cows or goats. There are no fences, they animals are just walking around, trying to find food. But it seems to be too many animals for the available food, all grass is eaten, the cows still look very thin, and no wild animals live here anymore, as no food is left. After stopping in Opuwo we went to visit a nearby Himba family. Jürgen has visited this family several times before, and also knows some Himba language, so he could explain and translate what they showed us. At first we offloaded the things we had brought for them: water, corn flour, bread, sugar, dog food (Jürgen has taken the brother of the dog here home with him, and now always compares how thin the dog here is). In this family, at the moment only a mother and her daughter live there with their children. And they have a lot of neighboring families in the area, who also saw us coming. The husbands only come home every few months, the rest of the time they are out with the cows, trying to find food for them. We then were invited into the main hut, which is the hut of the mother. The walls of the huts are made of wood, plastered with cow dung. The roof is made of wood, and since they have a fire inside, this wood looks and smells a bit smoky. To store valuables, there is a box with a lock; the key is then worn on one if the many necklaces. Himba women spend of lot of time to get pretty every day. I get shown how they get their skin in the typically red color (rubbing it with powder of a certain stone), what kind of perfume they use (a certain mixture of herbs, put into a fire and applied like a sauna), what is special about their hair (most of it is fake, only extensions, since true natural hair is only a few centimeters), which they then also cover with the red paste. I saw how they make flour out if the corn they are growing (2 stones), saw a few sheep and goats running around, the cows would be gone with the husbands. I can't explain the whole Himba tradition here, I also only got a small glimpse into their real live. It really seems to be a live full of traditions (everything has a specific meaning, from the layout of the huts to the hair-do, depending on the age and so on. But also it seems to be a really hard live, and a live in extreme poverty. And a live, that can't really be combined with the modern live, there is no in-between. And than then becomes a problem, when the kids start going to school (right now, most Himba kids still don't go, but the government is trying to change this). In school they have to wear a school uniform, shower regularly, the sleep in a bed (not on the floor), etc. I don't know how this then can be combined with keeping their traditions. Of course, at the end of our stay, the women showed us all the handcrafts they have done, trying to sell them to us. On the way back then, looking out not to hit any cow (if you do, you have to pay the damage to your car, and also compensation for the cow), I saw my first rhino. We were right at the border to the western part of the Etosha park, and it was just walking slowly along the fence. Since the wind came from the right direction, it couldn't smell us, so we could get a bit closer for a nice photo. Full of new impressions, I arrived back at the lodge for dinner (kudu schnitzel).

In the river

For today, I had booked a guided day trip through the very remote areas of the Damaraland, which would take me along the Ombonde river, on a 4x4 track, basically all the way back to Palmwag, where I've been the night before. Jürgen, the owner of the farm I was staying at, took me on the drive. Going through the beautiful landscapes, he didn't only explain me all there was about the trees and animals we saw, but also about live in Namibia and about him farm. I really learned a lot on this trip. We went on a quite small road towards north west, where we soon had to pass the veterinary fence again. Apparently they are expecting heaps of tourists passing through that track in the next years, as they are currently building a huge control point there (bigger than the one at Palmwag). After the fence, then soon came to the river, in which we then went, and continued driving in the river. But river in Namibia usually means only riverbed, there is hardly ever any water in it. As was expected, this was also the case today. So we drove in the riverbed, sometimes quite sandy, sometimes quite high walls on the side, lots of big trees in and at the edge of the river. We saw lots and lots of birds, quite a few springbock and oryx. They were usually quite scared of us, and tried to leave the river as soon as posdible. We came along a quite beautiful canyon, and only after almost 100 km in the riverbed, there started an area, where there actually was a little water in the river. Then we left the riverbed, but still continued following the river through the wilderness. Finally, we reached the main road again, a little bit north of Palmwag, and started our return trip along the same route I had taken yesterday. But in areas like this, taking the same road twice doesn't get boring. We passed another desert elephant (much closer than the day before), lots of giraffes, and a few kudu, also quite close. As it was quite a long way we went today (mire than 500 km), we didn't make it back to the lodge before dark, and dinner was already waiting.

The flat tire

Now it happened: I had a flat tire. On the way to my new lodge, the Toko Lodge, all looked still fine. At the petrol station (apart from the many people trying to sell me stuff), even offloading at the lodge it still looked normal. About half an hour later (I was just photo hunting around the lodge, a really beautiful place by the way), when one of the guys working there showed me that flat tire. It must have happened just on they way here, with the hole being small enough so the air didn't all get out immediately. But now I wad so lucky, already being at the lodge, that I got help right away. Herman, their mechanic, removed the tire, found the hole, quickly repaired it (looks so simple when you know what you're doing), and put the repaired tire back on. In less than an hour it was all done. (Since I'm staying here for three nights, I still have some time to see if the repair really works, it just all looked to easy). Thanks Herman!