An amazing month of travel in South Africa, Botswana and especially Namibia has -sadly- come to an end. Our past week around the Western Cape has been most enjoyable, and a wonderfully different kind of travel with Charlotte and Devon. They flew north yesterday to begin theirmnext adventure, a cycle trip across Europe. We are flying back to London tonight, then on to Sweden where we will find Darwin Sound and begin another sailing season.
We hope you enjoyed following our simple log, and that in a couple of weeks you will click of the site to view the photos that will soon be uploaded. In the meantime, we would love to hear from you!
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
May 16
Our first cloudy morning in Namibia! The sun burst through the clouds, creating a beautiful red sky. We lingered at our lovely campsite. Charlotte made fresh scones in our iron pot.
Finally it was time to leave. We drove our first paved roads in a long time, stopping for a picnic lunch en route to Windhoek. Some baboons were along side the road in one area. We saw a little more traffic, this being the main road from Cape Town to Windhoek.
After lunch we stopped at GocheGanas, an amazing private game reserve, lodge and wellness centre owned by Vic's friend Udo. With luxury lodges for 30 guest, pools, exercise equipment, star viewing, all on a mountaintop setting, this was the top of the top for a place to stay. As well it had several white rhino, giraffes, antelope, and with abundant forest, any birds.
By mid afternoon we were back in Windhoek and settled at our final campsite
May 15
Yes, this is a couple mating......taking a walk between mating sessions, which can take place every 15 minutes for over 24 hours.... Google it!
Kgalagadi NP, Twee Rivieren and western area.
We began again before sunrise, exiting the campsite as soon as the gate opened at 7 am. The sun soon came up over the dunes and we stopped multiple times for some photos.
At a designated picnic site we visited a small crafter house, reminiscent of Scotland, and learned a bit about early settlers in this desert.
We were satiated and it was time to move on. We stopped anew more times to view and photograph animals, sighted a recent kill of an Oryx, now being finished off by a half dozen Jackels, with another half dozen white backed vultures waiting their turn, then exited the park around noon and drove west.
We decided to stop at Gouchas to refuel. It was a small place, but boasted a lodge, a hotel, groceries and even a cafe. At the fuel station we saw the usual welcoming arm wave from the guy at the pump, and pulled up as he encouraged, only to find out there was no fuel at the station! Again, why all the welcome gestures when the pumps were empty?
Our two tanks were almost empty, but we had enough for the 70km distance to the next berg, where we had spotted a station on our way through en route to the Kgalagadi. We hoped it would be open, and still have fuel to sell! (it was all good)
Our next camp was lovely, a private area surrounded by a vast open grassland in a private reserve. Only three campsites are located at this lodge and each is so far away for the other that one cannot even see the other.
Charlotte and Devon went for a long run around the reserve tracks. We also took advantage of our large, private campsite to completely unpack and clean our vehicle.
May 14
We decided to start early again, getting up in the dark and leaving the camp as soon as the camp gate was unlocked at 7 am. This meant lining up at the park reception, waiting for someone to arrive and give us back our permit. About 6 others were also waiting and we all enjoyed talking as we waited. One of the South Africans would like to sail to Alaska. Another told of being trapped inside her tent when a lion was roaming around. Another worked for a mining company with offices in Canada. The people we meet in campgrounds were always friendly, and interesting, but also almost always white South Africans. There truly is an economic apartheid that has replaced the racist one.
The sun was not yet up, but the skyline was a rosy pink as we left the camp. We drove along the side loop we had enjoyed the afternoon before. We looked again at lion tracks in the sand. Then suddenly we saw the lion walking along our sand road in front of us!
May 13
Kgalagadi NP, Nossob-Nossob
We decided to exit camp early for a sunrise drive. This meant getting up in the dark, packing away the roof tent, and lining up at the camp reception to pick up our permit before the gate was to open at 7 am. We were first out, followed by at least half a dozen other early risers. Our goal was to photograph the desert at first light, hopefully with some animals in the for ground!
We saw many of the same animals, which was great. We also saw our first hyenas, both the brown and the spotted. They were chewing on bones, and consequently being followed by jackals, which were hoping to pick up a few abandoned morsels of food.
We decided to return to camp for lunch, and spend the afternoon around the camp. After a delicious lunch of veggies, salads and cheeses we relaxed for a couple of hours. We started a new scrabble game, had showers, did some laundry, and read.
Around 4pm we went off for a late afternoon drive around a loop and past a water hole, hoping to find the lion,that had left clear foot printsminmthe sandy roadway. The sun was lovely and the usual animals were especially photogenic, but we saw no cats of any sort.
Dinner was another tasty meal compliments of chefs Charlotte and Devon. We had a warming fire in the braii (BBQ) pit as these desert evenings are cold!
We decided to exit camp early for a sunrise drive. This meant getting up in the dark, packing away the roof tent, and lining up at the camp reception to pick up our permit before the gate was to open at 7 am. We were first out, followed by at least half a dozen other early risers. Our goal was to photograph the desert at first light, hopefully with some animals in the for ground!
We saw many of the same animals, which was great. We also saw our first hyenas, both the brown and the spotted. They were chewing on bones, and consequently being followed by jackals, which were hoping to pick up a few abandoned morsels of food.
We decided to return to camp for lunch, and spend the afternoon around the camp. After a delicious lunch of veggies, salads and cheeses we relaxed for a couple of hours. We started a new scrabble game, had showers, did some laundry, and read.
Around 4pm we went off for a late afternoon drive around a loop and past a water hole, hoping to find the lion,that had left clear foot printsminmthe sandy roadway. The sun was lovely and the usual animals were especially photogenic, but we saw no cats of any sort.
Dinner was another tasty meal compliments of chefs Charlotte and Devon. We had a warming fire in the braii (BBQ) pit as these desert evenings are cold!
May 12
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Mata mata to Nossob
Humans are not free to roam in this park. We stopped briefly at two designated picnic spots (with flush toilets) but the rest of the time we had to remain in the car. The roads are gravel and sand. The speed limit is 50km but most of the time we were going more slowly, looking for or at animals. We were happy to arrive at our next camp so we could get out of the vehicle and roam. The camp has a swimming pool where the braver females had a dip even though the water was quite cold.
I got up at first light, as usual, but it was much colder than usual. So cold, in fact, that there was a layer of ice on the cup of water I had left out the night before. My fingertips were cold and I could see my breath! As well, there was frost on the metal table.
We had all felt cold during the night. I slept in my wooly long johns, Marino wool top, and wore my fleece hat in bed! Why had I even brought these items to Africa? A few months earlier I had read a blog written about a trip to this dessert and learned that weather can go from too hot during the day to below freezing during the night.
We lingered at the campsite while the sun gradually warms the air. It was Mothers Day and we celebrated with a delicious egg and beans breakfast, thanks to Charlotte and Devon.
Around 10am we finally got underway, three hours later than the keeners who packed up in the dark and exited the camp site as soon as the gates opened. Campsites in this park are enclosed by animal-proof wire (and electric) fences and camp gates ate locked from 6 pm to 7 am. Campers line up before the gates are unlocked so they can see animals at first light. So we were late!
We drove along the gravel roads looking for animals. Soon we saw a gathering of about 18 giraffes, all browsing on low bushes. We also saw some springboks, a total of about 200 during our 5 hours of driving. We began to see Wildebeasts, mostly standing on their own, for a total of about 80. Then we began to spot Hartebeasts, with more as we went east, for a total of about 50. Oryx gemsbok became plentiful and we eventually saw about 200. The most exciting mammal siting for us, because it was new and rare: 2 cheetah laying in the shade of a tree. We also saw our first dik-dik, just 2 of them.
Birds were plentiful two. We saw over 30 pairs of ostrich, some raptors, bate leur, grouse and even an owl. On the ground we spotted cape squirrels and slender mongoose.
Devon and Charlotte created another great meal, a Mother's day feast complimented by Charlottes freshly baked-in-a-cast-iron-pot bread.
We bundled up for a chilly night. After a look for animals from the excellent blind at the camp, and a competitive Scrabble game, we all snuggled under our sleeping bags in our cozy tents.
May11
To Mata-Mata camp in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
We left around noon and drove a few hours further east and south to the border crossing into South Africa and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
The drive was uneventful. There wasn't any traffic. The gravel roads took us through some lovely desert terrain covered with scrub and grasses. A few houses dotted the landscape, as well as a few lodges which are not in the guide books.
Mata-Mata camp seemed dusty and crowded after our clean, grassy site mso Devon drove our vehicle over to the edge of the wire game fence, as far from the other campers as possible. Another camper I met soon afterwards laughed, saying we were definitely going to tempt the hungry lions by camping so close to the fence. We imagined lions roaming on the other side of the fence but slept all night never saw any nocturnal visitors.
As with most NP camps, we were locked in from sunset to sunrise. A viewing area (blind) gave us a great view over a pan where animals tend to gather, and where nocturnal animals might display some behavior of interest to us. But, as with most evenings, we went to bed fairly early and no animals visited before we decided it was time for bed .
Irene
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