Namibia - Land of deserts

It has been a while but here I am again after the biggest adventure of our lives.

Before I start, a couple of  big 'Thank You's'.

First: Madri from Odyssey Travel in Namibia. Her patience and attention to detail in helping us to put together all the different parts of this holiday were amazing and really appreciated.We had many questions and requests for small 'tweaks' over many months and everything was answered, giving us the confidence to go ahead. Thank you Madri.

Second: Africa 4x4 Car Rental. They give a brilliant service. The cars are rugged enough to  cope with the desert roads and more and their backup and support helps to take away the fears of setting off into the wilderness. Thanks to the whole team.

Before the pictures (and don't miss the little videos scattered throughout!), a little background detail.

We wanted to get back to Africa, but also wanted the freedom to do what we wanted at our own pace. After over a year of planning (thanks to Gerry) we finally set off for Namibia (next to South Africa). Namibia is home to both the Kalahari and Namib Deserts as well as the famous Etosha National Park. All of which were on our itinerary.

On this trip we were mostly alone. We hired a 4x4 vehicle and set off to explore the country.

Not a trip for the faint-hearted! Namibia is suffering its worst drought for 70 years (we saw a few drops of rain on one day, and they were apparently the first drops to fall in 4 years).

Early morning temperatures were around 28 deg C rising on most days to 37 deg and more in the shade. Or, it would be if there was any shade! Heat Haze made long distance photography challenging a lot of the time as shown in the picture below!

There are one or two surfaced roads, but most roads are either crushed rock or sand and have a very rough, corrugated surface. VERY bumpy and unstable and because of the HUGE distances we had to travel each day we had to drive at a good speed. You can drive for hours without seeing another car. However, when you do see a car, shut your windows!!! There is a lot of dust in Namibia!

Because of the high likelihood of flat tyres, the rental cars come with two spare wheels and a compressor. We also had instructions about the importance of tyre pressures which must be adjusted for the different surfaces to try to minimize the chance of a blowout!

SO! We had ourselves, We had a well equipped 4x4 car, food and water to last about a week in case of emergencies, a phone, a satnav, a map and we were ready to leave the capital (Windhoek) and set off into the unknown for 2.5 weeks.

NOTE: The big African animals appear further down the blog when we went to Etosha national park.

First, a few snaps from Windhoek:

Our first meal in Namibia!

A View of the City

Meeting the locals

Dinner will be served shortly!

A Mural at the end of our bed!

This gave us a nice gentle start to the trip. After a night here to recover from the plane journeys, we picked up our car and headed of for the 'Bagatelle Game Ranch' in the Kalahari Desert.

THE KALAHARI DESERT

The heat was relentless and we soon learnt the importance of carrying a LOT! of water in the car. There is no shade. You have to be either very resilient or totally mad. You decide!!!

Had to take this picture as we crossed the line!

Not bad accommodation for the middle of the desert!

And the wildlife starts.

Springbok

We loved this place. Our first stop in the desert proper and we managed to find one of the main creatures we went to find. Meerkats. A lovely big colony. We spent ages watching them and even forgot the heat for a while.

Meerkats - Our first 'Bucket List' creature!

Meerkats are so comical!

The first of many ostriches!

While there, we joined a small group with a guide for a very early, pre-breakfast walk into the desert to meet some of the Kalahari bush people.They are experts at surviving where there appears to be nothing. They explained, in their own weird 'Click' language how they made use of the resources. Fortunately, our guide was able to translate. A really interesting morning!

After an afternoon having more fun with the meerkats and various antelope, we settled down for our single night there before heading off on a VERY long, hot, bumpy and awe inspiring drive towards the Namib desert where we were to stay in Le Mirage. An old fortress in the middle of the desert. An amazing bit of luxury in a very remote location!

THE NAMIB DESERT

A Long, hot, dusty road

The video above is just a few seconds of the driving experience on one of the better roads.

...and more of the same.

Until hot, shaken and tired, we reach our goal.

Impressive!

But inside the walls, a real oasis!

What a place!

After what has to be said, was a luxurious evening meal, shower and sleep, we joined a small group to go and see two of the most iconic places on earth! The famous 'Dune 45' and the 'Deadvlei' (Dead Valley).

One of our key aims for the trip was to climb to the top of Dune 45. Climb a sand dune? Easy you think?. Think again. The namib has the tallest dunes in the world and dune 45 is almost 600 feet high. It is steep and the sand is very soft. You have to walk up a sharp knife edge ridge with the sand falling away at every step. On top of that, we had to climb in a sandstorm with hot, powerful winds. Several people lost their footing in the wind and while not really dangerous, getting back to to the ridge on very soft sand that keeps sliding down, is really hard.

We made it though!

Something we have wanted to see for years! Here we are!

The dune in the distance and the ridge we must climb!

People! One of the most famous places in Namibia.

Fighting the wind and the sand!

We are catching him up!

Gerry proudly standing at the summit!

and me doing the same!

After Dune 45, we set off for the famous Deadvlei. This is one of the most photographed places on Earth and almost everyone has seen pictures of it at some point. Hard to believe we were actually there!

The valley is protected from the weather by the massive dunes that surround it and the dead trees have been preserved as they are today for hundreds of years. It is an amazing sight!

A hot walk over the red sands to get there.

First real sight of the valley!

It is an eerie place. Because it is so dry, the trees do not rot. They are protected and you are not allowed to touch them.

A good impression of the size of the dunes!

And some of the wildlife we saw while at Le mirage...

A hungry black backed jackal.

A 'Steenbok' one of many different types of antelope we saw.

Scimitar Horned Oryx - an iconic Namib resident!

A MASSIVE ant!

While at Le Mirage, we asked the manager if we could leave our infra red camera trap by the waterhole overnight. He was more than happy to allow it. We got 28 video clips from it. Just a few below, it was so hard to decide what to leave out!

The video above shows a Scimitar Horned Oryx coming for a drink.

We were thrilled to catch this Brown Hyena at the waterhole. Only yards from our room and no fences to keep the wildlife out!

This Porcupine was very unexpected. A lovely big specimen in all his glory!

THE SKELETON COAST

After Le Mirage, another long drive took us to Swakopmund on the famous skeleton coast. It is called the Skeleton Coast because of the vast number of shipwrecks along its shores.

Here we had a couple of days to achieve two main goals. First was to go into the desert with an expert on the small creatures (snakes, lizards etc) and the second was to go kayaking among seals, flamingos and pelicans!

Here, we stayed in a lovely little guest house on a proper (gravel) street! Looking one way up the street, we could see the sea.

Looking the other way, we could see the red desert! Bizarre!

After a good nights sleep, we met up with 'Baz' and a small group to set off into the dunes to look for the small creatures that most people miss. His ability to spot the signs was incredible. Here are some of the sights!

The Namib desert is incredibly dry. The only moisture comes from the brief mists that come in off the sea each morning. These amazing beetles run to the top of the dunes each morning and sit with their backsides pointing upwards. The mist condenses on their shells and runs down to their mouths. Ingenious!

A stunning little gecko!If attacked by a predator, the little guy bites onto the predators lip and just hangs there until dropped. Quite an adaptation!

This is one I REALLY wanted to see and I was not disappointed! We have seen chameleons in rain-forests before, but this one has adapted to live in the dry desert In the picture below, he is about to shoot his tongue out to catch a small grub!

And in this little video, you can see him catching the grub!

A Sidewinder snake.

Another one from my bucket list!The snake above is a  'Sidewinder' snake named after it unique method of moving over hot sand. Only about 10 inches long but VERY dangerous. Venomous snakes are rated on a scale of 1 to 10 and the sidewinder is graded at number 7. There is no anti-venom as the snakes venom is highly complex. So, be VERY careful around this little guy!

The colours in this desert are really beautiful with shades of yellow, orange, red and brown.

We have seen gekos in every country we have visited but this little chap must be one of the most spectacular!

And here (Below) is a short video of the little fellow hiding himself after we had a good look at him!

Just a few more glimpses of the amazing scenery!

On our second day in Swakopmund, we joined another group to go kayaking in the ocean amongst seals, flamingos and pelicans. It was terrific fun. To get there, we had to drive miles across sand flats that extended so far out to sea that we lost sight of land. We saw a multitude of birds on the drive as well as several families of jackals who  live in the sand.

The size of the sand flats was staggering!

This mother jackal was watching over .....

... her adorable cubs!

Flamingos and seals close to our kayaking location.

The pictures below were taken by the group leader. There were so many seals, all as curious as us and they kept popping up for a closer look at us. There were hundreds of them! Magic!

Are you looking at me???

And just a few seconds of video of the fun. Note the grey sky! Being at the coast gave us just a few hours of relief from the searing heat that was the feature of the rest of the holiday.

And now, the jewel in the crown - Vingerklip lodge.

After Swakopmund, we had yet another very hot, dry, bumpy and LONG drive to the interior to spend a couple of days at a real gem. Vingerklip lodge. 'Vingerklip translates as 'Finger Clip' and is named for the huge finger shaped rock that is close by.

What made this location so special was our room. When Madri found this place for  us, there was only one room left. It was the most expensive and is called 'Heavens Gate'. The rest of the lodge is on the plains at the base of a large, flat-topped rocky outcrop as shown in the picture below.

The main lodge

Heavens gate stands alone on the top of the outcrop and is reached by a 20-minute climb. First up a steep, rocky zig-zag up the sloping part and then a long, steep, metal stairway up the vertical cliffs. There is then a walk of about 300 metres to our room. ROOM? Wow - so much more!

Our incredible room looking over the vast African plains

A well earned rest on our veranda

Our own pool - half inside and half outside!

Our patio.

Me taking advantage of the privacy - forgive the boxer shorts!

Often seen on our patio!

Look on top of the hill, just to the right of Gerrys finger. That dot is our room.

'Heavens gate' certainly was an apt name for this place. It was incredible. You do need to be fit and to not have a fear of heights. Climbing up the steep path and stairway is the only way up and down. There is no phone in the room, so privacy is total!

But of course, there was wildlife. One of the beauties of this area is that it is relatively safe to walk unaccompanied. There are no lions in the area and leopards are rare and hunt mostly at night. Snakes are the biggest danger, and Namibia has some pretty nasty ones but seeing them is rare (Those who know me will know that I would have loved to find more - reptiles and bugs are my passion!). We did a couple of long walks (4-5 hours) in the searing heat of the desert. It was fantastic being out there. Here are some examples:

Hoping the leopards are all asleep!

After a long walk all around the base of our private mountain, we walked to, and climbed up to the base of the 'Finger'. We sat there for a drink of warm water and to just enjoy the incredible views!

Hot but happy

We saw plenty of baboons but kept our distance.

An inquisitive rock hyrax - we saw many of these.

Kudu, these can often be seen around lodges as well as in the bush.

A half evil looking and half cute looking spider.

Pretty well guaranteed to see guinea fowl in africa. So amusing!

These beetles were about the size of our stag beetles and there were lots of them.

Me doing what I do best - photographing bugs.

The one that didn't make it!

We saw springbok at every location.

ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK AND THE BIG GAME

I am going to lump the next two locations together. Ongava Lodge and Onguma Bush Camp. Because Etosha is so vast (over 22,000 square kilometers) we needed two bases in order to see as much as possible. The two lodges were by  different gates to the park. On day 1, as we arrived early, we did our first trip to spend  afew hours in the park before returning to Ongava. The following day, we toured along most of the length of Etosha with many detours to various water holes for the wildlife with Onguma waiting for us at the end. We had a night there and then yet another trip into the park the following day!

Wow! Once again, we had to tolerate bumpy roads, intense heat and incredible isolation but we saw  so much wildlife. Here are some highlights of our time there.

First,some sights in and around Ongava. No fences, so we had to follow strict rules about walking around after dark.

One of many good size millipedes

Our room, surrounded by bush!

A real dinner time treat A pair of rhinos come in to drink!

We were able  to watch this pride of lions while eating breakfast.

They had made a kill during the night.

Reflections.

And then into the 4x4 for a second visit to Etosha for some real close encounters. Once in Etosha, you have to stay in your car at all times unless at a designated picnic spot. These are fenced off and you have to look around for any animals, then quickly get out and open the gate to drive in.

If you need to pee, you learn to be very fast!

A Spotted Eagle Owl - a really good sighting!

And on the way to Onguma camp .... There were so many sightings, I won't comment on every one, just scroll down and enjoy. This is a tiny selection of the photos we took! There is something magical about getting close to these creatures without the comfort of a guide to keep you safe. You just rely on your own judgement and the reliability of your vehicle!

A big brown hyena. A real treat to see.

We saw several families of stunning cheetahs during our trip and this was another one crossed off our bucket list. Despite a number of previous trips to parts of Africa, we had only seen rescued cheetahs before this trip. A real treat!

After Etosha, we set off for Otjiwa Mountain Lodge. The main purpose of this was to see Rhinos in the wild. What an experience! We had expected to go out in a jeep and hopefully spot some rhino. There were six of us in the group. When the guide spotted a mother and baby rhino about half a kilometer away, he got us out of the vehicle and we walked in a line to within about 50 metres of the rhinos. Everyone was SO quiet!

I was stood closest to the Rhino's when a large male appeared. we were advised to keep still and on no account to run, whatever happened.

The male walked straight towards me (us) and then suddenly charged. It was only a warning charge and he stopped about 10-15 metres in front of me and we just stared at each other for about 10-15 minutes before he ambled away.It was possibly my most intense experience ever. To stand there feeling the ground shake as something so big comes at you is a once in a lifetime experience. It was amazing and I will never forget it.

Here are a few pictures, the first few from before the rhino encounter. While I was too focused on the event to think about filming the charge, the video at the end of the photos shows the male walking towards us for a second look.

It is really hard to describe how amazing this encounter was!

Yes, we were on foot for all of the following pictures and VERY close to these magnificent beasts. After reptiles and bugs, my favourite animal.

After Otjiwa Mountain Lodge, we set off forour last location, only about 30 kilometers from Windhoek and this was to be our 'wind down' and prepare for home stop. Just a single night.

Being close to the city, it was busier and a little more commercial than our other stops but it made a nice convenient last stop. here are just a final few shots from around the ranch.

Our little room.

The main bar, restaurant & reception building.

There were a lot of goats in the grounds during the day, but we also had Springbok, Wart Hogs, Guinea Fowl, Wildebeest, Zebra, giraffes and more strolling past our front door!

The ranch has 4 rescued, orphaned cheetahs. Rescued when only a few days old, they cannot fend for themselves and are left to run free in a large (12 hectare) compound where they are fed daily. Although behind a fence, we were able to get some lovely shots from just a few feet away.

We had to squeeze out one more walk. A hard climb up the rocky hills behind the ranch, but it gave us a few last views of the amazing, arid scenery of this spectacular scenery.

And so, once back at the ranch we had a final dinner, did our last bit of packing and went to bed. We set off for the city straight after breakfast the next day where we returned our hire car and got driven to Windhoek Airport to catch the first leg of our journey home, Windhoek to Johannesburg. About 6 hours to wait there and finally back to Heathrow.

We will miss Namibia, it was an experience that has to be experienced. We will never forget it!