Another day, another airport!! Welcome to Windhoek, Namibia!
Our first night and we stop off at Waterberg Plateau Park for the night. We clambered up the top of the plateau which was hard going but so worth the climb. The view was amazing.
Our lovely guide Abel from Chameleon Tours who looked after us for our 11 day Namibia tour.
We had an afternoon and a full day in Etosha National Park and we were spoilt by animal type as well as quantity.
Etosha is well known for its abundance of waterholes which always ensure a great sight.
A huge section in the middle of Etosha National Park is a salt pan.
It was like looking to the edge of the world!
A herd of elephants marching one by one to the waterhole.
Sunset at the waterhole brought us a huge herd of elephants including some very playful youngsters. I think we counted 25 in total. Such a fantastic sight as the sun was going down.
We then came back to the waterhole after dinner & throughout an hour we had 5 rhino, 1 elephant, 2 very mischievous honey badgers & 3 jackles.
These are Springbock, a type of antelope. They are so named as they use a jumping technique to confuse and distract their preditors. They are the national animal of South Africa which is strange as we only saw them in Namibia!
One very lonely tree!
The dust from the gravel road made these trees look like we were entering Narnia!
Zebra Crossing!
These Zebras are the mountain zebra species. They have no stripes on their tummy & their stripes continue all the way down their legs. The Plain Zebra has stripes all around its body including its tummy but their legs are white. The mountain zebras can only be found in the hills & mountains and the others in the African Plains.
One of the beautiful lodges we stayed at. We came through gates to get into the reserve and as we were driving down the dirt track we spotted this beautiful lioness stalking an oryx for dinner. It was a great sight as she paced herself and crept closer & closer to her pray! We then arrived at our lodge which had no gates or fence!!!!!!!
The most enormous termite mound we spotted, there are hundreds of these structures. Termite mounds are like icebergs, most of the nest is below the ground. Each mound has a queen termite who is the size of an adult thumb, all the other termites are much smaller. The queen has hundreds of babies every day! She is also blind. The babies are split into two groups. One group become the workers who help continue to build the mound and find food for everyone. The second group are the soldiers who are responsible for protecting the queen & the mound inside and out.
One of the worst threats to termites is the anteater. The anteater sticks his tongue into a hole in the nest and keeps it very still. The soldier termites know there is a foreign object within the nest & go to investigate & try to neutralise the threat but as soon as they are on the tongue of the anteater he slurpes them all up & then tries again! You know if a termite hill is obsolete when it has no visible signs of fresh sand at the top. Termite mounds are very strong & African people have been known to make bricks from them to build houses.
A trip into the hills to find these 1,000 year old stone engravings. Mostly animals and some human hand and foot prints. These are the first versions of school blackboards and were used to teach children about the animals and survival skills. They were also the first signs of map making to identify waterholes. The giraffe is very prominent as it was considered very holly!
Due to plate shifting deep underground and rock movement these creations were formed are knicknamed 'The Pipes' as they resemble the pipes of an organ.
Supporting Andy Murray in the Wimbledon final!!!!!
Laundry tree!!!!
Time for some adrenalin action in Swakopmund for me & Josh!!
Deadvlei is a riverbed which was cut off by the forming of a sand dune. Due to this lack of water the ground has all but dried up and the trees are called 'petrified' trees due to their dry appearance. They are still obtaining some water as their roots go underground for nearly 40miles in search of water but it is not enough to maintain a healthy look. It really was as if we were on a lifeless planet!
We had a pit stop at Sesriem Canyon to explore. It hasn't see rain for a few years so you can climb down into it and walk along the river bed. It is full of nooks and caves from the rocks falling out and creating cavities as the water & weather corrodes it through time. Not quite the Grand Canyon but still a great place for some climbing and hiking.
Big enough for a game of rounders if your nine!
These are the nests of the Sociable Weaver birds. They are tiny little things. They build nests upon each others until they have a community not dissimilar to an apartment block. They build the entrances on the underside as this is more difficult for snakes to get into. They keep cool in their own 'apartments' during the summer months & huddle into the centre to keep warm during the winter months. New birds will continue to build onto the nest until the branch can't take it anymore & snaps. They will just move onto the next available tree and start all over again. Some we saw were almost taking over the tree they had grown so big.
A trip up the Skeleton Coast brought us to a huge colony of seals. There were thousands, the smell was almost unbearable and the noise was immense as young ones called for their parents and older ones challenged others for the best space in the shade! Spectacular sight with hundreds sunning themselves on the sand and a few hundred others playing in the waves!
We also came across a huge group of flamingos.
The skeleton Coast is so named due to the amount of ship wrecks below the surface. We spotted a new addition to the collection which is slowly rusting away.
One of the most luxurious lodges for our second last night. Absolutely beautiful with a view to die for!! There was a picture on the wall which was a gift from Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt to thank the owners for the use of the house so we figured if it's good enough for them then it will do us nicely!!!!
The sunset was beautiful!!
As was sunrise from bed!!
We were lucky enough to be taken yo meet the San People. They are a tribe who live in the hills. The lodge we were staying at would bring some of them down to stay for three months at a time and work on the estate to earn some much needed funds to buy food and tools. They lived on the reserve as they would up in the hills so although it wasn't the real village it was a great replica just on a smaller scale. They shared with us some ways they forage for roots to flavour food and also for medicinal purposes. They showed us their hunting tools and skills and also showed us how they make fire and even let us gave a try!! Obviously we weren't anywhere near as good as them and I'm sure if we were left to survive in the bush we would probably freeze to death as we were hopeless!!! They also used specific leaves to burn on the fire to keep the animals away while they slept. It was fascinating to meet them and they were so welcoming and even sang us some songs and danced for us.
Fire making!
Namibia has been a fantastic experience, we have done so much in our eleven days. We have explored so many different landscapes and experienced lots of unique cultures. The people are so friendly and welcoming and the animals were a plenty!!!
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