Exploring the Wild Life of NAMIBIA

[   by Stian   ]

Namibia was next up. Another country I did not know so much about, except for the very little I have heard from some friends of mine who did some time working at a hospital here. As we experienced a whole lot in Namibia I have decided to split these experienced into two different entries, as there will be many a photo accompanying the entries as well eventually;)

INTRODUCING NAMIBIA

Namibia is an even more sparsely populated country than Botswana as it's 50% larger in size compared to it's neighbor, but has about the same size of population, around 2,1 million. Namibia was a German colony from 1884 till 1915, until South Africa occupied the country after defeating the Germans during the first world war. In this period the country was known as South-West Africa. Namibia got it's independence from South-Africa in 1990. Since independence Namibia has successfully completed the transition from white minority apartheid rule to parliamentary democracy. Multiparty democracy was introduced and has been maintained, with local, regional and national elections held regularly.

WINDHOEK

Our first stop in Namibia would be Windhoek, the largest city with a population of 323 000 inhabitants, and which also has served as the country's capital since it's independence. Windhoek translates as wind-corner in Afrikaans. The city is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around 1,700 meters above sea level. The city was founded in 1840 and then again in 1890 after years of conflict. Nearly every Namibian national enterprise, governmental body, educational and cultural institution is headquartered in Windhoek.

Hotel Safari

As we arrived Windhoek we were very pleased with the first impression, as it seemed like a very civilized city and nice as well, though not so big. Our first place of accommodation was the Hotel Safari, which was very very nice. The rooms were spacious and the best thing of all was that the WiFi was working perfectly and it was fast as well! First time while in Africa. For all us young people a proper WiFi connection do matter a lot, so we were all ecstatic about this, haha. Also the hotel turned out to have an excellent breakfast buffet. Again, unfortunately we only got to spend one day here – as I am sure more people would have appreciated staying some more days with this kind of hotel luxury, haha.

Sightseeing in Windhoek

After having refreshed ourselves a bit I, Kenneth, Natasha, Muneira, Naomi, Ingrid, Silje and Jen headed for the city center for sightseeing. We got a taxi, which was not too expensive and was dropped off right next to the Christ Church, a Lutheran church which opened in 1910, built in the gothic revival style with Art Nouveau elements. We were dropped off here as the church was situated in the historic center of Windhoek next to Parliament Gardens and Tintenpalast,the parliament of Namibia. From here we walked on towards the brand new Independence Museum of Namibia, which is yet to open it's door for the public. We took some photos of this impressive new building though and as well of the Reiterdenkmal, the statue in memory of celebrating the victory of the German Empire over the Herero and Nama in the Herero and Namaqua War of 1904–1907. It's actually a nice statue – but rather inappropriate as it actually «celebrates» a genocide of the natives of Namibia which was committed by foreign power. So when this statue was inaugurated in 1912 it of course caused a lot of controversy and has made quite a dispute throughout the years afterwards as well.

We then moved on to the Parliament Gardens, before moving on to the main street where the girls wanted to do some shopping of souvenirs. Especially Natasha and Jen wanted to do so as this was their last full day with the tour-group in Africa. Unfortunately all the shops had closed for the day, except for one. There was though a local woman who saw us from the other side of the road, and she was willing to open up her shop for us, so we followed her. Unfortunately the girls didn't feel much like buying anything anyways – so it all ended up a bit awkward.

Joe's Beer House

We were supposed to have dinner at the restaurant at the hotel, but I checked the menu and it did not look very tempting, nor was it cheap. I had been recommended by my friend Marion back home in Norway to eat at Joe's Beer House, and Taylor had also read that Joe's was THE place to eat in Windhoek in her Lonely Planet. So we kindly asked Julian and TJ if we could got here instead, which we could. Joe's Beer House did turn out to be a very very nice place and the menu had an extensive selection of different kind of food, many local dishes with game meat as well. I was very happy. I had an platter which was called Namib Bush Fire, which was an African platter containing meat from oryx, ostrich and springbok together with red wine sauce. It was pretty much amazing, but I did prefer the ostrich to be honest as the two other meats were a bit dry (maybe overdone?). For dessert I spoiled myself with a crepé with strawberries and amarulla custard – VERY NICE indeed;)

As we were a pretty big group of 20 people we had been split to two tables. All the newbies at one table and us oldies at the other one. The newbies of course wanted to make a party out of this evening as well, and turned extremely loud. It was actually very annoying and I don't know if the noticed, or even cared for thats sake – but there were people who moved away from the table right next to us as they didn't want to sit right next to the noise. I have to admit that this would happen later as well – and it was very embarrassing. The newbies had been drinking for every day since they arrived and had pretty much been drunk and had hangover the following day every day as well. We in the old group felt it was a bit too much really – this behavior also started to affect the atmosphere overall in the group as well, as the new ones considered us all as extremely boring, while we the old ones considered the new ones as childish and disrespectful. When it was about to go back to the hotel all the new ones decided they wanted to go to a bar somewhere, while we the old ones went back to the hotel so that we could have yet another day clearminded the next day:) At least I had a very very very nice sleep this evening:)

Another Sad Goodbye

We had reached day 28, which was the end of the third leg of our trip, which also meant that we had to say goodbye to some of our travel mates, this time it was Natasha and Jen who were to leave us... It was a very sad day for me because I had become very close to Natasha during the past month. We had been pretty much hanging together all the time, chatting and having fun - making jokes and «flirting». Almost everyone in our group thought we had some kind of relationship going on, except for the ones who were closest to us and knew us better than that. The truth is that Natasha was unfortunate to be having some trouble with her boyfriend back home, which she ended up breaking up with while in Africa. I was her very kind supporting gay friend of course. Though as I had not told almost anyone about my orientation many was of the belief that we were flirting seriously. Kelly even had chosen to spend the last night in someone else's room so that I and Natasha could sleep together in the same bed the last night we would be having together, but that did not happen though. Kelly was very confused and not pleased with my choice of not sleeping with Natasha the next morning we realized – haha. So it was very sad to have to say goodbye to Natasha, as she had become my closest friend during this journey. I really hope that I will be able to see her again at one point in the future though.

Jen also had to leave us this day, which I also thought was sad as I did like her. too I had not been able to get to know Jen as much though as she only spent 8 days with us. She certainly did make an impact though, not only by being the oldest female in the group, but because she was the one who really did make an effort to get to know everyone, an effort which I appreciated:)

The Exit of Julian; Enter Ivan

Natasha and Jen were though not the only one who had to leave us this day. Julian, our guide, had unfortunately caught a severe infection of Malaria a few days earlier, which had not become any better with the days. TJ also had an episode of Malaria during the trip, but as he'd had it before he knew how to treat it and therefore self-medicated himself and got well underway. So it was sad to have to say goodbye to Julian as well at this point, as he was a good guide in many ways. I might not have agreed with his decisions or behavior at all times though, as I did have some expectations of him being our main guide, but Julian made great food, and because of him I gained lots of weight during the first month in Africa, haha.

So since Julian left us, TJ got in charge. During this day we also had a new guide to join us to replace Julian, Ivan, who was a local from this area. As Julian had to leave us, the rest of the day turned out to be a bit more stressful as TJ suddenly had to do the shopping and planning of the meals for the upcoming days. I and a couple of others volunteered to help out planning, and it was while at the supermarket we got to meet up with Ivan as well. It was difficult to get a really good impression of Ivan at first, but he turned out to be a very passionate guide and during the first evening, at our next campsite, he spent a long time introducing himself and also to introduce the history of Namibia and the Namibian people for us as well.  

WATERBERG PLATEAU

We were also heading for our next destination this morning which was the Waterberg Plateau, an area located in central Namibia, which also houses the Waterberg National Park, which was declared a nature reserve in 1972, The Plateau elevates high above the plains of the Kalahari of Eastern Namibia. As the plateau is largely inaccessible several of Namibia's endangered species were translocated there as to protect them from predators and poaching to extinction in the early 1970's. This was an act of success and Waterberg now supplies other Namibian parks with rare animals. In 1989, the Black Rhinoceros was reintroduced to the area from Damaraland as well. Geologically, the oldest rock stratum is over 850 million years old and dinosaurs tracks were left there some 200 million years ago.

Barnebe-de-la-bat Campsite

Our campsite had the fun name of Barnebe-de-la-bat – don't even ask me where that name originates from as I don't know really. It was an ok campsite, which had really good bathrooms with hot showers as well. We had been told though that the campsites would be nicer as further south, and closer to South-Africa we got, which in most cases seemed to be true. At this campsite we also got to see a new animal this day, a damara dik-dik antelope, which was the cutes little antelope ever.

Hiking the Plateau

The only activity we could do at this campsite was to go for a hike on the Waterberg Plateau itself. Most of us decided to take part in this walk – the ones who were the most hungover from the day before stayed behind of course. Matt from London, turned out to have military experience, so he immediately took charge of being the leader of the group, as we were told by our guides to stick together and don't leave anyone behind and so on.... well I don't remember who asked Matt to be our leader, but that's the way it turned out. It all ended up with us taking the wrong way at first, so we were a bit lost. We did though find a path which we were sure would eventually bring us on to the original road we should have been on. Unfortunately for some we had to walk through grass and bushes on this trap which was covered in thorns... really annoying, especially for some of the girls who were wearing shorts. After having walked a bit Lucas and Naomi seemed to be of the opinion that we were heading in the wrong direction so they decided to turn and go back the same way, and then return to camp. I was pretty sure we were on the right track so I just told people to move on... eventually we did end up where we wanted to end up, and we could start the hike on the plateau itself.  

It seemed like Matt had places Sandipan way in the back of the group to make sure that no one got lost or separated from the group. As I and Muneirah really like taking photos of nature and of each other we were «slower» than the rest, so Sandipan ended up having to wait for us. We really did not understand why, as it was clearly that both I and Muneirah was way more independent than what Matt or Sandipan was. Ah well... We eventually came to a intersection where we had the opportunity to climb to the top of the plateau or to go down again. Matt was sure that we would not have time to go to the top AND to get down again in time for sunset, so he decided we all should return to the camp. I and Muneirah was of an other opinion of course so we insisted that we wanted to go to the top and we told Sandipan and the rest of the group that they should just move on and we would meet them at the camp later. I don't thin Matt liked this idea, but who were he to decide really? He asked me if I had a torch in case it would turn dark, and I told him of course I had. At least I had some sort of torch on my cell-phone...  

It turned out that it took only about 10 minutes for me and Muneirah to hike to the top of the plateau. At the top we got to see the most amazing view, though we were just too late to catch the sunset – but it was still light. On the top we also met Jan and Simone, a newly wed German couple who were on their honeymoon. We had a lovely chat with them before we found our way down again. We had actually timed our hike really well as it almost turned dark right away after we had descended the mountain. When we got back to camp of course «everyone» was so worried about us... but they were «glad» we were alright at least.  

Taylor's Birthday

This day also was Taylor's birthday, so (I think it was) Chris and Kelly who had bought a birthday cake for the occasion. So in the evening we all took part in celebrating her day the family friendly way – as all the newbies already had celebrated her the day before with the party at Joe's and then the bars afterwards.

ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK

The next day we headed for the Etosha National Park, where we would be camping at the Namutoni Restcamp. The Etosha National Park is the home of the large Etosha salt pans and home to hundreds of species of mammals, birds and reptiles – including the endangered black rhinos. The Namutoni campsite turned out to be really nice as well. It was located inside the national park, and was covering a pretty large area as there was also and old German fortress on the site, which housed souvenir shops and restaurants, and also a pool, and bars. The campsite was fully booked, so there was no upgrade options for the ones who wanted an upgrade, as it turned out to be South African winter holiday during this week, so many had found their way to Namibia and this national park. We also got to see new animals within the campsite area, namely the notorious mongoos. At first I thought they were meerkats, you know the «Timons», but I was wrong unfortunately... ah well.  

Game Drive in the National Park

After having been settled at the campsite we headed for a game drive. This game drive pretty much was boring for us «oldies» as this national park could not even compare to what we had seen in Serengeti or in Botswana already. Though we had to do these game drives as we had many newbies with us who had not been able to take part in the wonderful experiences we had in Serengeti. I guess the main reason why this game drive was so boring was that we were driving with our own truck, meaning that TJ did not have any means of communication with other game guides as to where the animals would be located. So we were just driving around trying to spot the animals on our own. We only ended up seeing a hundred something giraffes mostly. I love giraffes though – as they are majestic and beautiful and last but not least, very graceful animals as well. We did get to see some new animals as well including the oryx, the kudus and the black backed jackals – and we also saw both a white rhino and a black rhino.

Though we noticed there was a book in the reception area of the campsite, where people could write down the things they had seen during the day of their game drive. It turned out that the day before our arrival someone had actually witnessed an elephant give birth on the middle of the road, which must have been a pretty awesome experience for sure. There were also other things written down, which seemed exciting, but unfortunately our game drive was pretty much nothing.

Conflict With the Newbies

This first evening in Etosha I ended up becoming furious with the new group and some from the old group as well, which seemed to prefer the newbies way more than us from the old group. Together with the newbies they had become a total party group. This evening they had decided to stay around the campfire all night drinking – and as some got very drunk, this made them of course become extremely loud. They were laughing and shouting and had absolutely no respect for either us or any of the other campers at this campsite. As the camp was full of tourists many others must have been bothered by this noise as well. I was really trying to be patient and to sleep, but it was impossible as it sounded like they were sitting right outside of the canvas. Also it didn't seem like they had no plans of ending the party at any time. So at one point I got out of my tent and went over to them and clearly asked them if they could please go to one of the bars instead of making noise at the campsite. At the same time TJ woke up as well, clearly not happy as well, and I told him that this was unacceptable, and he agreed, He also told them that they had to end the noise. Someone made another comment though (which I really don't remember now), but I got furious and shouted back at them, and then walked back to my tent.  

Some of them found my reaction very funny of course, and actually started making fun of me and then mocking me loud and clearly. Especially the Danes disappointed me as they together with Matt and Sandipan as they were the ones doing the mocking. They found their way into the Brit's tent, clearly knowing that I would be able to hear them... This went on for even one more hour before it was getting quiet again. For me it really was an horrible night and at this point I had no respect left for the newcomers. Who the hell goes to Africa anyways just to drink and be wasted every day? My opinion is that if you want a party – go to Thailand for fucks sake! Africa is so much more than just drinking... I was sick and tired of having to be considerate about hungover and disrespectful people every day – as several of them happen to end up having to occupy the aisle of the truck some of the days, as they had to lay down to rest out as they were so damn hungover....

Day 2 – Drowsy Morning, Game Drive and Salt Plains

The next day we did another game drive. As I had gotten absolutely no sleep the previous night I was very tired. I did not pay much attention to the drive and was mostly listening to my music and trying to relax. I did take a couple of photos underways though... but we did not see anything we haven't already seen. This game drive we unfortunately «had to take part in» as it was a part of the ride to our next campsite, it did though feel like it took forever... We had lunch at the Halali Restcamp, which is located almost in the center of the national park, and after lunch we stopped by the Etosha Salt Plains and got to take some funny photos. So in the end it did turn out to be an ok ride anyways...thankfully.

Okaukuejo Restcamp

The next campsite was the Okaukuejo Restcamp, and this campsite was very very nice. Lucas and Partha decided to upgrade as always. Lucas got himself a twin room, which was VERY nice. As I had upgraded with Lucas before, he offered me the other bed for a reasonable price, which was less than half the cost of the room. I of course found this very reasonable as well, so I chose to upgrade with him once again. The quality of the room was pretty better than most hotels I have ever been to and the bathroom was really nice and had really hot showers as well. We praised the Lord every day we had the opportunity to take a hot shower – which really is a rare thing to have in Africa;) haha

Okaukuejo Waterhole – Wildest Experience Ever

Right next to the Okaukuejo Restcamp there was a man-made waterhole, which we were told that there would be animals to see during the day and the evening. Especially around 9pm there would be lions there probably, we were told. So I ended up spending almost the whole day after our arrival by this waterhole. At first it was not so exciting really – as we were sitting there for almost an hour and a half and not much was happening at all. I did though get a great photo of a couple of oryx antelopes drinking though. Other than that we could only see a lonely impala walking around, and also a warthog and a jackal only...but at sunset and from then on the waterhole turned out to be the greatest experience EVER! It really really made the game drives we had done earlier seem like a total waste of time!!! Maybe even the drives we did in Serengeti, for we were really in for a treat this evening.

At sunset we had at least 5 elephants marching in our direction just in front of the sunset. Every step they made left a huge cloud of dust behind them – an image which is difficult to describe as it was so amazingly beautiful witnessing this majestic entrance of these massive animals. After another short while there were kudus at the waterhole as well, before suddenly everyone went crazy as someone had discovered something, but no one really knew what. It turned out that there were three cheetahs situated right next to the fence of the campsite, preying on a jackal. This really was exhilarating as the wall which separated the wild animals from us was not a very tall wall at all, and only protected by some wire. We were sure that if some animals had decided to they could probably have jumped over the wall. So it was an incredible sight as this was only the second time in my life that I have seen cheetahs, and this time three in one go, and they were SO close. Not far away we could hear another jackal make a sound – probably calling for his/her parent/child/partner which the cheetahs unfortunately were preying on.  

When the darkness had fallen upon us, the waterhole was further joined by five giraffes and at least two rhinos, black rhinos that is. So we had giraffes, elephants, rhinos and cheetahs – all in the same frame! Amazing. Some in the group had already gone back to the campsite when the rhinos arrived, and I also had to go back as we had to eat something. When I told some of the arrival of the rhinos they returned to the waterhole, while I chose to stay behind this time. When they again returned they told me that around 9:15 pm there were five lions joining the waterhole as well... . AH!!!!! And I did not get to see them!!! I did return later, but the lions were not to be seen. I instead went back to the area were the cheetahs had preyed on the jackal, as I wanted to see if I could spot see the remains of the animal. The cheetahs themselves turned out to be sleeping some distance away from this spot – and when I checked out the spot I could only see the other jackal walking around searching for his plus 2. It was sooooo sad to see this one lonely jackal looking for his friend who I knew no longer was alive.

At the same time we also got to experience two rhinos anticipating a fight, as we suddenly heard this really awful loud sound, like if an animal was being tortured. It did though turn out to only be the sound of the rhino's «barking» at each other. There was no fight though as on of the rhinos did back off and left the area. This was indeed the most amazing wildest experience ever and way more than we could ever want from just a regular waterhole I guess.

I didn't only enjoy the waterhole, I also enjoyed watching the people attending the viewing. One of the couples who had found themselves a spot on a bench by the waterhole was an elderly gay couple. I have to admit that when I see two old men holding around each other, clearly being in love, I become happy. It make me realize that there is hope to find love, even for me:) I also met this other couple, two Norwegians actually, by the waterhole as well, Marianne and Håvard from Oslo. They were very nice as well and came up with suggestions for us to do when we would be reaching Swakopmund later on, as they were traveling in the opposite direction of us.  

Morning Thereafter At the Waterhole

After having had a fantastic night of sleep in my wonderful canopy bed, many of us decided to return to the waterhole in the morning. It turned out that the cheetahs were still there. Everybody were taking photos of the skinny, but elegant felines, and eventually they decided to wake up and get the day started as well. They headed straight for the waterhole to get something to drink – and then returned straight to the spot where they had preyed on the jackal the previous night. It did turn out that there were some «left overs» so they did get some breakfast this morning as well... not sure if I like this «circle of life» though, as I prefer all to live happily in harmony without no killing at all...said the non-vegetarian. Ah well.

Leaving Etosha...

This following day turned out to be a very hot and dry day, but a beautiful one indeed. I was in a superhappy mood as well, which of course mostly had to do with the great experience from the previous night. We had a long drive ahead of us as our next destinations was Twyfelfontein. As we left the Etosha national park we did another short game drive, but as usual it was pretty much a total waste of time. I really just wanted to leave the park as quick as possible really, and the only reason to actually stop and take photos at this moment would be if we were to see a lion fighting a rhino, while riding on a giraffe. Really, I felt that nothing else could possible surpass what we had experienced the previous evening....so I was tired of seeing elephants and giraffes and so on now, despite how cute and gracious they might be. The only animals in this part of Africa left on my wish list and which we could be able to see if we were in luck was the caracal, which is another gracious cat-animal, similar to the lynx back home, and also the aardvark, though as the ant eater is a nocturnal animal the chance to see it was to be a very slim one.  

Loving Namibia So Far

First impression of Namibia has been great! I feel I am repeating myself about Africa, but it really really is a nice continent and I am so thankful for every wonderful moment and experience I get to have here. The waterhole experience is a one of a kind experience and will always be remembered for sure!!! Life IS BEAUTIFUL in Africa for sure:)