Sand and stars - Namibia 2014

[Zim Girl]

@@Guidoriccio11

 

Lovely pictures of the dunes. I never tire of seeing pictures of this part of Namibia.

[xelas]

@@Guidoriccio11

 

Thanks for bringing us back to the wonders of Sossusvlei! About the crickets, if only I would know before there is someone out there that is interested in them. They were quite numerous, although not as big as yours.

[Neeners815]

I've really enjoyed reading this report and the pictures - especially the dunes - are fantastic! This is the first time I've looked at Namibia. I had no idea. Gorgeous.

[Guidoriccio11]

@@Neeners815 Namibia was a real surprise also for us! I strongly recommand you to visit it, also because planning and trip is really simple and confortable!

[Game Warden]

@@Guidoriccio11 Stunning landscapes.

 

Matt

[wilddog]

Many years since I was in Namibia. Stunning to see those landscapes again.

That bat eared fox looks as though it is tracking some food with those ears forward and downward gaze.

[Guidoriccio11]

- Day 10 and 11 -

 

Well, the morning of 13 July we woke up and, after the breakfast (poor), having said hello to the resident cat and got at the reception the laundry (almost forgot) we left the beautiful red desert towards north...

The first stop is to Solitaire, a gas-station, lodge and bakery in the middle of nowhere. But like always at the right place when you start to watch the warning light of the gasoline eheheheh...

Here we take a break and we ate the "famous" apple pie of Solitaire... Well... Maybe it is famous, but I've eaten better stuff ahahah .

Howether, this is the place:

 

 

After Solitaire we crossed a beautiful road (D1998) where we started to see some zebras and springboks... Then we arrived on the long paved road which links Swakopmund to Windhoek. Going west, we stopped to take a look on the road called "Welwitschia drive" and the "Moon landscape". The detour takes not much, maybe a little more than 1 hour, and allows you to meet the Welwitschia Mirabilis plants. They are really weird bushes made by only 2 long leaves that are able to grow on rocky or desert soil, but ONLY in this small area of the WORLD. In fact they are able to drink only thanks to the morning mist coming from the seaside which condenses on the 2 leaves collecting the water on their "mouth". The incredible thing is that they are millenial plants and come from a prehistoric period. Think that they are relatives with CONIFERS!!!

Here some pics:

 

My GF with a Welwitschia !!!! (Their friends are soooo jelaus now!)

 

OK, they are not beautiful . But is something that you can really see only here and the way they are still alive make you think about the climate changes and how a small thing as the morning humidity, if stops, can destroy a whole ecosystem.

 

On the same road there is also a rocky area called "Moon landscape" which was a kind of interesting:

 

Finally we arrived in Swakopmund, the second town of the country. Approaching to the city we could see how different it is from Luderitz. It has the outskirts and industries. It cannot be considered a "beautiful city".

We found the B&B where to sleep and the owner was so excited: she said that night she had to watch the final of World Cup with the relatives because "We play against Argentina!". Suddently we watched around us: all the people was white and blond, and almost every garden had the german flag rised up. This city is really Germany outside Germany.

We had dinner in a nice place on the seaside (The Tug) and then we come back to the hotel. I sow the final at TV, but you could understand who won listening the cars horning in the streets celebrating

 

The day after we had an appointment in Walvis Bay: the daily excursion to Sandwich Harbour. Swako and Walvis Bay are well connected but the cities are really far each other. In fact Walvis Bay is a typical English seaside city (and here you can read sign in English and not in German). The waterfront area is really calm and I can say to prefer it than Swako.

Anyway we met here our guide and we jumped in his old Range Rover.

 

First stop is the southern outskirt of the city, where in a lagoon are grouped hundreds of pink flamingos.

 

Then we arrived at the entrance of the Namib-Naukluft Park:

 

 

Suddently we met the dunes and the sea. Here the dunes are completely different from Sossusvlei. They are not red, but yellow. It looks more like the "classical Sahara desert". Our guide explained this, telling us that there is a lot of "iron dust" in the sand. Since the dunes close to the seaside are the most recent and the one in Sussulsvlei the most ancient, in that area the iron ossidated, becaming red, while here it is still black.

Our guide was really interesting, giving us a lot of photo opportunities and trying to spot some animal.

 

We stopped at 13.00 to have lunch: in the middle of the desert, with champagne and oysters!

 

 

Coming back in the late afternoon we spotted also some springboks and a Dune Lark, which our guide said exist only here and is not simple to spot (but I ask to the birders of the forum if it is true...)

 

Then, back to Swakopmund we went to a Bierhouse for dinner and then to bed!

[Guidoriccio11]

@@wilddog It was a quite big group: probably 10. But they were quite far and that time I had not a good lens .

[wilddog]

That looks like a puff adder....hope you were not too close.

Hopefully one of our bird experts can tell you more about the Dune Lark @@Peter Connan can you help?

[Guidoriccio11]

Thanks @@wilddog!

Well, we were quite close actually to that snake...

Our guide said that it was quite inactive because of the coldness. Hope was true ...

[Safaridude]

@@Guidoriccio11

 

The first photo in post #9 just struck me. Bravo.

[xelas]

More lovely landscape shots! Those pink flamingoes are such nice scene. The puff adder looks big ... and dangerous!

[Peter Connan]

Lovely.

 

The Dune Lark is indeed Namibia's only endemic bird...

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Guidoriccio11

 

A desert lunch with champagne and oysters is a wonder, especially given the spectacular scenery you've shown us.

You do know how to tell a great story!

Thank you for the welwitschia images. I've read about them several times. Seeing your images reinforces how special they are.

I like that first image of the old jalopy tilted between cactus plants.

Flamingos! This past week Safaritalk has featured flamingos here and there. I'm glad that you showed them in Namibia.

The springbok on sand image is nice. That's a species I've never seen.

A dune lark? First time that I've heard of them.

Your trip report is a pleasure to read!

Tom K.

[Guidoriccio11]

Thank you @@Tom Kellie !

I just sow the thread about flamingos. Now I post one image

[Guidoriccio11]

- DAY 12 -

 

We woke up in Swako with the clouds and a small rain (first time in the vacation). Target today is the Damaraland: an arid region between the coast and the Etosha NP.

Before leaving the seaside, we head north in order to visit Cape Cross where there is a huge sea lions colony.

The road is actually a salt-paved road. With the rain the coachbuilder of the car from white become brown, covered by a solid layer of sand-dust-salt...

We arrived to the park, where we paid the entrance. Finally, at the end of a gravel road we arrive to the cape.

We open the doors of the car and... wait... What $%&$ is this smell??????

If fact the colony smells really bad. I cannot be rally described. It is something never experienced before ... It is a mixture of vomit, putrefaction, rotten fish and blood...

We knew about this (and all the legends are true!) so we brought some anti-smell masks with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They saved our lives!! Or, better, with the masks we could be able to walk and take pictures for half an hour instead of 5 minutes like some tourists we sow...

 

 

Beyond the smell, the seal colony is wonderful. I have to admit that you MUST visit it in a Namibian trip. You feel to be in a documentary.

And the seals (with puppies) are so close, and you can watch all their interactions: the fights, the mums with babies, the swim in the sea, their language... And the strange positions they use to sleep on the rocks

 

After half an hour the smell was too much also for us, so we left the place.

 

Leaving the seaside, after few kilometres the rain and the clouds disappeard, and we found again the usual arid landscape.

We entered in the Damaraland, where the most interesting thing are these rocky hills all around (and the usual red sand). In this area for the first time we met some people. Maybe small villages made of mud hut.

 

 

We arrived in Twyfelfontein in the afternoon. The lodge was fantastic: well integrated into the rocky landscape.

We took our chalet and then we had a late-afternoon visit of the surroundings. We sow the "famous" petroglyfs with a bushman guide. It was an interesting walk. And for sure the petroglyfs is something different to see from the rest in the trip. But well... they are not unforegettable...

 

 

We visited also a strange rocky formation called "Organ pipes"...

 

 

Back to the hotel we walked around into the lodge are spotting thousands of lizards (we'll remember Damaraland as "land of the lizards") and evicting a big geko from our room

 

 

After dinner we signed for a "star gazing tour" which was awsome!!! The guide drove us in the darkest area of the lodge and then he described us the night sky. Obviously with a perfect milky way on our top! (Well the picture is bad, but trasyìt me! )

 

 

[Guidoriccio11]

- DAY 13, 14, 15 - FINAL PART

 

And at the end of the trip... Etosha!!!!!!!!!!!

So, finally I'm speaking about a real safari now...

 

Atually we moved from Damaraland to Etosha the afternoon of 16th July. The trip was really easy and the last part was also paved road!

We arrived at the Andersson Gate where we stopped for the registration. Then we were in!

We were at our first safari experience and we didn't know really what to expect. Anyway the first small part was the road until Okaukejo where we made another registration. Okaukejo is also the main camp, quite big and fully equipped. Anyway we were not supposed to sleep here, but in Halali, in the central area. So, my girlfriend sat in the back of the car (a strategy which worked well!) and we begun the adventure!

Since we had few hour of daylight we went straight towards Halali, just stopping to some waterholes on the way.

The landscape is dry and white and for sure there is a good visibility to spot animals!

We sow several springbok, also in big groups. And, at the first waterhole... NOTHING! Just empty, but after 5 minutes... A giraffe!!!! Well, the days after we got really used to giraffes, but this was the first animal spotted, so we got soooo excited!

I post here the picture, not because is beautiful, but because it is a kind of milestone for us:

 

 

 

Then we sow other animals:

 

And we arrived in Halali.

The camp is smaller than Okaukejo and we loved it, also because was so quiet.

We had a chalet in the really outskirt of the camp. Our window was 1 meter from the perimeter fence!

But the best part was... the camp waterhole!!! You can reach it after a small walk and, in a religious silence, people is watching the waterhole. The area in itself is perfect: the hole is surrounded by bushes. So the animals can "enter in scene" like in a theatre, appearing from nowhere. In the night this effect is even better, because they enter from the dark.

Great thing is that rhinos are very popular here. So we spotted them for 3 nights in a row!

Sorry but no pictures of this. It was too dark for my camera

But I got this great milky way!

 

 

 

The day after we went on the eastern part from Halali. Until Twee Palms waterhole (and then back).

We had great sightings there! And very few cars in comparison to the Okaukejo - Halali axis.

In particular I suggest the "Dik Dik drive", it is a nice area of the park!

But, this is what we sow:

 

And then... lions!

 

 

I love the lilac breasted roller:

We ended the day with this big group of elephants:

 

The day after we went in the western part of Halali. We sow less, or anyway nothing new (except 1 [big] thing )

 

And it's him! The leopard!

 

Whe sow the leopard almost like the last thing! It was such a great goodbye!

 

So here ends the story... In the best way!

My girlfriend was almost crying leaving Etosha. So we started to love Africa... and the year after we went in Madagascar (trip report soon).

I leave you with a sunset on the Halali waterhole:

 

And our car full of white dust!

 

 

 

[Marks]

As everyone has already said, those landscapes are breathtaking. Love the POV shot from the top of a dune.

I can definitely "see" the organ pipes...funny!

The two eles together in your most recent post are also very nice.

[xelas]

To me, the three elephants walking speaks the loudest! Sitting in the back seat is also my wife's strategy ... allowing her to move from side to side depending on where the action is.

Seeing the leopard for the first time ... unforgettable!

Thanks for this one, and I am looking forward to enjoy the Madagascar with you.

[Peter Connan]

Thank you, it was fun travelling with you!

[Neeners815]

Thanks again for this report. It was really an interesting read and I especially liked the photos.

[Geoff]

Nice work and well done spotting the leopard.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Guidoriccio11

 

Gotta love that final image of the white-dust rear window.

The fan made by the wiper blades gives such a clear view to the front.

The Suzuki brought you to such a wealth of sightings.

Many, many warm thanks for this excellent trip report.

May your next safari be as happy as this one was.

Thank you for sharing such interesting photographs.

Tom K.

[Atravelynn]

Traveling during World Cup is actually a strategy I've been told to follow. Fewer visitors almost everywhere as people stay home to watch.

 

That first quiver tree is a work of art.

 

Giraffe was my first animal too.

 

Your night sky shots look good.

 

Adorable mask shot.

 

July-Aug is a great time for much of Africa, even if you are limited to just those months.

Edited April 8, 2016 by Atravelynn

[xyz99]

Traveling during World Cup is actually a strategy I've been told to follow. Fewer visitors almost everywhere as people stay home to watch.

 

Smart, I'll remember that

 

 

Giraffe was my first animal too.

 

And mine, too In South Africa.

 

@@Guidoriccio11 I can watch big cats all day long, but I love the variety, so I love this TR...keep it coming