Central Namibia Self-drive: beauty in a harsh land

[Ladouce]

@Peter Connan Thanks for allowing us to travel with you on this magnificent trip! The report and pictures were great. It makes me even more looking forward to my trip to Kgalagadi in November this year. Only 163 days waiting left 

[Peter Connan]

Thank you very much @Ladouce

[Towlersonsafari]

What a drive @Peter Connan and a splendid report! As for the hunt photos as you can imagine I would have been so excited I would forget I had a camera

[Elsa Hoffmann]

The photos are unbelievably beautiful -!

[Peter Connan]

Thank you very much @Towlersonsafari and @Elsa Hoffmann, I appreciate the compliments.

[Peter Connan]

Is @Tom Kellie in the house?

[Tom Kellie]

9 minutes ago, Peter Connan said:

Is @Tom Kellie in the house?

 

~ @Peter Connan

 

I've been looking for weeks in the wrong places.

 

The Travel Talk — Self-driving thread and in the Namibia trip report thread.

 

My common sense is that of a scatter-brained knucklehead, an endangered species only observed on university campuses in central China.

 

Thank you, Peter.

 

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

On 5/13/2017 at 3:20 PM, Peter Connan said:

Because we had stopped in Kang, instead of being a bit closer, we were under some pressure again.

We had planned to go to a restaurant this evening, but since we had done that the previous evening, we heated our home-made Lasagne (which had been planned for the previous evening) and garlic bread.

 

~ @Peter Connan

 

Where (or what?) is “Kang”?

 

You had home-made lasagne?

 

Sigh...

 

A family after my own heart.

 

Tom K.

[Peter Connan]

@Tom Kellie, kang is settlement in Botswana, on the Trans Kalahari Highway. It consists of a large filling station, a couple of campsites (at least one of which has rooms as well), a restaurant, fast food shop and "convenience store".

 

The Trans Kalahari Highway is the shortest route (by quite a long way) between Johannesburg and most of Namibia. It is also the road one would take from anywhere in the Western half of South Africa to Maun (the gatewayand perhaps "capital city" to/of the Okavango/Savuti/Linyanti areas, and all areas west of the Okavango (Tsodilo Hills and so forth), and the western half of the Caprivi.

 

Thus, a very important and conveniently located rest stop from anywhere that's anywhere to anywhere that's anywhere else...

[dlo]

Looks like Namibia delivered for you Peter, hopefully it met all your expectations. Glad you finally got there and were able to give us another good report.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @Peter Connan

 

The wealth of photos is a visual windfall, especially when viewed at one sitting this evening.

 

Here are those which especially touched me for various reasons.

 

Tom K.

 

[Tom Kellie]

21 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

@Tom Kellie, kang is settlement in Botswana, on the Trans Kalahari Highway. It consists of a large filling station, a couple of campsites (at least one of which has rooms as well), a restaurant, fast food shop and "convenience store".

 

~ @Peter Connan

 

Thank you for bringing me up-to-date on the metropolis of Kang.

 

I smiled when I read the name, as “kang” has a particular meaning where I work and live.

 

A “kang”, 炕, is a heated platform which is an especially comfortable bed in chilly weather.

 

You've expanded my concept of the term.

 

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @Peter Connan

 

When I initially joined Safaritalk in mid-March of 2015, my first buddy was @graceland.

 

She encouraged me with private messages full of laughter, down-to-earth wisdom and plain old good fun.

 

I confided in her that I especially loved reading posts by the “Lipault Ladies”, @TonyQ, and @Peter Connan, as they all were warmly gracious, had generous spirits and had child-like wonder melded to superb observational skills, not to mention consistently taking great photographs.

 

She replied to the effect that “you like them because they're not the know-it-all types”. She was right.

 

Your trip report is the first I've read in its entirety using the refreshed Safaritalk 2.0 site.

 

Your low-key style, lack of pretension, gentle humor and insouciance in the face of trouble are highly appealing.

 

What you observed first-hand, in company of Sonja, Karla and Megan — Who took care of Sammy, Leo and Katya? — was as good as it gets.

 

A catalogue of your sightings, whether photographed or otherwise, would entice the most hardened stay-at-home to begin dreaming of Namibia and South Africa.

 

•  Zebras, vultures, lions, tortoises, whydahs, rock martins, Namaqua doves, glossy starlings, seals, banded mongoose, elephants, Ruppel's korhaan, rosy-faced lovebirds, butterflies, speckled pigeons, lizards, swifts, a chameleon, welwitschia, prinias, eromomelas, kudu, a jackal jackpot, a Cape cobra, suricates, springhare, bat-eared foxes, scimitarbills, gemsboks, cheetahs, wheatears, ostrich chicks, secretary birds, Gouldian finches, and Cape cormorants with deep turquoise eyes.

 

•  Not to mention a complementary puncture repair, delightful cuisine at Jetty 1905, with Mississippi Mud Pie, no less, snake mackerel (Thyrsites atun) or snoek and the trademark night sky scenes which you do so well, this time with a quiver tree.

 

Who wouldn't be charmed, beguiled and swept away by such an adventure?

 

• And as if all of that weren't more than enough fun to share with us, a pair of leopard sightings for good measure.

 

A note to self: Next time I have the pleasure of going out for photography with Peter, carefully listen to any suggestions he makes, as he's self-evidently a master of bird and nature photography.

 

Thank you, my friend, for an exceptional trip report of the highest caliber. 

 

With Highest Respect,

 

Tom K.

[Peter Connan]

@Tom Kellie, thank you very much for such a thorough, kind and in-depth review. I am glad you enjoyed my trip report.

 

Sammy, Leo and Katja were entertained by a cousin of Carla and Megan's. A better house-sitter we have yet to find.

 

Thank you also for enlightening me about the alternative meaning of the word Kang. @xelas, please remind me when we drive through there in March/April next year, that we ask the locals if they know about this? Although I guess there would be limited need for a kang in Kang!

 

I do hope that "next time" you mention is soon, as your friendship and company is always a pleasure!

[Kitsafari]

rather sad @Peter Connan that your TR has ended. those were gorgeous photos of the feathered predators. shame you missed taking pix of the cheetah hunt, but not many can boast they have seen one! 

in the first set of 4 lions, I was amazed at their muscular shoulders and chests - were they male subadults? the second set of lions looked lean. 

 

thanks for sharing your wonderful moments. 

[Peter Connan]

Thank you very much @Kitsafari. Yes, the first set were sub-adult males,

[xelas]

What, is it over already ?? No words about "strange little lodge at Vryburg" ? At least short comments by other family members, their highs and lows ??

 

Anyway, it was a splendid trip report with spectacular photos, and I am so looking forward to read your next one ; another off-road adventure, I assume .

[Peter Connan]

On 2017-6-8 at 6:13 PM, Peter Connan said:

@Tom Kellie, kang is settlement in Botswana, on the Trans Kalahari Highway. It consists of a large filling station, a couple of campsites (at least one of which has rooms as well), a restaurant, fast food shop and "convenience store".

 

The Trans Kalahari Highway is the shortest route (by quite a long way) between Johannesburg and most of Namibia. It is also the road one would take from anywhere in the Western half of South Africa to Maun (the gatewayand perhaps "capital city" to/of the Okavango/Savuti/Linyanti areas, and all areas west of the Okavango (Tsodilo Hills and so forth), and the western half of the Caprivi.

 

Thus, a very important and conveniently located rest stop from anywhere that's anywhere to anywhere that's anywhere else...

@xelas, regarding the lodge in Vryburg, we arrived in the dark, and very nearly left in the dark too, so i didn't even really see what it looked like.

 

But i guess i should add something about costs and preperation sometime...

But i still haven't even gotten around to calculating my fuel consumptiin...

[Alexander33]

@Peter Connan

 

I am sadly late to your trip report, but the silver lining is that I got to binge read it. You are a braver soul than I, as I must confess that I don't think I could manage a self-drive trek like that, complete with an unfortunate accident, flat tires, organization of foodstuffs, etc. You have my highest respect for being able to pull it alll off. What an adventure. 

 

Wonderful photos. You are quite the night sky photographer. I loved the landscape with the lightning striking in the distance.  I know I will miss some of my other favorites in trying to recount them here, but the chameleon, the slender mongoose portrait, the swallow-tailed bee-eaters, the night landscape of the Welwitschia, the secretarybird with the skink -- so many were just standouts. 

 

I totally feel feel your pain with your efforts on the prospective cheetah hunt. Who amongst us hasn't kicked him or herself for near-misses in tense situations like that? I really identified with the grouchiness you intimated you felt afterward. It happens to everyone. And, let's face it, those aren't easy shots to get, period. If it helps any (it probably won't), I've never had the thrill of watching a cheetah accelerate at full speed. At least you got to witness that. Plus, how intriguing would life be if there weren't some unfulfilled goal to look forward to with passion in the future?

 

Thanks for for sharing your epic with us. 

Edited June 16, 2017 by Alexander33

[Peter Connan]

2 hours ago, Alexander33 said:

@Peter Connan

 

Plus, how intriguing would life be if there weren't some unfulfilled goal to look forward to with passion in the future?

 

@Alexander33, thanks for all the compliments, and for the excellent point you make above.

[PeterHG]

@Peter Connan

I only found this trip report yesterday, as (like @Tom Kellie) I had been looking in the wrong place: trip reports->africa->namibia. I could have missed it altogether, I can't bear the thought...!

What an absolute joy to read. I do love your style of writing, with gentle humour, detailed descriptions and ability to catch the mood of the moment in words. And added to that lots of great photos. Your night sky pictures are surely among the best I've come across. Let me know when you are giving a course on this .

It must have been a great trip, with so many exceptional sightings, both in terms of wildlife and scenery. Thanks for sharing all these precious moments with us!

[monalisa]

That cheetah chase was amazing! Trying to get the right focus was always going to be a dice roll since they are so fast!! I can sense the speed and the thrill from your images which I think is the point! 

[Elsa Hoffmann]

This trip falls into a  special memory bank - a trip to remember for a life-time - and photos to look back on when you are 80 and sitting on the stoep of the old age home. 

[Peter Connan]

Thank you @PeterHG, @monalisaand @Elsa Hoffmann

 

Peter, perhaps the next time you are in SA we can have a GTG? You can teach me about birds, and i can teach you the night sky recipe?

Elsa, are you back from the Karoo NP? Did you have fun?

[Elsa Hoffmann]

@Peter Connan yes I came back late Sunday evening. I saw a LOT of Karoo!