The Desert had a profound effect on Us
So, where and the heck is Namibia?? The desert is something so magical, we really had no idea. We generally find ourselves gravitating to beach destinations, but we did indeed fall in love with this diverse landscape and oh, oh, oh the ANIMALS. By the way spoiler....Namibia has beaches too.
We were off and running in our slightly dated Kombi Volkswagen Camping Van. We loved every second we spent with her. We learned quickly that desert dust is not to mess with. Our first off-tar road experience with the windows down landed us quite a disastrous thick layer of a mess. Nearly had a slight meltdown, but I recovered after 11 elephants quietly walked 100 yards from our campsite. We learned to get comfortable with desert dust and the other inconveniences of desert camping. Not to be confused with glamping. There was no glamp in our itinerary.
CAMPING: The Name of the Game in Namibia. Everyone is doing it......well except other Americans. Tents on cars and small compact camping equipment. No fancy RV's-they would fall apart on the rough roads.
I don't think Namibia is on many Americans' travel lists. If it is, we didn't meet any. Some book a Game Reserve vacation where they are pampered and given wet towels after each safari experience. The only wet towels we had were the ones we carried back from the communal bathrooms.
We got right in the action with the locals, and a shit ton of Germans and Dutch. It is so much fun to discover the history and settlement of places. You can feel the heavy-handed German influence that permeated into the culture. The Germans colonized Namibia between 1884-1890 because of the diamond discoveries. Today they own many of the farms, land, and business. We had a hell of a time remembering town names like Lüderitz and Otjiwarongo. In the spirit of fitting in, Brett had some wild game schnitzel, German pastries, and German Beer when we returned to the city.
s THTravel Planning in Namibia was something we knew we needed to get some help with. We kind of pride ourselves as trveling independently, but we called on the experts to help us map out our camping excursions so that we weren't left on the dusty roads alone at night. We learned before
The Photos depict the vast experience we found in Namibia. It was so thrilling to see the amount of landscape, various forms of beauty, and animals. We slept in the sand, swam in the ocean, camped next to the big 5, climbed sand dunes, hiked in rugged terrain, drove on gravel roads that made Dakota kids shutter, and experienced starry skies in the southern hemisphere, all while sleeping in a van. The animal encounters ranged from Pink Flamingos, countless beautiful birds to reptiles, furry critters you wanted to touch and many that gave you shivers.
Blinding Heat, Red Desert Sand, Mountain Ranges, and the bluest skies you have ever seen. Nighttime stars in the desert with the uninterrupted skyline went on forever. Experiencing this alone was worth the trip. There is good reason why many of the major religions in the world were born in the desert.
River Beds were totally dry, with no water to be seen even tho it was rainy season. Walking in a riverbed at a campsite was one of my favorite walks on the trip. Beautiful rocks of every color. Get your geology goggles on, this is rock heaven and we were digging it.
Just when you thought you have seen all the different landscapes it changes on you. So, so many different types of topography to enjoy, but all with a desert theme.
We love traveling independently, but you don't just appear at campsites or anywhere in Namibia. Reservations are required well in advance. Ultimate Routes did a fantastic job (and for a very small fee) helped us define our route and book sites prior to our arrival. We gave them the spots we knew we wanted to visit and they filled in the blanks. We highly recommend ultimateroutes.co.z
ELEPHANTS:
One of the most remarkable sites was watching the animals drink at the water holes, specifically the elephants. The elephants put their trunk in the water, ingested it up then thrusts the trunk deep inside their throat. After this they would often spray themselves and the young calf to cool them from the summer heat. When they arrived at the watering hole, they actually departed fairly quickly. A herd was normally in and out in about 15 minutes.
With help from a natural underground spring, small water holes are kept full. People can safely watch and observe creatures in their habitat perform daily tasks such as drinking and bathing.
Just a 7 minute walk from our campsite, we spent countless hours in daylight and the dark at the water hole at Halali.
The Savannas are covered in Mopane and Acacia Trees, both very important for the elephant, giraffe and rhino. We were able to see all of them. When we weren't at the camps viewing we were just driving, and driving hunting for sightings which were plentiful.
But what if you have to pee?
Yes, a valid question. I consider myself an astute side of the road pee professional. When you were in the areas of animal concentration near Etoshia, you had to wait for a fenced area where you ran out, opened the gate drove in and manually closed the gate. The camp sites had the same concept. Ironically, HUMANS were the ones caged in.
Self-guided (Brett Driven) drives were for sure a highlight of our trip. Yes, you certainly can book guided rides where the experts will take you out to spot critters, but our goal was to see how many we could find on our own. The elusive cheetah was the only one we had to hire the big guns to help us find. It was our last day in the area so we booked a Safari in hopes of a cheetah in the wild. He did, not the best view, but for sure one worth remembering.
The Animals of Namibia--Wildlife Haven
We knew that the largest concentration of the Big 5 Game was going to be in Etoshia. It is one of the harshest most barren places on earth. The animal life here is kept alive only by underground springs that form waterholes. Animals walk miles and miles to source small water holes.
The Etosha Salt Pan, is the largest salt pan in Africa and one of the biggest in the world. It is a hollow area that gets a small amount of water but is mostly dry and leaves a mineral salt deposit that makes it look like a mirage of water. The Pan is huge, over 1,900 square miles, and a central feature of Etoshia park. The 'park' is so big well over 8,600 square miles.
HUNTING
Enjoying animals in their natural environment is part of what makes us tick and fuels our love for travel. No matter what country or continent we are on, we are always searching to see local animals.
Indigenous Namibians have always hunted for food. Colonial laws put ownership on wildlife by making it illegal for communities to hunt. Today, wealthy landowners can register their land to use it for private trophy hunting. Wealthy Americans primarily fuel the trophy-hunting industry in Africa. Namibia and South Africa are mainly the two African nations that allow big game 'hunts' They attempt to tout the success of the industry in terms of wildlife conservation and economic gain. Seeing these huge, marvelous animals that are such an important part of our ecosystem is an amazing experience for which we will forever be grateful.
Anyone wanting to learn about African Safari 'hunting' I encourage you to do a quick read worldanimalprotection.us
POVERTY IN NAMIBIA There is stifling poverty in some areas, we had children asking us and searching for food. Not to the extent as in South Africa, but they have organized shanty camps that locals call home. Our minds always come back to the fact that in places like Namibia and other impoverished countries, there isn't a visible sight of homelessness. No one lives in a tent, under a bridge, or on sidewalks. One of the big problems however is the limited amount of potable fresh water. It is a resource that is taken for granted by so many.
How Do you sum up Namibia?
Adventure opportunity. Honestly, this was the most difficult blog to create. Glad you are still with me because I am so all over the board with this one. There was so much packed into our 20-day escapade, I hope you got a bit of a feel for it.
A lot of people just hop over the border from Zimbabwe and hit Etoshia, but there is so much more that we loved in addition to the animals. We really are happy to have had the chance to stay with locals who showed us genuine kindness and over-the-top hospitality in the city of Windhoek. The DESERT, what a shocking amount of beauty. The open spaces with NO PEOPLE, CAMPGROUNDS s with the most unique natural set ups, The SEASIDE towns with sand dunes that led right up to the ocean, Red SAND DUNES against the bluest sky we have ever witnessed. STARRY skies, HOT it was hot as hell, (but it was the middle of summer), SAFETY, such a relief from the on-guard feeling we had while in S Africa. As we traveled there were KIND PEOPLE who helped us find our way.
Twenty nights, over 2,300 kilometers on the most extreme terrain, tough corrugated gravel. A lot of times you just wanted the bumping to stop. Brett took the brunt.....ok he took the ENTIRE driving brunt. The left side of the road, left side driving, left hand shifting a 6-speed van while navigating the roads did leave him pretty exhausted each night. As we sat at our campfire, watching the expansive sky he still had a smile on his face.
AfricaOur Namibibia Trip
ITINERARY:
Dec 17-19 Windhoek
Dec 19 Naukluft National Park (Naukluft Campsite)
Dec 20-21 Soussusvlei (Sesriem Campsite)
Dec 22-23 Swakopmund (Goanikontes Oasis)
Dec 24 Swakpmound ( At the Sea Site)
Dec 25-26 Spitzkoppe (Spitskoppe Restcamp)
Dec 27-28 Twyfelfontein (Madisa Camp)
Dec 29-30 Etosha Park (Okaukuejo)
Dec 31-Jan 1 Etosha (Halali)
Jan 2 Onguma Reserve (Onguma Leadwood Camp)
Jan 3 Walterburg Wilderness (Anderson Camp)
Jan 4-6 Windhoek
Happy we splurged for this trip. Before Namibia, our camping experience was pretty much zero. Other than in my backyard as a kid, I am not sure I have ever even slept in a tent?
There really isn't anything budget friendly about a trip to Africa no matter what way you spin it, even if you don't do the inclusive Safari Camps. The Pack Mules voted this trip deserving of the effort, completely worthwhile, and a chapter in our book of life that showed us so much more about a place so foreign to us. It taught us that we do indeed 'get' why people chose to camp. It inspired us to relocate to our next US State where we will be doing a lot more camping! (Yes, the Pack Mules are going to be settling down in early summer for an 18 month engagement)
Thank you Jaco and Christelle, our inspiration to visit this offbeat country. Our new Namibia friends Anita, and Joep we hope to host you in the US sometime. Thanks for trusting us with the Kombi-she sure showed us an unimaginable time.
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