Aat: TT Namibia (Last update April 6)*

[aat]

Hi all
Following the comments I think I have to put a TR here about our trip through Namibia starting november 17th till december 17th.

What did we do?
Arrival at Windhoek airport after a wonderful flight with Air Namibia from Frankfurt to Windhoek. Flying in a brandnew quiet Airbus , it was great. Arrival in Windhoek , picking up our rental car. 1st problem... our kind of car was NOT available and next question was if we would like to take a higher class for free. After some thinking I said no... no problem.
So... getting outside to our car we got a massive Hilux Toyota , 4 W drive . From that moment off I named it Truck , with a double tank so we could drive for about 1000 km without refill diesel.

Because Namibia is a very big country (compared to the netherlands 22 times my country) we decided to go to some places and not trying to cover the whole country.... many people try this, resulting in driving, driving and driving and missing so much.

One of our destinations was the Sossusvlei in the Namib desert, famous about the big Red Dunes
Driving the untarred roads in Namibia is a pleasure with out truck...not too slow and not too fast we arrived at our lodge (Sossusvlei Lodge). (our comment about this place : Just wonderful... brilliant view from the lodge, perfect food and services) and close to the gate to the Sossuvlei , just 60 km from the biggest dunes and all 60 km is a wowwwwwwww for the landscape , the dunes and animals.

For Elly's birthday I booked a flight with a Cesna to fly over the dunes till the Atlantic Ocean and back. Airstrip is just 5 minues from the Lodge.

Enough text so let's have a look at the dunes, constantly changing by the wind, changing colours minute by minute.

Our first trip to the Sossuvlei itselves was great. My Truck had no problem to go through the sand towards the big dunes, for me a thrill since I almost never tried this before.... netherlands has no area's for 4 WD...

Enjoy this pictorial about the Sossuvlei.



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I have hundreds of photo's but will post a selection of them , so now we board the Cesna and take off for a flight over the dunes...

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This picture shows the HEART shaped pan close to the famous big dune in the Sossuvlei

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Another piece of wonderful creation by nature are the White Mountains. These are in the middle of the Red Dunes and can only be seen from the air.

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The young but very good south-african pilot was flying the Cesna very low over the Dunes so we even could see the wind playing with the sand...
Then got to the edge and approaching the Atlantic.... The dunes were ending where the Ocean hit the Dunes. Almost no beach, maybe just a few meters , that's all.
We were sometimes flying just a few meters above the Ocean..... amazing views....we could even see birds and seals on the small beach.

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Time to return to "airport" ....
With another number of amazing views....
Every time again we did some wowwwwwww's and ohhhhhhhh's ... landscape looks like surrealistic and reminds me to Salvador Dali..

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Big Mystery .....

From Namibia to Angola , there is is kind of "line" where you find these circles. Still unknown how they got there ... lovely to find mysteries !!

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Another day and this time "Dunes in the mist" This mist / fog can be there often early in the morning. So staying for some days is recommended...

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This is what I called the Salvador Dali landscape... no photoshopping, just as it was in real

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With this last picture I say goodbye to the Sossusvlei and ready for wildlife in the Etosha NP...

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PART II - ETOSHA


If you don't mind I will approach the Etosha experience random with a number of impressions in general and special sightings

Ok... first : We booked 12 nights in Etosha. It's completely different compared to Kruger... large area's with just nothing... a very large Pan in the middle but anyway it was special and beautiful.
We were just a few days in Etosha when the first thunderstorms arrived and sometimes with rain sometimes without... lots of lightning and thunder but no drop of rain...

We booked 4 nights in camp Okaukeujo and 8 nights in Halali. Okaukeujo is "famous" about the waterhole with visits of Black Rhino and lions in the evening / night.
One of our expectations was to see Black Rhino ...hoping for a few.

Arrival day: We entered Etosha by the Namutoni gate and we had to go to Okaukeujo which is 134 km away so a nice way to drive through Etosha.

Lots of Springbuck, Zebra, Giraffe, Gemsbok etc.....
Getting closer to Okaukeujo camp suddenly we saw a Rhino... and yesssssssss a Black one. In our minds ... Black Rhino are shy and aggressive so we approached this one with care. First thing we noticed "this is a big boy" so let's take care.

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No doubt it's a Black Rhino...
Just next to the place he was eating there was a small road to a waterhole so we could get closer and closer... driving some meters and stop... looking.... driving some meters again and stop....till we were about 25 meters away from him.
No signs of aggression or being shy ... just eating

What a thrill, first day and having best ever sighting so far with a Black Rhino:
I was even able to make photo's as close-up's , most portraits are not cropped but using zoom.

Feel with us and enjoy this sighting:

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Nice juicy food ....
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and last shot...

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ETOSHA - CHEETAH with 4 cubs


Staying in Halali camp.... very nice "hut" , wonderful swimmingpool (big size) and great location for "drives" ....
It's early morning and with some fun I told Elly... we are going for Cheetah... answer was..

After about 30 minutes and driving on the main road we saw "something" crossing the road far in front of us... so getting closer we saw this:

Mother Cheetah with 4 cubs
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Cubs playing in the bush / trees , just copying what mother does... learning process

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Moms was looking for breakfast for her kids...so she found this nice lookout

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One of the cubs liked to see what mother was doing...curious kid

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Lucky us... mother has seen something at the other side of the road so they all had to cross the road in front of us.

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Breathtaking to see these cats...
This also gives an impression of how Etosha looks like...

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First cub to cross the road... cute...

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and the others following... this one with all 4... the only one I could make with all 4 cubs together

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Watching these Cheetah it's always going too fast ... they were following moms and disappeared in the field...

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Ok.... more to come if you like

[aat]

PART 4 Sesriem Canyon


TR is not completely in order of time but who cares.... well I don't


About the Sesriem Canyon ... so you can learn a bit more about Namibia and the interesting places

Very close to the Sossusvlei Lodge (5km) is the Sesriem Canyon...

SESRIEM CANYON:

The name Sesriem is Afrikaans and means "six belts", given by settlers returning from the Dorsland Trek who had to attach together six belts (made of oryx hides) in order to reach buckets down into the canyon to scoop up water. The Sesriem Canyon is only two metres (6.5 feet) wide in some places, and has a portion that permanently contains water, which many animals use.

Sesriem is a small settlement located in the Namib Desert, in Namibia, close to the southern end of the Naukluft Mountains. It is especially known because the "Sesriem gate" is the main access point to the Namib-Naukluft National Park for visitors entering the park to visit the nearby tourist attraction of Sossusvlei.

Sesriem is also known for the Sesriem Canyon, about 4 km from Sesriem itself, which is the second most important tourist attraction in the area after Sossusvlei.

It is a natural canyon carved by the Tsauchab rivier in the local sedimentary rock, about a kilometre (0.6 mile) long and up to 30 meters (100 feet) deep.

Here an impression of this Canyon

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You can go down into the Canyon for a walk... take enough water with you ! We did not , sometimes you must say to yourself if you can or cannot do things like this.

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We walked along the canyon (kind of path but take care ...)

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The views were amazing

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I must say that trying to photograph places like these is always difficult... your eyes see more then you can capture.

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and a last shot of this Canyon

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TOKO...time for split ?

PART 5: Cheetah

Etosha was very very nice for us.
Nabimia is the most important country regarding the Cheetahs. Most of them in the wild , several at safari lodges / farms and several in conservation area's.

In Etosha we found a number of them during our 12 days , mainly in the area Namutoni and Halali. I showed the cheetah mother with her 4 cubs and here I like to show you some we found resting in the shadow but more easy to photograph.
After our visit to Etosha we also went to Africat Foundation Okonjima but I will tell you about that later in another chapter...

Let's meet the Cheetahs ... I know "some" of you like these cats very much... nan... pumbaa...super mongoose a.o....

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And so cool.... 5 minutes driving and we found this lady

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If you like to be photographed it's worth to pose upside-down...why not

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I will folllow the advise not to add too many pictures at a time (thanks for this tip...) to make it easier for people with slower internet etc..

Much more to come so keep tuned.... thinking of a nice Cobra, very lovely Lions, beautiful Leopards and ... more Black Rhino.

[aat]

B Jock,
When we visited Sesriem Canyon there was no water. About the circles , the pilot told us several scientists are looking for the reason / causes but could not decide what happened , for me it's ok...love mysteries.
Much more to come... including Okonjima and many other nice sightings in Etosha...

Hi Aat,

You really had some great sightings at Etosha and stunning views over the Namib.

I read somewhere that the fairy rings are created by the earth "puking" carbon dioxide gas and thus restricting growth. Must be together with moisture that it form carbonic acid then.

It looks as if there is water in Sesriem canyon or am I just mistaking it. If so its quite unusual I think.

During our first visit we saw several cheetah and leopard at Etosha, but none last time. First time round we first visited Okonjima Africat foundation and camped there. We were blessed with sighting in Etosha that year. Last time we did not and had limited luck. Looks like one need to stop there to be blessed by the cheetah of Okonjima. Wonder if Wahoo is still there. Please some pics of Okonjima as well.

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Back home and ready for next chapter.

PART 6 - Elephants in Etosha

Is it easy to find or see Elephants in Etosha ?

When we arrived in Etosha, the first days we did not see any elephant. Asking some rangers we heard most or almost all of them left Etosha going to better places to find water and food. Rain season was about to begin...

Well, we did not expect this but now we know why we haven't seen them yet.

Another day and we decided to follow the Rhino Drive towards Halali.
We were driving this road for about 15 minutes when we saw some elephants coming towards us...

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Not just a few elephants but a nice herd, including big/huge ladies and little babies.
We were impressed by the size of the cows.

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When we saw the elephants we thought we had to go back bit by bit since they all were following the road.
Buttttt..... just in front of us they left the road to go into the bush following their "elephant road" ... Very lucky with this, so we could watch them coming , doing their thing and walking away about 50 meters in front of us.

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Moms carefully looking at her baby

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Dusty white elephants... we needed some time to get used to this...

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Even sitting in a "truck" like our Toyota they looked huge

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We were just saying... these are the last ones of the herd and then.....
second part of the herd came around the corner.... smiles on our faces

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We counted 50 to 60 elephants all together. A very very nice surprise if you don't expect to see them at all...

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Some elephants were looking at us, lots of aunts and sisters protecting all the babies & youngsters.

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Sometimes it felt like almost being in the middel of the herd but none of the elephants came close for "inspection"

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This mother crossed the road with her baby... last ones of the herd?

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NO... just when I was starting our "truck" another one decided to be last... we said "thank you for this sighting"

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End of this chapter.

Some of you asked for Elephants , so I hope you liked this elephant parade

Next chapter will be about sightings at night near a waterhole.... just in front of our "house" ... curious who was coming for a drink? Stay tuned....