Rhino's without Borders

Horny's 1st G&T in The Richtersveld!

 Horny and Roger on D(une) Day

Horny in Etosha

 

Horny at Ngepi

Horny in Chobe

Securely 'buckled up' in the Pajero

Horny in the Kaokoveld

Horny's last G&T in Nata Botswana

Final analysis

Back home and the big clean up begins.

After 30 days on the road we covered 7685 km and consumed 890 litres of diesel, and all that remains are the fantastic memories.

Chobe

After a fairly painless border crossing into Botswana, we made our way to Chobe River Lodge, kindly organised by Garth and Sue.

 

Farewell Namibia it's been great

As we leave Namibia for Botswana , I thought a summary of our visit here a fitting end to our stay.

The Richtersveld with it's dry, almost unfriendly landscape was the start. In places it seemed as if numerous construction companies had dumped their excess rubble in huge mounds all over the park.  3 nights in the rooftop tent to debug any issues with the sleeping arrangements and then we were off to Namibia.

The Skeleton Coast trip with Desert Magic, was an adventure in its own right.  It started with a fairly easy drive along the coast and the first night was spent north of Möwe Bay.

We stopped at numerous places of interest along the coast on the way to the mouth of the Kunene River.  A couple of ship wrecks, an old Amethyst mine,  a seal colony and Agate Mountain to name a few.

The Kunene River mouth was the "car wash" stop, and much fun was had by all.

The next day was D-Day (Dune Day 😀). We'd spent the night between the dunes without a tree, bush or blade of grass in sight.  We were all up early and the excitement (or nervousness) was almost palpable. Even Horny and Roger were ready for action.

The dunes proved to be both fun and challenging and much "pulling and pushing " was had by all except Mr Discovery 😁.  The roaring of the dunes when sliding down a slip-face was loud and daunting.  But at the end of the day, we all made it safely into camp that night and were once again served an amazing meal prepared by Johnny and Dixon, Volker's "right hand" men.

The following 4 days were spent marvelling at scenery and nature.  We searched for the elusive desert elephants and were finally rewarded by finding a breeding herd of 15 cows with their young and then a single bull.

Our last night was spent at a quaint little place in the shadow of a big cliff. We noticed that many places along the Skeleton Coast were someone or others' "Gat". So in keeping with this tradition, it'll forever be known as Blinkie se Gat...after Laura who was renamed Blinkie due to her fascination with some or other guy on TV who never blinks 😁?

The next day we said goodbye to Volker, Johnny and Dixon, and made our way to Desert Rhino Camp to look for the now rather scarce Black Rhino.

We were surprised by a bush dinner prepared by the lodge, which was followed by a scorpion hunt with ultra violet torches.  The 05:00 wakeup call was well worth the effort as our trackers soon found us a cow and a 13 month old calf to view on foot from about 150m.

Next stop was Etosha, which proved to be fruitful. With the rainfall having been low, game viewing at the waterholes was good.

We then started our trip along the Caprivi Strip, finishing our Namibia leg at Caprivi Houseboat in Katima Malilo.

The trip through Namibia has varied from coastal mist; to dry and hot desert; to game parks teeming with animals and on to lush riverine forested area's. Much distance was covered while crossing the county from South to North and from West to East.

Until next time,  "Thank you" Namibia, it's been real!

The end of the Namibian traverse

After three and a half weeks on the road and having covered 6250 km, we are about to leave Namibia and cross over into Botswana. We have traversed Namibia from south to north and from west to east along its major axes. Starting in the south we crossed the Orange river to commence our journey ever northward until we reached the Kunene river that demarcates Namibia's northern boundary with Angola, and hence the south to north axis had been covered. From the Kunene mouth we travelled towards the rising sun until we will cross the Chobe river at the Ngoma boarder post into Botswana, hence having completed the west to east traverse of our Namibian adventure.

While overnighting in Katima Molilo, the hippos on the opposite bank of the mighty Zambezi river taunted us  , daring us to explore the great expanse of Zambian. I guess that this call will have to be answered

As we cross into Botswana the slow homeward journey will commence, after a couple of days of relaxation and hopefully game viewing in Chobe.

River crossing

Howling wind on the road to Katima Mulilo

Jeremy's 60th in the bush

The Caprivi Strip

After the dryness and desolation of the Namib Desert, the wetness of the green Caprivi Strip - now renamed Zambizi - was most welcome!

First night was spent at Roy's Rest Camp.  A quaint little place outside of Grootfontein.

Next stop was Ngepi.  A lodge with both camping and fixed accommodation.  The reed Tree Houses are all situated along the bank of the river where hippo's could be seen frolicking in the water, while brave locals went about their business on their mokoro's. They do, however, seem to have a strange facination with Toilets ...as various types were scattered around the gardens!

Camp Kwando our 3rd stop along the Caprivi, proved to be favourable for us Campers as the water pump to the chalets had broken that morning!  We had a campsite all to ourselves with private ablutions, power and WATER!

We started the next day by preparing Jeremy's car for his 'Milestone Birthday' before we made our way to Nkasa Lupala for the night.

The last night along the Caprivi was spent at Caprivi Houseboat Safari Lodge, before we made our way to Botswana.

 

 

For the Landie owners :-)

The road to Ngepi

Ngepi loo's

Popa Falls... Or should I say Rapids ?

Photo's anyone?