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!