Katima Mulilo

As we have a few extra days left before we need to be in Ihaha (Botswana), we have decided to go on a small adventure and drive into Zambia ourselves to spend a few days near the Victoria Falls.

Therefore we drove up from Divundu to Katima Mulilo, the border town for travel between Namibia and Zambia.

Katima Mulilo itself is quite a large town with many facilities as it’s the capital of the Caprivi. We stayed at the amazing campsite at the Protea Hotel Katima Mulilo. The camp site is situated on lush green grass right on the bank of the Zambezi River. Again we had hippo’s in the water right across from us and enjoyed the sounds and sight of those big Animals.

On the plot next to us were some experienced overlanders from Germany who spend a couple of months per year driving through Africa with their own VW Truck. Another great evening in Namibia.

Popa Falls

After two relaxed nights in Rundu we finally managed to leave the Tambuti lodge and say goodbye to our new friend Santos (a 4 yr old boy whose parents were managing the lodge).

The road to Divundu is quite boring. A straight tar road for approximately 200 km. It kind of reminds us of the long roads in the USA. Only that you won’t see that many people and cattle at the side of the road in the states.

In Divundu we take the road towards Popa Falls make our way to Ngepi camp. The road to Ngepi is a 4 km track that according to our Bradt needs a high-clearance vehicle. In reality the track is very well maintained and the Ngepi management is making fun of those warnings with a cheeky sign approximately halfway.

The campsite itself is quite beautifully set with 8 secluded spots lining the river. On the other side of the river is a unfenced national park and we enjoyed a sundowner at the riverside terrace. We saw a couple of elephants roaming the river banks, some buffalo and in the river there were various families of hippo’s. It was great to sit there with the binoculars and watch.

In the next morning we decided to pack up camp and drive to the Popa falls. Even though they are described as a bit of a disappointment we decided to go take a look ourselves. If you sleep on the NWR Popa falls campsite a visit to the falls is included in the overnight price, but if you just want to visit the falls you need to pay 20N$ entry fee (=~2€). We checked out the falls and the campsite first. But as the falls are really not much more than a series of rapids, and the campsite had a lot very small plots we decided to take a look in the Mahango National Park in the afternoon and then stay at the N//Goabaca community campsite on the other side of the Okavango river.

But first we headed out to Andara to meet up with Anna from the New Start–counseling and testing center. We had bought a bag full of food (Maize flower, sugar, salt, peas and some other stuff) to give away as Anna had told us that the main problem with protecting new born children against an infection of their HIV positive mother is the lack of available food. There are medications available to protect newborn children against HIV-infection via breastfeeding and HIV positive women receive treatment for 6 months after the birth of a child. After six months the child is supposed to be transferred to solid foods. But due to the extensive flooding of the past summer many crops were destroyed and there is not enough food available. As no mother can see their child go hungry the women have to continue with breastfeeding without the right medication and hereby significantly increase the risk of infecting their new born child.

At New Start we were already expected by Anna and her boss, Joseph. They showed us around the clinic and told us they have treat and inform approximately 3 women and children. Even though New Start is build on the grounds of the Andara Hospital, which is sponsored by the catholic church, the counseling centre does not receive funding  from the church. New Start is funded by the organization USAID from the USA. This is made extremely visible with tiny stickers showing the USAID logo on all available surfaces.

We didn’t want to disturb their day too much, so after a real nice and interesting chat we gave them our package and drove back to Divundu for a visit to Mahango. The Mahango National Park does not seem very well maintained to our touristy eye. It has only two out of three roads available at the moment and the surroundings seem a bit destroyed. But what Mahango doesn’t offer in nice scenery, they sure make up with an abundance of wildlife. Even after spending just 10 minutes on the more scenic road we saw the longed for Sable Antelope and also a couple of Roan Antelopes (the ones we were looking for in Etosha, but didn’t manage to see) And that was just extra to all the Kudu’s, Giraffes and smaller antelopes. We drove the whole scenic route al the way to the Botswana Border and back and even saw a couple of elephants playing with the mud on the shore of the Okavango. They weren’t so happy with seeing us and one of the males started trumpeting, shaking his head and wiggling with his ears so we decided to move on. The only animal we didn’t manage to identify was a small antelope (again ! ) called the red Lechwe, but we hope to see that one on the Chobe national park in Botswana.

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Rundu

We originally had planned to stay in Rundu for one night only. Just a sleeping stop on the road from Etosha to Popa Falls in the Caprivi.

One of the Luxembourgian girls we met in the Palmwag concession area had recommended us to stopover at the Tambuti lodge in Rundu. The lodge is right next to a popular beach next to the Okavango river and has a lovely setting in a beautiful lush garden.

The cottages are quite picturesque, with whitewashed stone walls, big windows and a small veranda each, and the terrace in front of the restaurant/reception is nicely set up in the shade of some huge trees. The campsite itself is more like a part of the drive/parking area with a jumble of braais and some tables and chairs, but as we were the only campers there we could really enjoy the whole setting and made ourselves a cosy place on the lawn. We even had our own separate bathroom in the back of the bar.

As we stayed in Rundu the night from Friday to Saturday things were a bit lively the whole evening. “Cool” guys slowly driving their freshly washed cars with the latest popular songs playing as loud as possible. One of the guys was  a bit of a softie, but he didn’t want his friends to know. He drove slowly (the road in front was really more of a sandy track and without sufficient ground clearance quite difficult to conquer) towards the lodge with some love song playing at an acceptable sound level. Then he stopped right in front of the grass field we had set our table on and switched the music to some cooler rap song with a lot of beats per minute. *ggg* Image is everything!

On her way to an evening shower Sandra met Anna, a woman working for a HIV/AIDS clinic in Andara, and they started a conversation. Ana was enjoying a weekend break at Rundu but invited us to come visit her in Andara in a couple of days.

In the morning we talked to a German researcher at the parking lot (they use this lodge as a base camp for trips into rural Angola) and found out that the lodge now also offers wireless internet. As we still had some backlog on our blog we decided to go up to the terrace and make use of that offer. One of the first learning’s of this trip is that we never know when the next opportunity for an email check will be!

After loading up the first posts we started to feel hungry and in the mood for some lunch and decided to try some of the home-made food they offered us. The Tambuti Lodge offers some very nice local meals, all with vegetables from their own garden. We were already tempted on arrival to try some but had some meat in the fridge that needed to be eaten.

The food was as delicious as we had hoped for. There is nothing better than freshly picked salad on a hot day. We even got some self-made ginger beer for free.

Somehow we were just not in the mood to drive on to Popa Falls today. We decided to stay another night and drove back to the lawn to set up camp again =)

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Etosha National Park

We just spend 3,5 lovely days in the beautiful Etosha national Park. We hadn’t booked any accommodation but decided to try our luck at the gate. Lucky us! There was still a “special” site free in Okaukuejo! A special site is basicly next to the other sites but without an energy point or braai facility but thus only half the price which suited us very well. The campsite in Okaukuejo itself is very very basic and dusty, but the illuminated waterhole is fantastic and one can watch all the animals which come for drinking.

The first night we saw lots of elephant families (about 35) as well as several rhinos (black and white!) and even two lionesses. After a very short night due to vandalizing Jackals, partying drunks and early birds we went for a long game drive through the first part of the national park. Around noon we decided to stop for lunch at a picnic spot and to our great surprise met up with the girls again! They had had exactly the same idea and were just making some pasta for lunch. They invited us to join them and we enjoyed a great lunch together. The girls were staying for a last day at a guest farm near Etosha and had driven in for a day.

As we enjoyed the wildlife spotting so much we decided to stay another day and asked for another night at the Namutoni site. After a long phone call the woman at reception in Okaukuejo managed to get us (her two sista’s!) the last campsite in Namutoni and off we went.

In our days at the park we managed to see many animals and birds and enjoyed a few encounters with the lovely Damara dikdik. An extremely small antelope with thin legs, huge eyes and a small nose.

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Cheetah Guest Farm

From the Epupa Falls we drove south again for a visit to Etosha. The first night we spend again at the Opuwo country lodge campsite. We already noticed that the weather had changed and it was getting very windy and cold. So we decided to stop at Opuwo again because here we could spend the evening nice and cozy in the lodge. And off course also use that long awaited internet connection once more  =)

The people at the lodge already recognized us and we spent a lovely evening with hot tea in the lounge.

As Sandra wanted to take pictures of Cheetahs we made an overnight stop at the Cheetah Guest Farm, located approx. 200 km before the gates of Etosha. The owner of the campsite told us that he still had one site available and before we could even check in he showed us his 3 tame Cheetahs which were lazing about in his garden and behaved like bigger cats. We were very impressed how calm and friendly they were. One of them slowly walked up to us and just dropped down in the sand purring. Like he wanted to be stroked. Carefully we stroked the fur between his ears and just enjoyed the moment.

The farmer who owns the camp site told us that he used to hunt Cheetahs until 20 years ago. Then he found a couple of cubs which he took home and hand fed. This was the start of a new hobby. Now he has 3 tame cheetah walking freely around the house and huge fenced-in area with wild cheetahs. Some of these are injured (one female, for example, has a blind eye. Probably caused by a close encounter with a spitting cobra) and by feeding them he takes care of the animals and makes some nice extra money.

The campsite was really nice and highly recommendable but the evening game drive to watch the Cheetahs is something else…. There were about 60 people who were all “loaded” on the back of some trucks. Then we were all driven into the field where the cheetahs were already waiting (they know the routine!) The trucks are parked in one line and then one of the farmers sons throws big pieces of donkey meat around. That was definitely not an experience that we can recommend.

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Epupa Falls

We started the day with a luxury breakfast enjoying the fresh bread with fried eggs and a ripe papaya we bought the day before. Our breakfast smelled so nice that before we noticed we had the campsite cat purring under the table. After we gave him some left over sausage the cat was so happy that in an unattended moment he jumped in Haitske’s lap and started digging his nails in. AU AU AU.

After another internet session of working on the website we left to drive the 180 km to Epupa Falls. The Epupa falls are a  whole bunch of waterfalls right on the border between Namibia and Angola.  On the road between Opuwo and Epupa we were greeted again by lots of Himba along the road. They were more likely begging us to stop to give them some sweets, but we interpreted it as friendly greetings and waved just as friendly back.

All around the north, 90% of the Himba’s we saw at the side of the road were begging. Every time the kids see a car coming the run to the road, holding up their hands and yell “sweets, sweets, sweets!”. Some are even quite aggressive and throw stones when you don’t stop. We were told by locals that we should under no circumstances give anything away without getting something back (for example, be allowed to take a picture).  But as most villages we passed weren’t very inviting we are still driving around with our mieliepap and haven’t found an opportunity to exchange.

The road from to Epupa is fine, even if a bit unspectacular, but the arrival at Epupa is amazing! You drive over a hill and on top you suddenly see this beautiful, lush green paradise. Lost of water and palm trees. It looks like a fata morgana! We found one last spot in the Epupa Falls campsite right next to and Steffi, Julia and Francisca. They had just arrived from a midday crocodile walk and told us excitedly of their experiences in the jungle. As today was our last dinner together the girls had made plannst to cook for us and we enjoyed a real nice evening together.

At one point we had a bit of excitement because Julia saw a snake making a run for her travel bag (it was still standing on the ground…) She chased the snake away up a tree and then we were all trying to identify the poor terrified reptile. The tour operators from a nearby camp site joined us in guessing but nobody really knew if the snake was poisonous or not. We were very happy to sit underneath the tarp this evening!

The next day we said goodbye to the girls as they were going to start on their return trip towards Windhoek and enjoyed a leisurely time at the campsite cleaning and sorting out our stuff again.

Later in the afternoon we met up with Vanessa and Alain from Cape Town again (who we met on the Opuwo camp site a few days earlier) and enjoyed a lovely sundowner in front of their amazing offroad trailer.

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Opuwo

Opuwo is an amazing melting pot of African cultures. Yesterday we arrived around sunset (~18:30) and the main street of Opuwo was full of people. The atmosphere felt a bit like a Saturday on Mariahilferstrasse or a koopavond in Eindhoven. Everybody was out and walking around dressed in their best clothes. You’d see modernly dressed teenagers (including the big headphones) strutting their stuff and greeting some Himba girls, while on the other side of the street a group of women in traditional Herero dress walked past.  Then there were numerous bakkies driving slowly by, their passengers hanging from the windows chatting up every young girl that passed by.

Our experience is that Europeans are either fascinated, or feel completely out of space in this bustling town.

As we had to find a mechanic we decided to split up for a day. In the morning the girls continued towards Epupa and we stayed on the campsite of the Opuwo country lodge.

But before checking out the town for a garage ourselves, we decided to ask the man at the gate if he could recommend us some place. Just as were chatting to him his boss arrived and after hearing what we wanted told us to turn around and follow him back to the lodge. He took us back all the way past numerous “Private! Do not enter” signs to the onsite garage. The mechanic there spoke little English, but after showing him our suspension problem he immediately started working.

He took out the suspension in no time and showed us that the top screw had broken off. We immediately started to think and look at the map for a city where we might be able to get a new OME suspension, but he just started rummaging around in his office and came back with the top part of an old suspension. He then cut off the top screw,  welded it onto our suspension, and build the thing back in.

After two hours of we were able to leave with a car that is well balanced again!

Let’s see how long this improvised repair will hold. The upcoming trips are mainly on gravel roads so for now we will continue our journey and catch up with the girls in Epupa tomorrow.

The rest of the day was spent with a drive through town, some supermarket shopping and lounging at the pool. As the lodge also offers a (extremely slow…) wireless internet connection we were finally able to upload some posts and check our email! Such a luxury after spending almost 3 weeks in the bush.

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Purros to Opuwo

From Purros we decided to go on our last real offroad adventure with the girls. We left Purros and started in the Hoarusib riverbed. Due to the last rains the track next to the riverbed resembled more to a 4×4 training area than a pad but slowly we made our way down river. After enjoying a mangnificent view over the Hoarusib we climbed up the Himba Pass and traversed from the Hoarusib to the Khumi. We continued up this riverbed all the way to the D3707 close to Sanitatas. Sadly enough the D3707 is not in a very good condition and we made very slow progress. Around four in the afternoon we then decided to set up camp and started up the fire.

The next day we woke early and slowly continued our way along the D3707. The road was very bumpy and most of the time we had a maximum speed of 10 km/h. After a well deserved cappuccino and cake stop in the middle of nowhere we started to hear some strange noises from our Patsy. Something was banging in the back so we tried to evaluate what was wrong. After numerous stops and adjusting some losses screws we suspected a problem with the suspension. The right OME suspension seemed to have jumped out of its top connection and was now loosely stuck underneath the car. But as we couldn’t repair that ourselves anyway we decided to make a go for Opuwo and steadily crept through Himba country.

Shortly after six we managed to reach the Opuwo country lodge in the last light of the day and luckily they still had a camp site free. After setting up the tents in the dark we enjoyed a well earned shower and made our way to the bar.

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Purros

After enjoying a nice breakfast in the Sesfontein Lodge we decided to drive to Purros not via the D3707 but instead go one more time into the amazing riverbeds Hoanib and then continue up the Savurogab to Purros.

The first part of the Hoanib was a bit damaged by the winter rains. There were a lot of ruts and some pads ended at a deep channel. To make things a bit more exciting everything was covered in deep powder dust. But with the foot on the throttle we managed to bounce our way out of there and even took some nice pictures of Steffi driving the Defender across.

 

All the way up to De Poort (a narrow canyon of approximately 10 meters wide) we enjoyed the beautiful greens of a wet riverbed but saw few animals. But a few kilometers after De Poort we were lucky and ended up in the middle of peaceful herd of 10 elephants. There were elephants of all sizes and ages in this group, even some very young ones. We switched off the engine and just enjoyed being so close to these magnificent animals. We could have just stayed there watching  for the rest of the day =)

 

But as we still had a long drive ahead of us we decided to leave them to enjoy their lunch in peace and drove slowly off. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Sadly enough the Savurogab riverbed also seems to be poached quite empty. A sad similarity to the Ganamub.

 

In Purros we stayed at the Puros community campside. This is a real nice small campsite with 6 camp sites equipped with a fired bush shower (this usually doesn’t provide hot showers, but it does take the chill out of the cold water. Unbelievable, but even Haitske starts to get used to the “refreshing” showers here!) and even flushing toilets hidden in some bushes. The first evening started off exciting when we came upon a small coral snake in the fence around the toilet. =/ But luckily the baby snake decided to leave the toilet for us and disappeared into the surrounding bushes.

 

As the campsite was so lovely we decided to stay another day and just relax. Steffi showed us how to make Potje brood and also baked another delicious cake. Yummie.

 

One of the specialties of the Puros community camp site is the possibility to meet the wandering elephants that are said to visit the camp now and then. There are signs everywhere telling you not to leave food outside as the elephants apparently like to come by for a snack. And can you believe it! Just when dusk was falling and we were starting to cut the vegetables and heat up the fire, two bachelors suddenly appeared. The huge elephants walk so softly it is amazing how they just sneak up on you. We first realized they were there when the smaller Bull was approximately 50 meters away from us.

Everybody immediately started to pack away the food and took out their camera’s for filming.

 

Slowly the two bulls made their way through camp. Eating a bit from some of the bushes and keeping a close eye on all the people scurrying around, taking pictures and videos.  We all kept quiet and enjoyed the experience.  What an amazing encounter.

 

The elephants decided to stay close by so we moved the cooking action inside of our dear Patsy. Using our emergency seat there was enough room for one person to continue with the preparations while the others shone their torches around to see where the elephants went. Dinner was a bit un-relaxed and we all retreated into the safety of our rooftop tents quite early.

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Sesfontein

After so many days of wild camping and a growing smell in the tent which we identified as our unshowered selves, we had ourselves ready for a real treat as Sesfontain Lodge. Though the lodge exceeds our budget by far, we just couldn’t help but spend one night here and enjoy the luxury of a hotel. The pictures tell the whole story and we think we don’t need more words to tell the story. …..

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