Namibia

phew, lots of blogging....finished blogging about amazing Democratic Repubic of Congo and Angola. Now in Namibia.....

Such a contrast being in Namibia which is a developed country. Good roads, good food, internet, well-stocked shops and English speakers. After a couple of days rest in Tsumeb we left on the Sunday for Etosha for some Game Drives. Pretty soon we saw giraffes and zebras, and again we have great views from the top of the truck. The zebras are horses with pyjamas on. We also saw oryx, wilderbeest, osterich, jackals and hyenas. Late in the afternoon we saw a pride of 4 female lions. They were hanging out under a bush about 50 metres from the truck. It was cool to see them in the wild instead of a zoo.


The next day we went out in the park again. This time we found a male lion having its lunch. It was about 30 metres from us, it had a springbox, or rather just the head was left. It was sat there for about half an hour, then it picked it up in its mouth and carried it pretty close to us before wandering off. That was pretty amazing. The osteriches were pretty funny. They would run alongside the truck and even cross in front of us.


On Tuesday we saw an eagle and some yellow mongooses and then a black rhino in the bushes and then a huge elephant. We were pretty lucky to spot these animals, you couldnt have seen them from a four wheeel drive. We were able to stand on top of the truck and get a great view.


In the afternoon we visited the Cheetah Park. This is run by a couple of Africanner brothers. Having decided that what they were doing is ethical, we went, basically, to their house on a huge estate, and they have 3 tame cheetahs. It was fantastic. We were able to stroke them and watch them play and eat, and of course take pictures. And they purr really loudly. They also took us out to the bush to some semi-tame cheetahs and we fed them zebra meat from the safety of a four wheel drive and cattle trailer. We were surrounded by about ten of them. We camped nearby and in the morning we met their giraffe. We petted it and it walked around our truck and put its head fully into the cab, in through the windows and in the back door, it was checking us out. Really funny.

We then made our way to Bradburg mountain. We did a 2 hour hike to see some rock art, which was pretty cool. We bushcamped under the mountain, and with the near full moon it was like a lunar landscape. Dave and I made sweet and sour chicken and vegies for the group while the sun went down, listening and bopping to the Chemical Bros. A great evening.


In the morning we drove into the stunning desert scenery, and then it became really cold as we hit the Atlantic breeze. We stopped at a seal colony and it felt more like Norway than Namibia. Thousands of seals hopping in and out of the mad surf, and lots just lazing around on the beach.

We arrived in Swakupmund in the afternoon. Bit of a backpackers town and we are staying in a hostel. I slept in a real bed for only the second time since November, as opposed to in a tent with a flat air mattress. We went to a great restaurant. I had the grill which was 4 types of meat - zebra, oryx, springbox and kudu. They all tasted great. I felt a bit bad eating the oryx cos they are cool.

Went to watch some of the guys skydive in the desert yesterday which was fun. A bit tempted  have a go but its real expensive and only goes for 5 minutes..i would rather spend the cash on something else.