From the quasi-European confines of Swakopmund, we set out for points north/east in Namibia to get a view of the interior and to go on our second safari of the trip. We considered venturing across the border to Botswana, but the difficulties and expense of traveling to the Okavango Delta convinced us to stay in Namibia. It was definitely the right decision, especially since Namibia is home to one of the premiere game-viewing parks in the world: Etosha National Park.
In Africa most of the adventure lies in getting to the various incredible destinations. This trip was no different. While in Swakopmund, we consulted our map and the train schedule and determined that we needed to buy a ticket on the train bound for Tsumeb. When we got to the train station to purchase our tickets, we were informed that the train no longer serviced Tsumeb, it only went as far as Otjiwarango. Undeterred, we bought two tickets on the Trans-Namib Railway to Otjiwarongo and figured we could get to Tsumeb on our own. When the train arrived, only 15 minutes late, we were sort of confused. As it turned out, the train was actually a freight train that had one car for passengers. To make matters slightly more precarious, the passenger car was right in front of two petroleum tanker cars. Undaunted, we boarded and secured a sleeper compartment to ourselves. It was decently comfortable, if a little frigid. While we tried to sleep through the night, peaceful slumber was impossible as every so often the train would lurch violently. We never did determine the cause of these shudders, but they were scary insofar as we were ten feet away from the highly flammable gas tanks. Obviously, you know that we made it out safely because I am writing this blog post, which sort of ruins the suspense, but you can imagine that things were slightly tense for a bit.
We finally arrived in Otjiwarongo at 6:3o in the morning. Even though the ostensible eight hour trip took thirteen hours, we were actually relieved because it meant that we didn't have to navigate a strange town in the middle of the night. We caught a small taxi into the town proper and then endeavored to find a minibus to take us to Tsumeb. Unfortunately, the Otjiwarango-Tsumeb traffic was apparently light that day and minibuses will not leave until full. And, not even full as we understand it, like five people to a sedan...African full. This was a problem, as it was getting hot and we were tired and wanted to get to Tsumeb and check into our hostel. Finally, after some wrangling, we convinced a driver to take us and two other locals to Tsumeb in an old-school teal green Volkswagen Golf. It was quite a scene. We were packed tightly into the tiny car with three complete strangers as a mixture of unintelligible African rap and terrible American '80s pop blasted in our ears, threatening the viability of our eardrums and the car's overloaded speakers. At one point, one of our fellow travelers wiped his snot-covered hands all over Lauren's bag as he attempted to get something out of the trunk. This was after Lauren was forced to sit next to a vomiting woman on the taxi from the train station to the minibus departure point. It is times like those that really make you think about what the hell you are doing. And then, speeding along a highway that looks like it could be at home, you see a bunch of baboons clowning around on the road and you realize how lucky you are to be out seeing the world, warts and all.
The two hour drive passed quickly and we were soon walking into the front door of the Mousebird Backpackers. We had heard that they ran great safaris into Etosha from Mousebird, but were dismayed to find that the safari leaving the second day after our arrival was fully booked. We were resigned to doing another self-guided safari when the wonderful German (surprise!) proprietor, Monika, told us that she would make room for us. After resting and exploring Tsumeb for a day and a half, we awoke early and met our fellow safari-goers and our guide, Coco. Coco was a native Namibian from the Damara tribe and a super easy-going guy. For those of you that have seen the show, he looks a ton like Big from "Rob & Big." Rounding out our crew were four German medical students, a German geographer, and an older couple, one of whom was British and the other Dutch. There was a lot of German spoken on the safari, which was wonderful for Lauren. She is too modest to admit it, but every single German that we meet is very, very impressed with her language skills. Most refuse to believe that she is American. Of course, I am the proud husband, a role which I never would have guessed would suit me but is one that I now cherish.
We rolled down the highway on the 15okm journey to our campsite in Etosha, getting to know each other and expressing our excitement for the three-day safari that lay ahead. Within moments of crossing into the park boundary, we began to see herds of animals everywhere, especially at the watering holes. Our timing was great because it was the dry season and in such times of low water, all of the animals congregate around the watering holes to drink, making the game-watcher's job much easier. Still, there is a great amount of luck involved and we were fortunate to have a great guide like Coco who always seemed to know where the animals would be. I will save specifics of the safari for the captions below, but in general, it was one of the coolest things that we have ever done. The campsite at which we stayed, Halali, was actually quite luxurious as campgrounds go. The shower facilities were immaculate, the campsite had a great braai, and there was a pool! To this day, that is the only pool in which we have swam on the entire trip. It was so unexpected that the luxury of a pool would be found in the middle of the Namibian bush.
Halali was also wonderful because there was a watering hole on the grounds. At night, it would be illuminated and you could see all sorts of animals coming and going. We saw a lioness drinking by herself the first night, a group of endangered black rhinos, a showdown between a pack of hyenas and an elephant, and all sorts of birds. However, because of the darkness, we don't have any pictures of these nocturnal events. Fortunately, we also saw a ton of animals during the day. In fact, in Etosha we rounded out our view of what is known as The Big Five, which are the most sought after animals in African game viewing: the African elephant, the lion, the leopard, the Cape buffalo (which we saw in South Africa), and the black rhinoceros. In four days (including our self-safari at Pilanesburg in South Africa), we had managed to spot the animals that most people wait their whole lives to see.
Pictures cannot do the experience justice, but they are all that we have to share with you. We hope that you enjoy.
The happy couple in the back seat of the Mousebird safari van, in our view the prime game-spotting location.
The Mousebird van, loaded down with the supply trailer and all of our gear.
We saw animals large and small, including this diminutive dik dik. Note the reflection of Coco in the sideview mirror.
An impala gallops past our van as we travel down the road to Halali.
You don't realize how big elephants are until you see them up close.
This elephant wanted us to see its better side.
This mama elephant got a little antsy with us. She started stomping her feet and looking generally like she wanted to crush our van. Wisely, we moved on.
Giraffes are really cool animals. They move like horses but look almost prehistoric. These two welcomed us by signaling V for Voboril.
Although most of the giraffes that we saw were docile creatures, these two apparently had some beef. After grunting at each other for a bit, they began attacking each other, using their long necks and heads as weapons. I never thought I would see the day when I saw a giraffe headbutt another giraffe, but I guess that is what this trip is all about.
A herd of zebras approaches a watering hole, with some kudu in the background.
Here we are at our base camp in Halali, with our meal table on the right. Meals were a great time to revisit the highlights of the past few hours over tasty morsels. We were treated to kudu steaks and lamb on the braai on our first night. Kudu are sort of an African version of the elk and a delicious version at that. Certainly, having seen them in the wild during the day made eating them slightly tough, but our carnivorous side won over in the end.
It was great to be sleeping in tents under the gorgeous star-lit skies, even if everything we brought with us was caked in dust by the end of the safari.
Lauren in our trusty safari van. The bumpy roads and sparsely padded seats made for sore bodies at night, but it was certainly worth it.
The endangered black rhinoceros, captured in between sips from the watering hole.
Sunset over Etosha.
For me, it is a tossup between the black rhinoceros and this animal, the oryx (or gemsbok), for which is my favorite African animal. The rhino are way more rare, but there is something about the oryx that I find irresistible. The Namibians apparently agree, placing the oryx on their 100 dollar bill.
This lone oryx accompanied a massive herd of springbok. Given my predilection for the oryx, I started feeling slightly guilty for having an oryx steak in Swakopmund the week before. However, it was so tender and scrumptious that I couldn't help myself.
I still cannot figure out why the dainty springbok is the mascot of the supposedly macho and rugged South African rugby team. At least the blue wildebeest in the background has some meat on its bones. We wondered why they were called springboks up until we saw a herd of them jumping around a field like pogo sticks.
We had watched a pride of lions in the far distance, disappointed that they were out of good viewing range when all of a sudden, a lone lioness stalked out of the bush and came right by our van.
The female lion on a mission. She moved with a rare combination of power and grace. We were awestruck.
This is me checking out the scene at the Halali watering hole. If you look closely, you can see the remnants of my Mohawk.
Some views are more picturesque than others.
In a safari loaded with memorable moments, one of the best came during the evening of our second day. After getting back from a late afternoon game drive, we decided to venture over to Halali's watering hole to see what animals may be lurking. To our amazement, we saw a herd of 30 elephants at the hole, with the sun setting in the background. We watched the elephants drink, blow water on each other, poop, trumpet, and generally mess around. The most hilarious part of this hour-long scene was when one of the elephants let loose a thundering series of farts that brought raucous laughter from the normally silent crowd gathered at the hole.
We were so close to the elephants that we could hear each breath they took and any small sounds that they made.
No, that is not snow, it's ash floating up from our braai. Many a delicious meal was cooked on this grill. Being a desert environment, the heat of the day gave way to really cold nights, thereby necessitating the scarf.
We woke up at 5a.m. on our last day in order to visit the Halali watering hole before the morning's game drive. If you know Lauren, then you know that convincing her to wake up at that ungodly hour can be challenging. But, she was up and eager and we wrapped ourselves in blankets as we waited patiently by the watering hole. Not a single animal made an appearance; our early rise had been for nought. We set out on the game drive, feeling that it would be impossible to top the previous day's onslaught of animals. We saw the "usual" zebras, giraffes, elephants, cheetah, springboks, etc. on this last drive. It's funny how animals that you have never seen before in your life can become so commonplace after only a few days. Then, the amazing happened. As we were cruising at 40kph back to camp, one of the German medical students yelled for Coco to stop. I don't know how she spotted it, but hidden in the brush was a leopard, the last of The Big Five and Lauren's favorite animal. She had asked Coco about their habits and he said that they were very, very elusive and only came out during the night. Against all odds, there was a leopard sitting under a tree in the middle of the day, just hanging out. We were floored. It didn't move at all, but the moment will etched in our minds forever.
A closer view of the graceful feline.
Directly after seeing the leopard, we spotted a solitary male lion walking across the vast expanse of the Etosha Pan, a dry lakebed that gets somewhat filled in the rainy season.
As it turned out, this was an elderly male that had likely been booted out of the pride by a younger, stronger male. He walked with a noticeable limp in his right hind leg, probably due to injuries sustained in his battle with the usurper. He may have been old, but he sure had a hell of a roar.
Elderly or not, he was still a beautiful creature.
The two hour drive passed quickly and we were soon walking into the front door of the Mousebird Backpackers. We had heard that they ran great safaris into Etosha from Mousebird, but were dismayed to find that the safari leaving the second day after our arrival was fully booked. We were resigned to doing another self-guided safari when the wonderful German (surprise!) proprietor, Monika, told us that she would make room for us. After resting and exploring Tsumeb for a day and a half, we awoke early and met our fellow safari-goers and our guide, Coco. Coco was a native Namibian from the Damara tribe and a super easy-going guy. For those of you that have seen the show, he looks a ton like Big from "Rob & Big." Rounding out our crew were four German medical students, a German geographer, and an older couple, one of whom was British and the other Dutch. There was a lot of German spoken on the safari, which was wonderful for Lauren. She is too modest to admit it, but every single German that we meet is very, very impressed with her language skills. Most refuse to believe that she is American. Of course, I am the proud husband, a role which I never would have guessed would suit me but is one that I now cherish.
We rolled down the highway on the 15okm journey to our campsite in Etosha, getting to know each other and expressing our excitement for the three-day safari that lay ahead. Within moments of crossing into the park boundary, we began to see herds of animals everywhere, especially at the watering holes. Our timing was great because it was the dry season and in such times of low water, all of the animals congregate around the watering holes to drink, making the game-watcher's job much easier. Still, there is a great amount of luck involved and we were fortunate to have a great guide like Coco who always seemed to know where the animals would be. I will save specifics of the safari for the captions below, but in general, it was one of the coolest things that we have ever done. The campsite at which we stayed, Halali, was actually quite luxurious as campgrounds go. The shower facilities were immaculate, the campsite had a great braai, and there was a pool! To this day, that is the only pool in which we have swam on the entire trip. It was so unexpected that the luxury of a pool would be found in the middle of the Namibian bush.
Halali was also wonderful because there was a watering hole on the grounds. At night, it would be illuminated and you could see all sorts of animals coming and going. We saw a lioness drinking by herself the first night, a group of endangered black rhinos, a showdown between a pack of hyenas and an elephant, and all sorts of birds. However, because of the darkness, we don't have any pictures of these nocturnal events. Fortunately, we also saw a ton of animals during the day. In fact, in Etosha we rounded out our view of what is known as The Big Five, which are the most sought after animals in African game viewing: the African elephant, the lion, the leopard, the Cape buffalo (which we saw in South Africa), and the black rhinoceros. In four days (including our self-safari at Pilanesburg in South Africa), we had managed to spot the animals that most people wait their whole lives to see.
Pictures cannot do the experience justice, but they are all that we have to share with you. We hope that you enjoy.
The happy couple in the back seat of the Mousebird safari van, in our view the prime game-spotting location.
The Mousebird van, loaded down with the supply trailer and all of our gear.
We saw animals large and small, including this diminutive dik dik. Note the reflection of Coco in the sideview mirror.
An impala gallops past our van as we travel down the road to Halali.
You don't realize how big elephants are until you see them up close.
This elephant wanted us to see its better side.
This mama elephant got a little antsy with us. She started stomping her feet and looking generally like she wanted to crush our van. Wisely, we moved on.
Giraffes are really cool animals. They move like horses but look almost prehistoric. These two welcomed us by signaling V for Voboril.
Although most of the giraffes that we saw were docile creatures, these two apparently had some beef. After grunting at each other for a bit, they began attacking each other, using their long necks and heads as weapons. I never thought I would see the day when I saw a giraffe headbutt another giraffe, but I guess that is what this trip is all about.
A herd of zebras approaches a watering hole, with some kudu in the background.
Here we are at our base camp in Halali, with our meal table on the right. Meals were a great time to revisit the highlights of the past few hours over tasty morsels. We were treated to kudu steaks and lamb on the braai on our first night. Kudu are sort of an African version of the elk and a delicious version at that. Certainly, having seen them in the wild during the day made eating them slightly tough, but our carnivorous side won over in the end.
It was great to be sleeping in tents under the gorgeous star-lit skies, even if everything we brought with us was caked in dust by the end of the safari.
Lauren in our trusty safari van. The bumpy roads and sparsely padded seats made for sore bodies at night, but it was certainly worth it.
The endangered black rhinoceros, captured in between sips from the watering hole.
Sunset over Etosha.
For me, it is a tossup between the black rhinoceros and this animal, the oryx (or gemsbok), for which is my favorite African animal. The rhino are way more rare, but there is something about the oryx that I find irresistible. The Namibians apparently agree, placing the oryx on their 100 dollar bill.
This lone oryx accompanied a massive herd of springbok. Given my predilection for the oryx, I started feeling slightly guilty for having an oryx steak in Swakopmund the week before. However, it was so tender and scrumptious that I couldn't help myself.
I still cannot figure out why the dainty springbok is the mascot of the supposedly macho and rugged South African rugby team. At least the blue wildebeest in the background has some meat on its bones. We wondered why they were called springboks up until we saw a herd of them jumping around a field like pogo sticks.
We had watched a pride of lions in the far distance, disappointed that they were out of good viewing range when all of a sudden, a lone lioness stalked out of the bush and came right by our van.
The female lion on a mission. She moved with a rare combination of power and grace. We were awestruck.
This is me checking out the scene at the Halali watering hole. If you look closely, you can see the remnants of my Mohawk.
Some views are more picturesque than others.
In a safari loaded with memorable moments, one of the best came during the evening of our second day. After getting back from a late afternoon game drive, we decided to venture over to Halali's watering hole to see what animals may be lurking. To our amazement, we saw a herd of 30 elephants at the hole, with the sun setting in the background. We watched the elephants drink, blow water on each other, poop, trumpet, and generally mess around. The most hilarious part of this hour-long scene was when one of the elephants let loose a thundering series of farts that brought raucous laughter from the normally silent crowd gathered at the hole.
We were so close to the elephants that we could hear each breath they took and any small sounds that they made.
No, that is not snow, it's ash floating up from our braai. Many a delicious meal was cooked on this grill. Being a desert environment, the heat of the day gave way to really cold nights, thereby necessitating the scarf.
We woke up at 5a.m. on our last day in order to visit the Halali watering hole before the morning's game drive. If you know Lauren, then you know that convincing her to wake up at that ungodly hour can be challenging. But, she was up and eager and we wrapped ourselves in blankets as we waited patiently by the watering hole. Not a single animal made an appearance; our early rise had been for nought. We set out on the game drive, feeling that it would be impossible to top the previous day's onslaught of animals. We saw the "usual" zebras, giraffes, elephants, cheetah, springboks, etc. on this last drive. It's funny how animals that you have never seen before in your life can become so commonplace after only a few days. Then, the amazing happened. As we were cruising at 40kph back to camp, one of the German medical students yelled for Coco to stop. I don't know how she spotted it, but hidden in the brush was a leopard, the last of The Big Five and Lauren's favorite animal. She had asked Coco about their habits and he said that they were very, very elusive and only came out during the night. Against all odds, there was a leopard sitting under a tree in the middle of the day, just hanging out. We were floored. It didn't move at all, but the moment will etched in our minds forever.
A closer view of the graceful feline.
Directly after seeing the leopard, we spotted a solitary male lion walking across the vast expanse of the Etosha Pan, a dry lakebed that gets somewhat filled in the rainy season.
As it turned out, this was an elderly male that had likely been booted out of the pride by a younger, stronger male. He walked with a noticeable limp in his right hind leg, probably due to injuries sustained in his battle with the usurper. He may have been old, but he sure had a hell of a roar.
Elderly or not, he was still a beautiful creature.After tracking this lion for a while, we made the decision to have lunch and then depart for Tsumeb. Our eyes were exhausted from constantly being on the lookout for game and it would have been impossible to top the experience we had in Etosha.
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