Namibia – the long trip to Etosha National Park

Well, I hope the black rhino got your attention. The vagabond teddy bear is back on the road, this time in Namibia in Africa. Actually, I have been away for over a week already, but limited access to Wi-Fi means that I will be writing my blog with several days’ delay. My trip to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia took the best part of two days as I flew with overnights in Amsterdam and Cape Town, to where I will return for a few days at the end of the trip. My overnight in Cape Town was very pleasant; I sped through immigration and baggage collection and got a shuttle to the city’s only airport hotel. The next morning, I returned to the airport for the two hour flight to Windhoek, and had the chance to meet a fellow celebrity.

My arrival at Windhoek went much less smoothly. My flight arrived just after a huge A380, and getting through immigration, buying a sim card, and collecting my car took three hours. The hire car company made me watch a safety video, which explained that the accident rate in Namibia is 50x higher than in Europe and showed how to drive safely on Namibia’s many gravel roads. Two immaculately dressed men in suits then demonstrated how to change a car tyre – something that many tourists will need to do.

I spent the night in a small guest house in Windhoek, and had dinner in a local restaurant, finding that the steaks were good and the wine cheap – always a good start for a holiday. The next morning, I set off on the long drive north to Etosha National Park. The road was straight, asphalted, and monotonous, with one lane each way. On this type of road, the speed limit is a generous 120km/h (75m/h) and I covered the 520 km in about 6 hours including breaks. Every 10km or so the road had a rest area consisting of a table, chairs and a waste bin located under a shady tree – except for the tree, each one is identical to all the others all through Namibia.

I finally arrived at 4pm at the Mushara Bush Camp, a lodge located just outside of the park. Eager to finally see something interesting after nearly three full days travelling and overnighting, I dumped my bags in my rather stylish tent, and set off to the park gate in my car, where I paid my entrance fee and bought a guidebook which had a map and several pages of drawings of the reserve’s animals. As soon as I had driven inside, a new world opened up. Antelope and giraffes stood nonchalantly by the side of the road (or sometimes in the road), as the bush began to come back to life after the heat of the midday sun. Like most newly arrived visitors, I spent a lot of time photographing giraffes, springboks and zebras – animals so common that after a couple of days I barely noticed them anymore.

The concentration of wildlife, so close to the road, was amazing. Although I thought I was snapping common animals, when I got home and checked my photos against the park’s guide, I realised I had also spotted the rare black-faced impala.

I spent a couple of pleasant hours driving around and trying out the settings on my complicated new camera. I was pleased that towards the end of my visit, I bumped into this elephant.

The sun sank slowly, bathing the bush in an orange light and reminding me that I had to be back in time for the park gate closure at the very precise time of 19.02.  Back at my bush camp I enjoyed a drink beside the campfire, with the background of a still dark red sky.

Dinner was excellent – kudu stew and impala steak (presumably not a black-faced impala).

Then I settled down to try to watch the rugby world cup semifinal between England and South Africa, whose team is nicknamed the springboks. The lodge had no television, and I rapidly understood that the camp’s Wi-Fi would never cope with video. It even struggled with text updates, so I spent an anxious couple of hours continually hitting the “refresh” button on my browser to see England build a healthy lead, only to concede a late penalty and lose 15-16 in the dying minutes.

Disappointed, I headed to my car to pick up a bottle of water for the night…..only to run in to a small group of springboks. Out of all the animals living in Namibia, it was the one I least wanted to see at that moment.

Next Post: First Full Day at Etosha