Africa Journey - Day 10 thru 18

This is written day 18 of the 60 day Africa journey. Please be aware there are some photos of bare chested women in this blog as I have been photographing normal daily life for some people.
The first group, called Himbas, were unique for their crafts, the way they assemble their hair and color their bodies with a clay type of mixture. I spent a few minutes trying to get good photos in bad light.

We left Swakopmund, Namibia after a three day break and headed north out of the desert toward the swampy grasslands that looks more like what most people envision Africa to be. On our way to this new area we made one last stop along the Western Coast of Namibia to view a huge colony of Cape Fur Seals and I found this guy…

Our first stop was a rather boring looking area with a bush camp. A bush camp is what you would have if you camped on your local football field. No view to look at, no activities, no shower, no toilet, etc., you get the picture. So envision this boring bush camp with tall rocky cliffs around, yawn. Then it started to rain, African style, like our days in Texas, nothing halfway. Soon, there were rivers where dry ground was ten minutes earlier, there were waterfalls cascading down from all of the cliffs, there was a shower you could stand in and bath under. Oh yeah, there were tents floating downstream, some blowing downstream, some just collapsing. There was a huge tarp to attach to our truck so we could eat and cook underneath away from the rain. It either had too much rain to stay up or the wind was too strong and it kept blowing off its moorings. Thirty minutes later, the storm passed; an hour later the streams and waterfalls stopped flowing and we returned to our activities of getting camp set up, soaking wet. Not an enjoyable evening but a true camping experience.

The next day, under clear skies, we headed to Etosha National Park in Namibia where we would spend two nights in two different camp sites. We set up camp and then set out on a nature and game drive. Truly, too many things to describe but the highlights were giraffe and zebras. Of course, we thought this was pretty good, but it was just the warm-up.

The next day we went on a frustrating game drive covering one entire section of the park and there was little to no animal activity. We proceeded to the far side heading for our camp area when we began to see lots of wildlife. From a distance, we found a mother and young cheetah frolicking near some zebras.

We found some zebras all around us in many locations, some with young, some playing together, or just eating.

So, tired from being in the truck all day, we headed back toward our camp. First, we saw some vultures in a tree which is a sure sign there is something dead or dying nearby. We found the unfortunate victim of life in the wild and what happens when they fall.

In the waning light, we came upon an unexpected delight. Sitting by the side of the road, watching life go by, was a huge male lion with six lionesses! Almost close enough to touch. Our noisy diesel truck really didn’t disturb the lions, as they moved a whole 25 feet away and went back to lying in the grass ignoring us. These photos taken with a telephoto lens but not enlarged or cropped were from approx. 20 yards away.

We left Etosha and headed to an area populated by “Bushmen” who have been living a traditional life off of the land for a very long time, like Native Americans used to. We watched them make a fire from dried out weeds and pieces of wood, no flint or other ignition besides the friction of the wood. Other photos show parts of the normal bushmen life. I also took a video of the group but can't upload it yet.

Our next camp was supposed to be a really good one, but the recent rainfall had washed away the road so we skipped to the subsequent camp and spent two nights there, relaxing all day the 2nd day with nothing much to do so I worked on processing photos. Of some concern was the sign hanging at our site that said, “Danger – Crocodiles”. They claim this is just to discourage swimming, but you have to wonder what sign they have hanging in the water to discourage the crocs from coming on shore.

We left this camp and headed to the Okavango Delta to camp for two nights. This required crossing from Namibia to Botswana, no big deal. Two things concerned me. One was that we would be transported in mokoros (dugout canoes). Some will remember my failure to correctly board a canoe in Minnesota, dumping my camera in the fresh water and causing the loss of a camera and a lens worth $2,000 a few years ago. (covered by insurance, but still…)

The other concerning thing was a posted warning on our truck that said:
1. Never go to the toilet alone, at night.
2. Avoid going to the toilet in the middle of the night.
3. If you have to go, shine your headlamp outside and if you see eyes glowing in the dark and staring back at you, stay in your tent!

I guess not too many 55 year old men go on this trip.
The good news is, I managed to survive both concerns. We had an amazing trip through the reedy water inhabited by hippopotamus that can be quite dangerous to man even though they are vegetarians. I didn’t get a Hippo photo at this time but can share one from our campground.

Well, maybe not what you were expecting but no man stood too close to these urinals.

The land is full of elephants, who are “in season” so they are a little boisterous too. Monkeys and baboons are all over the area too. Not many good photos but lots of signs and sounds of the existence of many wild animals on the two walks. One amazing sighting was a pearl fish owl and another was a fish eagle. In the late afternoon, I took a guided walk to look for animals to photograph. While there was an established path, it was mostly overgrown and a machete would not have gone to waste on this walk. Two thoughts went through my head… First, I imagined coming around a corner and finding Dr. Livingstone and uttering the famous words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” (Note: We do go to the town of Livingstone in the next week.) The second thought was I could envision Johnny Weissmuller high above the canopy swinging from tree to tree, giving his best Tarzan call.

Leaving this camp, we headed back to Namibia for one more night in our “crocodile” camp before going to another fabulous wild animal area in Botswana the next day.
It surprising that the first section of this journey is almost over since it ends in five days in Victoria Falls, as six people will leave the group and two will join. If I didn’t take another step, there are enough memories and photos to fill a book so I can only sit and wonder in amazement what the next 5½ weeks will bring. The size and scope of Africa is stunning, the nature and wildlife also amazes everyone. The only thing I’ve seen that comes close is Alaska but even that beautiful area doesn’t have the scale and scope and diversity of life, animal, bird and human that this part of Africa does. I haven’t said much about birds but the size, scope and beauty of the African birds justifies its own blog. Likewise, the people we have encountered are amazingly nice, cheerful, smart, thoughtful, understanding, etc.

At breakfast this AM, we were threatened with rain but got this instead…