I have been fortunate enough to explore Africa's Namibia!
Namiba, a republic in Africa’s south west covering over 800,000 square kms with such vast and diverse landscapes, amazing wildlife and people. In early March this year I had the opportunity to explore just some of this area with thanks to specialists, The Africa Safari Co.
Being my first trip to Africa I was very excited to see the wildlife and landscapes, experience a safari drive and local culture and all of that I did! Day two, (day one being just arriving in the capital Windheok) we departed in what was to be our mode of transport for the next 9 days, an extended and modified troop carrier! Only a short three hour drive found us just outside the Okonjima Nature Reserve, and it was here that I was awed with my first animal sighting – giraffes! Such stunning creatures, I think I nearly filled my memory card on my camera right there! Prior to entering the reserve we also spotted zebra, oryx and warthogs! Okanjima Luxury Bush Camp, was our location for the night and what an amazing camp it is.
Before making our way to Mowani Mountain Camp we had another great morning full of wildlife sightings; leopard, springbok, impala, mongoose, cheetah, jackal, eland, blue wildebeest and more, with out even mentioning the birds! Now Mowani Mountain Camp is just spectacular and unique, it is nestled amongst massive granite boulders and is a fantastic base to track the desert adapted elephants, and view some 2,500 stone engravings at Twyfelontein.
The desert adapted elephant is a type unique to Namibia and is one of only two types of elephant known to survive in similar conditions. These elephants can travel distances up to 68km between waterholes and feeding grounds. We also were lucky enough to sight a beautiful pregnant desert rhino and two lions, a male and female who were, shall I say, enjoying themselves!
Now the landscapes I mentioned were diverse, in our nine days we saw mountains, dry riverbeds, wet rivers, massive granite boulders, grey flat sands, desert, lush green bush, beaches, coastal sand dunes and red desert sand dunes! Another highlight was visiting a local Himba Village, this was a very bumpy slow trip (but so so worth it) on not even a two wheel track. I couldn’t see any sort of track at all for the majority of the time but never the less, our guide just knew where we were going!
The Himba people are fascinating, in particular the women and their bathing rituals, which consist of not using a drop of water! Using water would be considered a waste, and they use a combination of animal fat and red ochre which is applied to their skin and they then smoke themselves in a mix of local hand picked herbs!
On the whole I had adventure that I will never forget and wholeheartedly recommend a trip to this part of the world to everyone! If you have any questions about Namibia please do contact Alana here at Travel and Cruise Ceduna.