After that really great time at the Etosha Pan we continued our safari towards the Otavi Mountain region and the land of the bush people. A couple of people in our group were quite nerveous that they could miss a lot and therefore wanted to start the journey to our next Lodge very early in the morning. We only had roughly 200km to drive and my travel guide book didnt tell me much to see for that region however I was outvoted to stay at this beautiful place of the Mokuti Lodge till 10.30am and enjoy a sleep in, so we started at 8.30am. We didnt even stop at the place where 80.000 years ago a single meteroite came down ….
We stopped in Tsumeb for fuel and a toilet and it was already boiling hot. Rita and Frederik had to get some cash money as well so we stopped in one of the towns. Immediately we got of the car we were surrounded from local people trying to sell their products. We felt a bit pressured by them if we are honest. Approx at 11 am we arrived at out accommodation for that night: The Fiume Lodge, this time in a Farm-Guesthouse https://fiume-lodge.com/lodge. After a short stroll over the area some of my travel mates admitted that I should have more strongly intervened …. very basic place, reminded me on the colonial time in terms of interior and style and nothing, really nothing to do or to explore. The only highlight was a promising waterhole in the backyard which would be illuminated by night. At 12pm we were introduced to our lunch experience for the next couple of days – called light lunch: Sandwich (Ham & Cheese) and a bit of salad! And you better have no different wishes as to the topics of the sandwich, like only cheese or only ham, in 95% it would not work! A standard sandwich is ham & cheese. 🙂
Well …. as the waterhole was empty I decided to relax a bit, read my books, write my travel journey diary ….. Dinner was served at 7pm and we got some kudu grilled meat and other dishes, very tasty! I took my after dinner drink outside looking at the waterhole and only one animal was there …. so early bed time for me!
Next morning we started early again. 300km ahead of us towards the border to Botsuana in east direction. The track itself was rather unspectacular. Bumpy roads, try and dusty area ….. I dozed off a bit (now sitting again in the middle row) and at around 2pm we arrived at Tsumkwe Lodge our accommodation for the next 2 nights https://tsumkwe-lodge.com/en/. It reminded my on a military camp a bit ….
We were very warmly welcomed from the staff there!! The rooms are very basic and I had my first spiders in the room or shall I say in the hut.
After the mandatory light lunch again 🙂 one of the San was our guide for the afternoon excursion. He took us to a Cultural Village of the San people from where we started to an 1,5 hour bush walk to learn more about the life of the San. When we arrived and got of the Jeep the San where hiding in the shade of one of the bigger trees. The situation was very awkward for me!! Although he explained to us that we are more then welcome to take photos I couldnt!! I had the feeling that the San didnt really want to start walking with us stupid tourists …. also I felt really bad as they were all sitting together in the sand in their traditional simple clothes (btw in the straw huts I saw multiple plastic bags containing other clothes from current times …. so not sure if that performance was not only made for us …. ) … we were standing around them looking at them like in the Zoo … taking photos!! If I could I would have gone if I am honest! I don´t like something like that!! We couldnt really understand what our San tour guide told them to obviously motivate them to stand up and go on the walk with us. However as soon as it started I felt more comfortable and I could take some pictures as well. We learnt a lot about their hunting, herbs, plants etc …. And at the end we were asked to buy something from the “shop” which the guide called: Mama pick and Papa pay. Which I found much better then giving money to them.
Dinner was served in the garden and we had another early night before we got on our next excursion early in the morning visiting the Khaudum Nationalpark. http://www.met.gov.na/national-parks/khaudum-national-park/220/
It was very fresh that early in the morning and took us probably an hour to get there. In the park itself all roads are sand roads and very, very bumby. So sitting in the Jeep in the front row it was lot´s of fun and a ride. On the was we passed an ostriches family with baby´s – that was really nice to see and a good start. However because of us the parents were running in different directions into the bushes and left the baby´s next to the road ….
We wanted to visit 3 – 4 different waterholes depending how fast we would get around and what we would see at the waterholes. In that park there are also some shelters we could walk up to watch the animals for a while. And to keep it short: we pretty much saw elephants, elephants, elephants, some warthdogs and elephants ……… We even had to pass a herd of elephants who didnt like that to much as they had been spread across the road and our driver had to muve back in order to give them space and in the howling the engine so that it sounded like a big animal in order to get them to leave us in peace. We had some picknick lunch in one of the shelters and bumped then back to the entrance/exit of the park.
And you know what: we saw the ostrich family re-united again! 🙂
The last night in Namibia was coming. In reflection: Namibia has a great nature and amazing wildlife. However I was very surprised to see that the apartheid is still in issue in that country and to see that the white (mainly german) people are owning all farms whilst the black people are living in really poor conditions, not very educated, majority not employed, young people hanging out on petrol station, drunken ….. and trying to raid and trap tourists. Well … on the positve side: I have seen some of the most amazing wildlife and I am still looking for the rest of the Big 5 and for the male lion! 🙂
Next stop: Botsuana!! Looking forward to it ….
Ina T.
Ina Thinking 