Etosha at last!!!

The 7th of June dawned bright and chilly (1deg), I was delighted to wake to the call of  Bare-Cheeked Babbler, a LIFER. Wonderful birthday messages arrived on my cell phone. After breakfast and a quick walk about the area we packed a very large bag of faith and headed towards Etosha, I say faith because I had tried to book a camp site on line before we left home, I was told that there was not one site available in the whole of Etosha.

The drive from Outjo to Okaukuejo was through interesting habitat.  At the main office we asked for accommodation and were told that the park was just about empty, Priase God, I'm going to spend my birthday in Etosha!!! We drove through to Halali where we set up camp for three days.  Our site was at the edge of the camp site, this meant that many interesting birds visited the dripping tap in our 'patch' I spent many hours at the water hole near the camp.  We had some interesting sightings during our stay in Etosha.  Interesting night visitors in the form of Honey Badger that cleaned out the rubbish bin, a Leopard grunting at the water hole and some interesting owls.

For me this Etosha is not about animals or birds, but about vast areas of nothing, about habitats that one would not see anywhere else in Africa, of quiet times to contemplate the still small voice in my heart that celebrates the vastness of God's creation.

Doug, I wonder what is going on here

The road onto Etosha View site

Forever and ever

Bath time

Doug explaining to tourist truck driver about Batallion 32, Doug had just
finished reading this book when he met this man who's father was in Batallion 32,
the family had just been reunited a few weeks before this photo was taken.

Our camp site in Halali camp

Grey-Backed Camaroptera

Dusky Sunbird

Lion Kill

She made the kill, he claimed the kill, she just looks on?

Old male Ellie, tusks very short due to poor mineral intake,
the tusks break very easliy

Koppie with Maringa Trees

Double-Banded Sandgrouse male

Horns and Thorns

African Wild Cat, my first ever sighting

Familiar sight at water hole

Its a long way across the road when you walk like this

Northern Black Korhaan

Roads leading into Etosha, view from tower

Spitzkoppe and the road to Outjo

Early morning on the 6th June we packed up and headed north, I had a special dream for the 7th June "to spend my 57th birthday in Etosha"!!! We headed north via Spitzkoppe, Okombahe and Omaruru.  Spitzkoppe was a treat to my 'wanna be' geologist eyes.  On the way we found a site where locals were selling semi precious stones/rocks.  I had saved most of my travel money to spend on semi precious stones int his area, I was not disappointed, my lovely rock collection is on view at our home.  We did not have much time to spend at Spitzkoppe, we did manage to explore the 'bridge' and some of the camp sites,  my notes say site number 9 is remote, no water, no ablutions, just rocks, more rocks and very quiet.  Maybe one day I'll camp at no 9.

Spitzkoppe, our first glimpse of this amazing rock formations

Typical home in this area

The bridge

Coffee break at Number 9

View from Spitzkoppe

Black-Chested Snake Eagle

View through the bridge

Doug at the bridge

Semi precious rocks/stones for sale

Doug, studying the bolts in this rock, must be used for rock climbing!!

A Shower for summer, we had lovely hot water on a cold winter night, temperatures down to 1 degree,

This was a fun shower, but not such fun at night when the temperature was 1 deg

Our Shack in the private reserve.  Shower and loo on the right

After lunch and coffee we headed to Omaruru then onto Kalkveld.  My notes say this looks like a town that died?  We took the M63 to Outjo, this road was in very good condition and had lots of wonderful birds,  we had no accommodation booked at Outjo so when we arrived at a sign Oppiklippi which was 10km south of Outjo we sms the owner's who 'let us in' A very rustic quite night in a private game farm was special.  Imagine arriving to find Kudu in your front garden.  Imagine getting a good sighting of White-Tailed Shirke in your front garden, yes imagine waking up on your 57th birthday in a shack in the bush. 

Swakopmund and Walvis Bay

The wind was pumping when we reached Walvis Bay, so instead of going into town to do the tourist thing, we drove straight to the Sophia Dale camp site which is 10km inland from Swakopmund, at least this camp site was protected, Doug and I managed to pitch our tent and get some rest.  The following day we did the tourist thing in both towns, the museum at Swakopmund was very interesting.  No photos allowed!!

Sandy Road at Walvis Bay

The wind storm that raged for three days, sand everywhere!!!

View of Swakopmund Beach on a calm day

Sand covered roads at new housing estate

Town Birds

Sophia Dale camp site

Sophia Dale camp site

Tropic of Capricorn

Its blog catch up time:

Rock formations, I just wish I had studied geology!!

Ruppell's Korhaan family, wonderful to see them with a chick

One, two, three jump

A Painted Lady in Swakopmund

Zillions of cormorants on their way to feeding grounds

More cormorants

From Sossusvlei we traveled to Solitaire where we feasted on the famous Apple Pie and other delicious treats.  The road from Solitaire to Walvis Bay was very bad and just went on forever, we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, traveled through some amazing habitats, and had a fantastic trip.