Namibia’s land surface covers more than 820,000 km square with a population of around 3 million people. It is a very dry country with vast areas that are not quite inhabitable. Mining has been their main industry for many years, but they are catching up with their neighbours on the tourism part too.
As we were not sure what to expect, we in trusted Ryan and the Wandering Thru team to point us in the right direction. We have known Ryan for more than decade as he has guided us many times in the past. For our first trip to Namibia, Ryan had selected two lodges – Ongava Lodge and Desert Rhino Camp. After meeting up with Ryan in Johannesburg the night before, the three of us headed off early the next morning for our adventure.
Ongava Lodge
On arrival at Ongava Lodge, we were impressed by the warm welcome from the team and our local guide, “Mr B”. The lodge itself was very comfortable with large well -appointed rooms and lovely views over this semi – arid landscape. The highlight of the lodge however was the hide overlooking the water hole (more about this later).
Our first drive soon kicked off with a pair of mating lions. The male was a beautiful young lion and they were both calm around the vehicle. The pair were courting and we witnessed the pair ensuring the lion population in the area would grow and carry on.
On return to the lodge we had dinner overlooking the waterhole which was visited by numerous black rhino. We have only briefly seen black rhino before and it was amazing to be this close to this magnificent animal. We had a constant stream of rhinos visiting the waterhole including a cow and her calf. After dinner we made our way quietly down to the waterhole and had a clear view of the rhino at ground level.
Etosha visit
Our second day was a full day drive into the Etosha National Park and the opportunity to visit the famous salt pan. The dry pan itself covers 4730 kilometres squared and can be seen from space. As the park is public, it had more vehicles with several self drives but there were plentiful watering holes where we had a good view of a variety of animals and birds, including zebra, springbok and ostrich.
The night skies were absolutely incredible as there is no light pollution and with no moisture in the air, it is very clear. After dinner we had another drive out for some of the most amazing sight and photos of the Milky Way.
Exploring more of Ongava
The next day was spent on the Ongava Concession and included a visit to the research centre. We had a long chat with one of the researchers based there, learning about the varied projects they are undertaking in the area. En route we had a great sighting of a herd of elephants calmly walking down the track.
However the highlights of the day were a close encounter with a small crash of white rhino and a wild cat. The white rhino were less skittish than the black rhino and were “happy” to pose for some great shots. The wild cat was surprisingly the same size as a domestic cat, it even walked around with its tail in the air as birds mobbed it as it walked through a small clearing. The only difference being the sharp yellow eyes and russet colouration behind the ears.
Our final morning we managed one more short drive and were awarded with a sighting of a rare aardwolf. Aardwolf are the smallest of the hyena species and feed solely on insects. It was only Ryan’s third ever sighting of one. He did run off quite quickly but we managed to get a good snap of him. Overall Ongava was a fabulous camp – great sightings, very hospitable team and the amazing hide by the waterhole.
Next stop, Palmwag
We flew only 45 minutes from Ongava Lodge to Desert Rhino Camp, the landscape changed dramatically underneath us. We passed over some of the most stunning yet seemingly inhospitable scenery we have ever seen. Desert Rhino Camp is located in the most remote spot we have ever visited. The concession is known as Palmwag and forms part of the greater Damaraland The camp had just been refurbished and we arrived on the second day after reopening. The camp was like a mirage in the desert. Beautifully constructed tents offering guests extreme glamping!
There was no other light in the area apart from this small group of tents and the central dining and sitting areas. You feel quite vulnerable as you realise that this is an area where it would be very difficult to survive on your own. However, it also displays the wonder of nature as even in this desolate area, reminiscent of Mars, life not only survives but thrives. It also highlights the resilience of mankind, as we learnt over the next few days how local communities also thrive in this area.
Desert Rhino Camp is a collaboration between Wildnerness safaris and three local communities. All the staff at the camp are drawn from these communities as are an incredible team of trackers who work in support of the Save the Rhino Trust. On arrival we received the warmest welcome song from the team, who displayed such great pride in their newly opened camp.
Special first drive
Our guide Bons had the most amazing knowledge of the flora and fauna of the area. He talked about how his skills came from growing up in the desert where his love of the wildlife and the area developed. He appeared to be determined to pass as much of that knowledge to us over our four days at the camp. The first evening started in an amazing way with the Save the Rhino trackers guiding us in to our first sighting of black rhino on foot.
We were then driven to an outdoor boma to have the scorpion dinner. This was a braai / barbecue accompanied by singing from the camp staff. Our guide Bons appeared to be a particular star of the evening providing bass! We also had a quick walk outside the dining area to see some particularly nasty large scorpions lurking nearby.
Hardcore safari
The first evening was a gentle introduction to what turned out to be a real hardcore safari. Over the next three days we had daily drives of between eleven and twelve hours long. We covered immense distances across the desert with our longest drive being around 100kms! This was all off road on some of the roughest terrain we have transversed. It wasn’t for the faint-hearted. The mornings were cold, requiring multiple layers and an ever-increasing number of hot water bottles provided by Bons! However, it quickly warmed up to temperatures closer to 28 degrees, at which point out came the sun tan lotion and off went the layers!
With both Ryan and Bons we quickly became “experts” at spotting tracks in the desert and rocks. Frustratingly we saw numerous tracks of lion, leopard, hyena and elephant but never managed to catch a sighting of these elusive desert dwellers. The days sped by and we fortunately frequently saw black rhino helped by the tracking team. We also saw a herd of Hartmann’s mountain zebra, giraffe, oryx and numerous springbok.
Special flora and birds
Bons also introduced us to the native flora – much of it both poisonous and alien! Plants that grow here are adapted to their difficult environment. The most alien looking was the welwitschia plant. This plant grows incredibly slowly and are very long living. The leaves appear wilting but when you touch they feel like cardboard. Another bush that appeared throughout the desert is the Damara milk-bush. We were told not to touch it as its latex like sap is poisonous. This does not stop both the rhino and oryx feeding on them though, however we avoided it!
Our long drives were broken by lunch set up in the desert by Bons and the trackers. It felt surreal sitting in this hostile environment eating salad and cooking steaks.
On objective of our Namibian safari was to see how many different species of birds we could spot. Ryan and Bons proved to be much more successful at both spotting and identifying the birds. A total of 92 different species at the last count, not quite the 100 we were aiming for. Many of them were LBJs or little brown jobs. However our expert guides were able to readily identify them for us. We did see some beautiful birds that were more easily differentiated. Highlights were the Ruppells Korhaan, which were plentiful and noisy, Benguella Long-billed larks and the African Hawk Eagle.
Conclusion
Our trip came to an end all too soon. We loved Namibia and a return visit is on the cards. We might go in the summer next time when the wet weather means a greater array of animals. There are so many areas of this beautiful country we want to visit, a trip of only a week did not do it justice. We learnt so much during our seven days which was thanks to the love and passion of Ryan and the local guides. Looking forward to seeing Ryan in Botswana next year!
All pictures were taken by Simon Malik.
