We were really not unhappy to leave the Namutoni Camp after just one
night. Granted, it does get a bit tiring to keep having to pack and re-pack
your stuff almost every day, but this camp really did not make you want to stay
on. As much as both Dolomite and Okaukuejo were nice, and it was pleasant to
sit around your cabin taking in the views, at Namutoni you really did not want
to sit around outside your cabin. Other than the fact that it all looked like a
dump site, it was also all the bugs and stuff crawling around. So, we put our
luggage back in to the car and drove to the restaurant for breakfast.
Already the previous night the steak we had at the restaurant was
actually really good, and this morning they had some seriously good croissants.
The proper, loaded with butter French style croissants! Since we had a long
drive in front of us, and we really didn’t feel like stopping to eat on the
way, we stuffed some croissants and fruit in a bag for the road as well.
On the way to the gate out of Etosha, we headed back on a small loop
for our last little game drive here. Even though the night before we had seen a
dik-dik we still wanted to see one in daylight. It did not take us long before
we came across one of the little beauties.
There were a number of giraffes around, as well as some grey louries
a.k.a go-away birds. At one point we spotted a springbok carcass in a tree, a
typical food storage for a leopard. As the carcass looked reasonably fresh, we
had a very close look to see if we were able to spot one more leopard. But it
was not to be this morning.
Suddenly a huge group of striped mongoose cross the road in front of us!
We exited through the Von Lindequist Gate on the east of Etosha, after
over five days having completely covered the park from west to east. It truly
is an amazing game park with all kinds of landscapes. The only thing that is a
bit unfortunate is the poor quality of the Namutoni Camp given that this
eastern part of the park is probably the most interesting one. For any future
visit I suppose it would be worth investigating camps situated just outside the
park, or the considerably more expensive luxury camp situated a bit north of
Namutoni.
The road leaving the park is properly paved, and it then gets even
better. This is one of the only paved roads in Namibia, and is the main road
leading eventually to Windhoek. Going is good, with very little traffic, and
the road pretty straight. The only thing is to remain vigilant all the time to
any possible wildlife at the side of the road, and you are often reminded of
the risks by the various warthog, antelope and other cow warning signs. I
notice on more than one occasion that the warthog warning is not to be taken
lightly as they are quite common along the side of the road. What does surprise
me though is the considerable lack of roadkill that I see, and I am happy to
also avoid hitting anything.
The road to Erindi takes us through some more important cities of
Namibia, the first being Tsumeb. We have no need for stopping, and push on
until we reach Otavi. Here we decide to stop to stretch our legs, use the bathroom
and perhaps buy some cold drinks. The place we stop at looks like your typical
truck-stop, and there is a fair bit of activity going on here. I don’t want to
fill up with gas yet as I have more than enough left, and have decided to fill
the car at the last place I can before heading to Erindi.
We are quickly back on the road, and heading towards Otjiwarongo. The
further south we get, the greener the surrounding gets. There has been some
recent rain, and judging by the clouds in the sky it is likely it will rain
again. This would actually be a nice thing as it would wash some of the dust
from the car which is really starting to look “well-travelled”! However, other
than the occasional drop, we don’t get wet.
Otjiwarongo turns out to be a quaint village with clear German
influence like witnessed in Swakopmund. Actually, it is a bit of a mix between
some old colonial German look and something from the US west. The street names
however are all German. We stop at a service station and fill up on diesel.
Filling up in Namibia is a more pleasant experience than back home first of all
because the diesel costs something like 80 centimes a litre, and the attendant
is happy to wash all the windows and even the car lights for a small tip. I am
sure if I paid him 2 francs he would wash the entire car!
We are soon driving the last distance to Erindi, and progress continues
to be as good as it has been all day. It is a nice change to see the kilometres
go by as quickly as they do, after having spent the last five days driving at
10 to 20 kmh. Suddenly I see the sign for the turn-off to Erindi! The paved
road ends, and we are back on a bright red sand trail again.
As always, the dirt road is very good, although the red sand here makes
it a bit more slippery than previously. What makes this part difficult though
is the number of little birds that keep flying right in front of the car. I do
notice that a number of them have obviously been hit by earlier cars, and I
hope that I manage to avoid them all. We also notice quite a number of much
larger vultures on the trees next to the road, and just miss out on a great
photo with some five of them in the same tree. As I stop the car, they all
decide to fly away…
At the gate to the game park, the guard explains how we drive to get to
the Old Traders Lodge. We have something like 40 km to do in the park, which at
first does not seem like too much. However we soon discover that the road is
not in such good shape, and for the most part is like a washboard. The problem
with this is you need to carry some speed to try and smooth things out, but we
want to go slow in order to check out the animals. It becomes a bit of a
struggle to try and make things reasonably smooth, and so I spend quite some
time checking the road surface rather than spotting animals.
Myriam as always does a good job spotting though. We find that the
landscape is typical of cheetah land, and reminds us of where we saw a cheetah
mom with five cubs all those years ago in the Serengeti. However, in spite of
looking carefully, we don't see any.
Arriving at the lodge we do see a huge elephant, almost greeting us
there. The place looks very well organized, and I go to complete the check-in.
We look to sign up for a night-drive that very night if possible, but we are
told that a night drive is charged a fixed CHF 200 regardless of how many
people join. It turns out nobody else has signed up, and so we would have to
pay the full fee if we want to go. We let them know that we will go if at least
another couple signs up.
We unload the car, and settle down in our cabin for a rest. As there is
afternoon cake and coffee being served at the restaurant, we head over there to
check it out. The place is beautiful, with a huge terrace overlooking a dam.
The deep water is populated by hippos and crocodiles, and as we sit and watch
for a while, the place is visited by your regular giraffes and various
antelopes.
Later for dinner it becomes clear that there will be no night drive
that evening, which is actually not such a bad thing. We are quite tired from
the long day on the road, and getting up at 5 every day for a week is taking
its toll. There is also a bit of a storm blowing. So after dinner we head back
for a reasonably early evening, after having been able to benefit a bit from
the wifi coverage at the restaurant.
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