Schlagwort-Archive: Namibia

Botswana, Namibia, World Trip 2018-19

Botswana off the beaten track & back into Namibia

Hinterlasse einen Kommentar

Our original plan after visiting the pans was the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). Once out of Nxai and in cellphone range, we called up the campsites we wanted to stay at…and got a bad surprise: everything was fully booked, most likely due to the Easter holidays. Damn! Spontaneous plan change needed. As a first step, we drove back to Maun, where we made up our mind to go off the beaten tourist track and drive up to Drotsky Cave and the Aha Hills next day.

It was a long drive on some proper 4×4 roads and we started to doubt if this had been a good idea. But once we arrived, we got welcomed by a really friendly guy from the Botswana National Museum, who works in researching the caves of the region. He offered to show us around the caves – which was a good idea. By ourselves, we wouldn’t have found the way around in the dark, certainly wouldn’t have squeezed through some gaps and just wouldn’t have seen the cave properly.

He told us lots of stories about his work and how he sometimes encounters leopards hiding in the niches of the caves. Uhm, did I mention I was glad we had a guide!? The only animals we got to see were spiders, cave cockroaches and looooooads of bats though. Loads, and loads of bats! Some caves were just buzzing and I was worried a bat might crash into me. Lol. The guy also showed us a great wild camping spot, where we spent our last night in Botswana! Sigh… time went fast suddenly.

The next two days, we drove back to Windhoek, stopping in Grootfontein and at Waterberg Plateau on the way. Waterberg Plateau is a beautiful table mountain with red rocks and lots of green vegetation. While our campsite wasn’t the best in itself, the views were really nice!

We also went on a short hike up to a viewpoint on the plateau which was nice. Unfortunately, they don’t allow any longer unguided walks anymore.

In Windhoek, we spent a lot of time organizing ourselves, doing laundry, cleaning up the car etc. We also headed out to Daan Viljoen game reserve for a bit, but found it rather disappointing and empty.

In Windhoek city, we drove past the most important buildings – nice to see, but nothing really special. Namibia really is about nature and not cities of course!

And then it was time to say goodbye to our awesome car (sneeeef!), and to Namibia. It’s been an amazing time driving around by ourselves, filled with adventures. From here on, we became backpackers again, hopping on a 24h bus ride to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

Namibia, World Trip 2018-19

Namibia – Summary & Pictures

Ein Kommentar

People: The locals in Namibia were sooo friendly! It was such a nice change for us coming from Ethiopia. We felt a bit like in Aussie sometimes, with random people asking „how are you doing“ before getting to business. We met lots of different other travellers, mainly older couples or families – but the interactions were usually only short. Everyone travels more for themselves.

Food: We mainly cooked for ourselves, so I cannot comment on the local food. It was nice to be able to buy most things we are used to in the supermarkets and even some nice (actual) bread!

Weather: We travelled Namibia in March, which is at the edge of rainy season, but got mostly lucky. We did have a big thunderstorm on our first evening and some rain here and there, but most of the time the sun was out and shining for us! 🙂

Costs: We put our Namibia and Botswana budget together, since it is hard to separate. Botswana was a bit more expensive (mainly the campsites in the national parks), but not much more. On average, we spent just under 65€ per person, per day which already includes our rental car that was already over 70€/day, and the car insurance. So all in all not too bad I think!

Accommodation: Apart from our first 2 nights before getting the car, we only camped. Of course – we had already paid for our 4×4 with roof tent, so why wouldn’t we!? We had some very beautiful campsites, some basic ones, some shitty ones – a mix of everything. Cost ranged from 3€ to 25€ pp/night and the expensive ones were definitely not always the best!

Infrastructure: We had our own car, so can’t comment on busses and the-like. Roads were decent in Namibia, some tar, lots of good gravel, some sand in Sossusvlei. We didn’t get bored but it wasn’t too challenging – apart from the game parks in Caprivi probably.

Illnesses: We were happy & healthy!

Safety: No issues whatsoever.

Itinerary: We travelled the whole country, heading South first from Windhoek, to Fish River Canyon. Then we gradually worked our way up, hitting the usual tourist spots: Luderitz, Kolmanskop, Sossusvlei, Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Spitzkoppe, Cape Cross, Twyfelfontein and Palmwag area and Etosha national park. We then drove up into the Caprivi Strip from where we crossed into Botswana for a few weeks. We came back to Grootfontein, and drove past the Waterberg Plateau back to Windhoek. I think we can safely say: we’ve seen it all! At least all that interested us.

Highlight: Sossusvlei, especially Dead Vlei.

Lowlight: Luderitz.

Click on the photos below to see our full photo album of Namibia: 

IMG_7092 (Medium)

Namibia, World Trip 2018-19

Namibia Part 4 – Caprivi Strip

Hinterlasse einen Kommentar

After our organisation day in Tsumeb, we left for Rundu which was not a long driving day either. We just needed some slower days after all these busy ones in Etosha I guess! So we found us a nice campsite on the river, looking over to Angola, where we relaxed in the afternoon. Unfortunately, we also discovered that we had a small leak in one of our tyres, so next day we had to get that fixed.

IMG_6768 (Medium)

Our next stop was near Divundu where we did an afternoon game drive in Mahango Game Reserve – surprisingly great! We didn’t see any cats, but were busy the whole time looking at smaller animals such as the rare sable antelope that we hadn’t seen before.

At the waterhole, we ran into a herd of elephants who we watched for a long time. At one point, they scared each other or so and all ran backwards suddenly. A scary moment, since we were parked not too far away!

IMG_8139 (Medium)

Since we had liked Mahango GR so much, we decided to visit another part of Bwabwata national park next morning: the Buffalo Core area. The wetland scenery was very pretty and we did end up seeing a herd of buffaloes! Overall though, we preferred Mahango GR.

From here, we went on to a campsite near Kongola where I attempted and successfully delivered my first ever BBQ! Unfortunately, we discovered yet another tyre puncture, caused by an evil thorn which was still stuck in there…

So next day, we had to get that fixed in Katima Mulilo. But before that, we visited the 3rd main part of the Bwabwata national park: the Kwando Core area. We drove in sometimes deep sand up until horseshoe bend – a photogenic river bend. It seemed though that we had chosen the wrong time: in the morning, the park felt very empty. Only on the way out we were lucky at a waterhole to see an elephant herd for a short time, before they left. Too bad, no luck with cats again!

In Katima Mulilo we got the tyre fixed and did some more groceries before spending a last night in Namibia close to the border to Botswana which we crossed next day…