6th August. Rundu, Namiba

3rd August. Katima Lulilo, Namibia.
I met a Texan today who used to play rugby while he was in the army and after that at university. I was tickled pink. To make it better he was very keen on the All Blacks and subscribed to their news letter on the internet. Well, what could I do on an occasion such as this but to give him the New Zealand scarf I wore to the World Cup last year. Patrick and his 2 children are over here for a vacation and are entranced by the country as we have been.
At the moment we are camped on the edge of the Zambezi River at this place, Katima Lulilo. It is another magnificent river and with such an exotic name how can it be other than entrancing. The sun set in a ball over the water while 2 fishermen cast into the deep water. Hippos are groaning again downstream and swimming is not recommended because of the crocs.
An interesting day today: we left Livingstone mid morning then travelled a short distance to the Botswana border situated on the Zambezi. The idea was to cross into Botswana then spend a couple of days in the Chobe NP . However, when we reached the park entrance we were told the camp site was 30kms into the park on a deep sandy track. 4WD was compulsory with a dif lock on the vehicle. We decided then to just travel on the transit road through the park and go into Namibia the same day. It was only a 50km drive on the transit road and although we kept an eye out for animals, saw nothing for the first 30kms. Suddenly we saw an elephant on the side of the road, the park is famous for its elephants. We stopped and a herd of them followed the leader crossing the road. They just kept coming, we counted well over 50 in that herd. We saw another 2 herds crossing of a smaller number. With that first herd, I pulled up to where they were disappearing into the bush when the last male turned around, rushed at us flapping his massive ears and trumpeting. From other times I know he wouldn’t keep on going, it’s just a bit of bluff, but is still a little scary
5th August. Mahunga Safari Lodge.
You’ve got to take your hat off to these Namibians: this camp sit is part of the lodge but it has everything you could possibly want and all for $14 per night. Once again we are parked on the edge of a great river, this time the Okavanga, but this river doesn’t find an outlet to the sea, instead it exhausts itself in the sands of the Kalahari Desert. The delta formed in the desert is famed as THE place to see wildlife but as the only way to get in is by plane and the lodges start at about $350 p/p per night it is outside our budget. We had to be content with the Mahunga Game Reserve a few kms from the lodge. Famed for its elephants, we saw everything but this morning but on the drive this afternoon we did see a good size herd. Sch an array of animals we came upon this morning: giraffes, zebras, blue wildebeests, hartebeests, various other types of antelopes, hippos mating (not a pretty sight) and Cape buffalo. At one point where we were able to get out of the car, the flood plain lay below us. From that point we were able to see 40-50 various types of birds with one sweep of our binoculars. It was amazing, Ross & Cathy eat your heart out.
Not sure of the details but they must farm the wild animals here in Namibia as we had a delicious eland stroganoff for dinner tonight at the restaurant. I don’t think they would be allowed to shoot them n the wild.