Overland Cape to Vic Falls - Baobab Land

Day 17 - Gweta

Left Okavango Delta in the morning and after 5 hours of driving we arrived at the absolute paradise in the middle of nowhere. Baobab Planet is the best and stunning campsite of the trip starting from the pool, the bar, the showers and of course BAOBABS. These trees are insane, humongous, gorgeous.

Overland Cape to Vic Falls - Okavango Delta

Day 13

We leave Namibia behind and cross into Botswana, the country of which 85% of land is taken up by Kalahari and another 3% is covered by wetlands of Okavango Delta. Despite that the country is quite rich thanks to discovered in 1967 diamonds that were put to good use (free education, free health care, infrastructure).

At the end of the first day we camp at Ghanzi where we meet local Bushmen community that perform Tribal Dancing for us. Bushman or rather San people is indigenous population of southern Africa with 60% of them left living in Botswana.

Day 14

The next day we drive to Maun, a gateway to Okavango Delta, the world's largest inland delta. In late afternoon I go on a scenic flight in a 7 seat jet. As we glide over the maze of islands and water we see elephants, buffalo, giraffes, termite mountains. I have never seen anything remotely similar to Okavango. I am still puzzled over what I see exactly below. Is the water deep? Is it a swamp? How do animals migrate from on island to another? What is it?



Day 15/16/17

Over the next two days we experience Delta up and close. We are taken to an island for bush camping by makoros (traditional canoes). The experience of sitting in makoro and being poled through the grass and waters of Okavango is amazing and relaxing. Still water makes picture perfect reflections as well as major sun reflector. By the time we reach our island I am sun burnt despite the sun protection.



We spend the mornings hiking, the afternoons hiding in the shade and evenings at the hippo "pool".





We also evidence something I have never seen before. At the sunrise we see the full moon and red sun in the sky at the same time.



More Okavango pictures

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

Days 10/11/12

We spend two and a half days in Etosha National Park, the best protected area in Namibia for wildlife viewing. With 23,000 km2 Etosha is huge.

We spend about 8 hours driving around on the first day and I was practically dead when we finally arrived to our campsite at sunset.

It is hard to get used the idea that the animals I have seen only on TV are now outside of my truck window. I believe I screamed from excitement when I first saw giraffes chewing on acacia trees (especially through binoculars).

In Etosha all vehicles are restricted to roads and one cannot get out of the car or on the roof. In fact, exploring park in the overland truck offers one big advantage - unobstructed view as we are much higher than any 4x4. Three lodging sites with camping and safari lodges are fenced and they open at sunrise and close at sunset. The opposite of the zoo.

The park is flooded with springbok and zebras. Funny how nobody stops for them after 30 minutes in the park. It's a pity because I find zebras with individual white-black-brown patterns to be among the most beautiful animals.



At lunch we arrived to Okaukuejo campsite with a water hole where quite famous photograph of Gerald Hoberman was shot (his collection is by far the dominating postcard material in South Africa and Namibia). It seems like nothing has changes since those times. The water hole is very busy with an elephant, springbox, oryx, kudu, zebra. Giraffes are approaching very slowly too. Amazing. I could have spent hours watching animals line up for water that hot midday.




In the afternoon we saw heaps of animals - families of elephants, giraffes, countless zebras, blue wildebeest, ostrich. We were lucky to spot one lioness and play a bit with her as she was crossing the road.

THE look:



We camped at Halali campground in the middle of Etosha NP. At night everybody who won over almost irresistible desire to sleep and went to the artificial Moringa water hole was rewarded. Leopard came out to drink some water. Professional photographers snapped masterpieces while the rest admired the graceful predator through 50x binoculars. Three black rhinoceros, jackals and steenbok appeared at the water hole during the 90 minutes we were there.

By the end of the first day my eyes were in great pain after hours of viewing everything through my camera viewfinder or binoculars. Game driving is exhausting!

The next morning we left the campsite at sunrise. Should I mention how beautiful the sunrise is again? We are spoiled by breathtaking sunrises and sunsets everyday.

We follow fresh footprints of lions. Three lioness rest under the tree by the road but relocate further away as the first passing by cars disturb them. Gorgeous cats.



We continue and soon arrive to another water hole with... four male lions. Their faces are covered in blood. They've just eaten and now are taking a early morning nap while the sun is still warm. Soon they will disappear in the shade.

We drive until 12 pm. We stop at Etosha Pan - what used to be a lake but now is a cracked dry surface 130 km long and 72 km wide. Salar de Uyuni in Africa?

I am so tired, hot and sleepy I head over to the water hole for some shade. I arrive just on time to catch a big family of elephants during the afternoon. I skip the afternoon game drive in favor of cold pool.

The night game viewing was quite eventful at our water hole as we see in action how a herd of elephants shares (or rather not) water hole with jackals, hyenas and rhinos.

On day 3 we are leaving Etosha NP, but still do a morning game drive. We see lions again - six of them. A number of jackals are running around and hyena is approaching:



There must have been a recent kill. Small predators are after king's prey.

Further away next to a large herd of zebras we see a dead zebra with a jackal eating out of its stomach. The zebra was pregnant.



My visit to Etosha could not have ended better - another viewing of leopard.

Seeing this abundance of wildlife made it a bit of surreal experience. Can it really be true? Are they really wild? Oh yes, those lions with red faces from blood and the jackal eating out of zebra's belly. It's just easy to forget because the wildlife is so accessible in this region of the world.

Hyenas won my congeniality award - I find their "mean" posture because of high shoulders and low back adorable and special.

A bit more pictures but most of them got censored for poor quality

Livingstone, Zambia

My 20 day overland is over. Still more updates to come...

meanwhile

I have made the decision to toss out most of my stuff left in New York. It's crazy. While I am throwing away everything (donating to Salvation Army), I know that all those things would have supported a family or two in Zambia for a year. Zambia is the poorest country on my itinerary, so barter is quite common. Any salesperson on the market would have been so happy to receive really anything. All that clothing, linen, towels, even old pens, pins - anything. But the reality is that boxes are in New York and shipping costs make everything uneconomical and irrational. I can only day dream about what ifs and would have beens. For now I will give away my old t-shirts, elastic headbands, and anything I can find useless in my small backpack, which is not a lot as I have 4 more months to go.

I have never had too much stuff but even with all I had I felt wasteful by the time I had to pack it all up. I hope my lesson is learned.

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

Day 9 – Himbas

Sunrise gets better every day, but my camera still refuses to capture its magic.


We drive north towards Etosha National Park. We pass Brandberg Mountains mysteriously hidden behind the mist. Some overland group camp there instead of Spitzkoppe and explore nearby Bushman painting (“White Lady” is quite famous).




Further we make a stop by the stalls of Herero women. Herero is the third largest ethnic group in Namibia, originally part of Batu herders arriving to Namibia in mid 16th century. In fact, Himbas is a subgroup of Herero but colonization has made the subgroups look (and live) very differently. Himbas remained seminomadic herdmen and non-Christians, and consequently half naked by the standards of the Western world (Himba women never show ankles, so tourists in flip-flops are half naked to them).

The Herero women dress in full-body length Victorian style massive dresses brought to them by German missionaries. On the head they wear horn-shaped hat. They sell look alike dolls and ask for N$5 for a picture. None taken.



From 11 am to 3 pm the sun is unbearable. We passed the time in a nearby empty lodge with a pool. The house was built between huge boulders with no clear plan. We were running around like kids admiring somebody’s crazy creativity.

At 4 pm we walked to Himba village nearby that also runs an orphanage project for Himba kids mostly from the north of Namibia. We were taught how to greet in Himba language and how to use a handshake (both hands, three times). The next 2 hours we spent walking around the village, taking pictures, greeting women, playing with kids and then watching the washing ritual of Himba women.

Himbas is the most photographed tribe of Africa, so I expected the experience to be touristy and I was OK with that. Some from our group walked back to the camp as they did not feel comfortable staring at Himba's way of life. But I find the Himba culture interesting, different and worth understanding before it disappears completely. Himbas are in fact paid to accommodate tours and do not mind pictures. They do not speak any English, but kids are picking up some words already. The guide told us there are about 10-12k Himbas left, but the number is slowly decreasing as more and more kids are sent to schools and change their lifestyle because of the economic reasons.




The Himbas women are famous for their reddish skin color that comes from the daily beauty routine that involves smearing themselves with a mixture of butter fat, ochre powder, and herbs. This kind of deodorant also protects them from the sun. Women never wash themselves with water, they take steam baths all their lives created by sitting with a towel over a bucket with cols.

The queen of the tribe:



A beautiful girl. Two braids mean both parents are alive. Heads of boys are shaved.



Women hairstyle - hair extensions covered in ochre mixture.



One parent is alive:


More pictures of Himbas on flickr

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

Day 8 - Spitzkoppe

I am well prepared for the trip after 4 months of backpacking through South America. These bumpy roads are not that bad after Bolivia. Camps are 5 star hostels compared to Bolivian hostels with no heat or hot water in altitudes above 3500 m. I am truly enjoying the drive. Every hour or so the landscapes slightly change – another hill, more stones, burnt yellow grass... I seem to find beauty in all of this. Namibia is an absolute paradise for desert terrain lovers.

Chameleon



We are leaving Swakopmund where some of us spent Sunday quad-biking or sand boarding, but I - updating my blog about the overland. We drive inland towards Spitzkoppe, a 1728 m high mountain that we see from a 1000 m base. Today we camp practically with no facilities. The campsite, run by a local community, consists of fire areas and two long drop toilets in the middle of the field with 3 walls around them. The 4th non-existent wall opens a view onto Spitzkoppe.



In the afternoon we explore Pondoks – enormous granite domes around the campsite. The Natural Bridge reminds me of Arches National Park in Utah. Bushman’s Paradise is an overhand with an ancient rhino painting.







We do not pitch tents – we are cave people today. We sleep in one of the rock hollows or a “cave” between boulders with the fire in the middle. Our roof is a humongous rock sitting in-between. An absolutely magic place.

More pictures on Flickr

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

overland pictures

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

Day 5 – 230 km

Day 5 is the day. We wake up before dawn and rush to Dunes Sea of Sossusvlei. We hike a 145 m high Dune 45 and watch the sunrise of the dune’s rim. Unbelievable sunrise of the huge red sun, unbelievable setting among orange dunes. This place is absolutely out of this world. My tries to capture “it” are nothing more than pathetic.




After breakfast we ride 15 km further into the park. We leave our overland truck for 4x4 and drive to the parking lot, from which a 1.5 km hike to Deadvlei (dead or dry lake) begins.

The contrast of white cracked bottom, black trees, orange dunes and bright blue sky has been capturing my imagination for quite sometime now. The place is surreal. I just took my sandals off and walked on the cracked bottom for an hour until the sun was just unbearable.

Sossusvlei is the paradise for professional photographers. I have seen the magic photo collections from the dunes. Maybe one day I will come back and see them properly.







Early in the afternoon we arrive to the smallest town in Namibia – Solitaire. It has a lodge, a gas station and a store with a postbox. Even the smallest town has its very personal landing strip of Solitaire International.



Day 6 – 290 km

We are already used to getting up in the dark, taking down the tents and leaving the campsite with the first rays of sunrise. The best time to travel (or hike or take pictures) is between 5:30 am and 10 am when shadows are long, light breeze cuddles your cheeks and the sun does not burn your skin. After 10 am the heat makes you dizzy and the quest for the shade begins.

We see oryx, springbok, zebras and a huge family of baboons – they too are avoiding the midday heat and only visible early in the morning (or afternoon).

Gorgeous Oryx that can survive without water for 20 years



Today we are leaving Namib-Naukluf National Park area crossing the Tropic of Capricon and driving through a beautiful Kuiseb Canyon. In the afternoon we arrive to Swakopmund on the Atlantic Ocean, the third largest city in Namibia with 30,000 people!

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

Day 3 – 210 km

Today we cross into Namibia, the youngest country in Africa. It got its independence only in 1990 when South Africa finally gave in to mounting international pressure and gave up control of the territory.

We are in the Kalahari semi-desert driving towards Fish River Canyon on the gravel road. We feel the first wave of heat. The landscapes are empty, flat and uninhabited.

By the time we stop by our first Quiver Tree (Kokerboom), which is actually a plant, I am just radiant. It is so quiet and distant.

The afternoon is spent hiking along the rim of the impressive Fish River Canyon. In the silky sunset light even grass looks amazing.

One can hike into the canyon only during three coldest months of the year. Our guide told us the 85 km Lowenfish hiking trail is the second most difficult in the world because of harsh conditions.






Day 4 – 610 km

It is the longest drive of the trip – 610 km to the next camp. We start off early – at 5:30 am the air is chill and the sky is pink. We see our first animals – zebras, springbok (gazel), oryx (antelope), kudu, and ostrich. The big red ball of sun is rising over the desert.

Never-ending desert plains for the next 10 hours of driving and only the shade of our overland trucks changes with the movement of the sun above. No wonder Namibia’s density is only 2 persons per sq. km. The word “namib” means empty.

In the afternoon we arrive to the amazing area of Sesreim. The camp is surrounded by fields of dry sun burnt grass and Naukluft mountains in the background.

Overland Cape to Vic Falls

Day 1 - 210 km
We are 12 people with 9 girls and 3 guys – 5 Germans, 2 Swiss, 2 South Africans, 1 American, 1 South Korean and me. I am trying to switch on my German, but only Spanish comes out. We are all in our twenties.

Today we are driving 210 km to the north towards Namibia camping in the Cederberg region, which is the only area in South Africa where rooibos tea is grown. It is the first day of spring and we pass the mountain range still covered in snow.



Day 2 – 535 km

We depart Western Cape and cross into Northern Cape, into the Namaqualand region that is famous for its spring wild flower bloom. In season purple, orange and yellow flowers carpet mountain terrains as far as the eye can see. We however were there a week or two too early. The flowers just started to bloom.


We camp on the South African side of Orange River.

Orange River that starts in the mountains of Lesotho and ends in the Atlantic Ocean is the border between South Africa and Namibia. Namibia starts on the other bank of the river (vs. the middle) and this fact is still being disputed between the two countries. South Africa is not too inclined to give up the river not because of the water but because of the diamonds in there. Some 80 km down the river there is the restricted diamond area where they say you will be shot if appear without any questions asked.

The Orange River is named after the Orange royal Dutch family when diamonds were discovered in 1980s, but the river will be renamed to Galieb River (in Afrikaans Galieb means river, so it will be River River) as many other places in South Africa in an effort by the current government to get rid of names reminding of colonization or apartheid times.