We left a misty and foggy Swakopmund after breakfast and drove up the coast. Not that we could see anything… We did stop at a shipwreck which this stretch of coastline in notorious for. The ship was wrecked in 2008 and is still bobbing away just off the shore.

We then turned inland and arrived at our next accommodation at Daureb Isib in time for lunch. This accommodation is very near to the Brandberg mountain and in the afternoon we drove to the mountain and had a 3 mile round hike along the riverbed to see some cave paintings, the most famous of which is the White Lady. It’s really incredible to think of the age of these paintings. They reminded me of some similar ones I saw in Matobo in Zimbabwe.

After dinner that evening, I attempted some night sky photography but we’re approaching a full moon so it wasn’t super-successful…

A 9am departure (such a luxury on this trip, it’s often been pre 8am and earlier), for a bit of a drive day to our next stop just outside of Etosha National Park.

We made a couple of stops along the way, and I bought a small local artwork to go with my increasing collection of local paintings from my travels. The bonus is that flat things are easy to carry!

We arrived at some very nice lodges about 20 minutes from Etosha in the late afternoon. I’ve generally been impressed with the quality of accommodation on this trip. In southern Namibia we stayed in a couple of basic motels in places where there wasn’t much going on but, in the Namib desert, the previous night at Brandberg mountain and at Etosha, they have been quirky and interesting and very comfortable. More upgraded than G Adventures or Intrepid in my experience.

We had a full day game drive in Etosha National Park the next day. The park opens at sunrise (about 7.30am) so we were up early and ready to go.

We stopped at a couple of watering holes to start with which had quite a few animals getting their morning drinks before heading out for a day in the bush and savannah.

Springboks seemed to be the most abundant animals in the morning but there were also plenty of zebras and a few giraffes.

The highlight of the morning was a black rhino having a drink and finding some food in a muddy patch. I’ve been fortunate to see a lot of different animals on my previous trip to South Africa and Zimbabwe but this was my first black rhino which was really cool to see.

We carried on deeper into the park, to the salt pans which are currently dry. Not much wildlife to be spotted there. After lunch at the Halali rest stop we headed back the way we’d driven in the morning.

It seemed like there were much fewer animals about at this time, perhaps from the heat of the sun. We stopped at another watering hole for a while, there were giraffes, zebras, kudus, impalas and springbok all waiting their turn at the watering hole. And then, far in the distance, 3 bull elephants very, very slowly emerged. We must have waited a good 30 minutes to see if they would come down closer to the watering hole. They eventually started moving, slowly, but we had to leave in order to make sure we’d be out of the park before sunset.

I was feeling a bit disappointed that we hadn’t seen many elephants, especially as Etosha has a lot of them. And then, again when we had driven for quite some time without seeing anything, suddenly in the middle of the road was a family of elephants. We had to stop as they were blocking the road! Really special to see, and they got quite close to our 4×4 which was exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time!

After that it was time to head back to the lodges for dinner and a rest as it had been a long, but exciting, day.

The next day we had a leisurely start as, for some people, this was a changeover day in the trip. We were waiting for some new people to join us, who were being driven the 4ish hours from Windhoek, and then the people leaving us would be driven back to Windhoek. After we’d all had lunch together it was time to say farewell to our new friends who would be leaving us. It’s always amazing to me on these trips how soon you become a family and develop friendships with people from all over the world who I only met a few days ago. And it’s always bittersweet to say goodbye. My trip in Africa is 8 weeks so I think I’m going to have a few more of these hellos and goodbyes before I leave.

After lunch, those of us continuing the journey headed back to the park for a drive through and out through the eastern end. Having seen relatively few elephants the previous day, the park seemed to be teeming with them on this afternoon. Again we were on a deadline to be out of the park before sunset so there wasn’t quite the same opportunity to sit and watch the animals as the previous day but it was still very cool to see the animals, even briefly.

We exited the park with about 20 minutes to spare and still had another hour or so to go to our next accommodation in Tsumeb. This stop was just a quick overnighter as we arrived late and left early for another long drive day. We were heading to our final stop in Namibia, at Divundu on the Kavango River, and fairly close to the Botswana border. Namibia is a vast country and, as you’d expect on a long overland trip, there have been a few long drive days to get between highlights. This day was one of those. Thankfully a tarred road the entire way (not always the case, especially on our way to Fish River Canyon and the Namib desert), but it was late afternoon by the time we arrived at our accommodation on the banks of the river.

We enjoyed the evening watching the glowing orange sky as the sun set over the far bank of the river. The sunsets in Africa really do seem to hit differently. Brilliant orange and bright red skies. Beautiful.

We started our last full day in Namibia with a breakfast cruise along the river, looking for hippos and crocodiles. And we were successful! We could actually hear the hippos through the night and they sounded incredibly close, though we convinced ourselves that it was just the sound travelling in the quiet surroundings.

I love how hippos just hang about partly submerged in the waters, peacefully bobbing underwater from time to time. Seems like an idyllic existence.

On our way back to the river bank we spotted a crocodile hiding on a small island behind some reeds. It seemed to just be resting and didn’t move at all despite the sound of the boat’s engines. There were also loads and loads of birds flying over us in formation, which looked spectacular against the perfectly blue sky.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing at the lodge whilst some others in the group did an afternoon game drive to nearby Mahango area. I’ve decided that as I have many more opportunities to see wildlife in the coming weeks, I could miss out on this one and enjoy a bit of downtime and relaxation.

Next, onto Botswana…