After a somewhat tortuous flight, our first night in Namibia and a puncture !!
Camp the first morning in Windhoek - grey and cool, but we were now heading south :)
The ubiquitous brew - tea up !
Dune 45 - in the Namib. Some people got to the top for dawn...
... and some of us stopped halfway 'when the light was best'.
Sun breaking over the Namib dunes.
Namib dunes at sunrise.
Our bus - and breakfast - are down there.
Namib dunes
Vast saltpan between the dunes.
Dune 45 - the way up!
Dune patterns.
Dune 45.
Sossusvlei - some of the highest dunes in the world.
Sossusvlei
Lunch break at Sossusvlei.
Heavily stunted Acacia in Sossusvlei.
The long (and hot!) walk to Deadvlei.
Deadvlei - the dead trees here are over 900 years old, and baked in the saltpan.
Deadvlei.
Saltpan - Deadvlei.
Most of the team on top of another dune - Sossusvlei.
Sand lizard, Sossusvlei.
Sand beetle, Sossusvlei.
Oryx at Sossusvlei. These guys are adapted to the desert conditions and wander around all over.
Road stop for photos.
Typical road in Southern Namibia - no tarmac, but dry, hard and pretty flat.
Approaching the top of the canyon at Sesrium.
Sesrium canyon.
In the pool at Agama camp.
Pool dog at Agama!
Agama Camp - wind powered water pump. Superceded by diesel pumps...
Sunset at Agama - all the mountains turn red!
Dawn at Agama - striking camp. Pack first, then breakfast.
Solitaire - a strange place in the middle of nowhere. A motel, campsite, petrol station, and bar/general store. Oh yes, and some decoratively installed old cars.....
Solitaire.
Solitaire - postbox in an old cystern.
Mica hills - the high levels of mica make them shimmer in the sunlight.
Mica hills
Walvis Bay - flamingo and oil rig construction.
Flamingo at Walvis Bay.
Swakopmund - Namibia 'second city' and favourite coastal town. Wide roads and very little traffic.
Swakopmund - shopping
Swakopmund - coffee shops. Very civilised!
Swakopmund - supermarket. It could be Bedford (but a lot cleaner and quieter!!)
Swakopmund - our lodge.
Swakopmund - the lodge - proper rooms and our own courtyard. I could have got used to this...
Swakopmund - typical architecture. Ex-German protectorate and the influence shows.
Swakopmund - meal time./ I think this one was Kudu steaks.
All aboard for a flight over the Skeleton Coast.
Just to prove I did actually get in !
Anita and Berta on board.
Another kind of wing-mirror. Cessna 210 6-seater, with the Namib Desert below!
Peter at the controls.
Namib desert dunes.
Namib desert big rock outcrop. Possibly/probably an ancient volcano. Very impressive.
Underground water is easy to spot from above - route of a (very) occasional river
Longitudinal dunes in the Namib - parallel lines with large (>1km) plains in between.
Namib dunes.
The skeleton coast, where the desert meets the sea. Completely inaccessible from the land-side.
Skeleton Coast - the wreck of the Eduard Bohlen - lost in 1909.
Desalination plant outside Walvis Bay.
Swakopmund.
Swakopmund - typical morning conditions. The Atlantic ocean crashing in. Note the desert just outside town.
Swakopmund - pier.
Swakopmund - pier restoration.
Swakopmund - on the front.
Swakopmund - in the aquarium, but could pass for a snorkelling shot :)
Swakopmund - aquarium.
Another day, another breakdown. C'est la vie.
The gang - Liz, Brian, Julian, Anita, Maria, Peter, David, Ruth, Helen, Berta, yours truly, and Pat.
Another wreck on the Skeleton Coast - North of Swakopmund. I don't have the name of this one.
Another wreck on the Skeleton Coast - North of Swakopmund.
The Cape Cross Fur Seal colony - one of the largest in the world.
Black backed Gull with shell fish - Cape Cross.
Cape Cross Fur Seal colony.
Fur seal pup feeding at Cape Cross.
Young fatality - Cape Cross. There were quite a lot of these.
Lunchtime at Cape Cross. Cool and breezy!
White Lady campsite at Brandberg.
Young Meerkat at White Lady, Brandberg. This guy was fairly tame and ran around the gardens.
Young Meerkat at White Lady.
A lonesome but friendly Springbok at White Lady campsite. Tagged as 'Nobby No-mates' as he seemed to have lost the rest of his herd.
'Nobby No-mates' pottering around White Lady campsite.
Classic sandstone outcrop - White Lady.
Walking to the ancient rock-art site at Twyfelfontein.
Twyfelfontein - Ancient map stone showing water sources as circles with dots in them. The carvings are around 5,000 years old.
Twyfelfontein - hyena, giraffe, various birds and human footprints.
Twyfelfontein - guide showing another stone, which also shows depictions of animal footprints.
Twyfelfontein - famous stone showing the 'man-lion' centre bottom, with a human hand on its tail.
Twyfelfontein.
Damaraland - petrified forest area. This is a large 'tree' of around 15 metres, now turned completely to stone.
Damaraland - petrified wood, showing original bark.
Damaraland - petrified forest.
Damaraland - Bizarre Welwitschia plant ( Welwitschia Mirabilis). These speciments are protected as they can live for over 1,000 years. This one is at least several hundreds of years old.
Church in Otjiwarongo.
Provision stop in Outjo. More water, wine, beer etc etc.
Berta mobbed by locals when she opened the Doritos!
Fabulous flame tree at Okaukuejo camp - Etosha.
Okaukuejo lodge and campsite - Etosha.
Warthogs wandering around the campsite at Okaukuejo.
Warthog at Okaukuejo.
At last - real wildlife!! Black-backed jackal 'stalking' an oryx on the edge of the Etosha salt pan. No chance of success - they are normally scavengers.
Oryx on the edge of the Etosha pan.
Oryx (Gemsbok)- Etosha.
Black rhino - mother with calf.
Black rhino at a waterhole.
Dead rhino - Etosha.
Herd of Kudu at a waterhole in Etosha. These are all female.
Male Kudu - very impressive.
Female kudu.
Burchell's zebra (Equus burchellii) - with the brown inter-stripes.
Burchell's zebra.
Black-faced Impala (female).
Black-faced Impala (male).
Male black-faced Impala fighting.
Black-faced impala keeping an eye on a black-backed jackal.
Black-faced Impala with blacksmith plover.
Steenbok - our only half-decent view of this small antelope.
Damara Dik Dik - barely a packed lunch for a lion...
Springbok - proper lion food.
Springbok (male).
Springbok.
Springbok herd - a few hundred in this group.
Eland - the largest antelope. Very impressive animal.
Blue Wildebeast.
Blue Wildebeest.
Banded mongoose - these guys ran around the campsite in groups digging up the grass.
Banded mongoose.
Tree squirrel.
Ground squirrel in his burrow.
Lioness - we were having breakfast around 15 metres from this lady - (behind a fence!).
Our best view of a young lion family.
Spotted Hyaena.
Black-backed Jackal, with a bird snack - feathers and all.
Black-backed Jackal.
Black-backed Jackal scavenging a springbok carcass.
Springbok and Oryx at the lodge waterhole - Okaukuejo.
Lodge waterhole - Okaukuejo.
Giraffe and Black-faced Impala.
Elephant at the lodge waterhole - Okaukuejo.
Elephant!
Elephant, Zebra and Oryx.
Elephant and Zebra - Okaukuejo.
Elephant damping down.
Lone male elephant in musth - thrashing a bit and generally somewhat stroppy !! Note cheek secretions.
Giraffe with the waterhole to himself.
Giraffe.
Young Giraffe.
Male Giraffe sparring.
Male Giraffe sizing each other up after a sparring session.
Giraffe carcass - only partly scavenged which suggests possibly death from disease rather than predation.
Male Rock Agama - magical colours.
Female Rock Agama lizard
Sand lizard.
Rock Agama watching the sunset !
Baby Leopard Tortoise. The only 'leopard' we saw unfortunately.
Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk.
Black-shouldered Kite. Smart bird!
Brown Snake-Eagle.
Lappet-faced and White-backed Vultures.
Secretary bird.
Spoonbill.
Northern Black Korhaan.
Northern Black Korhaan - female. this one was in the Etosha National Park.
Black-winged Stilt.
Blacksmith Plover - about to sit on her (his?) eggs. Note the wet underfeathers from the waterhole, used to cool the eggs during the hottest part of the day.
Yellow-billed Egret.
Pied crow.
Grey go-away bird.
Pale-winged Starling.
Cape Glossy Starling.
I reckon this is a Yellow Canary, but I'd appreciate a second opinion!
Cape Sparrow.
Sociable Weaver.
Sociable weaver bird nest - tens of birds will build their nests in one place to create these huge masses of woven stalks.
Ostrich.
Kori bustard.
Helmeted Guinea-fowl. (for Liz!)
Helmeted Guinea-fowl.
Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill - helping himself to the remains of our lunch!
Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill
Blue Crane - national bird of Namibia.
Greater flamingo - Etosha.
Marabou Stork.
Red dragonfly... (I don't have a book on these guys!!).
Blue dragonfly...
Brown-veined White butterfly.
Yellow Pansy butterfly (Junonia hierta).
Green-Veined Emperor butterfly (Charaxes candiope) - fantastic!
Quiver tree, so called because the branches and bark are used by Kalahari San Bushmen to make quivers for their arrows.
Classic African landscape - 'umbrella' acacia with the Etosha salt pan behind.
Termite mound which has been dug out and was being used as a burrow for a warthog. (warthog shot out when we stopped !)
Etosha salt pan - around 5,000 square kilometres of pretty well nothing. Only used by flamingo when occasional rains leave a 10 cm wet surface on it. This is rare however, and generally nothing lives here..
Etosha salt pan.
Sunset over the waterhole at Namutoni lodge - Etosha.
Waterberg plateau - 250m high sandstone plateau, stretching for a long way across the mid-east of Namibia.
Typical path up the Waterberg plateau - just a whole lot of sandstone boulders.
On top of the Waterberg plateau. Namibia at our feet!
Top of the Waterberg plateau.
Coming back down - easy does it!
Rock Dassie, or Hyrax - on the path from the Waterberg Plateau.
At a craft market enroute to Windhoek, this guy was carving large animals - here an elephant - out of solid blocks of mahogony.
Have large adze - will carve.
Church in Windhoek.
Kudu statue - Windhoek.
Tourist shopping - Windhoek.
Carved products for the Tourist market - Windhoek.
Pieces of Gibeon meteorite, gathered and displayed in Windhoek town centre.
Statues outside the Bushmen Art Gallery in Windhoek.
Last meal - WIndhoek, before we went back to the airport and home.
