17 September 2006    to      30 September 2006

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Namibia has always held a special fascination with us, and even though we have hiked and toured the country a number of times in the past it drew us back again. However the country has changed in the last few years as we would find out. The one place we had not been too on previous trips due to its distance was the Caprivi Strip in the top north eastern corner of the country. Our previous trips to Namibia had only taken us as far north as the Etosha game reserve. This time we wanted to make an effort to visit the topmost boundary of Namibia, namely the Caprivi strip.
The Caprivi strip has an interesting history. Named after the German Chancellor Leo von Caprivi who negotiated with the British for the land in 1890, the area was annexed into German South west Africa with the idea being to have a route through Africa eventually joining up with the then known Tanganyika on the eastern side of Africa. Militarily the area has always been of strategic importance especially during the Rhodesian Bush War and the Angolan Civil War. This was then the destination and area that we wanted to explore during our holiday this year.

We took our usual route to Namibia via Upington in South Africa and stayed over in Keetmanshoop. At the South African border they seem to have tightened their security as they searched most of our car. Just outside Keetmanshoop lies the Quiver tree forest and the Giants playground. Some of these quiver trees (Aloe Dichotma) get upto 9 meters high although most of the ones we saw were a lot smaller. The bigger ones in the forest are between 200 and 300 years old. They flower during the winter months which is round about June July.

Here at the homestead at the Quiver tree forest we came across a strange combination of animals all staying together, namely a Eland, a great big Pumba (Warthog) as we like to call them these days, baby Impala and big dog. I must say here the animals were a lot more friendly than their owners.

The Giants playground is just a few km down the road from the forest and is a very interesting pile of rock formations.

From Keetmanshoop we drove to Windhoek. Between Keetmanshoop and Mariental on the left hand side one drives past mount Brukkaros. An old volcano that went extinct 80 million years ago.

Windhoek in the distance

About 12km outside Windhoek lies the Daan Viljoen game park where we camped over one night. Its a very nice reserve that also contains a very nice day hike through the surrounding bush and dried out river beds.

The park contains large numbers of buck and at night the area just below us turned into a real highway of buck and other animals passing through.

Next morning we left for Grootfontein and visited the famous Hoba meteorite which lies about 24 km west of Grootfontein. It is the largest known meteorite on earth consisting of nickel iron. This meteorite landed on earth about 80 000 years ago and weighs about 60 tons.

About 20 km outside Grootfontein on the road to Tsumeb we found a very nice and cheap campsite on a farm called the Dik Dik campsite. What is so interesting is that all they have is a little box at the campsite gate to collect your camp fees, relying totally on the honestly of the people who visit the campsite, something pretty much unheard of in South Africa. The campsites have lawns on which to pitch your tent onto, something which was sadly lacking at some of the vastly more expensive campsites that we stayed at. The campsite had a donkey (hot water boiler fired by wood) for hot water which worked very well. There were taps at all the camping spots and braai facilities (barbecue). Here we stayed on our way to Caprivi and back.

The next day our journey took us north again to Rundu. Here one can see the Cubango river that becomes the Okavango river further on that feeds the famous Okavango swamps in Botswana.

Rundu

From Rundu we headed for the Popa falls. Actually there are no falls, just rapids. Here the Okavango river starts and turns South towards Botswana. The river gets quite wide here. Popa falls is a great place for a stopover and we really enjoyed the place. Its like a green oasis in the generally dry bush.

The next day we entered Caprivi proper. On the way to Katima Mulilo we crossed three police check points. At the first one between Grootfontein and Rundu it seems they want to try and stop any animal diseases from getting south. At the other two, they just wanted to know where we came from and were going to.

We arrived at Katima Mulilo and camped at the Zambezi lodge on the banks of the Zambezi river. This place is owned by the Protea hotels group and I must say we were very disappointed with the camp grounds which mainly consisted of dust and a small ablution block. Down the embankment to the river all sorts of rubbish could be seen such as broken concrete pipes etc. Another group of tourists arrived and this completely overloaded the hot water supply at the ablution block. We had really expected a bit of a standard from Protea hotels. All they did was charge exorbitant camp fees.

The rest of the day was spent looking around Katima Mulilo. Here is an interesting thing. A toilet built into a Baobab tree. We visited the local tourist information center which were very friendly and helpful and loaded us with maps and other information on Namibia.

Katima Mulilo. You can get most stuff here and there are plenty of petrol stations around. In fact nowhere was there a problem getting petrol.

Katima Mulilo has a border crossing to Zambia a few kilometers out of town.

That night we watched the sun go down over the Zambezi river and listened to the Zambians having one heck of a party that Friday evening on the other side of the river!

Next morning we were off to Ngoma which is about 55km further South East. Just cleaning the windscreen so one can see again from all the insects.

Some of the little villages and mud huts in that area. Out in the bush one sees very little use made of corrugated iron or plastic, which is very nice.

The dusty little village of Ngoma which is the crossover point to Botswana here.

We tried to get to lake Liambezi. In this region there are a lot of Baobab trees. The idea was to try and find a camping spot next to the lake.

Well, we certainly were in for a surprise. There was no water in the lake. The thing is totally seasonal like the Etosha pan. We decided we had a good idea of what Caprivi looked like and started the long journey back again.

The cattle in this region seem to have longer horns than the South African types.

Along the way at Kongola along the Kwando river we came across a real jewel in camping spots at a place with the original name of "Bum hill". Besides being excellent value for money the place had its own private ablution facility with a great "loo with a view" and a platform around a big Jackal-berry tree. Instead of camping we decided to move our sleeping bags onto the platform.

All around us were Elephant droppings but we only heard them and never saw any. The river has a lot of Hippopotamus which added their bit to the night noises.

On our way back south again we camped over at the Hardap dam.

This was another very disappointing campsite which consisted of nothing but dust. No view of anything, nothing but the exorbitant park fees and camping fees.

As we still had two days to spare, we decided to go to the Fish River Canyon and camp at Ai-Ais. This was the ultimate! N$550 for two nights camping! When we tried the pool it was boiling hot. The restaurant did not have half the items on the menu. At the ladies ablution blocks, the toilets and showers were overflowing. In short, the place has a serious management issue. Another thing is, South Africans are seen as foreigners and pay the according "park fees", never mind that we dont earn Dollars or Euros! All these resorts are run by Namibia Wildlife Resorts LTD and they have really screwed up the prices in the last two years! Your best bet to stay somewhere is still the private places unless you really have lots of money and want to see something specifically. Namibia Wildlife Resorts LTD has become a rippoff catering to the foreign tourist market.

After sitting and travelling so far we decided to take a walk up the Fish River Canyon upto the third bend. That canyon has a certain beauty to it with its remoteness. Well the next day it was back to South africa again.