Gem and Stu’s World Tour

After a less than successful trip to Botswana, we finally made it to Namibia. As soon as we crossed the border the clouds cleared and everything became so much easier…

…and then we arrived at the coolest campsite. It was quite nice to stay in a clean place, with decent grass by the river (and sunshine) but whoever had designed this place had made a real effort for it to stand out. OK, it had a swimming cage, so you didn’t get eaten by Hippos or crocs but the bathrooms were something else. All individually designed and to a theme - such as a throne that overlooks the river - very bizarre.

From there,we headed straight to Etosha National Park. We spent three nights here in a couple of different (very comfortable) campsites - actually they were really resorts with campsites tagged onto them. Etosha is a lovely place, with loads of different wildlife. We were there though just after some heavy rain so the animals didn’t need to venture to the waterholes as they could get water elsewhere - The National Park had made a number of waterholes, with each resort having its own next to a viewing platform. We did a couple of game drives on the truck and didn’t see too much (and by this point we were happy not to be on the truck for any longer than necessary) so on the last day in the park we decided to get up early and sit at the waterhole for a couple of hours. Again there wasn’t loads of activity compared to what we had been used to but it was really interesting to spend a decent amount of time watching the animals interacting - their social characteristics etc. I also managed to get a really good photo of a pair of young kudu interlocking horns, but unfortunately we have since lost the camera and Gem had gone back to bed so cannot verify that!!

Also, that night was the infamous BBQ incident, where Becs spat her dummy out but enough about that… and Becs.

So, onto Otjiwarongo and a cheetah sanctuary. This place was really cool. They picked up cheetahs from the farms to stop the farmers shooting them (they can attack livestock) and look after them on their property. First of all we went into their family backgarden to see some tame cheetahs roaming around. It is very odd stroking something you would normally only see in the wild, although they looked reassuringly well fed. On the way back to our tents, we passed a young Giraffe - apparently its parents had been killed and they found it caught in a fence and have been feeding it, although it still roams wild. The guy went up to the giraffe and put his thumb in its mouth for it to suck - of course everyone wanted to have a go at this!!!

That afternoon, we went to see them feeding the cheetahs in the semi-wild enclosure. These are the animals that have not been hand-reared so are still quite wild - although they do get fed regularly and have to live in closer groups than they would normally. Feeding involves throwing chunks of donkey meat (or whatever they can get their hands on) into a pack of hungry cats, whoever is quickest grabs it in mid-air and runs off. They do this until everyone has a piece.

We thought that was it for the day and were pretty happy with that, but on the way back we stopped at a smaller enclosure and we got to see a pair of new born cubs. They were only a couple of weeks old - matted and covered in sticky grass (which you can never get rid of). The guide threw a big peice of meat over the fence to keep the mother occupied for a few minutes, went in, picked up the cubs and brought them out for us. They were unbelievably cute - if a little grouchy!!