August 11th - Day 8

We left the picturesque small town of Rhodes at 8am and immediately we had a very hairy climb up the mountain pass to Tiffindell, the ski resort area about 25 kms from Rhodes. The climb took us up an extremely steep track which emerged in glorious sunshine on the top of the Drakensberg's with snow all around us as we drove towards the ski resort area.

Snow in Africa!

Tiffindell ski resort in the Drakensburg Mountains

All along the road cars from the event stopped to take pictures of the wonderful landscape. The drive down the mountain was not so steep but the view across the valley below was breathtaking.

On the way down from Tiffendell, looking towards Lesotho

Our drive then took us along the border with Lesotho, passing villages that cannot have changed in hundreds of years. Small round thatched houses, painted in many different colours with children running all over the place. Everyone is so friendly and waves as we pass by. The only problem we have is that the children run into the road to try and stop us to get money or food. We made the mistake of stopping and handing out colouring pens but soon realised that once you start doing this then children appear from everywhere and you simply cannot satisfy them all. 

 Typical houses in Lesotho village

We arrived at the border at 10.45am and quickly entered Lesotho. John Brown's car was there with us as were the Mitchell's and the de Hullu's in their Landrover.

Crossing into Lesotho from South Africa

The scenery in Lesotho is truly impressive. The country is mainly above 5,000 feet and the mountains all around make an impressive backdrop to the wide open spaces. The hills are dotted with small villages and goat herding and some corn growing seemed to be the main activity. It is quite obvious that the majority of the population are very poor. A sobering sight was to see so many placards giving HIV/Aids warnings and it seemed to us that in every small town the only businesses that advertised were undertakers. The aids problem is huge in South Africa and it is only when you come face to face with the reality of the situation that you realise how much damage is being done to the lives of these people and to the economies of these poor countries.

We traversed more passes and lunched at a really out of the way holiday lodge, the Malelela. Great lunch and the usual spectacular views we have come used to on our drive. Three hours of hard driving took us to the captial, Maseru and our hotel, the Lesotho Sun.

So far everyone is getting round OK and apart from a few punctures no one has suffered badly. Some of the hired Nissans have front guards that are coming loose, but apart from that all seems OK.

Tomorrow we cross Lesotho and head back into South Africa at the Sani Pass. Hopefully I will be able to post again then but the mobile signal in remote areas is not 100% certain. Reminds me of trying to get a signal in parts of London!

August 12th - Day 9

As our timetable only allowed one night in Lesotho, we had to make an early start as we had to reach the border with South Africa before it closed at 4pm at the Sani Pass in the south-east of the country.
Today's run took us right across the magnificent central highlands and then over a succession of mountain passes. Lesotho is desperately poor and as recently as 1998 there was an invasion by South African forces to overthrow the government because of fraudulent elections. Everywhere you go you see signs of extreme poverty. Most agriculture is carried out by manual labour with the help of oxen and donkeys. It is difficult to convey how hard the lives are of the people who live and work in the country.

Two Lesothon woman carrying loads on their heads

Back to our tour. We travelled on mainly gravel roads which varied from bad to horrendous but always accompanied by unbelievably beautiful scenery. Great gorges with rivers winding through unspoilt landscapes.


3,000 metre plus mountains were always in sight and one mountain pass followed another. The sign below made us pause for thought about what lay ahead!


At one point we crossed a bridge that had a plaque on it that reminded us of the time the British Empire ruled in this part of the world.

This bridge was opened on

19 - 4 -1956

by

E.P. Arrowsmith

Resident Commissioner

Basutoland

More mountain passes followed and I took this photo of two of our cars winding up one of the pasess far below us. The telephoto lens was set on maximum magnification.

Unfortunately the Weening family Landrover broke down and, at the time of writing this, I am not sure if they have managed to make it to the hotel.  Our journey ended at 3pm when we crossed back into South Africa and drove the 20 kms to the Sani Pass hotel.

 

My Landcruiser with Dave and Patsy Mitchell's Niissan on the summit of Kotisephola Pass.

At 3,250 metres the highest point of the whole tour.

August 13th - Day 10

The end of the Weening's extraordinary long wheelbase Landrover! After breaking down several times yesterday they decided that the time has come to change vehicles. They live in the Cape Town area and are having their Range Rover delivered to the hotel, and the Landrover taken back for repairs. It's a shame as the Landrover is such a special vehicle. Six litre American engine, three rows of seats and every conceivable extra you could want for a trip like this. Unfortunately, the roads John Brown has found for us are simply too much for their car.

 

The Weening family Landrover at the Sani Pass hotel before being returned to Cape Town

It appears that most of the Nissan hire cars have broken shock absorbers, so this morning the new heavy duty replacements arrived. Early this morning Jingers and Mike Johnson started to fit them.

Jingers with Dave Mitchell fitting new shock absorbers to the Nissan

  

We have now started the long drive north which takes us as far north as the Victoria Falls in Zambia. The route today took us along country roads with the mighty Drakensberg Wall always present on our left. We detoured off into one of the many beautiful valleys to see caves with ancient rock art. It was a long hike up to to caves on a hot day. We came away slightly underwhelmed as the paintings were very indistinct.

 

The long walk to the caves with rock art at the Giant's Castle, Drakensburg Mountain range

Lunch back at the visitor centre made up for any disappointment. A further hour's drive and we arrived at our hotel, The Drakensnberg Sun. This evening we have a talk about the history of the Zulu battlegrounds, which is where we drive tomorrow.

August 14th - Day 11

A nine o'clock start was a real luxury. An hour's drive bought us to the first of the three battle sites we wanted to see, the flat top hill called Spioenkop. The battle was fought between the British and the Boers in January 1900, resulting in a British defeat. It was very sobering to stand in front of the British war memorial to the Royal Lancashire Regiment and see all the English names, so far away from home.

 

Joanna Brown, Mike Johnson and others in front of the war memorial to The Royal Lancashire Regiment at Spioenkop

Just north of Spioenkop is the town of Ladysmith, which became famous in the Boer War for the siege by the Boers of the British which lasted 118 days. Next we drove to the battle site at Rorke's Drift, re-enacted in the famous movie Zulu, starring Michael Caine. Here the battle took place in January 1897 between 390 British troops and four thousand Zulus. The British held out overnight until a relief force arrived. Eleven Victoria crosses were awarded, the most in any battle.

 

War memorial to the British dead at Rorke's Drift with poppy wreathes saying 'Never Forgotten'

Our final site was at Blood River, so named because the river next to the battleground ran red with the blood of the Zulus who were fighting the Voortrekkers, settlers who were moving from the Cape Town area into the interior. This battle took place in December 1838 and 464 Voortrekkers fought between 12,000 and 15,000 Zulus. They formed a circle of 64 wagons and with only three wounded they defeated the Zulus, who lost over 500 men.

 

Wagon memorial at Blood River

The site has the most impressive reconstruction of the wagon circle which was completed in the early seventies. The wagons are like sculptures, made from metal and appear to all intents and purposes to be real thing. To stand in the centre, surrounded by the wagons, is a very moving experience.

A further hour of driving bought us to our overnight stop just south of the town called Vryheid. The day was rounded off by hearing that the de Hullus had sighted the first giraffe!

Tomorrow we cross Swaziland, on our way to the edge of the Kruger National Park.

August 15th - Day 12

Last night there were great birthday celebrations for Kenny Croucher our ever smiling and joking Texan. Two huge birthday cakes had been ordered by Joanna Brown and then served to everyone. A great way to finish the day.

This morning we were away before seven as we had nearly 500 kms to travel which included crossing Swaziland on our way to the edge of the Kruger National Park.

Just as we left our hotel the sun was rising above the horizon giving us the magnificent sight of an African dawn on the veldt.

A short drive of just over 100 kms brought us to the Swaziland border. There was very little delay as half a dozen of us went through the border controls. Swaziland is a very green country and we were both struck by how much more prosperous the kingdom is than its nearby neighbour, Lesotho. Our first stop was at the Mlilwane wildlife park where we saw hippos, zebras and several species of deer. We looked for giraffes but were unable to find them. Next we stopped at a Swazi cultural village which included traditional dancing.

Whilst there the de Hullus arrived with a 'sick' Landrover. As usual the mechanical skills of Jingers came to the fore and he quickly discovered the fault - a loose rear wheel. The roads here have been very punishing to the cars and once something works loose it doesn't take long for it to become a major problem.

We skirted the capital, Mbabane, and then to my amazement we joined a brand new four lane motorway which took us about 30 kms to the border with South Africa. Three hours more driving and we arrived at the Sabi Sun Resort Hotel. We were delighted to see the Weening family had made it in their replacement Range Rover. We are now just 50 kms from the Kruger Park, tomorrow's destination.

August 16th - Day 13

We had decided to skip John Brown's suggested highlights of visits to a pancake house, waterfalls and potholes which required driving 300 kms, and take the direct route to the Sabi Sabi Lodge in The Kruger National Park.

We planned to leave at 10am, but best laid plans nearly always have a habit of going wrong. Sure enough as I checked the car I noticed oil leaking from the front of the engine. Jingers was working next to my car checking the de Hullus Landrover to make sure no more wheels came loose. He came over to look at my Toyota and quickly discovered a leaking power steering hose. Thankfully it had only just happened and not much oil had leaked away. An hour later and it was repaired.

We left the Sabi River Sun resort by way of their hippo pool. There must have been at least a dozen hippos, both adults and very young ones, all wallowing in the mud. It made a strange site; the hippos in the pool and the resort's golfers walking close by!

 

Hippos at watering hole at the Sabi River Sun resort hotel

An hour's drive and we arrived at our five star 'Earth' lodge at Sabi Sabi. A wonderful apartment facing the bush and a watering hole where we can hear the hippos bellowing.

Four o'clock and we were off on our first safari. Six of us in an open Landrover with our guide Sven and a tracker, set off round the park. Three hours of touring and we saw, Cape buffalo , giraffe, nyala (a beautiful deer) as well as numerous impala and water buck.

Tomorrow we set off on our second safari at 6am, so another early start.

August 17th - Day 14

Even though today was a 'rest' day, we were up at 5.30am to go on our second safari of a three hour drive in the bush. Our driver and guide, Sven, gave us a running commentary on the animals we saw. This time we came upon two groups of white rhino. We were within ten feet of them as they grazed. Two adult females and a young male. Apparently their skin is about an inch thick! Shortly after we saw two more, again grazing and seemingly quite unconcerned about us.

White rhino grazing five yards away from us!

I was quite ignorant of how many different species there are of African deer. Here are the ones I can remember that we saw: Springbok, impala, water buck, nyala, kudu, gazelle.

The beautiful Nyala

Male Kudu

Oryx or Gemsbok at waterhole

All too soon the drive was over and we were back at our lodge. Sabi Sabi consists of three lodges several kilometres apart from each other. We are in the most modern called Earth Lodge, which is a wonderful piece of architecture. As you approach the lodge you cannot see it at all as it is set into the side of a bank overlooking a large waterhole and the unspoilt bush. There are thirteen individually domed roof apartments, made out of a mud coloured concrete which has been mixed with grass to imitate a termite mound. From the front you see a low structure which very successfully 'melts' into the background.

Our 'termite mound' apartment at Earth Lodge, Sabi Sabi

The other two lodges are very traditional with grass roofs and one has only oil lanterns for lighting. They are all five star luxury lodges with impeccable service.

The highlight of our three safaris was the afternoon/evening, drive, when just after dark, we came upon a pride of nine lions lying in the road! We stayed with them as they slowly moved along the road and then into the bush. Always in single file, it was the most fantastic sight as we filmed and took photos. Unfortunately, as you are not allowed to have mobile phones with you on safari, I wasn't able to use the mobile phone's camera to take a photo of the lions. I am using my mobile phone to post photos to the website and so photos of the pride will have to wait till our return to the UK when I will post them to the site.

Back to the lions. They didn't mind Sven's spotlight which enabled us to see them so clearly. At times they walked alongside our Landrover and we could have touched them!  Finally, we watched them disappear into the darkness of the bush. Thirty minutes had gone by in a few seconds.

It has been a most wonderful experience to see African big, and small, game in the wild. Tomorrow we drive halfway through the Kruger, a distance of 250 kms, on our way to our last overnight stop in South Africa before heading north into Botswana.

Another elephant, this time close to the lodge

August 18th - Day 15

Better late than never! Didn't post these amazing photos of the lions from yesterday evening. At times the lions were within a couple of feet of our Landrover. A moment to remember.




We were sad to say goodbye to everyone at Sabi Sabi. It had been such a wonderful two days. One surprise for us after we arrived at Sabi Sabi was that it wasn't actually n the Kruger Park, but adjoining it. All around the Kruger are privately owned game reserves and Sabi Sabi was in the Sabi Sands game reserve.

We set off for the day's drive of 360 kms heading for the small town of Tsvaneen in the Limpopo region of South Africa. After about an hour's drive we entered the Kruger through. The Kruger Park is simply huge. It measures nearly 500 kms from north to south and about 100 kms east to west. Our route north took us within 20 kms of Mozambique. Wildlife is everywhere. Bob and Thelma Howells and their daughter Gemma watched a pride of lions eating their kill, a giraffe. We only drove halfway through the park and that took us six hours as there is a strictly enforced 50 kph speed limit.

We had to stop for several groups of giraffe as they crossed the road. It all made for a memorable experience.

Waiting for giraffes to cross the road in The Kruger National Park

After we left the park another 120 kms took us to our beautiful hotel, The Coach House.

Kenny Croucher our ever smiling and joking Texan at The Coach House Hotel 

Tomorrow we cross into Botswana on the longest drive of the tour so far, 700 kms. Should be comparatively easy as it is virtually all on tarmac.

August 19th - Day 16

We made the decision not to do the 'loop' into the hills that John Brown had included at the start of the drive to Francistown in Botswana. This cut off 50 kms from a 700 kms journey. Everyone seems to be really enjoying the tour and as the days go by we find we are able to spend time with people we haven't yet got to know. Twenty-three cars means you have a very wide range of backgrounds which makes for some very interesting and lively discussions.

Nearly four hundred kilometres of great driving on empty roads brought us to the border between South Africa and Botswana. On the way we saw the first of many massive Baobab trees. They are known as the 'upside down tree' because they have a huge trunk which doesn't taper and the branches look like roots. We stopped beside one and I walked around it to measure its circumference, some 40 feet and this was by no means the largest one we saw.

On to the border which is the mighty Limpopo river. We left South Africa on the southern bank and drove down into the dry river bed.

Crossing the boarder into Botswana driving through the dry river bed of the Limpopo

It was about four hundred metres across to the other side where we climbed the bank into Botswana. When the river is flowing cars cannot cross at this point but pedestrians can use a very rickety looking cable car. Not something I would want to have to do! No delays at the border and within a few minutes we were on our way. A further three hundred kilometres of wonderful straight roads through a dry scrubby landscape and we made it to our hotel.

The number of speeding tickets continues to grow with Alan Crisp the latest offender. A fine of about £10 for breaking the 60 kph speed limit.

Tomorrow we go into Zambia and the Victoria Falls on the Zambesi river. Another day another country. Finally, today we passed the 5,000 kms mark. Only another 6,000 kms to go.

Our Garmin GPS recording 5,000 kms since we left Cape Town on the 4th August

August 20th - Day 17

A fast, fairly featureless drive of just under 600 kms across north western Botswana to cross the border into Zambia and the Victoria Falls. That's what we have done today, but not without quite a drama at the border.
The Zambezi river divides the two countries and a ferry carries cars, trucks and passengers across. Our problem was that there was only one of the two ferries running at the time. The first time the ferry loaded after we arrived it was completely filled with just one of the enormous articulated trucks waiting with us.

Jim Taylor with his Landcruiser in the queue waiting for the ferry over the Zambezi

David Harris and Rosalie Gatsonides on the ferry across the Zambezi.

So a long wait followed, that is until Joanna Brown and Ursula 'negotiated' with the supervisor loading the ferry to allow it to be completely loaded with our cars. The trip across took ten minutes and after the usual bureaucracy at customs and immigration we entered Zambia. The fifth country of the tour.

We drove the 70 kms to the Royal Livingstone Hotel, which is just above the falls, in forty minutes. After a quick change we took the fifteen minute walk to the Falls.

The magnificent Victoria Falls from the Zambian side

Because it is winter the flow of water is considerably less than in the summer wet season. Even though the water flow was down, the falls are a fantastic sight.

Tonight Mark I'Anson's co-driver David Liddell, as well as his two daughters leave us. They are replaced by his wife, son and another daughter. Terence English has the wife of a colleague joining him for the second half of the tour. We have now covered 50% of the total distance, 5,650 kms.

Tomorrow we make a change to the planned route by only going as far as the Chobe National Park, about 30 kms back into Botswana, where we are staying at the Chobe Game Lodge. The tour meanwhile goes from the Victoria Falls to Maun, a town on the edge of the Okavango Delta. They will stay there for two nights whereas we will arrive on Monday and stay for one night only.

August 21st - Day 18

We were able to make a late departure from the Royal Livingstone Hotel as we only had 100 kms to drive to the Chobe Game Lodge, just across the border in Botswana.

Breakfast on the terrace at The Royal Livingstone Hotel, with Chris Matthews in the foreground

There were now three Toyota Landcruisers going 'off piste'. Stuart and Sherrie Jamieson from San Diego, John and Elaine Chambers from England and ourselves. The return journey to the ferry and the crossing back into Botswana was comparatively uneventful.

On the ferry back across the Zambezi to Botswana

We all needed fuel, which is 30% cheaper in Botswana than Zambia so we stopped at the first garage after the border to fill up. As we were getting our fuel there was a power cut and all the pumps stopped! Luckily for us the next garage had a generator that could operate one pump at a time, which made for a very slow fill-up.

The drive to the lodge took us a short way into the wilderness of the Chobe National Park. One of the great wildlife parks in the world. It has an estimated population of nearly 100,000 elephants. The lodge was on the southern bank of the Chobe river which is the border with Namibia.

Waiting to take the boat for our Chobe river safari

 

The river is a natural attraction for all sorts of animals and on a two hour boat ride we saw large herds of elephants coming down to the river to drink.

Elephants on the bank of the Chobe River

They were joined by a herd of impalas. Baboons, hippos, crocodiles and a many birds, including fish eagles all use the river.

Fish eagle

Five metres long crocodile basking in the evening sun

It is a truly magical place, especially as the sun set on our way back to the lodge.  At supper we discussed our options for the next day's route. The two alternatives were to drive 650 kms south to Maun, and meet up with the rest of the group or head west into Namibia and drive through an area called the Caprivi Strip. This is a rectangular part of Namibia that extends between Angola to the north and Botswana to the south. Taking this route, and joining the tour a day later, meant we would save about 800 kms and also visit an area of Namibia that is very rarely seen by visitors because of its remoteness. The Caprivi Strip is also an area renowned for its wildlife. A few phonecalls and we booked ourselves into a lodge in a small town called Rundu, some 600 kms west of Chobe.

The adventure continues!

August 22nd - Day 19

Sadly we only had time for one night at the marvellous Chobe Game Lodge, but at least we had an opportunity to go on an early morning safari before we set off for Namibia, our sixth country of the tour. This time we drove through the park and within a few minutes we came across the most amazing sight of nature in the raw. A herd of hundreds of buffalo was standing watching dozens of vultures fighting over the carcass of a young elephant, whilst a loan female lion tried to scare off the vultures.

Dead elephant with vultures, buffalo and lone lioness attempting to feed off the carcass

The meanest of the big five? A solitary male buffalo

As the lion approached the dead elephant the birds flew away but a large buffalo moved forward to attack the lion, in defence of the herd. The lion was forced to back off. This was repeated several times until finally the lion gave up and walked away. The vultures then flew back and swarmed over the carcass, completely hiding it from view. The whole scene was a vivid demonstrationof how savage nature can be and how even the most powerful of beasts can be defeated by sheer numbers. We moved on and saw another female lion with one cub. Apparently a second cub had disappeared and, according to our guide, it had most likely died.

On the way back we were treated to a very personal recollection from Stuart, our American heart surgeon from San Diego. As a child he had spent time living in the Chobe and we drove to where his house 'Serondela' used to be. The house was demolished when the park was formed in the 1960's and now it is the Serondela picnic area. He then told us that the movie, The African Queen, was filmed on the Chobe river and we stopped at the spot where a charging elephant was shot in front of Bogart and Hepburn!

We then returned to the lodge, said our farewells and our three cars headed off for the border between Botswana and Namibia, about 50 kms to the west.

A final view of the wonderful wildlife in the Chobe National Park - the very beautiful Sable

We crossed into Namibia at the Ngoma bridge, a recently built crossing of the Chobe River. Our drive then took us into the Caprivi Strip This rectangular area of about 500 kms by 200 kms has been at the centre of a struggle between Angola and Namibia and until recently it was dangerous to drive through it without a police escort. Angolan rebels made attacks into the Caprivi and an area that once was abundant in wildlife now has very little because of rampant poaching. The road, apart from a few slight bends was arrow straight for the whole 500 kms. There were very few cars and I can only remember overtaking one van and two cars on the road!!

At the end of the Caprivi Strip our road joined up with the road from Maun. This is the road the main group will be coming along tomorrow on the longest day of the tour, just under 1,000 kms. They have spent two nights in Maun the main town from which you can explore the Okavango Delta. This is a vast wetlands area where the Okavango River deposits its water. The river does not flow to the sea. It's a shame we have missed this but our 'off piste' trip has been such great fun all six of us feel we made the right decision.

Another 200 kms of dead straight road, running alongside the Okavango River bought us to our overnight stop in Rundu. Our hotel overlooked the river and Angola on the other side. Rundu was used by South Africa as the staging post from which they launched their intervention in the Angolan civil war.

Tomorrow we drive a further 350 kms to the edge of the Etosha National Park, definitely one of the highlights of the whole tour.

August 23rd - Day 20

Because we had taken a much shorter route than the main group, who had driven south to Maun, we had only 350 kms to travel. They had the longest day of the tour, a drive of 980 kms.

We spoke to the hotel manager about Rundu and tourism in the area. He said that five years ago Angolan rebels had crossed the river and murdered five French tourists.

View of Angola, on the far side of the Okavango River from our hotel in Rundu, Namibia

The town was only now starting to return to the level of tourists seen then. Yet another victim of the troubles in so many parts of Africa.

We were able to leave Rundu at the very respectable time of 10:30am. Yet another day of arrow straight roads, but this time alongside the road were stalls selling local crafts - wood carvings, pots and strangely models of Landrovers and helicopters, both made out of wood. We stopped and bought a helicopter as a present for Stuart who had very generously paid for our stay in Rundu. This had been his thanks to us for joining him and Sheri on the three day excursion away from the tour. It had been his idea in the first place. Also it was an appropriate present as Stuart pilots his own helicopter. As we bought the gift, twenty children ran up to us. We decided to give them some biscuits and the lady in charge of the stall organised them to make sure they received one each. We then took photos of them all. Even though they have such a hard life they were all smiling and laughing. A moment to remember.

Our drive west to Etosha took us on our first Namibian gravel roads. These are renowned in the rally world for their smoothness. Apart from the noise of the tyres on the fine gravel, and the occasional pothole, you could be driving on tarmac. The one thing you never want to have happen is to be behind another vevicle, as the dust thrown up is unbelievable. To be clear of the dust, when there is no side wind to blow it away, you need to be about half a mile behind the vehicle in front of you. It makes it very difficult to overtake a slower car as you are completely blind as you get close. The smoothness of the gravel roads means you can travel at quite fast speeds, not much slower than on the tarmac.

A short detour off the gravel road took us to a local monument, a giant baobab tree. They are wonderful trees. This one was 30 metres in circumference, but apparently they can grow to 45 metres. They are amongst the longest living trees, living for more than 3,000 years.

Giant baobab tree

We arrived at our lodge on the edge of the park at about 2pm. At 3.30pm the first car to arrive from Maun was Jim Carr in his orange coloured Discovery. Shortly afterwards Jim Taylor turned up. The last to arrive, at 9pm, were Jingers and our tour doctor Greg Williams. They had not been able to leave Maun till 11am as several cars were delayed for mechanical reasons and as they are the 'sweeper' car they have to follow behind the tour to help anyone in trouble. The day was rounded off by a wonderful meal in the open where we exchanged our experiences of the last three days.

The Aoba Lodge on the edge of the Etosha National park

A couple of facts. Day time temperatures are aound 33-35 degrees celsius and we have now travelled just under 7,000 kms. I hope to post some more photos when we get back into South Africa on the 30th. If that is not possible I will be creating a gallery when we return to the UK. As they say 'watch this space'.

August 24th - Day 21

Our lodge was located on the eastern edge of Etosha National Park. We drove about 150 kms through the eastern half of the park. Etosha, meaning Great White Place, is huge. It covers an area of 23,000 square kilometres.

As soon as we entered the park we were immediately struck by the variety of animals. Within a kilometre of the entrance we saw our first large herds. What is truly amazing is how the herds of different animals live side by side. Impala, Sable, Kudu, Sprinbok, Zebra, Giraffe, Wildebeest and many, many more co-exist in seemingly perfect harmony.

Oryx drinking at one of the permanent waterholes in the Etosha Park

Black backed jackal on the prowl near a herd of zebras

One of the prettiest small deer, the duiker

The first pride of lions we saw lay in the shade of some small trees within a few yards of the road. It was wonderful to see the cubs with the female adults.
Each permanent waterhole we came across teemed with life. The birds would fly down in large flocks to drink, whilst giraffes bent down their long necks to reach the water. You simply could never get bored watching.


Wildebeest seemed to spend most of their time resting in the shade of small trees and bushes, like the one above.

Towards the end of our drive in the park we saw our first elephants.


The elephants that live in Etosha are up to 30% larger than in the rest of southern Africa. Apparently this is due to the great abundance of food. Also the population of elephants is under control unlike the vast numbers in the Chobe park in Botswana. As we drove out of the park we came across a sight apparently few people see, a resting giraffe. This one was in the shade of the trees and, like a domestic cat, had folded its front legs underneath itself. You can also see, on the right hand side of the photo, a springbok shading itself from the midday sun

After six hours we exited the park and drove the final 100 kms to our overnight stop in Outjo. For the past four days we have been heading more or less due west. Today we started the long drive south to Cape Town and tomorrow we reach the Atlantic at the feared Skeleton Coast. The first time we will see the sea since we headed inland at Port Elizabeth over two weeks ago.