Holiday in Namibia (9): Otjiwarongo
It seems that this holiday is going to end as it has largely progressed – with early morning starts.
At the Etosha King Nehale Lodge on Thursday morning, I had to set the alarm for 5 am and put out my luggage at 6 am, so that I could have breakfast and be ready for the group departure at 7 am. In fact, we left a few minutes early because Carlos wanted to be at the Nehale Lya Mpingana Gate for the 7 am opening time since he needed to cross a section of the Etosha National Park as soon as possible for a tight timetable today.
The park entrance is very close to the lodge, so we were there at 7 am. Unfortunately it took 20 minutes for the relevant member of the park’s staff to turn up and to find the key to the gate. Carlos was not amused and, for the rest of the morning, set a cracking pace on what fortunately were good roads.
After an hour crossing this corner of the park, we exited at the Von Linquist Gate and headed south-east to the quaint town of Tsumeb. Here we had some time to visit the local museum which covers the ethnography of local tribes, the period of German colonialisation, German-British conflict in the area during the two World Wars, and the town’s modern experience of copper mining. We stopped briefly at a little town called Otavi to buy some lunch to eat on the coach.
Then we rushed south-west, all the way to the Okonjima Private Gamed Reserve. It was another 10 km from the entrance of the reserve to the AfriCat Foundation Day Care Centre. The Foundation was founded in 1991 with a mission to contribute to the conservation of Namibia’s large carnivores. It started with the conversion of Okonjima from a cattle farm to a conservation project and, since then, three adjacent farms have joined the project to create a nature reserve of some 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares).
We were driven in an open vehicle to a nearby section protected by electrified wire fencing. This was home to five cheetahs who had been found with no parents and relocated to the project. We easily found these magnificent creatures basking in the sun. Then trouble hit: one wheel of our vehicle became stuck in a deep hole created by an aardvark and nothing that our driver/guide could do would release the vehicle.
The five cheetahs surrounded us on all sides, their mouths salivating and their muscles tensed to leap upon us (actually, I made up that bit). Our driver radioed to base to advise them on our dilemma, another vehicle was dispatched to the section, it pulled along side our vehicle, and we all climbed from one vehicle to another, avoiding the need to step on the ground. Another adventure.
After more time at the project being briefed on their work of preservation (the actress Angelina Jolie is a major patron), we moved to our ninth and last accommodation of the holiday where we arrived at 3.40 pm after a journey of nearly nine hours. This was Otjima Game Ranch just south of the town of Otjiwarongo (Otjiwa means ‘the place of the baboons and Otjiwarango means ‘the place of fat cattle’) and which, like all the other lodges where we have stayed, consists of a main building with reception, restaurant and shop and then a collection of chalets spread around nearby.
It was all very civilised and comfortable: coffee/tea and cake in the afternoon and a three-course dinner in the evening with seven young women in near identical dress clapping rhythm and dancing to the beat.
Friday was our last full day in Namibia. On Wednesday, we saw lions; on Thursday, we observed cheetahs; and today we set off at 7 am on a rhino hunt.
It took us 50 minutes, but then we found a group of seven white rhinos. We stopped our open vehicle and walked closer to these powerful creatures for a magical encounter. Among the other animals we saw were the ubiquitous springboks. There is little more charming among African wildlife than to see springboks doing their special jump known as ‘pronking’ which apparently they do for sheer fun.
We were back at the ranch soon after 9 am for a cooked breakfast. Then the remainder of the day was free to catch up on rest and relaxation before our return home. At our final dinner, I ran a little quiz and, on behalf of the ‘golden girls’, Dolly read out a specially-prepared poem.
On Saturday, we had a relatively late departure when we left at 8.30 am. We drove further south, stopping for a break at the town of Okahandja (which means ‘place of a short and wide river’). For the section of the journey from Okahandja to Windhoek, we drove on Namibia’s newest and best road: a modern dual carriageway. If only all of the country’s roads could be so smooth.
The return to Britain was a five hour flight from Windhoek to Addis Ababa and then a near eight hour flight from Addis Ababa to London Heathrow. Back to the coronation in a week’s time.