An African Adventure

We left behind our tented camp in the Caprivi Strip where we enjoyed during the day watching hippos in the river , splashing and snorting. Those same sounds proved to be a bit ominous at night when we were lying awake in our tent wondering just how close they were. Hippos leave the water at night to graze on grass which happened to be in our camp. We were told not to come between the water and the Hippos should we come across one on the grass. We did get a chuckle on leaving the camp to discover that the owners name was Mr. Horst Kock – our Canadian kids would have roasted him when he was in school!!!

The Ndhovu Safari Lodge is situated on the Okavango River where we had stayed. It was in the rainy season there so all our clothes were damp and it was nice to move on. We travelled 600 km the next day through vastly changing environments to end up in a hot, arid climate in the Etosha National Park. Very little water to be seen.The park is about 20,000 square km (totally fenced to help prevent the spread of disease amongst some of the herds) and we will be travelling across it in the next few days staying in 3 different Safari Camps. As we arrived near our first camp, a replica of an old fortress which once stood there ,we stopped at a watering hole to check out the wildlife. There is so little water here that the animals all move close to watering holes. We saw impalas, giraffes and 2 female lions. Inside our own compound ( the gates are locked at night to keep the animals out) we can see down into a lighted watering hole so we could sit around after dinner checking out the visitors.

The following day was spent on safari where we saw a white rhino for the first time.We got a break in the afternoon at our next lodge and had time to swim in the largest hotel pool we had ever seen.