This time I will talk about my amazing experiences in Namibia. I am a huge fan of the wild life and enjoy seeing animals in their purest form in the nature.
So of course, I should consider coming to this southern African country to see its beauty with my own eyes. And this is exactly what happened: I saw a lot of premium scenes and landscapes without any filter or layer between them and my eyes.
After my trip to the luxurious city of Dubai in June 2021, I arrived at the airport of Windhoek, the largest city of Namibia. Windhoek happens to be the capital of the country as well as the major center for political, economic, social and cultural matters. I enjoy to schedule a mix of luxury and simplicity in my travels. Namibia was therefore a great complement to Dubai.
This is definitely what I recommend to perpetual travelers: to experience the world to its fullest extent. You never know what will truly inspire you, so why not to try a bit of everything?
My girlfriend Alana and I decided to sleep our first night in Namibia close to the airport in a nice ranch with a farm flair. Since the next days would require a lot of energy from us, we needed to rest and have a good night of sleep. Besides the nice swimming pool and a pleasant view of the hills, we saw some antelopes, deers and zebras.
A little note to the weather: we went there in the winter and due to the great difference in the temperature during the day and the night, Alana was freezing in the evening. I know, I know… a winter jacket is not the first thing that comes to our mind when we think about flying to Africa – keep that in mind, though! ☃️
We rented an offroad truck to be our companion for the next days and were ready for our immersive tour into the wilderness.
Our destination for the upcoming days was the Okonjima Nature Reserve, which is a “small” (200km²) private reserve on the way to the famous Etosha National Park. This Nature Reserve is where the AfriCat Foundation is based. They aim to protect and conserve the species in the region as well as mitigate wildlife-human conflicts.
In short the family-run Okonjima Lodge was an amazing experience – the facilities in the park were luxurious too, with glass windows, several birds and – the main attraction – leopards. It is quite rare to see those cats in the nature. They had some sort of GPS bracelet attached to them with a tracking range around 500m. Stay there, big boy!
There was a lion hole in a separate part of the park – we literally went inside some sort of cage to observe lions eating the meat that is thrown to them. We were just a matter of 10m away of them!!
It was breathtaking to see them running to catch that beef! And we had nothing in front of us disturbing the sight. This is what I call a cinema! 🍿🎬
It is important to remark that we were in the middle of a lockdown crisis and Namibia was simply operating to serve the fewer tourists coming. We needed to handle a lot of police controls and health checks during our stay in the country. Tourists were still best treated than residents and citizens, though.
We could simply move around “freely” whereas locals were strictly obliged to stay at home for the sake of social distancing.
The fact that the restaurants were closed didn’t affect us much. We decided to stay in cozy lodges along the way that offered us delicious meals inside their facilities.
It’s not only the lions that enjoy a nice piece of meat. Maybe I am part of the Safari too after all 😉
After leaving Okonjima, we proceed to the Etosha National Park. The name “Etosha” actually derives from the 4800 km² Etosha salt pan, where a high concentration of salt remain deposited after the evaporation of the water.
According to the official website from the park, the pan is so large “that it can be seen from space”. Besides, Etosha is home of several animals, such as elephants, giraffes, lions, leopards, wildcats, deers, zebras, jackals, hyenas and foxes.
Our first night in this park was surreal! 😱
Can you picture this scene? A bedroom of a young boy, with the whole zoo as teddy bears around the room and the stars glued on the ceiling – so when the parents say “good night sweetheart” and turn off the light, those starts turn into neon green. Well… we had this kind of night IN REAL LIFE! This time the animals are flesh and blood and the stars really shine!
We spent this special night in a “remodelled” land cruiser. Built above the truck there was a huge open bed. It also counted with a bathroom with shower and toilet, a living area with a shared desk (so I can always be there for my clients and community!). We had dinner up there (an amazing one, btw.) with finger food and drinks to celebrate! Forget the super-boring-nothing-special cliché of a diamond ring in front of the Eiffel Tower – this is the new and real romantic!
The truck was parked in the middle of the wilderness. Yes. We thought we were easy preys and pictured some animals climbing the land cruiser to have their dinner. Maybe they wanted to join us up there! 😉 unfortunately, no big and dangerous animal came to check up on us – just some jackals, wolves and gazelles.
Would you dare? 😎
By waking up in the middle of the national park (alive!) completely isolated with full of privacy – feeling the sun in my skin – I felt grateful for life. It is incredible how so less can be so much! Our special night was extended until breakfast on the top of this offroad truck. After that, we came back to the lodge, swiped the cars and proceeded with our schedule.
One interesting fact about Namibia is that it is quite dry. The severe drought not only damaged pastures and farmlands, but also caused the death of the local livestock. So don’t expect to find buffalos or hippos in the country!
Namibia even sells elephants, giraffes and antelopes in order to protect their species under severe regulated requirements. Therefore, it is very common to have a long way inside the national park without any presence of an animal because they will be gathered around water holes instead. The salt pan is also consumed by animals as salt licks.
In the second day, we drove half of the park to the south. Despite the fact that we went there to explore the park, we usually slept in lodges outside of it. We kind of segmented the park into pieces, so we can cover it gradually everywhere we go.
Etosha is a huge park and the roads are incredibly good. So good that I even got a speeding ticket!!! Well… let’s say that the limit was 30km/h and I was driving at 80km/h! But you guys will agree with me: the 8 is like the 3, only with a little bit more of contour, right? The 8 has the outline closed while the 3 hasn’t 😀 😀 😀
A park ranger caught me stepping on the accelerator and wanted to give me a fine of 300 USD. I don’t regret: the high speed simply fits the wild life 🏎💨
There were almost no tourists in the park. Either because of the travel restrictions back then or because the park is so big that everyone made its route and no one found each other. It felt pretty untamed to be in the middle of the wildlife only.
Another exhilarating experience was when we went to the Hobatere Concession. The Hobatere Lodge is located in a private area along 8.808 hectares and is considered to be a paradise in terms of views. Well, I can definitely confirm it!
Remember that scene where we were in the lion hole and the staff threw some meat and the lions run around? Pretty easy, right?
This time now it gets wilder: I literally saw lions licking their beaks after enjoying a fresh zebra-flavoured lunch.
What a great safari experience! I can only recommend this lodge – it has precisely amazing food and nice views!
It’s not only about animals living in their natural habitat – we also explored the region through the eyes of the local population there 💃🏽 we visited the Damara tribe and tried some insects:
That’s the wild life, right? 😉
We stayed in the Grootberg Lodge in the mountains. The hills and the sunset are for me the perfect pair!
Next destination: a long drive to Swakopmund, the tourist center at the coast. Now time for sea safari! What do you think that I will find there? 🐋🐬
The story will be continued in another post! See you guys there! 🥂
