Friday 1st March. Just before sunrise over the Okavango River from my ‘garden’ at the Kaisosi River Lodge.
A little while later, a fisherman was working from his dugout canoe opposite my room.
And just before we set off after breakfast, an African Pygmy-goose appeared.
We had been at the north of the Caprivi Strip, (that ‘handle’ at the north east of Namibia) and this morning were moving well towards the south of it but not much further east yet.
En route, we (they) couldn’t resist visiting the previous evening’s sewage works again. But before getting there we saw (among other things – it’s always among many, many other things, especially birds) ..
I’ve spent over half an hour searching for what this pretty bird might be, to no avail. Thank goodness that after this I started making a note of the name of every bird of which I took a photo! Much later: I’m beginning to suspect that my first thought, which I rejected initially because of the beak, was right. A Carmine bee-eater, its beak very much foreshortened in the photo.Upper wire: giant kingfisher with prey. Lower wire – pied kingfishers.
At the sewage works.
Painted snipe. Seeing this caused some excitement.Black-winged stiltIf the ground is too low for the telescope to be of use, you use whatever else is to hand, here the luggage trailer. RuffEuropean Bee-eater
We were due to go on a river cruise later in the afternoon.Almost as soon as we arrived, I was thrilled to see this Sable Antelope on the far bank. I had been doing my homework and knew that there was a possibility. Beautiful creature!Chobe dwarf gecko on the side of one of the roomsAnd this is the view from my own lime-green-painted room, which was to be home for three nights.There was a small ‘normal’ swimming pool at the lodge, but this one had been carved (not sure that’s the right word) out of the river. One of our number tried it and said it was quite impossible to swim there. He was just swept to the far (in this photo, near) side of the pool by the current.Way upstream these buffaloes came down to graze on the opposite side of the river.But directly opposite were many, many elephants. They entered right and left left, for over an hour. I stayed and watched them while most of the others went off for a bird-wander before our cruise.The white mounds are salt, put there by the proprietors of the lodge to attract creatures needing it, here elephants and, behind, kudu.Glimpse of a hippo
Thursday, 28th February. Before sunrise, all the others went off, after a coffee, for a bird-watching walk around the grounds of the Lodge. Being rather birded out, I allowed myself a few more minutes in bed, though still had had my breakfast pretty early, well before the others got back to have theirs. I filled in time by wandering round the grounds on my own in non-birdwatching mode, and then visiting the ‘Reptile Walk’ of the lodge, which had sadly seen better days.
The bar, where we had had our lunch on the two days we were there.Trees often grow through termite mounds, apparently because of the greater fertility of the soil, and possibly their greater water contentI didn’t go looking for birds, but sometimes you just can’t avoid them. Red-billed hornbill, in still poor, early morning light.Anchieta’s dwarf python. Quite big. actuallyBlack mamba. Not very big, but I’m glad there’s glass between me and it.Later, as I went to join the vehicles to leave, this family of striped mongooses, very much at home in the grounds of the lodge, were taking advantage of the hose water.
We covered a lot of ground this day, 430 km/267 miles. It was pretty hot (35 degrees C max) , and thunderstorms threatened, never amounting to much though.
Weaver birds’ nests. Even a refuelling stop is the opportunity for birdwatching.Ooh, and here we are at a sewage works.Fortunately, the problem with Jakes’s vehicle (a tyre I think) arose in a town, Tsumeb. Jakes explains it, Neil listens, and the mechanic mops his brow.Namibia is rich in minerals.
Our lunch was taken at a Roy’s Rest Camp, whose proprietors have a wacky sense of humour!
Looks fairly normal to begin with, just a little run-down. (It gets good reviews though).Just two examples among many of eccentricity.The dining area seems normal, until you start noticing little curios. No pictures because I was eating…… and then keen to get back to chat with this man. A Scot, who had lived in Australia for the last 40 years (though you’d think he’d never left Renfrewshire from his accent) who is travelling the world with just a 150 cc bike, (there in front of our right-hand vehicle), a mobile phone, and virtually no plans. Is nearly at the end of his years-long odyssey. Amazing fellow. I got this photo, with his permission, but didn’t like to ask his name.
Once we got going again, there was little time to stop for wildlife photographs, and I snatched such pictures of Namibian rural life as I could through the windows of the vehicle.
When we were nearly at our next destination, near Rundu, a dust storm arose as we went through the town. “Windows closed please!”
Shortly afterwards, we arrived at Kaisosi River Lodge on the Okavango River, with Angola on the other side.
Four rooms in this building. Mine was downstairs, in the nearer half, the river beyond.From the riverside, No 3.Just so peaceful after a long day’s journeying. View from the ‘French’ window.View from the verandah by the dining room.
But the dining room was not – yet – for us. After settling in, we went out to visit ….. a sewage works.
Homeward bound in the shower with firewood.Black-crowned Night-heronsRed bishop. The first we had seen, but we were to see more.Embroidery on my pillowcase. Pied kingfisher.
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