Namibia 2014

Thursday25September

We leave Paris, a group of 4, for nearly 22 hours of travel to reach our destination: Namibia. The plane goes through London, then we take the large Airbus A380 to reach Johannesburg, the capital of South Africa.

Our plane, the Airbus A380, on the tarmac of Johannesburg airport

Inside Johannesburg airport

2 hours after leaving South Africa, we finally touch Namibian soil at Hosea Kutako International Airport in the country's capital: Windhoek.

Tourmaline had arranged a driver to take us directly to the car rental company. There, we were greeted by Alex, an expatriate Spaniard who speaks perfect French.

Discovering our 4x4 pick-up, a Toyota Hilux. The 2 brown boxes placed on the car are the 2 tents fixed to the roof in which we will sleep! A quick lesson on how to set up the tents will not be too much!

We spend our first night at the Ulhand guesthouse; it's also where we'll spend our last night in 4 weeks!

Friday26September

We begin the first kilometers of our circuit, which will cover no less than 5500 km... For now, heading south!

We will often encounter it during the trip, whether on foot or by car: the acacia, very common at these latitudes. And we will especially enjoy its indispensable shade!

Acacia flower

An opportunity to photograph our vehicle carrying our roof on its roof...

A little further on, we encounter our first animals of the African savanna, the ostrich! Fences line the entire road to avoid any somewhat brutal encounters...

The African ostrich (Struthio camelus) is the largest of all birds, and also the fastest on the ground...

Next comes a curiosity that we will find everywhere in Namibia: the enormous nests of the social weaver birds (that's their name, Philetairus socius in Latin). This one has a bird-like shape. Sometimes, they are so big that they fall to the ground, forcing the birds to rebuild another one.

Here, a large millipede. Or what's left of it...

And here's another one, no more alive but in better shape...  

90% of the roads we will take will be dirt tracks like this one. It takes a bit of practice to avoid the pitfalls, but you get used to it very well.

A farm and its windmill.

Another social weaver nest. Sometimes, trees are scarce, so they use any verticality available to them. Including electrical poles!

And boom, another ostrich, but not only... Goats also get their piece of the savanna, but they, they easily cross the fences...

And black-tailed blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus). The tail is indeed black, but no trace of blue... Perhaps reflections depending on the light?

And for now, no risk, we are well protected by the small fence...

And on this tree, here are the beginnings of the collective nest of the social weavers...

Hardly back on the road, the animal festival continues. Now it's the giraffe that surprises us around a thicket!

Our eyes get used to the landscape and quickly we discover a 2nd giraffe!

Then a 3rd!

And then 4! And then 5!  

After the ostrich, the largest of birds, here is the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), the tallest terrestrial animal at over 4.5 meters and 1.5 tons...

Around a thicket, a steenbok raphicerus hides and quickly takes flight.

The greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros)

These magnificent spiral horns are only carried by males and can reach 1.80 meters!  

Here we are at our first stop, Anib Lodge campsite near Mariental, the regional capital. This is where we realize that we did well to book the campsites in advance because there are only 3 pitches here! And given the size of each plot, we won't be bothered by the neighbors!  

A few meters from our pitch, a large termite mound.

Near the reception, small mammals play hide-and-seek. These are Cape ground squirrels (Xerus inauris).

Next, the country's most familiar animal, the springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis). Here, only tourists are on the horizon, so we won't see a demonstration of its dazzling speed, which it can reach when a cheetah pursues it, a remarkable 115 km/h! It's much faster than its predator, but the cheetah knows how to play on the element of surprise and sometimes has the last word...  

Another termite mound

It's high time to set up the tent and experiment with unfolding it on the car roof! It's very easy to do, and anyway, we have over 3 weeks to get used to it!

And our first sunset

Now that we've taken plenty of sunset photos, it's time to cook the potatoes and the big sausage bought in Windhoek. First barbecue of a long line!

And while we eat, the coffee maker provided with the car has taken its place on the grill so we can enjoy a good coffee. Tomorrow, we will continue the road to the Quiver Tree site.