Wandering Wildlife Vet

Can you believe I’ve been in Africa for 2 months already? I’m halfway done with my time in Namibia but it’s been great. I took a break from volunteering this week to be a tourist. I will have minimal time away from working for the remainder of my time in Africa so it was a nice change of pace and opportunity to see more of this country.

I started this week with a 3-day camping trip in Etosha National Park over the weekend. There were 9 other people in my tour group from all over the world, most of them solo travelers. It is a long drive from Windhoek to Etosha so we left early Saturday morning. We arrived in the park around 5 pm and went to our first campsite to set up our tents. This campsite was on the east side of the park where it is drier. After camp was set, we went on a game drive as dawn and dusk are the best times to see wildlife. Almost immediately, we saw a lioness and her cub crossing the road! It was an awesome first sighting in the park. Shortly after, I spotted a black rhino with her “teenage” calf. Two of the big 5 in the first hour was so lucky!

After our drive, we enjoyed a nice dinner around the campfire. There was an active waterhole at our campsite that we were able to go to after eating. Once the sun went down, it got very busy. Throughout the time I was there watching, an elephant, several rhinos, giraffes, and a pack of spotted hyenas came for a drink! It was a great end to the first night and I was very excited for the full day of game drives the next day.

We woke up Sunday around sunrise to pack up camp and start our drives so we had the best opportunity to see the most animals. We saw tons of game species like kudu, springbok, zebra, giraffe, oryx, wildebeest, and impala. We also found a pair of lions enjoying some shade under the trees! While we were watching the lions, another group told us about some cheetahs just down the road. We finished up taking photos and headed towards them. It happened to be 3 older cubs about 50 feet from the road taking a nap. It is very lucky to see cheetahs as they are quite skittish!

After lunch, we continued with game drives as we crossed the park to the west side where we would be camping for the night. A large portion of the park is known as the Etosha pan, a giant salt and lime field. Some animals like ostrich and oryx like to use this area to get needed minerals from the ground. Throughout the afternoon, we saw many animals but the best part was a herd of elephants playing in a waterhole! There were some babies with them and they were having a blast splashing and running around in the waterhole! We made it to the second campsite by late afternoon and we set up our tents before heading out for a sunset drive. We saw some more elephants and rhinos. Etosha has a much larger population of black rhinos than white so all the rhinos we saw were black but these are the more endangered species.

We went on one last drive Monday morning as we were leaving the park. We were lucky enough to find one last species, the dik dik, while we were out. This is the smallest species of antelope in Africa. We made it back to Windhoek around 5pm and I was picked up by my ride back to Naankuse for the night. Unfortunately, most of the friends I had made were leaving this week so we had one last dinner together and said our goodbyes. I was back with just enough time to do some laundry and repack for my next tour that started Tuesday morning.

Tuesday I started a 3-day camping trip to Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert. The Namib Desert covers the majority of southern Namibia and extends up the coast all the way into Angola. It is the oldest desert in the world. Sossusvlei is the area of the desert where the sand dunes are but the sand that makes the dunes actually came from the Kalahari Desert thousands of years ago. It was a long drive down to our campsite from Windhoek but we got there in time to set up camp before sunset. We climbed one of the dunes and watched sunset from the top.

Wednesday morning we got up before sunrise so that we could get out to the dunes early. We started our morning at Dune 45 and climbed up to watch the sunrise. After the sun came up, we had breakfast at the bottom. Then we drove farther into the dune field to go to Deadvlei. Deadvlei used to be a lake in the middle of the dunes but it dried up hundreds of years ago. The only thing that remains is a bunch of dead trees that have been standing for an estimated 500 years. The location actually protects the trees from decomposing because there is not moisture to cause them to rot. Eventually as the dunes move with the wind, Deadvlei will be completely covered up with sand.

Once it reached about noon, the heat is too much to be out so we went back to the campsite and enjoyed the afternoon by the pool. Once it cooled off a bit, we drove to Sesriem Canyon on the border of the desert and the Namib Naukluft Mountains. When there is good rain in the north, this canyon can have water up to 10 feet high flowing through it. We walked through the canyon and then watched sunset from the top.

Tomorrow is my last full day at Naankuse before I head to their two research sites for a week each. It’s been a great week but I am ready to get back to what I came to Africa for. My first research site is also a winery so I am excited to get to try their world famous wines while I am there. We will be focusing on carnivores like cheetah, leopard, and hyena. Before I know it I will be heading to South Africa but I will enjoy these next two weeks in Namibia!