Blog Posts in Category: Wildlife

Overlanding Day 12: n’Kwazi Lodge to Ngepi Camp and Bwabwatwa Self Drive

Alastair BegleyNamibia, Overlanding, Wildlife Short Link

Today we woke up early for a morning boat cruise on the Okavango hoping to see Hippo and Crocodile, while we did see some hippos, it was not that successful as all of the local females swam down the river to the dominant male, so we couldn’t get very close. The rest of the cruise was lovely, with some nice bird life and enjoyable views of the river, unfortunately there were no crocodiles. We then made the short drive to Npegi camp, further down on the Okavango. Instead of going straight to camp we headed to the Mahango area of the Bwabwatwa national park for a lunchtime self drive. We knew we were really too late, but were very happy to see the wildlife we had seen, and then we found a herd of elephants who were washing in the river, wonderful. After our safari we went to camp, where we sat on the deck watching Hippos in the river while drinking a beer, before going on an evening boat cruise. Morning Boat Cruse As we arrived for the morning boat cruise we were informed that just 3 min before. Read the full article…

Overlanding Day 11: Etosha National Park to n’Kwazi Lodge

Alastair BegleyNamibia, Overlanding, Wildlife Short Link

Today the plan was for a morning self drive in Etosha, before we departed to head for the next phase of our trip in the pan handle of Namibia. Due to rain the morning self drive was fairly chilled but we enjoyed seeing loads of zebra and giraffe. En-route to our destination we took a detour to stop at the Hoba Meteorite, the largest single meteorite to have been discovered on earth. Morning Self Drive We woke up early for our final self drive, and were very surprised to find out that it was raining. Thankfully it seemed to be passing and by the time we set off the rain had stopped, but there was still a dramatic electrical storm not very far away. From a wildlife perspective, this was probably our least successful safari of the trip, however it was still wonderful seeing the zebra and giraffe in the morning, a particular highlight was a very small zebra foal. Drive The drive was all very easy, as the road for pretty much the entire duration was good tarmac. We stopped todo some shopping in Grootfontein, and to try and. Read the full article…

Overlanding Day 10: Etosha National Park

Alastair BegleyNamibia, Overlanding, Wildlife Short Link

While today was never going to beat yesterday, we also had a pretty phenomenal day. We started they day with another early morning game drive, but this time it started even earlier at 05:30, how unsociable! The game drive was a lot slower than yesterday’s, but in the end we saw a good amount of wildlife, including more Cheetahs, before returning to camp. After packing the truck, we headed out on a self drive from Halali Restcamp to Namutoni Restcamp. It was fairly hot by this point in the day, so for the first part we didn’t see much wildlife, but once the scenery opened up to lots of luscious green meadows, we saw lakes, birds and then hundreds of Zebra, Springbok and Gemsbok. We even saw a lion hiding under a tree to get out of the sun. Our afternoon game drive was wonderful with so many zebra and giraffe in the lush green environment, the highlight was definitely the giraffes crossing the road in front of us, and walking next to us multiple times. Game Drive After the success of yesterday’s game drive, expectations were high, and while. Read the full article…

Overlanding Day 9: Etosha National Park

Alastair BegleyNamibia, Overlanding, Wildlife Short Link

Today we had very little travelling, as we were just travelling between camps in Etosha, which also meant that the short drive was just another part of our self-drive safari. We started the day with a paid-for safari as we thought that it would give us a better chance of seeing some wildlife, and how right we were! After this had finished, we did a bit of a self drive to go and see the lion again, before heading east to get to our second camp at Halali Restcamp. After arriving here and checking into our little chalet, we went off on a self-drive safari, which was very slow to start with, but finished in an amazing fashion, as a great end to a brilliant day. We cannot really see how tomorrow can better today! Morning Game Drive Our day started horribly early with a 5am alarm call so that we could be ready for the game drive at 5:50. No sooner as we had left the camp we saw our first wildlife, while it was still essentially dark, a spotted hyena. This was definitely a sign of things to. Read the full article…

Overlanding Day 8: Twyfelfontein Rock Engravings and Etosha National Park

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Namibia, Overlanding, Wildlife Short Link

Today we started the day with what our plan had been for the previous afternoon, by visiting the UNESCO World Heritage site at Twyfelfontein, which has rock engravings between 2000-10,000 years old. After we had done this we then drove to Etosha National Park, where we will be for the next 3 days. Twyfelfontein Rock Engravings We started the morning by visiting Twyfelfontein rock engravings, where we enjoyed a tour with a local guide who explained the fascinating history of the engravings and ensured that we saw all the best examples of the engravings. Twyfelfontein contains Africa’s largest collection of ancient San rock engravings (petroglyphs), featuring over 2,500 images carved into sandstone, depicting animals (giraffes, rhinos, lions, seals), human figures, tracks, and geometric designs, offering insights into shamanistic rituals, spiritual beliefs, and daily life from 2,000 to 10,000 years ago. Following the very unexpectedly high volume of rain the evening before, the tour was much muddier than expected and also much more humid, so by the end I was very ready to get back into an air conditioned car to cool down. Drive The drive to Etosha was really a. Read the full article…

Overlanding Day 7: Drive to Mowani Mountain Camp and Desert Elephant Safari

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Namibia, Overlanding, Wildlife Short Link

Today the plan was simply to drive to Mowani Mountain Camp which is near Twyfelfontein, and then to go and see the famous rock petroglyphs. However this did not go to plan, as we took a detour en-route to go up the Upper Huab River with our 4×4 to see if we could find any elephants, we are fairly sure we found elephant poo, but no elephants. Then while we were almost at our destination we saw an elephant safari advertised, which when we went in was departing in 10 mins, so with no decision time we decided to go for it, instead of our planned day. The Drive The drive was all really easy with all of the roads being brilliant, and the scenery continued to be absolutely fantastic. Constantly changing during the entire drive, however always beautiful and always interesting. We stopped en-route a few times, the first was to have breakfast and we managed, by total chance, to choose a spot which was at the top of a pass with totally fantastic views. It was however rather windy which made boiling the water for our tea and. Read the full article…

Overlanding Day 6: Cape Cross Seals, Messum Crater and Skeleton Coast

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Namibia, Overlanding, Wildlife Short Link

The initial plan for today was for a fairly chilled out day seeing the seals at Cape Cross in the morning, before making the easy drive up the Skeleton Coast looking at shipwrecks, however in the lodge we saw an option to make a large detour and head into the remote Messum Crater, which involved 90km of remote off road driving. After this we then tried to squeeze in an attempt to see some Desert Elephants near the Ugab gate, which we didn’t really have time for, but we were treated to a wonderful lunar landscape – in the absence of the elephants. It was very lucky that we added the other activities to the day, as the shipwrecks were somewhat of an anticlimax, with only one shipwreck really having any meat to its bones. Cape Cross Seals Cape Cross is home to the largest colony of Cape Fur Seals which is up to approximately 100,000 seals during the breading season, which we are in now. The Cape Fur Seal isn’t actually a true seal at all as they are related to sea lions. Unlike seals they have ears and. Read the full article…

Overlanding Day 5: Pelican Point Kayaking, Swakopmund and Skeleton Coast

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Namibia, Overlanding, Wildlife Short Link

Today was expected to be mostly about the activity, and that was probably correct. This isn’t to say that the drive wasn’t enjoyable, but the activity was so much better than we had expected. Pelican Point Kayaking An activity which is really raved about, which we decided to do is kayaking at Pelican Point, the reason it is so special is that there is a massive colony of Cape Seals there, who are totally chilled about people Kayaking near them, in fact they often play with the people in Kayaks as they are curious and playful. When booking I had noticed that there was a self drive option, this really appealed to me as it meant that I knew it would be easy to take my photography gear and it certainly sounded more fun that sitting in the back of a bus for a long time to get to Pelican Point. The drive there was really amazing, and to be honest by the time I got there I wasn’t that interested in actually doing the kayaking as I had had such a good time. We saw Flamingos, Jackals, Cormorants and. Read the full article…