Namibia - Windhoek

 Windhoek is the capital of Namibia and the largest urban centre. We stayed at the Hilton hotel in downtown Windhoek.

Independence Museum

The museum of independence was a pleasant surprise. It allowed us to discover the different ethnic groups that had influence over the nation. This makes sense as the language Afrikaans is a combination of all the languages - Dutch, Malay, Portuguese, Indonesian and indigenous Khoekhoe and San languages.

Chrisruskirvhe 1910

Parliament Grounds

Hilton Hotel roof pool

Dinner out

We spent time walking around the downtown area and purchased a picture made of leather of elephants walking. This was the end of our stay in Namibia. We would depart and make our way to Addis Ababa and home. We had a fantastic tour of Namibia with a wounder guide, Charl Schoombee. 

Namibia - Africat Foundation

After a long day's drive we arrived at the Africat Foundation we were upgraded to stay at the Okonjima Bush Camp. This was a wonderful surprise and the accommodation and meals were outstanding.

Bill spent a lot of time feeding the birds.

Hornbill

The first afternoon we went out to track a collared leopard in the private reserve. We could not find the first leopard but we did locate the second cat. This leopard had spotted a waterbuck and was considering it for dinner. There was also a Kudo watching the leopard and bellowing which created an interesting situation. The leopard did not manage to get a meal this time.

Leopard

Damara Dik-Dik

Sundowner

Our next day we went to visit the Africat Foundation buildings and to see the cheetahs. The cheetahs are fenced into an area so that the leopards are kept separate from the cheetahs. 

The Africat Foundation was established for Cheetah that was orphaned or hurt and needed to be cared for. The foundation's goal was to allow the cheetahs to be reintegrated into the wild. The cheetahs can not be reintroduced into the wild as they have discovered that the cheetahs do not survive as they are not able to teach them to hunt.

Kudu watching us in our room.

The last night celebrated our tour with a wonderful meal of Eland steak and a great bottle of wine from South Africa. In the morning we were on our way again to our last stop in Windhoek where we would say goodbye to our guide Charl Schoombee.

Namibia - Etosha National Park - East

On our last day in the park, we had to drive most of the way through the park to exit by the east gate. Along the way, there are multiple side trips and waterholes that you can visit. 

You need to be out of the park by sunset as the gates are closed. Our next accommodation was just outside the park so we could spend most of the day inside the gates.

Ostrich

Yellow Billed Kite

Black Shoulder Kite

Cheetah after the kill.

Oryx and Rhinoceros

Before getting to the waterhole there was a group of elephants eating from the trees. This baby elephant was off to the side. He had to find a tree that he could reach at the other elephants were much taller.

Our last waterhole in Etosha National Park was fantastic. The number of animals taking their turn drinking, or bathing was great to see. We started our visit by watching a group of four lions under a tree.

The activity of animals coming to the waterhole made the lions move and go for a drink. Notice that there are not a lot of animals close to where the lions are drinking.

Zebra and Impala shared the waterhole.

These two zebra kept jostling. When I was ready 

to get a great picture they stopped.

As the elephants started to arrive and the animals cleared the area. Very few animals will challenge the elephants. Elephants a very destructive as they will kill the trees by overgrazing and walking through the fences.

It was so interesting watching the elephants enjoy the water.

Bath Time

Time to go.

Our next accommodation was Mushara Lodge. 

Banded mongoose

Common Duiker

Sunset

Tomorrow we have a longer drive to get to our next lodge. We are heading south toward Windhoek.

 

Namibia - Etosha National Park - Central

Okaukuejo Camp is a large complex with a variety of accommodations and a campground. The advantage of this camp was the waterhole that is lite up all night.   This allows visitors to go out to the waterhole all night with no restrictions.  Our accommodation was close to the waterhole. While we were staying at the camp we made many visits to see what animals where having a drink.

Black-faced Impala

Springbok

Greater Kudu

Oryx or Gemsbok

After dinner we went back to the waterhole to see what would visit at sunset.

Getting up at 2:30 in the morning allowed us to see a few animals visiting at night.

The next morning us at 6:30 and we had the opportunity to see the spotted hyaena visit the watering hole.

Spotted Hyaena