December 20, 2017

Generation Wanderlust goes to Waterberg

“You said you and me was gonna get outta town and, for once, just really let our hair down. Well, darlin’, look out, ’cause my hair is comin’ down!” – Thelma and Louise Two girls, one car and one chance to get out of town and have an adventure. Sound familiar? Wheels on the road, the sky a wide arc above us and only the black line of the road stretched out in front of us. Our destination? The Waterberg Plateau National Park. Just two hours from Namibia’s capital, the Waterberg is easy to get to, fun to explore and great for families. For two chicks though? Well, we’re not unfamiliar with “roughing it” and, in fact, that’s our usual setting. Turning off the B1 that runs like a bloodline through Namibia from its southern border to the north-eastern tip, we waved at traffic officers on duty, who smiled cheerfully and waved us through, after curiously glancing into our car looking for the men that they guessed must be hidden somewhere. Nope, no guys, just us two girls.
December 20, 2017

This is My Namibia: Elzanne Erasmus

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Text and photograph: Elzanne Erasmus [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] I stood atop a rock overlooking the Hartmann’s Valley in Namibia’s north-western Kaokoland Region. Breathless. Speechless. A tear quickly wiped […]
January 23, 2018

Built of moon, mist and rain: Mushrooms of the Zambezi

Mushrooms are magical because they appear and disappear in an instant, and toadstools are the residence of various elves and fairies. This magical “plant” acted as a wonderful substitute to my usual bird watching during a visit to Nambwa Tented Lodge in the Zambezi Region. Having seen very few of my favoured avian pastime goodies, most probably due to the ample amount of rain that fell in the region, the mushrooms replaced the birds (I will add some bird/mushroom recipes at the end of the article). As a result of the limited birding opportunities, my wife Helga had a field-day stopping me every five minutes to take pictures of all the beautiful flowers.
January 24, 2018

Luxury on the Open Road: Camper-living for the ultimate Namibian self-drive adventure!

Endless stretches of both asphalt and gravel dissect and are scattered across, over and through the vast plains, hills and valleys of this beautiful country. So often the greatest Namibian adventures lie just around the next bend or just beyond the next turn-of. For the avid traveller, the adventurer at heart, nothing quite beats the freedom and wonder of a self-drive safari through this spectacular corner of Africa. But what if staying in lodges isn’t quite your thing? Do you prefer the rugged appeal of camping, minus the hassle? Well, what if we told you that there’s a middle ground? The term is ‘glamping’. A combination of the luxuries and style of lodge-living and the freedom and often unparalleled immersion in nature by camping.
January 30, 2018

How to make the most out of your experience at NWR Naukluft Camp

There’s no question about it: Namibia is filled to the brim with fantastic destinations. Namibia Wildlife Resorts’ Naukluft Campsite to the south is one of them. It’s easy to get to from Windhoek and is a fun getaway for those precious Namibian long-weekends. Take a few tips from us and make sure your stay at the Naukluft is one to remember:
January 30, 2018

The Great Debate: A future of hope for rhino conservation

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Text: Elzanne Erasmus Photographs: Chris Botha [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It was the third year in a row that I found myself driving across the breathtaking Damaraland landscape. The […]
January 30, 2018

This is my Namibia – Spring 2017

I stood atop a rock overlooking the Hartmann’s Valley in Namibia ’s north-western Kaokoland Region. Breathless. Speechless. A tear quickly wiped away. Clichés, I know, but often words fall short. It wasn’t just the view, but a culmination of factors so intricate that I could scarcely explain it to myself, let alone anyone else. I didn’t take out my camera. I had previously tried to capture moments such as these elsewhere in the country: the view from a dune at Wolwedans, the sunset over the Okavango. Each time I was disappointed with the result. Sometimes the magnitude of the moment just can’t be captured. Or maybe I’m just not good enough a photographer…
January 30, 2018

The Busanga Plains: Paradise Found in Zambia’s Kafue National Park

The Busanga Plains in western Zambia have been on our wish list for some time now. Not least because they are one of those remote areas that host low-density tourism, in a world where many ‘remote’ places are becoming overrun by indiscriminate tourism. Due to Busanga’s remoteness, inaccessibility and few accommodation options, it’s likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future.
January 30, 2018

Tracking Tracks through Africa

In the middle of Kigali, on the car park of a hotel, we had to replace the clutch of our camper. It took longer than anticipated, because replacing the clutch meant the engine had to be removed, which is slightly more time consuming when the contraption with which to lift the engine out, arrives in the back of a taxi. Up to that point, there had been some other mechanical challenges along our 14,000 km road trip, which – I want to add for the record – did not involve our Land Rover only. Just before we entered Burundi one of the Cruisers needed to get a gearbox fixed and we spent 24 hours playing cards in the yard of the mechanic shop while waiting for parts to be bussed in from Dar es Salaam. Then came the big problem, which actually brings me to the beginning of my story. The alternator packed up. With my limited knowledge of what goes on under the hood, to me, this only meant no air-conditioning in the truck, in mid-summer on the equator. What happened then seemed like magic to me. In the sprawling capital of Uganda, we typed in “Landrover Dealer Kampala” on the iPad app and there it was – a pinpoint in a maze on the screen. We were certainly not the first travellers looking for this place because if we were it would not have been on this amazing app. As the left-seat passenger, I never bothered to find out why we always arrived at our precise destination.
January 30, 2018

The Hidden Wonders of Hobatere

It’s not Etosha. It’s not Damaraland either. Hobatere Lodge lies nestled in its own world. A wonderful mesh of white sand, rock and mopane woodland. A place where two iconic Namibian settings marry to create a haven for wildlife. Hobatere, situated in the Khoadi Hoas Conservancy west of Etosha National Park, is a hub of animal and bird activity and breathtaking landscapes. This is a place for nature-lovers to not only indulge in sightings of plains game, lions and elephants but to also relax in peaceful tranquillity.
March 7, 2018

Unexpected Inhabitants of the Namib

When exploring the vast Namib Sand Sea, one may come across the occasional small rock, as seemingly lifeless as the surrounding area. Upon lifting the rock, a pseudoscorpion or two may be found – kilometres away from other visible life forms, let alone civilisation. Pseudoscorpions are tiny creatures, several millimetres long, resembling scorpions yet lacking the tail or stinger. Occasionally found perching on flowers, they can wait for flies, bees, or butterflies in order to catch a ride by clinging to a leg and then detaching themselves whenever it is deemed suitable, hence these tiny terrestrial arthropods show up in distant and remote places. In 1969 biologist Peter Weygoldt wrote in his aptly named academic book The Biology of Pseudoscorpions, “Sometimes I am asked why I study animals so unimportant to human life and economy as pseudoscorpions. There is one simple answer: every aspect of nature that interests the human mind is worthy of study whether or not it is of direct importance to man”.