Bushmanland

Our last stop on the trip was on the Namibia Botswana border in Bushmanland. This is an area with few tourists, poor roads and very little in the way of amenities, sounds brilliant!

 Our camp at Tsumkwe

Cillian looking very bush! Covered in sunscreen and wearing a very appropriate t-shirt...

Some of the smaller roads on our adventure were here...

...as were some of the prettiest spots...

...and Baobabs again! This is Conor and Fiona's favourite tree. The only place we found them, Namibia seems too dry for this fantastic tree.

These were everywhere though.

We found a Bushman village that also had a 'living  museum' thing going. Very similarly organised to the one in Damaraland, it was an interesting contrast.

Here they showed us how to make fire...

...how to make rope from plants, and then use it to make traps...

...they let us try...

... though Conor was the only one brave enough to give everything a go!

Their huts were very tiny

The hunting demonstration was the best, the bow string is extremely taut...

...you really don't need to pull it very far to fire the arrow. Conor did a great job of almost hitting the target. Fiona did a lousy job :))

They were a really nice bunch, very friendly

The road between Namibia and Botswana here is so little used that the border post is a small hut.

Another feature of Namibia was the lack of termite mounds, the wrong kind of soil I suppose. We eventually started to see them as we drove back through Botswana. This one was a biggie!

Back in Joburg at last. From the left, Fiona, Conor, Chantal, Paul, Cillian, Natasha, Philip, Renate.

Etosha

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting Etosha National park in the north of Namibia. One of the oldest parks in Africa, and one of the largest. It doesn't have the variety of some of the other parks, but it does have large numbers of game.

Most of the wildlife viewing is done at the waterholes which are scattered around. The Impala here are of a type that doesn't occur elsewhere, they are called Black-faced Impala

Etosha Pan...Fiona and Conor getting a little morning exercise in the early morning chill...

... utterly featureless, surely this is the most desolate bit of Namibia, which has to be the most desolate place in the world. Conor and Fiona have decided this is where they are coming when the zombie outbreak happens...

Zebra giving each other big loves...

Is this my best side???

So many giraffe...

Cillian's happy at least!

We saw a lot of Lion. On every drive in fact.

Damara Dik-Dik, one of the smallest antelope in the world...

...and Gemsbok, one of the most beautiful.

Black-backed Jackal, Fiona's favourite

Kori Bustard, huge

Young Kudu males

Lion, feeding on a Gemsbok...

This Impala wandered past the feeding Lions, and only noticed the big fat male at the last moment. Luckily for her the Lion had eaten so much it couldn't move...

Also while the Lions were feeding this Black Rhino wandered up for a drink...

...and then walked straight past them in mid munch.

Springbok, very common

Blue Wildebeeste

Aba Huab

After Brandberg we continued inland to Aba Huab, a small spot by a dry riverbed in Damaraland. We stopped at a 'living Museum' run by the local Damara community, and went hunting fossils...

Some of the drives were very long... Big brothers make great cushions.

The Damara living museum was great, here Conor is learning how to make ostrich eggshell necklaces...

...the visit ended with a dance...

...and lots of singing...

... Christine, our guide...

The camp was nice and shady, perfect for hammocks

The gang at the petrified forest. The fossilised tree we're standing on is about 260,000,000 years old...

These Welwitschia are the oldest known plants in the world, some are over 6,000 years old. This is a comparatively young 2,500 years old, Conor seems to think this is pretty impressive, though Cillian is less sure!

The two boys posing outrageously...

We decided that swimming might not be on the cards after about 0.00002 seconds in the pool.... Bit chilly...