Hello everyone!
I decided to write this short chronicle to share with you the three-week trip I have made on my holidays, with more than 2,500 km on the slopes in Africa.
I have visited Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia, these last two countries only to be able to see live the Victoria Falls as they border between them and I only visited them and their most representative and border cities, Livingstone in Zambia and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, both of a marked British style as a result of their occupation for more than a century. 
As soon as we landed in Whindoek, capital of Namibia and after a long night flight from Frankfurt as a stopover, we went to pick up the cars that we had reserved for our long walk through those lands, it was a Toyota Hilux with 2×4, 4×4 and reduction gear, in principle enough for the use we were going to give it, equipped with roof tents, Engel fridge, and camping equipment…..In Africa the procedures can be very slow and we check this in the delivery and checking of the vehicles……………… it took us almost 5 hours until we could start the march on the way to Ghanzi in Botswana, we stopped to buy groceries in Gobabis, we went to the border and since we were late we decided to spend the night in a campsite that is 200 meters from the town of Buitepos, where we would cross the border to Botswana, I was struck by the fact that in the campsite restaurant there were Bibles and crucifixes on every table, undoubtedly Christians, although here I get lost with the Lutherans and Protestants…….I say this because the area before belonging to the British government was a German colony for almost 60 years that they lost after World War 1 (but that’s another story).
Easy to drive tracks, there were only a couple of somewhat complicated trials.
The next day we cross the border (pay visas for people and cars) and as you can imagine they take note of us in records, all done in “the old way”, that is, by hand… which causes us to have a delay in the route plans, which we would always find at all border crossings, in some cases 2 hours, in others 4 hours, you know what they say in Africa……”haste kills”!
In the footsteps of the leopards of the Kalahari.
In the ponds the animals gather at dawn and dusk to drink, everyone keeps their turn.
We have already started to touch tracks on the way to the Central Kalahar National Parkand to the entrance in Xade, these are easy to drive sand tracks, we found at the entrance of the Park the first elephants, impressive, some gray masses that crossed the track on their way to a pond, and also four black lionesses (they are very scarce) what a prize to start!
Black lionesses of the Kalahari, are very rare and difficult to see as they are hidden under the trees, lying down.
The Kalahari is the place inhabited by the San, also known as the Bushmen, the Kalahari has an area of almost 53,000 km2, that is to say 80% of Andalusia, I indicate this because we were one of the privileged ones who were there for three days, sleeping in the Camp site (camping area) and that it is very limited to people and vehicles. sleeping among wild animals that we heard at night, elephants, leopards……….normally tourists in their circuits are made a visit to the park for 2/3 hours to visit a pond at dawn to see antelopes, elephants, elephants, giraffes, wildebeests, oryx…….etc.. drinking. and we stayed three days! We did not meet any tourists and we were looking for footprints to follow the animals, that feeling of freedom was completed with some unique starry nights.
A herd of wildebeest grazing on the savannah.
A Kudu, a powerful antelope.
The next night, inside the Makgadikgadi Park we spent it in a camp on “Kubu Island”, it is inside a dry lake “bread” of more than 50 Kms., it is an area with granite and some gigantic trees in its width (baobab).
The next day we continue making tracks until we reach Gweta to rest in a Lodge (cabins), what a pleasure, a bed and a shower……………. and in the morning we set off between tracks and road to cross Zimbabwe and Zambia on the way to Victoria Falls, near the town of Livingstone…………… Guess!
The falls seen from the air, impressive helicopter ride.
One of many sunsets
We stayed there for a couple of nights and spent the day visiting the falls, spectacular! We took the opportunity to make an aerial visit with a helicopter that showed the grandeur of them….you can see the meandering Zambezi River that serves as the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
A herd of hippos, dangerous animals, are the ones that kill the most people in Africa.
The next day we set off for Botswana, towards the town of Kasane, where we saw a contest of the “strongest men in the world”………..what beasts! Guys of almost two meters all! who shared a hotel with us, there were no arguments in the lines for the buffet……………. (I already had experience with Oso and paellas) so I was not intimidated……… and I gave way to them. We are already going to the entrance of the CHOBE Park, there we could see all kinds of animals, elephants, giraffes, all kinds of antelopes, wildebeests, zebras, lionesses, a leopard, hippos……………… everything!
We continued on our way to the Okavango delta, a long river that flows into the desert in the form of a delta, crossing it had certain difficulties since we found rivers to ford, dangerous mud, etc… And to advance a few kilometers we had to go around several times looking for the passes, there we could see water buffaloes, hippos, elephants, crocodiles, a varied fauna with predators.
Crossing the Moremi area we could see a lioness hunting antelopes, it was impressive how all the animals of the savannah were motionless watching the lioness, once she took her prey, life continued as normal in the area.
Water buffalo.
We continue along tracks, some sandier than others but in general quite accessible to driving, we are going towards Tsodilo Hills, a sacred mountain for the Bushmen in which there are cave paintings even some more than 20,000 years old, we continue through the Okavango region until we reach Rundu in some very comfortable cabins, near the river that borders Angola.
Paintings on the 20,000-year-old sacred mountain for the San (Bushmen).
The next day we are on our way to Tsumeb, we turn off about 20 kms. To see the HOBE meteorite, the heaviest and most massive meteorite in the world, made of iron and which has been there “naturally” for about 80,000 years.
The above is not Bambi, it’s a steenbock.
We continue jumping from natural park to park, now we go to ETHOSA National Park, it means “the big white place”, more than 100,000 kms. On the surface, its color is propitiated by being on a plain similar to a dry lake, we could see elephants, giraffes, lions, antelopes, and although it is not mentioned until now also a great variety of birds, from eagles and vultures and many more typical of the area.
Up with a red hartebeest.
We left El Chobe very satisfied because we saw a great variety of animals, now we are going to look for the famous and scarce desert elephants in Namibia, the landscape will change to desert landscapes, the remoteness of the rivers of the neighboring country is noticeable.
Spectacular elephant just out of its mud bath, it happens to them like cattle rustlers, they love mud!
We finally got to see the “King of the Savannah”! They are rarely seen, they are sleeping all day waiting to be notified for lunchtime…….
We arrived at Brandberg, a mountain massif that is the highest area of Namibia, about 2,600 meters, around it a large river of sand of almost 40 km, that night we camped on the riverbed (Ubag river) since the landscape is desolate and a strong wind blows that would blow the tents of the vehicles, In the morning we started looking for signs of elephants……………… tracks, fallen trees, even “fresh poop” (at this point we are already experts), we follow the course of the river and pass several narrow areas that if we had found ourselves there the elephants would have had a pretty bad time, they are specimens of more than 7,000 kilos and very aggressive, it was not like that and we continued almost 30 kms., until we finally saw a herd, the truth is that they “passed” us, until we got very close to an elephant with her calf and she turned around to warn us that we were already very close, obviously we attended to her request….
Again we continue our route crossing the Messum crater, 18 km in diameter, a desolate place, not a shadow! There grow unique plants, the welwitschia mirabilis, some have been studied and are more than 1,500 years old.
A welwitschia mirabilis plant, in those deserts they look like alien plants.
Visit to a petrified forest.
A visit to a very curious place, Organ Pipes, the valley of the organs named for its similarity to the pipes of church organs.
Spectacular scenery in Messum Crater.
We are already on our way to the coast, we arrive at Cap Cross, where there is a colony of seals, almost 5,000 specimens lying on the beach, at the time there were about 250,000 individuals, we have already arrived at Costa Esqueletos, as it is cold and very airy and there is nowhere to take shelter we decide to go to sleep in Swakopmund, a good decision, A city of about 40,000 inhabitants, a very nice summer resort of the capital…..
Very quiet and affable, but they stink of!
The next day we went along the coast to Walvis Bay, there we could see the marshes full of flamingos and the salt flats, we arrived at the beach and walked about 30 Kms.
A short walk through the maritime area of Swakopmund.
And on the way back to the capital and returning home, it has been a very interesting trip, with many camps in spectacular places and enjoying nature in the place where the earth emerged from the waters, at the origin of life.
Pink flamingos take that color for food.
This trip has been organized by TERRITORI 4X4, Lluís Rosa who has taken it “very hard”, without any setbacks, everything has fit together to the millimeter (I still can’t believe it), simply everything has been perfect, also with excellent travel companions with Lluis and his son Lluisín, with the family of David, Montse, Arnau, and Joan, with David and Dulcis, with Xavi and Carmen and with Alejandro and Marcos, we have all been like a family and with superior behavior.
Without a doubt it is a spectacular trip that has more than met my expectations, it has nothing to do with what other tourist packages offer…………….nature and pure freedom!
It is very possible that I have escaped talking about many things and details………….the petrified forest, Organ Pipes………….etc… But I didn’t want to give you the embers, the best thing was the memories and the photos.
Thank you, see you soon!
JAIME ROGLES
“MISER JEIMI”
