A loop around Namibia

[TraceyK90]

Day 4 Frans Indongo Lodge
Breakfast at Elegant was included in the room rate and consisted of fruit, yoghurt, cereal, cold meats and eggs and bacon. This was repeated at just about all the lodges. After packing up we headed north to Okanhandja for lunch and to refuel the car. There is a wood carvers market here and some of the work is amazing. Decided to pick up lunch supplies and stop at a picnic spot on the way.

The manager John was lovely and very helpful. We were greeted with a cold lemon and mint drink and shown around the facilities. Dinner was once again a set menu with pumpkin soup and springbok satays. There is a common theme of game meats, we ended up with Miss6 calling out yummy every time she saw antelope. John suggested the kids have chicken as the springbok was going to be a bit spicy.



Dr Frans Indongo is a Namibian business man who despite humble beginnings carved out several successful businesses, one being the lodge. There is a beautiful open area with game viewing deck. They have a man-made waterhole so you are guaranteed to see game of some sort.

This was one of the few places that had an in room fridge. Here is their link Welcome to Frans Indongo Lodge


Driving distance was about 300km.

 

[JohnM]

Great stuff! Keep 'em coming. I'm sold for next year!

The hot water bottles are a great part of the lodges in Africa - and on one cold early-morning game drive in Botswana they provided them with the blankets on the safari vehicle. Mmmnnn, toasty :!:.

 

[TraceyK90]

Another shot of the bathroom

Each bungalow was far enough apart from the others

Game viewing from the deck


The pool

 

[TraceyK90]

and one last shot of the afternoon of game viewing on the deck......





It was a beautiful place to sit and relax with a few sundowners.

 

[TraceyK90]

Great stuff! Keep 'em coming. I'm sold for next year!

The hot water bottles are a great part of the lodges in Africa - and on one cold early-morning game drive in Botswana they provided them with the blankets on the safari vehicle. Mmmnnn, toasty :!:.

They even have snuggie/sleeping bags now on some. The bottom is open so you can walk but it has a pocket to tuck your feet into while in the truck.

 

[TraceyK90]

Day 5 North to Etosha and Mushara Bush Camp

Lunch was at Tsnumeb, clearly a town that has benefited from the excesses of mining. Loads of warthogs on the side of the road, they would do some damage to a car if you hit one. We stopped for lunch at Dros Tsumeb. I had the Dros Steak, hubster the carperbagger and the kids had burgers and chips, with drinks the bill came to $A 46.



The lodge is part of the Mushara collection, The Mushara Collection -. We were greeted with a cool lemon drink and then shown to our two tents. There is a lovely big open main area, which has roll down canvas sides.




There is a pool, lawn area and playground. There is also a children’s corner with games and toys, where all the kids would congregate.



Dinner, which was included in the room rate, was once again a set menu (goat cheese tart, game steak and malva pudding), with the kids having a choice from the kids menu (yay for spag bol). We enjoyed some Saxenburg chardonnay, first of many.

Driving distance ~ 250km

 

[TraceyK90]

Firstly appologies for the quality of some photos, the original sizes are massive and I have been trying to cut them down to a manageable size.

The first five days passed pretty quickly and thankfully we did not have any issues with jetlag, food, water etc (not so coming back hence the posts early am). Apart from some baboons, warthogs and different species of antelope we did not see much wildlife but that is to be expected given how dry a country it is.

So today I piped up and said we are going to see a giraffe, various snorts and mumbled comments followed. Much of the country has been turned into game farms for tourism and also hunting. The hunting tourist market is pretty big and I'll leave comments about it out of this TR. So about ten minutes after my comment, guess what I spotted! Ha Ha, one giraffe on a game farm. He was quite a distance away from the road and we only had a small point and shoot with us at that stage, time to get out the DSLR and put the 500mm zoom lens on. We purchased a sigma 500mm lens for the camera, a sony alpha which we have 200mm and 300mm lens for. I was a bit concerned about the weight of the lens and how easy it would be to use, however it was a breeze to take photos with.

So here are the rest of the photos of the camp.

 

[TraceyK90]

So this is the tent....



Shower area






It was so cold that night, so we were happy for the steaming hot shower and hot waterbottles when we jumped into bed.

Shot of the starter from dinner, a goats cheese and leek tart.



ahhhh

 

[TomVexille]

Looks fantastic. Keep it up

 

[TraceyK90]

So this is why I swapped over camera lenses ....... be warned the next couple of days will be photo heavy

 

[TraceyK90]

and a few more...



This poor fellow had a few scars and is missing part of his ear



Spotted hyena



Gemsbok



wildebeest

 

[JohnM]

Any chance of a map - or point-to-point list - of your route?

 

[JohnM]

View attachment 32793

This poor fellow had a few scars and is missing part of his ear

But he's still in the gene pool - unless the lion castrated him :!:.

 

[TraceyK90]

yes defiantly

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Thanks for posting....really wetted my appetite for my trip next year.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

So I went back to see my friend at the Budget counter and call the hire car company.

Just to confirm that you car hire firm was Budget?


My first 4WD vehicle is sorted. But my current plans will see me also with two separate car-hire periods in South Africa (I know yours was in Namibia). However for these two I only need 2wd and so availability is not like to be as much as an issue.

 

[TraceyK90]

That sounds like an awesome trip, we are going to try for the falls in 3 yrs time, so I'll be keen to see how you go . Yes our car hire was with Budget. A lot of others used Caprivi car hire, didn't see a lot of Avis 4x4s on the road. Are you going to camp or stay in lodges?

 

[TraceyK90]

After an early breakfast we were packed and ready to spend the day in Etosha National Park. This was one of our big hits. Entry into the park is per adult and car so $N 170, kids under 16 are free. You sign in at the gate and pay at the reception area at either Okaukuejo or Namutoni.

Even though the park had a pretty good wet season, we were able to see lots of game, mostly around the waterholes. There were a couple of giraffe within a few minutes of paying the entry and heading off.

We headed from the Namutomi end and there is a good chance you will see Elephants if you are early enough, at one of the water holes.





if you are going get a good 500mm lens!



Lunch was a stop at the Namibia Wildlife Resort (NWR) camp called Halali, it’s the one in the middle. We had chicken burgers and the kids had hotdogs, a Windhoek larger ($1.80) and a glass of white wine, all up came it $A 36. Not the best food but when the bill came out the wine was listed as Overmeer Grand Cru 5l, (it was the only wine they had and $1.40). I would have been better off having a coke, tasted like paint stripper, I couldn’t finish the glass. :shock:





The park gates are open from sunrise to sunset and if you are not staying at the camps inside the park you need to be out of the park before closing. our lodge was only a couple of kms from the gate. The lodge is part of the Gondwana Collection and we stayed at another of their lodges later on.

 

[blackcat20]

Loving the wildlife photos!

 

[TraceyK90]

Okay then blackcat20, here are a few more



The toilets in the park are inside large fences, with warning signs to check first, fastest toilet stop ever.



This springbok got bit of a shock when he almost stood on the jackal.