[paul m]

black is putting up some spectacular pictures of Namibian and Madagascan animal but also some striking pictures of scenery such as this:



Great colour contrasts between the different rocks, the sky and the 'trees'.

[goosey]

Its minimalist aspects make it hard to ignore and I have found myself looking at this image lots of times. It is a striking photograph, and makes what would be a hard and unappealing terraine seem very appealing!

[wild worlds]

Must agree with you on the stark beauty of these images.
I would love to know from Black what his route was through Namibia?
Can you post some details? Which places you liked and which (if any) you didn’t? WW

[black]

Hi WildWorlds,

I'm a she! I've been to Namibia a couple of times first in 2002 then in August this year. The biggest highlight is Etosha NP, I've been to a lot of game reserves in Africa but this is outstanding. Aug/Sept is excellent as it is the dry season so game is concentrated around the waterholes. Giraffes, Elephants galore also Warthogs, Gemsbok, the Black-faced Impala etc. Great to see the interaction between them all as they take turns to drink. Some great antics with the Banded Mongoose in the campsite, very cheeky! plus cute Ground Squirrels.
The floodlit waterholes are not to be missed, the one at Okakeujo being the best by far but be warned it gets packed with people.

Just outside of Etosha we stayed at Treesleeper camp that is a basic campsite with a few tree platforms built by the Bushmen. They put on a dance and explained about their culture in the evening.

Namib-Naukluft N. P is getting a bit touristy, climbing up Dune 45 to see the sunrise was a wonderful experience in 2002, now the dune was packed with bus loads of people. Nevertheless the walk we did from the car park in Sossusvlei over to Dead Vlei before getting the dune buggy back was very worthwhile. You lost the crowds and our guide showed us plenty of interesting things including desert melons that the gemsbok munch on.

Swapomund is great for a bit of adrenaline with skydiving, quadbiking, sandboarding etc.

Brandberg was gorgeous for scenery and close by, by Namibian distances, is Palmwag. Here you have desert adapted Elephants wandering through in the evening, we had a couple outside our tents in the night, you also have Black Rhino here but you really need a few days to go tracking them with Save The Rhino guides.

Up at the Angola border along the Caprivi strip you have the Kunene river, very scenic, wonderful sundowners floating along the river - very civilised!
From here you can visit the Himba, they are a bit used to tourists now but nevertheless the Kunene lodge can organise a visit to a traditional kraal where you can learn about their way of life.

Its also well worth visiting Africat or one of the related organizations which I wished I could have done on this last visit. They do excellent work and you can get close to rehabilitated cheetah etc.

If you have plenty of time Skeleton Coast is great for its stark beauty and if you head down to the south of Namibia Fish River Canyon is wonderful.

Its even worth doing a township tour in the capital Windhoek. I visited Katutura and met a wonderful lady who has a restuarant attached to her hut that cooks nothing but sheeps heads! She's is a very sucessful lady. She'd even been around the world to Hong Kong and shanghai talking to womens groups about starting your own small business.

Namibia is a wonderful country, give yourself time to do it justice though, distances are vast, the roads dirt tracks.