Namibia

• 4.Africa

Namibia is a beautiful country with amazing wildlife, vast landscapes and friendly people (also ladies with beautiful hairstyles and lots of towns with names starting with the letter O). My main destination was Etosha National Park. I stayed for three nights at the nice Namutoni Camp and went on three game drives organized by them (two in the morning and one at night).

Wildlife viewing was fantastic even in January at the height of the rainy season. We saw three beautiful cheetah families (ten cheetahs in total), with one family feasting after a successful hunt and the other two relaxing metres away from our car; four lions, three of which passed right in front of the car; five rhinos, with one coming about two metres away from our car. Amazing experiences. Namutoni camp also features a nice fort and its own waterhole where you can spend hours relaxing and admiring more wildlife.

Another excellent wlidlife experience was at Okonjima Nature Reserve where we stayed for one night at the beautiful Okonjima Plains Camp. Here we went on a morning game drive to track leopards (which they study as part of conservation programs). We found two beautiful leopards, one mother and one young, relaxing and playing very close to our car. Once again an outstanding experience that's hard to put into words. The gravel road to Okonjima Camp and back also provided plenty of wildlife viewing.

In total we spotted around 30 notable species of wildlife in the two locations. These also included gnu, springbok, steenbok, dik dik, kudu, impala, oryx, zebra, giraffe, hyena, jackal, fox, ostrich, guinea fowl, baboon, warthog, tortoise, rabbit, meerkat and eagle (and one snake spotted on the road from the car!). Wildlife spotted at night included cape fox, spotted genet, bush baby, three species of owls, african wildcat, spring hare and african bullfrog. The huge termite mounds you could see everywhere were fascinating, as were the omajowa mushrooms that termites grow as a food source (and which are considered a local delicacy).

Distances are long in Namibia but the road infrastructure is very good and there are few cars on the roads. As an added bonus, driving provides more opportunities to spot wildlife.

People are friendly and food is good (I especially enjoyed the steaks and lamb). Locally-produced beers were very good as well.

We also visited Swakopmund, a nice coastal town located at the edge of Namib Desert with Germanic architecture influences, that was enjoyable to explore by foot. Some points of interest included the jetty, the local craft market, a nice beach, The Tug Restaurant and Snake Park. Nearby Walvis Bay also has some interesting sights - Flamingo Lagoon with its huge flamingo colony, the salt works and their pink lakes and the Dune 7 sand dune (383 metres in height).

At the end of the trip we explored the central area of Windhoek, the country's capital, which was also very nice. Interesting sites here included the beautiful Christuskirche, the Gibeon Meteorites on display on a pedestrian street, Independence Museum and Namibia Craft Centre.

Additional info:
- Namibia entry on Wikipedia
- Namibia profile on Wikivoyage

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