Khorixas To Springbok Campsite,Skelton Coast - Thursday 25th Feb

Breekie was included in the room price so we were on the road at 7.30 after a nice cool sleep in the AC villas for the drive to the camping spot just before the beginning of the Sprinkbok Skelton Park via the Petrified  Wood Forest and the rock carvings at Twyfelfontein Cultural site

 The area is known as Damaraland after the people who make up the population which is between the Skelton coast and Namibian central plateau . It's wide open spaces are home to many desert adapted species line elephants ,giraffes,zebras and lions.

Pulled into the covered parking shelters of the petrified old forest to pay our entrance fees and arrange a local park guide

And then proceeded to the park walk where he explained the origins of the trees and the different ones that had been naturally unearthered 

This tree was estimated to be about 25mtrs long 

And the bark showing on this one

There was also the national flower called Welwitschitia which is named after the Slovenian botanist and doctor Friedrich Welwitish who discovered the plant in 1859 in present day Angola . It is also known as terr gumbo or living fossil as some plants are between 1000 and 2000 years old. This female with its seed cones is  about 200 years old,  I thought cycads were slow growers 

A male with pollen cones about the same age.

Here are also about 2000 euphorbia's and this one is only endemic to this area and is poisonous which the local hunters used to use on the tips of their arrows when hunting to help kill their prey.

 Back in Steph for the 40kms drive to the rock craving site past a number of local craft stalls along the way

Here's the Hilton craft shop with car parks 

Not sure how many people stop here but it did provide a laugh along the dirt track. Pulled into the cultural site with under covering parking as well

 

 To then pay the entrance fee and get allocated a guide, Biancia  who explained the history of the site and the various rock carvings that date back between 2000 and 6000 year. Twyfelfontein, or Doubtful Spring at the head of Aba Huab Valley is one of the most extensive rock-art galleries on the Africian continent with more than 2500 engravings dating back between 2000 and 6000 years. It is a declared world heritage site and the  carvings were the work of ancient San hunters , made by cutting through the hard patina covering the sandstone.

The lion that you can see here is the emblem of the park and is commonly  seen in brochures and history  books and is called Lion Man

Now only a short 60kms drive with  the combination of space and landscape which is one of the greatest road trips of the region down the Skelton coast area.This area is defined by the barren and desolate landscapes of the Namid desert where Namibia draws its name from.

Pulled into our campground just by the gates of Springbok Skelton Coast park entrance to a nice little hot and dusty campground for lunch

Then an afternoon rest escaping the heat, wind and dust at the side of the ammenities block whilst trying to catch up on what's happening in the world with very slow network coverage- would never  happen in Australia with our fabulous network when your in the middle of nowhere 

A beautiful sunset about 7.30 over the Skelton coast desert with Jan being the offical spotter of the best time to take a photo

Settled down to a nice stir fry chicken dish for dinner with a  crispy white wine aptly called Splattered Toad

It cooled down really nicely at night so Joey did the stretcher and I slept on the stoney ground that was better than I had imagined when I set up the tent after dark.

Okaukuejo Camsite,Etosha NP to Khorixas Rest Camp - Wednesday 24th Feb

Only a short drive today of approx 240kms to Khorixas so a late start about 9am on the road to exit the park and get the tyres sprayed and vehicle checked for fruit and diary and then  we were underway and came across the first warning signs of the day for Wathogs however didn't come across any except a large thunderstorm so probably good that we had left the park as the white roads become a bog hole when it's wet. 

Stopped at the town of Outjo for fuel,shopping and lunch where we also stopped at a nice craft shop to buy some carvings and metal masks

Got in about 1pm and decided to get a cabin with aircon for the night as it was only a stop over so saved unpacking and packing up the next morning and had a nice afternoon nap in the AC to awake to an afternoon thunderstorm. The campsite staff had suggested that if we wanted to eat in their restaurant area due to the rain then they would set the table and we could bring the cooked food down which was very nice of them. Amanda had prepared a garlic prawn paella so we enjoyed this by ourselves in the restaurant beside the pool 

Sunset over the cars as we jumped in to drive the 200 metres home for bed

Etosha National Park- Tuesday 23rd Feb

We were travelling today to stay overnight at Okaukuejo camp site which is on the bottom left hand side of the Etosha map below with the morning to be a game drive to have lunch at the Halali camp site in the middle .

After a late start to the morning with a full breakfast we went to the water hole just outside the park to find mother giraffe and her 2 kids having a drink although it did take them about 15 minutes to muster up the courage to actually drink some water whilst keeping a close watch on us

 2 kids watching mum first to make sure everything is safe

They look really funny when they spread their legs out to get reach down to drink given they are so tall

We did a number of inland drives however there wasn't must game around at all so a lunch break stop at Halali camp ground restaurant for burgers and then decided to drive straight to Okaukuejo camp site which is about an hour away as most animals aren't out during the middle of the day with the heat however as we came out there was a rhino feeding on the grass

 A few Oryx where out and about as well

The difference in environments just in the park was amazing with this camp ground being like staying in a desert as there was no grass and it was bloody hot. 

Here's a view out from the tower you can see above and how dry it is

They have allocated spots like last night so we were right next to the biscuit factory however we did have a shady thorny acacia tree to set up the tent under for some shade

The site beside us  had a massive social weaver birds nest in the acacia tree

Then straight to the pool area to relax and cool down for the afternoon whilst Jo brought some expense( by Namibia standards) wifi as her prepaid GBs had run out on her plan and she couldn't recharge the plan until the weekly plan  had finished ? Yes that's right she wanted to give MTC Telecoms more money but they wouldn't allow this until her weekly plan had run out  even though she had used all her allowance before the week was over - great marketing strategy that one!

 

After it cooled down to 32 degrees by 4.30 we were off for our afternoon game drive which we had thought about skipping when we were rewarded with a couple of loins lying in the shade of the tree on one side of the road

Joey was keen for me to wind up my window given they were so close 

Jan and Amanda had also been out for a drive when we got them on the 2 way to let them know about the loins. Jan wasn't keen to stick his head out too far for me to take a photo of him

Back home for a quick shower whilst Amanda prepared the fire for our eye fillet steaks for dinner which was interrupted by what we first thought was  a thunderstorm that turned out to be a sand storm so madly packed everything away and battened down the tents

Moved Steph into the next camp site to give us some buffer from the wind and sand whilst we sat out the storm

The camp ground has a water hole just in front of the villas so we decided to go for a short walk to see if any animals had gathered there during the storm to find some giraffe and zebras escaping for shelter as well from the sand storm

Another social weavers nest from the water hole viewing seats

On the way back we came across jackals which had been at both camp sites looting bins for food

We finally were able to settle  down to dinner about 9.30 and then everyone in bed by just after 11.30 so I thought I'd go back down to the waterhole as they have special spot lights on the hole to see what was on show to find 5 rhinos and 3 giraffe either swimming or drinking so a quick scurry back to camp to grab a beer and return for an hours viewing of the animals with no one  else present from the whole camp- amazing to see so many rhinos at the same time