Another very early start as we had an 8hr drive to the Etosha National Park. Just after sunrise we stopped on a mountain pass to take in the gorgeous view.
Shortly after disaster struck as we were hurtling along on the gravel road. Suddenly we heard a dreadful noise from below us and Carlos breaking sharply and trying to control the bus. Puncture! Apparently he’d already changed one tyre yesterday as it had a slow puncture so we were down to one spare.
I have never seen a tyre so badly shredded, it was almost down to the wheel rim and because of that his jack was too thick to get under the wheel to lift it.
Various suggestions were made by some of the group and we flagged down a couple of passing vehicles to see if they had a smaller jack, which they both did but not strong enough for the weight of the truck. At one point Carlos did consider piling up stones but luckily he didn’t pursue this as it would have undoubtedly ended in disaster and someone getting injured.
Finally a 4x4 pulled up and it was a guide from another camp who had recognised it was his friend Carlos in trouble and stopped to help. His smaller jack made it possible to get the vehicle high enough to get the proper jack underneath and thus change the tyre. Poor Carlos was exhausted and covered in dust and muck from lying in the road, plus we’d lost a valuable 1 ½ hours. We now have to add “Tyre Mechanic” to Carlos’s long list of abilities and roles on this holiday.
Whilst all this was going on the others stood around nattering loudly (as is their want) whilst I enjoyed the scenery and wildlife.
Seed pod of the dreaded Euphorbia damarana
Aloe of some kind
Brown Locust
Oryx Footprints
Finally we were able to drive on, gingerly at first, to the Petrified Forest - the name is a bit misleading as it is not exactly a forest, which turned to stone, but rather an accumulation of enormous fossilized tree trunks about 280 million years old. Scientists found out that these trunks haven’t grown in today’s Namibia but were washed down a river in ancient times when one of the many Ice Ages ended on the Gondwana continent. There must have been a huge flood that carried along the trunks to where they lie today. This flood also carried a lot of sand and mud which covered the trees to such an extent that air intrusion was prevented and consequently no decay took place. The organic material of the trunks was conserved. Due to enormous pressure and over a period of millions of years even the finest structures of the wood have been dissolved by silicic acid and replaced by quartz, which is silicic acid in crystalline state. The result is perfectly conserved and completely petrified trunks. Thanks to erosion many of these trunks are now exposed and amongst many smaller specimens two fully exposed trees measuring up to 45 m have been discovered.
And with Ian for scale.
Also of interest there was the Welwitschia mirabilis plant which is the only example of its type; it consists of just two leaves that can grow to enormous lengths and the plant can live for several hundred years.
There are male and female plants growing unusually close together here.
The female is propagated by Welwitschia bugs - nymph and adult shown here.
The original plan had been to stop in Outjo to buy something to have for lunch on the bus but obviously of prime importance was to get the tyres sorted (no spares and still on gravel roads for a long time). Carlos therefore arranged to meet tyre people in Outjo and as they couldn’t give a firm timescale we were stopping there for as long as it took. Originally a mining town it had quite a prosperous feel to it and we had a nice lunch and wander around and were able to find a map and animal guide of Etosha.
We finally reached Etosha National Park Andersson Gate round 1700 and did a short drive en route to the Okaukuejo rest camp, seeing quite a few elephants.
Okaukuejo is the original lodge in the NP and is famous for its floodlit waterhole. It is quite frankly the worst place imaginable to view wild animals. It consists of numerous chalets, dormitory type buildings as well as a vast campsite and the whole area appeared to be concrete. In the middle was a restaurant, or more accurately a canteen, serving average food and Carlos actually warned us before we got there that the service was practically non-existent. Our room was OK and one of the premium ones close to the waterhole, which again was surrounded with concrete walls and a hoard of people making a noise.
A few images from the waterhole area.
I wouldn't have liked to be in the way of this thirsty youngster heading for the water.
But after dinner we went there again and just sat
and waited and it was the most amazing sight - first came a couple of
elephants, then giraffe sauntered down and hung around in the
background. A couple of impala or springbok ventured down and then
we saw a figure creeping along in the shadows – male lion. Finally
after a short while a rhinoceros arrived and the elephants backed off which we
found very strange as it was probably only a quarter of their
size. Some oryx thought about coming down but changed their mind and
the giraffes continued to just stand and watch from a distance.
Eventually they all seemed happy to share the water.
It was wonderful
- rubbish photos as although floodlit, light levels were still too low for
my camera – wish I had a iphone!
