Namibia (sort of)

​“ Star,” our tour leader, had us up early at 5:30 a.m. Fortunately, we’re pretty much over jet lag. After breakfast we set out on a morning game ride, this time entering the national park. We had an escort of baboons leading us out of the camp.

At the park entry gate we were greeted by a hord of mongosses (mongeese?) who had discovered a littered plastic bag in the road, presumably with something edible inside. There must have been 30 of them swarming over it. But when our truck approached they scattered into the grass near the roadway.

The rest of the morning drive was a bit of a disappointment after our expectations had been raised by the previous evening. We saw plenty of animals, but repeats of the same we had seen before.

Still, the weather was gorgeous and we got some excellent photos of various species of mammals and many, many birds.

In the afternoon Star arranged a walk for the half dozen or so of us who were feeling a lack of exercise from sitting in vehicles so much. Rules insist that we be accompanied by one of the certified game guides, although the chances of encountering a dangerous animal in the heat of the afternoon are almost nil. “D,” our game guide, kept a slower pace than we would have liked, but we walked along the paved highway toward the river.

At the Botswana border post, which is perhaps a kilometer up the hill from the actual border, “D” managed to persuade the border guards to continue walking down the hill, despite the fact that we didn’t have our passports with us, nor had we obtained the required visas to enter Namibia.

We walked across the bridge, so we can say that we’be been to Namibia. But since the Namibian border post is similarly up the hill from the river on their side, we didn’t go near it before turning back. No official entry, no passport stamp.

The evening game drive was similar to that of the morning, with lots and lots of animals but few new sights. Dinner was very good, but we are all in withdrawal due to the breakdown of the internet.

Although we slept quite well, we could hear an elephant grazing on the grass and small branches just outside our cabin. And since we’be learned that elephants graze for roughly 18 hours of every day, he or she kept it up most of the night and continued in the early morning.