10 October
We made it to the airport in plenty of time, and by 8:30 we’re in Namibia. The transfer from the airport to the city included sightings of giraffe and baboons, instantly giving us the impression that our real mammal watching safari had begun! Not really, of course, as we then spent an hour getting our rental car… which turned out to be a monster truck with enough room in it to transport the stock of a typical corner shop. Our two suitcases looked very lonely in the back (actually a twin-cab pick-up with a canopy fitted on it – more on that later).
And so began the 4.5 hour drive to the Namib desert, most of it on dirt roads that occasionally slithered under the tyres at 100kph. Yeah, 100kph. I don’t like to hang about! We saw our first springbok and our first oryx – definitely my favourite antelope, they’re so striking with their grey, black and white patterns and those long thin horns.
Then there was a terrible incident when we discovered that Obi, our otter mascot for the trip, had tumbled out of the car back where we had stopped to photograph oryx a half-hour previously. After a mad dash back down the road (120kph maybe!), to our immense relief we managed to find the right spot along the featureless desert road and he was still there, dusty and annoyed.
And so we arrived at the Desert Homestead with just enough time to unwind for a couple of hours before dinner. Early night because its another very early start tomorrow. Ballooning!
Oryx
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