Package Tourist
Trip Start
Aug 05, 2006
1
39
55
Trip End
Ongoing
Etosha,
Namibia
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Relaxing in the capital of Windhoek for a day was nice since it has a cool climate and a compact, modern center. I booked the safari through a company called Wild Dogs & Crazy Kuda Safaris, which according to my Lonely Planet is a good company, although their prices seemed to have increased quite a bit in the last few years.
My tour group consisted of 12 people, mostly from English speaking countries, and we all got along really well throughout the tour
Bad Pic Of Male Lion
. Our guide, Julius and his assistant Ruben, where very helpful and Ruben cooked some of the best food I have eaten since being away from home.Our first major stop was at the Africat Wildlife Reserve, which is the largest big cat rehabilitation organization in the World. The local guide was very careful when taking us to see one of the leopards but when we visited the cheetahs they came right up to the side of the jeep. Although during most of the safari we camped outdoors it was much more comfortable than the camping I am accustomed to and we had a "5-star toilet" that actually flushed out in the middle of nowhere! Weird.
The next day we drove to the Etosha Game Reserve which amazing because instead of having to drive around all day trying to hunt down the animals you simply park out by one of the local watering holes and wait for them to come to you. This is because Etosha and the rest of Namibia for that matter is very dry and there are only a few isolated pools for the animals to drink from. We went on several game drives and saw a variety of animals including elephants, rhinos, lions, and a hell-of-alot of giraffes and zebras. There is also a huge salt pan in the middle of the park where you see nothing but flat, white ground in all directions.
One thing that felt especially touristy during the first part of the trip was going to see a "traditional" Himba village. The Himba are one of Namibia's many tribes and they still live very traditionally although the place we visited had a tourist feel to it much as some people might get visiting the Masai in Kenya or some of the many tribes in the Omo Valley of Ethiopia. It was still ok though and we were only encouraged to by a cheap handicraft from them. One of the benefits of being a package tourist is that at least you pay for most stuff up front so there is generally less hassle to get you to pay more. To be continued...
