Meerkats are soooooooo cute!!!
Trip Start
Dec 17, 2007
1
14
26
Trip End
Jan 19, 2008
Damaraland,
Namibia
Monday, January 7, 2008
Inteactive Zoo ... desert Husky, Cuddly Meekats
Keywords - Himba Africrap attack, Emotional Blackmail, Off Roading Hell in god country, Trees trees trees, hill country, Hiske's Birthday, Curly Wurley trees, Lunch with Himbas, Mopani mopani, Into the wild west, Animal Camp, Meer kats, baboon, Mini monkies (Bush Babies), Kudu, Boks, Dogs, Cats, Ostrich, Sleeping under the stars with the husky
As we depart the following morning we drop by the supermarket to get provisions. We are beset on all side by Himba looking to sell more gear. It is hard to say no ... so now I have a pile of bracelets made from waven pipes.
We are now driving in hill country on unsealed road. Africa is a place where owning a 4*4 has a meaning. They are not just status symbols here ... they have a practical use ... We are shaken like maracas in the truck as we transit this hilly terrain ... but its sheer majestic beauty distracts from the discomfort and I am awe struck by hills of Mopani after mopani broken only by the occasional Acacia. I have desiced that the Mopain must be where you get Curley Wurleys ... the trees are tortuously twisted and contorted.... Benji negotiates some hair raising slopes with impressive ease and Wil our driver is to be commended on this driving skill.
Gradually, as we enter Damaraland the countryside changes until it eventually looks more like something from a Clint Eastwood western movie ... with mighy Mesa like mini plateaux and tumble weed ... you could shoot a cowboy movie here except you'd have to explain the Giraffe in scene 23 or the desert elephant in scene 40. We stop off for lunch under the shade of a tree only to become the entertainment for a bunch of Himba children.
Eventually we arrive at our home for the evening, the Xaraju campsite. This is a remote oasis in more ways than one ... it is set into a dry lifeless valley but the owners have turned into some sort of interactive zoo ... as we set up camp a Kuda and a Bok come over to say hi ... then a husky (yes a Husky in the desert) pops in to make friends ... finally an Ostrich has his hellos ... the place is quite nicely done up and I go and sit in the bar helping Hiske celebrate her birthday. The bar is something of an animal wonder also - I sip a cider beside a scorpian cage ... while Will rests his beer on a snake cage. There is some very cute tiny monkeys called Bush Babies (I think) ... Nadia plays with a couple of cats while a baboon looks at us from the garden and in the distance some Meerkats do their comic thing ... these guys are funny and as cute as it gets.
The adults are friendly and come to investigate ... one has a sniff of my leg. As you pet them they make a high pitch noise ... presumably akin to a cats purring ... they would make great pets is they could be domesticated ... so very cute and funny when they stand on their hind legs ... I recall my friend Larry and I joking about this in office cubicles years ago ... how every now and then a head would pop up out of the cubicle to check out what is going on ... Meerkats have sharp teeth and claws so you do need to be creful.
That evening I lay out a tarpalin and sleep under a blanket of desert stars ... it is cold but my sleeping bag is nice a snug.
