October 4, 2013

BUSH TELEGRAPH: THE VAST EXPANSE THAT IS NAMIBIA



EcoTraining instructor Mark Gunn is still going strong in Namibia where he currently traveling, sharing and imparting his knowledge. This of course is all part and parcel of our commitment to guiding excellence throughout Africa. And striking up partnership with various companies across the continent, is just one way we are doing it.


Mark continues to share his diary:

Day 7:  Scenic drive along the river bed. Plenty of tracks.

Day 8: Test in the morning and a drive along the river in the afternoon. Fantastic encounter with the same bull elephant. He really looked like the elephant on an Amarula bottle.


Day 9: Morning drive next to the river course and into the sands of the river bed. Had a head view of a lion.

Day 10: Drive up to D camp for refuel and communications. Game drive there and scenic route back. Found a domestic cow that had been killed by a lion. We saw the lioness disappear over the hill and went after her. We did not find her but the farmer arrived a little later. This incident highlighted the wildlife /human conflict. He was not too peeved as the cow was one of his older ones and was also quite recalcitrant. The afternoon drive delivered two elephant bulls that we per sued and got really close to them. They crossed the road in front of us and did not even acknowledge our presence. Nada, nothing, zilch. 


Day 11: Our proposed drive up stream was terminated by a burst radiator pipe. Roadside repairs were a good lesson for all. Drove up to the main lodge to elicit the help of the mechanic. Vehicle fixed after a while. Afternoon drive to lodge, again, to fetch our supplies. Star session before dinner.

Day 12: Morning drive was only supposed to take 3 hours. Unfortunately for the time schedule we bumped into a female elephant and her very young calf. She had two bulls in attendance. Amazing close-up encounter. We stopped down river from them to allow two other vehicles to finish their viewing. The elephants then all walked right past our vehicle. 3-5 meters away. We were investigated by the calf. Needless to say we got back quite late.

Day 13: Did a long drive this morning. 07h00 till 15h00. We went to the heritage site at Twyfelfontein. Rock engravings were fantastic. Talk on the importance of cultural heritage and the ways to guide this type of group. Did the history of human habitation lecture after a late lunch. Cleaned and refuelled the vehicle in preparation for the move to Erindi.


Day 14: Early breakfast and departure. Encountered a young male lion at Slangpos spring as we were leaving. Followed him for a while and then took on the long road. Compulsory stop at the white lady of the Brandberg. One of the most iconic rock paintings anywhere on Earth. Arrived in Erindi after an 11 hour trip. The vehicle had an oil leak, we had to stop three times to re-oil. Tired and dusty we set up camp and made dinner. Early night.

Day 15: Walk around the camp. This is Camp Elephant at Erindi. It was built to coincide with the arrival of the new elephant that have just been brought in. Very nice. Johan from Wilderness Safaris has just come for the vehicle. It was very kind of them to let us use the vehicle and the facilities at the adventure camp in Damaraland.

(Thank you Mark for sharing!)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Best Field guide trainer Mark gun. And this was a very good experience training the with him in Namibia.