Day 149… Friday 18th August
Sat enjoying the Cubango river and spotted an otter remerging along the bank. Plenty of birds were diving for tiny fish. The group of hippos were occasionally chatting to each other – their communication is a series of very loud grunts and groans. Accommodation along the Caprivi Strip gets booked up in advance and Namibia is the first country where we have experienced places being fully booked. Unable to stay another night at Okacuito River Camp, we booked into Camp Ndurukoro just a 30 minute drive to the east along a gravel road. Passed several hundred children in their school uniforms walking from school (probably several miles for some of them as this was a remote rural area with a series of very small villages. Greta creates quite a lot of dust on gravel roads so driving fairly slowly to avoid covering children walking along the road edge. Several children were waving at us. Our campsite was located right on the Cubango river, run by two Namibian brothers who were in the process of expanding the business and building more camp pitches/chalets. A lovely spot and one of my favourite campsites. Sat enjoying the river on a wooden deck with a huge variety of birds and then sundowners around a firepit. Much warmer weather now so the thermals, hat and gloves have been packed away.
Allen’s perspective…
It is interesting how once you hit the Caprivi Strip you really feel like you are beginning to re-enter sub-Saharan Africa. The buildings, style of signage, driving styles(!), and unfortunately rubbish, all looked very familiar to us but had not really seen since being in Namibia or South Africa. And whilst we were finding places booked up there was a significant drop off of tourist vehicles along the main road… bonus.
