A quick note from Swakopmund where we arrived late this afternoon to our first Internet since Zebra River Lodge where we began our beautiful drive through the desert to begin the Tok Tokkie walk and our first night sleeping out under the desert skies. Not sure why the pictures seem to have a mind of their own when it comes to ordering themselves. Maybe I'll figure that out later.
The first part of our drive was through cattle country where we saw lots of windmills to pump water from wells (called bore holes here). As you can see the mountains here can be quite stark and colorful.
We saw a lot of wildlife on the drive over gravel/rocky roads. I was able to capture these two springboks with a telephoto attachment for my iPhone. We also saw herds of sturdy Hartman's mountain zebras, the handsome Namibian oryx, and a lot more springboks.
The Namibian coast is known for its vast stretches of enormous red sand dunes, and we began to see them -- later we would hike over them -- on this drive. Remarkably, with global warming more rain has been falling on Namibia and in ten years and the dunes are increasingly vegetated.
We arrived at the beginning of the Tok Tokkie walk and loaded out suitcases onto the truck that would take them to our campsite while we walked there with our guide Orlando who identified the birds we saw and taught us about the desert ecosystem. After a meal under the stars -- well, actually, under the nearly full moon, we went to snuggle into the duvets on our cots and were happily surprised to find a hot water bottle to welcome us. The next morning we were treated to this fabulous landscape.
I thought that you might like to see where the sociable weaver birds enter their nest on the underside. The holes on the underside of the nest are the entrances for the weavers, other bird species that share their huge nest complexes, and predators looking for a meal.
Time for bed. I hope to write more tomorrow.
Love and hugs,
Marian and company
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