The Legend Safari
 Tour 2006
 Namibia - Zimbabwe - Zambia
 Tanzania, including Zanzibar

Namibia - August 14 to September 10 back to Namibia
 

This, the last part of 'The Legend Safari Tour 2006', saw us to-ing and fro-ing a bit as you will see. By the way, if you're wondering about the trip's name, well, it came about from a comment made by Graham and Leanne, our Zim friends, many years ago. On telling them about some of the amazing game viewing we've had, plus the unbelievable dramas and vehicle breakdowns in some of the remotest parts of Africa, they decided that Keith's 'tours' were really 'legend' stuff! Hence the name! Right, is an example - breakdown in 'lion' territory in the north of Namibia. Sadly, after thousands of kilometres, our much-loved 'Landy' died in 2004.
August 14: It was with great sadness that we left our friends in Zimbabwe to start the last leg of three month 'safari'.
Again, we stopped in Katima Mulilo, but this time we tried out the Mukusi 'river' cabins. The cabin we had was, basically, similar to the cabins adjacent of the service station, but newer.
The situation is better as we could sit on a deck and enjoy a view over the Zambezi.
August 15: Again, we booked into the Ngandu Lodge, for two nights, spent a pleasant evening with Izi and Diana, and had the vehicle serviced.
August 17: As we had important business to deal with in Windhoek we drove the 700-kilometres in one hit. We decided to spend two nights there but, unfortunately, Hotel Pension Christoph was booked out, so Amanda was able to get us a room at Sperlingnest B&B (phone +264 61 237 955) just across the road. This is a very nice establishment, but more expensive than the 'Christoph' at $525 per night including breakfast.
Our 'suite' comprised of three rooms - a sitting room, bedroom and bathroom, all spotlessly clean and decorated with furniture and fittings from the early 1900s. The breakfast room has very interesting memorabilia from WW11 and the time when Germany was in control of Namibia. There's even a large bronze bust of Kaiser Wilhelm!
Night two was spent back at the 'Christoph'.
August 19: Back on the road again to Henties Bay, on the Skeleton Coast, some 70-kilometres from Swakopmund. Once again, we stayed at Eagle Flats which, we think, offers the best accommodation for the price, out of all the places we stayed in on the coast. The unit we stayed in comprised a large sitting area with television, fully-equipped kitchen (including microwave, crockery, cutlery, oven etc, along with an iron and ironing board), two bedrooms and a bathroom. The flats are within walking distance to the main shopping centre, and are a short drive to the beach. If you are a keen angler, then Henties is the place to go, as it is the most popular fishing area on the coast. The town is only small (and most businesses close down between 1:00 and 2:00pm) but the population swells to thousands during the summer months and the fishing season.
There are a small number of restaurants at Henties - we enjoy Fishy  Corner in Benguella Street, (phone +264 501 059) which serves the best, freshly caught, fish we have ever tasted - even better than Ocean Basket! The Eagle Hotel also serves decent meals, and the Mini-Mall Coffee Shops is a nice spot for lunch.
Whilst in the Henties area don't forget to take a 60-kilometres north to Seal Cross where you will find thousands of seals: this must be the smelliest place in the whole of Namibia.
Back at Henties, call in to the sealskin shop in the mini-mall and buy yourself a pair of sealskin shoes - SO comfortable, and cheaper than the ones for sale in Swakopmund.  And, before you start jumping up and down about the slaughter of seals, a certain number has to be culled every year!
August 22: Leaving Henties we returned to the Seagull B & B at Swakopmund where we originally planned to stay three nights before moving on to Walvis Bay again. However, we had vehicle trouble so ended up spending five nights. But, what a nice place it is to stay and, when the vehicle was up and running again, we drove over to Walvis for lunch at Willie Probst!
For meals we went to our usual spots, but discovered a new place, Il Tulipano Restaurant, in 37 Daniel Tjongarero Street, phone +264 64 400122, which, as the name suggests, serves delicious Italian cuisine in really tasteful surrounds.
We tried to make a dinner reservation at the Hotel Europa Hof, a very popular hotel, especially with German tourists, but had no luck. If you would like to dine at this famous hotel you should make a booking sell in advance.
Whilst in Swakopmund we went in to see Maggie at the Namibia Wildlife Resorts office to see if we could possibly get into Etosha Game Park. Because we didn't have a fixed schedule we had left it to the last minute to try to get into the park, which is usually booked out at this time of the year. Maggie, whom we have known for a few years, (and is a Matt Burke fan) is quite amazing and usually manages to squeeze us in somewhere in the park. Again, we were lucky, obtaining two nights at each of the Halali, Namutoni and Okakeujo sites.











Tip: You must make a booking to get into Etosha, you can't just roll up and get a room.

 



ETOSHA GAME PARK
August 27: We bade a fond farewell to Keith and Spring at the 'Seagull' and set off for Etosha, via Otavi and the Otavi Gardens Hotel. Staff at the hotel were getting quite used to us popping in, unannounced,  by this stage!!
August 28: Our first two night at Etosha were spent at Namutoni. situated at the eastern entrance of the park. The main structure comprises an old German fort built before the turn of the century. In the late 1950s more accommodation was built, turning Namutoni into the popular resort it is today. Our accommodation was in the old fort, facing the inner courtyard. Whilst the two-bed room was very, very small, we were fortunate that it had a bathroom, as some of the rooms in the fort itself don't. The tariff was around N$320 per night. Meals are very expensive at all the rest camps run by the wildlife resort in Etosha - around N$125.00 per person for a help-yourself smorgasbord. All of the resorts have a shop where basic food items can be bought, however the 'fort' does not have cooking facilities - some of the other rooms, outside the fort, have kitchens plus braii (barbeque) areas. A lot of South African visitors seem to make use of these areas.
August 30: From Namutoni we made our way through the park to Halali and a bigger, more comfortable room, but still with no cooking facilities. The tarrif here was around N$430 per night.  Halali is the newest camp in the park, situated halfway between Namutoni and Okakeujo, about 70-kilometres from both. All camps have waterholes, but the one here is the best for seeing rhino at night. If you plan to camp here, it is very dusty, with no grass on the campsite.
September 1: A 70-kilometre drive and we were at Okakeujo, in a small chalet, but with cooking facilities. The waterhole at this camp is also quite good, with rhino seen there regularly. Oakakeujo also has a post office, unlike the other two camps and quite a good little convenience store is slowly being developed.

Through the whole of Etosha you won't find many souvenirs for sale - just a few t-shirts.

GAME
Throughout the whole of our six-night stay at Etosha we saw an extraordinary amount of game - a lot more than in the Serengetti, and the roads around the park are kept in far better condition. Below, a pictorial of some of the game photos we took, along with a couple of sunsets etc.
 











 

/August 4: Due to the fact that we could only get six nights accommodation in the Park and not eight, we now had a couple of days to spare before our planned arrival day in Windhoek. So, it was back to Rundu for a couple of nights, again spent at Ngandu, then on to Otavi and the Otavi Hotel.
August 7: Our wonderful holiday was now drawing to an end. From Otavi we drove to Windhoek, again, staying at the 'Christoph'. It really is so nice there and a good place to relax before the long flight back to Australia
We spent three nights there and had a busy time sorting out what we needed to take home and what we wanted to leave in the vehicle for our 2007 trip. Amanda very kindly allowed us to leave the Hilux at her establishment, which overcomes a lot of hassles for our friends with getting the vehicle from Rundu (where it was previously based) to Windhoek, for our arrival from Oz.
August 10: And so it was with a heavy heart that we begin the first leg of our return to Australia. We flew SAA from Windhoek to Johannesburg, departing Windhoek at 1:50PM, arriving in Johannesburg at 3:45. Two hours later we were on QF64 back to Australia. Due to the strong jet stream the flight only 11 hours, so we touched down in Sydney, on Monday, a little earlier than usual. What a wonderful safari we had - roll on next year, maybe taking in Uganda too!