The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

It never stops...

One of the things that has amazed us about our time so far in Namibia is the huge diversity of life. It's not only about the lions and elephants and rhinos. It's the huge abundance of plants and birds as well.

We come across new and wondrous things every single day!


We finished breakfast yesterday morning, and as we're walking out of the main building and back to our chalet, one of the gardeners has brought an attraction up to the walkway.


We knew it was poisonous, but we asked him anyhow. "Is it poisonous?"

"Oh yes", he replied. "Very". As he picked it up with two little sticks only inches from his fingers.

Hmm. Thinking maybe we will be wearing our hiking boots across the grass from now on instead of our sandals. We tried looking up the name of this scorpion, but it turns out that there are 59 different types of scorpions in Namibia! We think this one is called the burrowing scorpion.

So we decided to go for a walk outside of the property. Are there lions around? Oh yes, but only on the other side of the river, so we are told. Hmm. Okay.

There are also elephants around!

Although there are a lot of indications of elephants, we don't see any. Nor do we see lions. Good thing! We do see indications of hyenas as well, but don't see the animals themselves. Again, we're okay with that!

As much as it appears dangerous, you have to remember that there are local villages all around us and the locals themselves walk these paths on a regular basis. Having said that, it wasn't what you'd call a "relaxing" walk. Always looking around, if you know what I mean!

Walking along the path, there are no colors except for a little greenery and that grey brush color. Until we saw this one single bright red flower.

How is it that there can be only one? 

Further along, we did finally see another. And Ruth had noticed one field where it seemed there were a lot of these plants, but none with flowers. Wouldn't it look fantastic to see a whole field of these flowers??

We took the Namushasha Lodge afternoon game drive. We weren't expecting much, since most of the animals have moved away from this area since the rainy season began. But it was a fun couple of hours and we had the same guide, Alfred, who we had from our boat tour the day before!

And, we got taken out in one of their brand new Toyota LandCruiser safari vehicles!

This is the fruit of the "sausage" tree!

Alfred told us that his culture uses the fruit of the sausage tree to make a sort of tea that they bathe a baby in if the baby has tummy issues!

And this is the plant that the local culture has used as toilet paper! Why? Because when you take a bunch of it and stroke it against you skin, it is soooo soft!

We did see some wildlife!

The wildlife that you see on the Namushasha game drive is true wildlife. There are no fences. This is the real Africa. What I mean by that is, that while parks like Etosha are truly fantastic and not to be missed, they are fenced. The Etosha animals have a huge area to roam, and they live their lives naturally, but there is a fence that keeps them in. The animals around Namushasha in the Caprivi region are totally free...and wild!

And the bird life is amazing!

Is this not the most beautiful bird you have every seen?
This is the lilac breasted roller. It is said to have sixteen distinct colors on it!

See all of those round balls on the ground? That's elephant poop! There are normally hundreds of elephants in this area. All we saw was their poop!

Alfred and Ruth, taking a beverage break and scanning for animals!

Spotted a hippo on the far bank, and he was out of the water!

I love my zoom lens!

Haven't seen a leopard yet. We saw a leopard tortoise though!

So despite the fact that we didn't see any of the big animals, we still saw a lot of stuff and it was a great afternoon. Namibia continues to amaze us!


23 comments:

  1. When one of my sisters-in-law and her husband lived in Zimbabwe, there were always checking their boots before putting them on in the morning. Scorpions, you name it. Plus of course, there was the mosquito netting for at night.
    "Careful when walking" are words to live by. And we're not just talking about elephant poop either.

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    1. Yep, we are always checking our shoes as well and definitely eyes to the ground and all around when we are walking. Haven't had a problem with the mosquitoes yet though, and hopefully it will stay that way!

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  2. We came close to having a scorpion in the motorhome once, luckily I spotted it in a gap on the underside of the levelling ramp before storing it behind the front seat.

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    1. We had a scorpion in the motorhome about a month ago, It came in attached to the underside of a fan that had we used outside. And we are in Texas.

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    2. Yikes, it was bad enough when we had a big spider in the motorhome in Palenque. The thought of having a scorpion in the motorhome makes me shutter.

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  3. Oh boy 59 species of scorpions. Do they have snakes too???

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  4. Wow! Love the 'rainbow' bird and the turtle. Not so much the scorpion.

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    1. Thanks Randy, we can't get over all the wildlife here, good and bad!

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  5. In the picture with the ostrich, is that a dik dik in the foreground? Great pictures guys!!

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    1. No, it's a lechwe which is a type of antelope. It is bigger than a dik dik and more reddish brown in colour.

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  6. I was wondering, too, if that's a dik dik? This post was wonderful and the photos were great - as usual. You guys are something else!

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    1. Nope, it wasn't. Actually we haven't seen a dik dik since leaving the Namutoni Rest Camp about a month ago.

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  7. The bird is GORGEOUS! What a perfect photograph you got too. Can't get over all the beautiful creatures you are seeing.

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    1. We had been waiting so see one of these for a while now. I can't believe how long he/she stayed still for, guess it knew it's picture was being taken. :)

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  8. we have scorpions in missouri too, only much smaller thankfully. comparison in size between the ostrich and the dik dik is something else

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    1. I remembered reading somewhere that the smaller the scorpion the more poisonous they are.

      The ostrich is bigger than the lechwe is, but I think part of it is a little bit of an optical illusion because of the angle at which the picture was taken.

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  9. so glad Sandie mentioned your blog! what an adventure! love this....

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    1. Thank you Carolyn. Hope you stick around for more.

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