SOUTH AFRICA: MPETI SAFARIS OUTFITTER - Overdue Report Of Our South African Hunt

[Arctic97]

We worked our way to Oranjemund. The driving was fun and the views were amazing...

Coming into town with South Africa over on the other side of the river...

We were on pavement going into town and thought oh man this feels good for a while - but it is Namibia - had to dodge around the blowing sand....

Had to get a pic of the welcome sign...

We wanted to visit the Jasper House Museum, mainly to see what they had about the discovery of the shipwreck of the Bom Jesus that we had read about. It was discovered just north of town in the diamond fields of the coast. Amazing discovery as it sank with a fortune in 1533. Bulldozer operator thought he had dug up a pipe - it was a cannon!

The town of Oranjemund was closed to all except the diamond field workers and relatives until 2017. It was basically a secure company town for decades, owned by De Beers and their subsidiaries. The golf course was fun to drive by as there were Sprinbok, Ostriches, and Oryx on every fairway. I bet it would make for a fun outing...

 

[Arctic97]

Congrats on your hunt !

That trip seems very interesting.

Thank you. The hunt with Mpeti was great fun. Some members here asked me to add our overland adventure after the hunt, so stay tuned if you are interested. We did 7200 kilometers over 6-1/2 weeks so I will be adding pics here for days yet....

 

[Arctic97]

We headed north from Oranjemund. Topography was always changing. This is after we turned west from Aus and on route to Lüderitz on the coast....

Rolled into Lüderitz and went for a walk to the market. Some pics of the old German architecture around town...

We went out to visit the Ghost Town of Kolmanskop. Old diamond mining town. Great history there...

The sand is slowly comsuming the town...

And on the way out we left our brand on the gate keeper house. The guys always liked it when we asked if we could sticker their buildings everywhere we went...

We were in the area for a few days so we went out south of town until we found the Diaz Cross. We climbed up and enjoyed the view even while leaning into the wind to stay upright...

Pointing out whales...

The nearby lighthouse....

All for now...

 

[Arctic97]

We tried to take the least traveled routes when we could. D roads were our favorite...

Along the way we ran into this little lady out in front of her farm. So, we stopped for a coffee and a chat. Turned into an hour long visit and a local history lesson.

Probably my favorite campsite of this whole excursion was on a farm on the southern edge of the Namib Desert. When I pulled into the farm house Sarah was not sure what she was getting into as I disappeared into a maze of building looking for someone. The owners son and I came out and he gave me instructions on how to follow him to the campsite, what gears and speeds to use on the hills and sand to get there and we were off...

6 km later we crested into a bowl out in the middle of nowhere with a solar powered camp under a Camelthorn tree....

It was a one site operation, so we were the only people for miles - and it was stunning....

Always set the Idaho flag up...

And as the sun set the colors changed constantly...

And when it was dark the night sky was as amazing as you can imagine....

I had a hard time leaving this campsite. Perfect solitude out there. From here we would be getting into the heart of the Namib Desert and areas frequented by heavier tourism, but still they were places we wanted to see.

 

[Justhunt]

Congratulations on a great hunt! keep it coming. The wife and I want to do this same thing in Namibia in a couple years when we retire. Really appreciate the report and pictures.

 

[Arctic97]

Congratulations on a great hunt! keep it coming. The wife and I want to do this same thing in Namibia in a couple years when we retire. Really appreciate the report and pictures.

Thank you. I hope you guy get to do a trip like this. I retired last fall so I get that desire. Glad to hear from you as I never know if I should continue this or not. There is a lot more to come.

 

[Arctic97]

We made the drive out to Sossusvlei and walked into Deadvlei. It is a white clay pan known for its 900-year-old, dead camel thorn trees and surrounding red sand dunes. The last part of the drive to the parking area was 4x4 vehicle only. They had shuttles here, but hey we were in the Hilux! This stretch of the trail gave the driver (me) some pucker factor. Due to the heavy rains, there was water flowing in the pans just a couple of days before we arrived, so the 2 tracks going out there were wet in any low places. That meant there was no stopping. Unfortunately, with all the tourist in this area there were rigs stuck along the way which required quickly routing around without slowing down, all while dodging oncoming traffic on the same tracks coming out of the area. We made it though! Didn’t take a lot of pictures but here are a couple…

The parking area - you can see how wet it still was...

And the start of the trail out to Deadvlei...

While in this area for a few days we stayed at a campground in Solitaire. We met many other travels here. Most were in tour groups and were surprised to find 2 people of our vintage out on our own. It was fun finding out where everyone was from and where they were going. We actually met one of these groups again a couple weeks later up in the Caprivi...

Flag up in camp as the sun was setting...

Wors ont he braai...

And marking our turf in Solitaire before pushing on...

 

[WMU05]

A couple of those pictures in post #64 could win a photo contest. My goodness, what a beautiful country.

 

[AZDAVE]

Love Namibia, for both hunting and the sightseeing. have driven a fair bit but seeing your pictures we still have more to see. We were in Sossusvlei last year.

Thank you for sharing your adventure.

 

[SwampTrooper]

We tried to take the least traveled routes when we could. D roads were our favorite...View attachment 784276
Along the way we ran into this little lady out in front of her farm. So, we stopped for a coffee and a chat. Turned into an hour long visit and a local history lesson.
View attachment 784277

Probably my favorite campsite of this whole excursion was on a farm on the southern edge of the Namib Desert. When I pulled into the farm house Sarah was not sure what she was getting into as I disappeared into a maze of building looking for someone. The owners son and I came out and he gave me instructions on how to follow him to the campsite, what gears and speeds to use on the hills and sand to get there and we were off...
View attachment 784278
6 km later we crested into a bowl out in the middle of nowhere with a solar powered camp under a Camelthorn tree....
View attachment 784279
It was a one site operation, so we were the only people for miles - and it was stunning....
View attachment 784280
Always set the Idaho flag up...
View attachment 784281
And as the sun set the colors changed constantly...
View attachment 784282
View attachment 784283
View attachment 784284
And when it was dark the night sky was as amazing as you can imagine....
View attachment 784285

I had a hard time leaving this campsite. Perfect solitude out there. From here we would be getting into the heart of the Namib Desert and areas frequented by heavier tourism, but still they were places we wanted to see.

amazing journey, really loving this

 

[Arctic97]

Another place we stayed that was high on my favorite list was just below Spreets Hoogte pass. This is a pic of the road going up. Once you got to the incline, the road was done with pavers, but it was VERY steep. Again, fun driving. We clocked over 7000 km in the Hilux and I very seldom got to shift into that 6th gear, but I sure used low range 1st gear coming down from the top of this (also note how green it was)...

Coming down...

These are screen shots of video coming down...

Anyway, this campground had 8 sites I think but we were the only ones there. We upgrade to one of 2 deluxe sites they had. Just so you guys can sell this kind of expedition to your wives, we did not always stay in the tent. About 40% of the nights, we upgraded when availability or desire presented itself. This was one of those times...

Just inside there was a nice big room that had cots and pads so we were very comfortable with a great view that you will see here in a second....

There were very nice ablutions also...

As with most places like this, hot water was wood fire supplied, which meant lighting the donkey before bathing operations...

I mention at the beginning that this camp site was one of my favs. Here is why....

We watched herds of Mt Zebra, well over 500 in all, and many Oryx from our chairs as they came out of the hills all around us and down on the flats for the night. Our binoculars got a good work out until the sunset made for poor glassing and better viewing...

And then the stars.....

Fantastic time with sundowner in hand, listening to the Zebra barking and braying into the night. I can almost hear them now.

 

[Arctic97]

A couple of those pictures in post #64 could win a photo contest. My goodness, what a beautiful country.

Thank you. Yes, I do think Namibia is stunning, but I am partial to desert country.

 

[Arctic97]

Love Namibia, for both hunting and the sightseeing. have driven a fair bit but seeing your pictures we still have more to see. We were in Sossusvlei last year.

Thank you for sharing your adventure.

Thank you for tuning in! Was great seeing Namibia green - even the big dunes around Sossusvlei had a hint of green from the grass.

 

[Arctic97]

From Spreets Hoogte we headed NW towards Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. Strange things encountered along the way...

Always with the stickers....

Coming into Walvis Bay from the east I was shocked at all the new construction. New roads and shopping areas, it was not the Walvis Bay I remembered. We headed down to the waterfront to see if Anchors Restaurant still had their amazing Calamari - they did! Even the quant little waterfront was redone. Laramon Tours that does the catamaran trips from here changed hands not long after we were last here in 2019. I hope Achie is enjoying his retirement. I remember first going out with him 20 years ago, there was no dock, we took a tiny skiff out to the catamaran at anchorage. Just him, me and my son. Amazing how fast the tourism in Namibia has taken off...

I retired from 29 years of working at sea, so it was good to see that Walvis is holding onto its marine roots. Coming down the street past us were these 2 boats and my wife especially got a kick out of the Sarah J, as she is also a Sarah J....

We made it up to Swakop where we stayed for a while. It was great to get around a bit and see some of our friends. We had some outstanding get-togethers, and one very memorable braai. In fact, if anyone is reading this and is heading to Namibia this year, please let me know if you would be willing to carry over a baseball cap for a dear friend. I forgot that I promised him I would try to arrange this. It does not matter where you are going in Namibia, he will send a courier to fetch it. Horrible picture here, but you can see why he needs the hat and he requested a particular hat with an American flag on it that I will have to order...

His lamb is always to die for. All for tonight...

 

[Arctic97]

Started out of Swakopmund with a clean bakkie heading north along the coast....

Being a sailor I had to stop and have a look at the wreck - especially as it was a fishing vessel...

We went as far north as Cape Cross Seal Colony. It is hard to describe how many seals there are, how loud they are, and how bad the smell was...

Here is one of the camps, Madisa, we spent time at as we were making our way up to the Caprivi...

The campsites were laid out amongst the rocks....

Had to sign a waiver as the desert Elephants are known to wander through the campsites at night. I usually told Sarah these facts when we were on the road to our next destination. Our campsite came with elevated private ablutions...

The shower was made of plastered cow dung - wife got a kick out of that...

Another enjoyable camp up by Grootfontein was Roy's Camp...

And as we were the only campers there it was nice to have company stop by...

The bar & Restaurant at Roy's...

It was raining a lot during this timeframe so when we did continue north we drove in the rain all day and settled into Rainbow River Lodge on the Cubango River. We had a campsite reserved, but when we got there, we upgraded to a chalet, so we didn’t have to set up camp in the rain...

It was still so wet that even the frogs felt fine out of the water...

This was a delightful place and the owners allowed us to use the empty campsites during the day to braai and enjoy sitting down by the water. This is also where we bumped into the tour group we had met a couple of weeks earlier down in Solitaire. We had a lot of fun with them at the bar after sunset. After a few days here we pushed into Botawana - stay tuned....

 

[BigJake]

 

[BigJake]

View attachment 786181

We're still waiting. But we may not be patient much longer!