Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Kalahari Desert, Namibia

We finally started the safari road trip today! First we had a little errand to run, buying an extra camera battery for Marissa. She had called a camera shop the day before to confirm they had her battery type. And then we were off!

It was three hours to Bagatelle on the B1, a nice paved highway, speed limit 120km. We passed through a police checkpoint just outside Windhoek. We had everything in order with our car and license and they just waved us on. About 20 minutes from Bagatelle we turned onto C20, a dirt road, and probably the end of paved roads for us for the next two weeks.

We checked in at Bagatelle and arranged our excursions. For some reason I had pictured this as a transit stop on our way to Sossusvlei, but there’s quite a lot to do here.

We got a golf cart ride to our rooms, got cleaned up, and went back down to the main lodge for the afternoon nature drive. (Marissa went on a different excursion to see the cheetah feeding.)

We really enjoyed the nature drive. We saw springbok, oryx, wildebeest, giraffes, white rhinos, and bat-eared foxes. We also saw a cory bustard flying, the heaviest flying animal currently living, according to Wikipedia. It was much more than I expected.

We didn’t have time to shower before dinner, but did return to our rooms to quickly wash up. Luckily we did so, as there was a spectacular sunset from our deck.

Dinner was excellent, with some of the best grilled game we’ve had (kudu).

We were pretty tired, a combination of jetlag, lack of sleep from the flights over, and a full day. The wind was kicking up the sand so it wasn’t possible to star gaze, so we just went to bed.

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