NamSwiss 2026
Safari into the deep Kalahari and the south of Namibia, 4 to 24 September 2026
NamSwiss 2026 – into the deep Kalahari and the south of Namibia
A travel report by Albert Voigts von Schütz
More about our southern tour:
The trip through the eyes of a guest:
4 September 2026 – Arrival in Windhoek and Gocheganas
My guests came out of the airport astonishingly early. Normally passport control takes a fair while, but this time it was done in no time. Are our officials actually learning something? Now that would be a first!
After a quick errand in Windhoek we drove straight on to Gocheganas Lodge, which is certainly a flagship among the accommodations in this area. The view of the Auas Mountains and the acacia savanna is wonderful, even if the landscape is unfortunately very dry at the moment. It hasn’t rained well here in recent months, and the overgrazing is plain to see.
Already on the way there we saw giraffes, waterbuck and zebras. On the midday game drive these sightings were joined by eland and, as the cherry on top, an absolutely huge, fat white rhino bull. He sprayed urine backwards, marked his territory with great vigour and trampled his dung into the bargain.
The late afternoon was left free, which was badly needed after a night flight, no matter which class you fly.
There was plenty to see for birders, too. A lark with an intensely reddish colouring and a scaly back confused me so much at first that I almost took it for a Clapper Lark. Add a few bustards and the usual bushveld birds such as Crimson-breasted Shrike and Red-eyed Bulbul, as well as various hornbills, among them Southern Red-billed, Damara Red-billed and Monteiro’s Hornbill.
5 September 2026 – Gocheganas and off to the Kalahari
At seven o’clock, right at sunrise, we met for a morning walk. The monotonous, hollow hooting of the Pririt Batis accompanied us, along with the loud calls of the Rosy-faced Lovebirds. In the distance a hornbill called with its tooting note.
Down in the valley giraffes stood lined up like an exhibition in a gallery, with a fantastic backdrop and in the best photographic light. Up on the sandstone and quartzite slope eland were moving, accompanied by a group of kudu and a few gemsbok. Here and there stood a springbok.
We had plenty of time for bird photography. Pririt Batis, the male with his breast band, the female rusty-coloured, were photographed, and then we also got a wonderful sighting of a Cape Penduline-Tit.
Southern Giraffe · Pririt Batis · Burnt-necked Eremomela · Kalahari Scrub Robin
The Kalahari Scrub Robin accompanied us with its morning piping through the now flowering acacia landscape. Hook thorn, candle thorn and many others such as camel thorn and gland acacias flower precisely in this difficult, dry time of September and so give the animals a much-needed boost of food.
My father always called this the “chocolate season in the drought”.
“Interesting, how nature creates a pantry for the animals, and exactly at the time when they need it most, it offers another really good burst of energy by letting the acacias bloom.”
The camel thorns were in full bloom too. In this area you can see that the branches at giraffe head height have already been stripped bare, because there are an awful lot of giraffes here.
In the distance we saw a few zebras, heads down, plod, plod, as always, before we went to a hearty breakfast. I have to say: the best omelette in a long time, a good fruit platter, and even the commercial coffee was surprisingly good. Normally lodge coffee doesn’t taste of much … but here: thumbs up, and another one please!
Offering the Kalahari is a tricky undertaking for someone like me, a true Südwester (a South West African born and bred) who knows the Kalahari very well.
The huge Kalahari basin reaches all the way to the B1, which runs roughly north–south through Namibia from Windhoek. That makes it possible to visit one of the many Kalahari lodges east of the B1.
Normally I choose Kalahari Red Dunes Lodge of the Ondili Group. It has breathtakingly beautiful rooms, isn’t overrun and offers a rather good game drive in the afternoon. The accommodations of Intu Afrika are fine too, as is Bagatelle, which we had chosen this time.
The reason was above all the view. I wanted to offer my guests something special, and I also had nature and wildlife photographers with me. The Dune Chalets offered excellent opportunities for that. On top of that, this is probably the only realistic chance to photograph cheetahs really well.
For me, though, that is always a bit of a cheat. The cheetahs live here in a huge enclosure, and that comes rather close to the subject of zoos, actually not at all what I want to sell. Photographically, you can perhaps smuggle it into a trip once.
There are also white rhinos in the wildlife area of Bagatelle. In the past I had managed to take very good photos of white rhinos in the dunes there. I thought that this would above all make Franz, my main photographer, happy.
Still, the situation remains difficult for me. Most accommodations in the Namibian Kalahari don’t offer what I actually want to show my clients: good bat-eared fox photography, properly photographed meerkats, lovely walking trails and the smaller, real Kalahari animals.
Instead the emphasis lies very heavily on the big animals, and the game drives are sometimes rather boring, because the local guides put the accents completely in the wrong place.
Nevertheless we build the Kalahari into many of our trips, because there are always good moments. The fact remains, though: whoever wants to truly experience the Kalahari has to go deeper into the east and into the South African part.
In the afternoon we did the obligatory game drive at Bagatelle. The lodge itself is really beautiful, the food very good and the staff extremely friendly. Unfortunately the sky was overcast and it was unusually cold for this time of year.
When we got to the rhinos, we got out and looked at them. But honestly: nobody really enjoyed it.
By the wayside we saw Sabota Larks, ostriches and giraffes that were fantastic to photograph in the light. Also a few coloured springbok, a veritable puppet show that some game farms still offer. A leftover of the hysteria of offering colour-bred animals to trophy hunters. Actually perverse, something like that.
Thanks to our rather good guide Philipp we were still able to enjoy the sundowner, and afterwards everyone turned up happily for dinner.
6 September 2026 – From the Kalahari towards the Kgalagadi
My loyal guide Jonathan regularly helps out at Bagatelle between his own trips. He was there at the time too and told me:
“Whatever you do, go to the cheetahs early in the morning. In the afternoon there are unbelievably many tourists there.”
So before breakfast we quickly went to the cheetahs. As in a zoo, we took the obligatory photos. The wow effect, of course, stayed away, because the animals weren’t wild.
White Rhino · Cheetah at Bagatelle
Afterwards we had a lovely breakfast, and the long drive east began.
The further east we got, the more the landscape changed. The vegetation along the dry Auob River became denser and taller, and suddenly I saw wood-hoopoes flying by the roadside. Of course I stopped immediately, set up my little music box and called them.
They actually came closer, and a wonderful photo session developed with the wood-hoopoes, flying up and down and cackling loudly.
Somehow the area also suited the Pygmy Falcon. I played its call briefly, and sure enough one came flying in. First it settled far away, then closer and closer to us, and let itself be photographed beautifully.
Franz looked out happily from behind his giant lens and said only:
“Awesome.”
Pygmy Falcon · Suricate
In the early afternoon we reached Kalahari Game Lodge. The small lodge lies wonderfully remote and is very nicely furnished with its A-frame bungalows. After a short walk we went on the afternoon game drive.
On the walk we discovered a Pearl-spotted Owlet, White-backed Vultures and a few smaller birds. Unfortunately the area was still very dry, which is why the rich birdlife stayed away. A Wahlberg’s striped skink crept into the rough bark of an acacia.
But there were lovely herds of springbok and gemsbok.
Room at Kalahari Game Lodge · Rock Monitor · Springbok
My usual little sermon about how this animal is wrongly always just called “oryx” was due once again here.
In Namibia we have the gemsbok. “Oryx” is merely the genus. And since there are four different oryx species in Africa, one should be a bit more precise with naming and preferably stick to the local name.
So: gemsbok, not simply oryx.
At the sundowner spot I suddenly heard a Rufous-eared Warbler. While the others were already being handed gin and tonic and an insanely hearty sundowner platter stood on the table, which looked more like a dinner than a snack plate, Franz and I crept after the warbler.
I turned my little speaker up a bit, and sure enough it popped up high on a branch of a hook thorn and showed itself, squeaking loudly like a little actor.
Rufous-eared Warbler · Black Thorn
After that we could watch the sun go down in peace.
7 September 2026 – Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and !Xaus Lodge
The border crossing towards Mata Mata went smoothly, but it took forever and a day. On the South African side we had to keep filling in forms, I especially for the vehicle.
A good hour later we were finally through.
And now we could say: We are there. There, where the Kalahari is truly the Kalahari.
A soothing feeling spread through me immediately. I love this wilderness. Relatively untouched, and there are always little things to discover, from the ground squirrel among the rodents and the meerkat among the small carnivores to the yellow mongoose.
Springbok · Yellow Canary
The evening before, by the way, I had also seen a striped polecat, of course without any guests in tow. It’s always like that! …
And then suddenly: two lions.
I shouted straight to the back:
“Roof up! Now!”
The lions were mating. Not just once, but again and again. Afterwards they lay down to sleep.
At first we shared this sighting with only one other vehicle, later two more joined. So it was no mass gathering, and we had fantastic opportunities to photograph the lions.
What an experience!
The soundtrack during the mating was unique, too. The male lion had a beautiful black mane that looked as if it had just been combed. The lioness was still quite young and kept looking at us, sweaty and blinking.
Lions in the Kgalagadi
On the onward drive came the next great stroke of luck: a secretarybird.
In the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park you actually see secretarybirds relatively often. That day we saw at least four. But this one was special.
He hunted right in front of us, and we watched him strike head-on, smash a mouse’s skull and then devour the prey right before our eyes and, of course, cameras.
I said to Franz:
“I think you’ve just taken the picture of the year, haven’t you?”
I myself had set up for video and couldn’t decide whether to film or to photograph.
Franz only answered:
“Could be. Could be.”
In an extremely contented tone, which of course gave me, as a guide, tremendous satisfaction.
Secretarybird · Black-winged Kite · White-backed Vulture · Lappet-faced Vulture
The drive went on. We saw more interesting bird species, bustards, ostriches with chicks, Kori Bustards and of course more secretarybirds. Larks and a flycatcher also made for good eye-catchers.
The Pririt Batis can either call with a hoot, almost like a frog, or whistle like a bicycle pump.
Fawn-coloured Lark · Swallow-tailed Bee-eater · African Grey Hornbill
Around half past two we reached Kamqua. Hendrik, the guide of !Xaus Lodge, received us. Of course more forms had to be filled in before we set off for about an hour on a 4×4 track deep into the fantastic Kalahari wilderness.
What a feeling to cross this dune landscape. The landscape alone is profoundly untouched. And to be there alone, in an area where it feels as though no human had ever been, is something very special, fairytale book or so …
By the wayside we saw gemsbok, cows with small calves on the road and any number of lion tracks.
Then we reached !Xaus Lodge.
It, too, is built in the A-frame bungalow style, quite rustic, completely self-sufficient and with a flair all of its own. Looking out from the main building you gaze far into the distance at a gigantic salt pan lying directly in front of the lodge. Below, in the pan, there is a small waterhole.
!Xaus Lodge · Red Hartebeest · Northern Black Korhaan
The calm and the wilderness automatically shift me down a gear.
The manager Anthony gave a very likeable and detailed introduction. At first he seemed to want to know everything about us before telling us the history of the lodge.
The lodge was built for the local community, for the San and the Mier of the area, who have lived here for many centuries and were partly driven out by the establishment of the national park. Today the community has the right to own the lodge for its own benefit.
On the way in I had already had a small nature moment: at a waterhole I discovered a Spotted Eagle-Owl. The local guide had simply driven past it. A good thing we followed behind. I was able to stop and watch the owl well.
At the lodge we also saw Karasburg tree skinks, with their copper-glossy skin and partly yellowish lips. Striped mice scurried about everywhere.
Gemsbok with calves · Spotted Eagle-Owl · Karasburg Tree Skink
So there was plenty of food for the nocturnal animals.
After all the tracks in the sand, the night drive could hardly fail to be a success. After all, the Kalahari has an incredible variety of nocturnal animals, from aardvark and aardwolf, pangolin and brown hyena to springhares and the various cat species.
So we set off full of expectation.
Right at the start we saw a Barn Owl sitting on a dead stump, with a huge rat in its talons.
Our spotlight man, a San by birth, kept putting the light on the owl and taking it away again. For photography that was of course a catastrophe.
So at some point I had to say firmly:
“Now keep the light on it, so the animal can be photographed.”
And so we actually got a few good photos of the Barn Owl with its rat.
To this day I wonder what kind of rat that was. At that distance you couldn’t tell, of course.
Then the drive went on. We saw springhares hopping through the landscape like little kangaroos. They belong to the rodents, Rodentia, and not, as the name suggests, to the hares, Lagomorpha.
It really is a funny animal. Incredibly agile and fast, they hop through the grass and dune landscape. My school friends from the eastern farms always used to tell of having been springhare hunting … with a spotlight and on foot, mind you! I don’t believe, though, that anyone ever really caught a springhare.
Then came a brown hyena.
It crossed the field at a surprisingly good pace, bum down, shoulders up and off it goes. My camera reached its limits. On this brown-grey, almost black animal it was hard to focus in the poor light. The spotlight was bright, but just not bright enough.
Nevertheless it was a wonderful encounter with a very rare animal. After all, you don’t see brown hyenas every day.
Brown Hyena on the night drive
We saw a few more springhares and even stopped for a steenbok, although diurnal animals don’t really “count” on a night drive.
Here and there a mouse scurried past that I would have loved to look at, but of course I understood that we couldn’t stop any longer for that.
At the end of the drive we saw the Barn Owls once more.
And with that it was good enough. It was getting cold on the back of the vehicle.
8 September 2026 – Wilderness, lions at the lodge and the Traditional Village
The wake-up call was scheduled for 6:30. But since my neighbour was loudly woken at six, I was awake before that anyway.
Thank God I had prepared a thermos of coffee the evening before. So I could enjoy my coffee half asleep, pulled the curtain open with half my strength and saw this fantastic landscape before me.
And this silence …
Suddenly I heard the long drawn-out whistle and the clapping of the Eastern Clapper Lark. Far down in the valley a Rufous-eared Warbler called loudly. Otherwise I heard absolutely nothing.
I normally have tinnitus in my ear. But even that seemed to finally shut up today, since it was so quiet inside me, at least for a short moment.
At seven o’clock we met for the morning walk. Numerous tracks were explained to us, from black-backed jackal to genet. We talked about the different grasses.
For me as a farmer this area is once again a notch more beautiful, because here you really get the feeling that there has been hardly any human influence: the perennial grasses outnumber the pioneer and annual grasses.
Nature is perfectly intact, wilderness at last.
The different grasses stood mixed together: various Stipagrostis species, dune oat grass and other typical grasses of this landscape. Sour grass occurred only in small amounts. Since on the Kalahari farms the veld is worn out and raped by meat sheep, I know farms there where nothing but sour grass, Schmidtia kalahariensis, is left growing.
The fresh morning scent would really have been enough for me, but I did wish my guests a bit more …
We discovered an elephant shrew, whose exact species we couldn’t determine because of its secretive ways. Also geckos, agamas and lizards. We enjoyed a lark singing high up in a tree, a Cape Penduline-Tit and also a nest of this species, woven from spider webs and stretchy, with a “false entrance”, see my blog on this please:
Aptosimum procumbens · Ground Agama · Spotted Sand Lizard
After that came a super, super, super hearty breakfast: a gigantic omelette with a thick boerewors, the Boer sausage, which is my thing, though not everybody’s, and good coffee to go with it.
Life can go on like this.
Then came the absolute highlight of the day.
As we were gathering in the morning, it was suddenly announced excitedly that the lions were in the area and on their way to the lodge.
I thought at first:
Maybe we’ll actually get to see them.
What I hadn’t expected: the lions came right to the lodge, that is, RIGHT UP to the lodge!
Immediately in front of us, about two metres away, a male lion and his lioness then drank from the bird bath.
The lioness was visibly nervous, growled now and then and kept baring her teeth. She drank only briefly.
His Lordship drank and drank and drank.
I immediately ordered the staff to inform my self-drive group, who were out and about in the area.
Thank God they arrived in time and were able to experience the lions too.
What a fantastic sight, to experience lions so up close. Unbelievable, even for me, although they were indeed touchable … well …
A little later we went to a Traditional Village, where the people of the area demonstrate their traditional way of life. Here too the aim is to give the local community an economic perspective and a benefit from the wilderness through tourism.
The !Xaus Lodge, by the way, is supposed to be pronounced “Kaus”, since our tongues can’t click anyway, just as Germans can’t speak English and the French can hardly get any foreign language out at all. It is a community lodge and benefits the community, even though it is run by an independent company.
I personally am particularly interested in the Mier and the San Bushmen of this region, because I know this deep connection with nature and this respectful humility towards the landscape from the area where I grew up myself.
Over generations a very particular character develops, a strongly cynical, hard humour, when people live in such extreme landscapes and again and again have to cope with drought and difficult times.
Two sayings come to mind just now:
“Mag die Voorspoed jou verveel” (may prosperity bore you) would be a farewell greeting.
“Ek is moeg gery” (I’m tired from driving) would be an expression for that general worn-out feeling and deep tiredness.
They are good people.
The Traditional Village was of course a small, rather plainly bad piece of theatre, like almost all these living museums, but I enjoyed seeing it anyway.
I did squeeze the manager of the lodge, who is apparently a coloured “Mier”, for as much as I could, but I still have to look more closely into the history of the people of this area.
On the palisade fence around the village we again saw Karasburg tree skinks (Trachylepis sparsa). A Rufous-eared Warbler fluted cheerfully from the three-thorn bushes and was easy to photograph. Add a Red-necked Falcon on the camel thorn and a Pale Chanting Goshawk diving into the grass. Couldn’t ever see what he actually caught, though …
Rufous-eared Warbler
We enjoyed the stories about the people of this area under a green camel thorn tree, gave a donation, but “not right now” bought the jewellery that was on offer there …
9 September 2026 – From !Xaus back towards Namibia
Anyone visiting the Kalahari has to know that you are NOT bombarded with animals here, as is often the case in Etosha National Park, for example, or in north-eastern Namibia and Botswana.
The Kalahari can even get boring over long stretches.
After leaving !Xaus we had around 90 dunes ahead of us to the main road. A fantastically beautiful stretch.
And over every dune you cross you hear this astonished “Ah!” and “Oh!” as another new dune landscape or dune valley opens up in the background.
Suddenly I saw a whistling rat, Brants’s Whistling Rat, disappear into its hole.
We stopped for a good 15 minutes and waited for it to come out again.
In the distance Franz finally did spot another one.
You really need eagle eyes, because at first you only saw the little head peeking out of the burrow. Then it kept coming out, bit a piece off a thick twig and carried it back into its burrow.
Unfortunately it was a bit too far away to be really convincing photographically.
Brant’s Whistling Rat · Suricate · Eland · Aptosimum lineare
Still, it was interesting, and whistling rats were on our programme anyway.
I had actually expected some good wildlife in the Auob. But as so often: the weather had thrown a spanner in the works.
There had been good winter rain. The grass was still green at the base everywhere, and on morning walks you saw dewdrops on the grasses.
The animals were therefore not forced to come to the water, they’d be daft to do so.
The Auob valleys, which at this time of year are normally full of animals, with large herds of springbok, wildebeest and sometimes giraffe, were yawningly empty.
Here and there a wildebeest, a few ostriches with an incredible number of chicks and then long stretches without much movement.
We tried to find little things all the same. Franz discovered two young Barn Owls in a big camel thorn tree at a Sociable Weaver nest, and in another I found a Spotted Eagle-Owl sitting super close.
Ostriches with chicks · Black-chested Snake Eagle · Spotted Eagle-Owl
I tried to conjure up small surprises as often as possible, but the game drive was, as they say, rather “für’n Heino” – and whatever is für’n Heino is for the arse, in other words crap.
Well, you’re not supposed to say that, my dear father was called that, but you know what I mean :-).
Afterwards we had to officially re-enter Namibia at the official post at Twee Rivieren, because passport control had been moved there.
Man, was that again an endless back and forth.
When the police officer then even demanded that we do a tax declaration online, I only said:
“Come on, just let it be. We don’t have Internet here.”
He only said: “Yeah, yeah.” And let us go, big mistake, because now the paper for the exit was missing, and that would cost us a lot of patience.
Finally he scanned the car and let us continue.
The whole thing took about 45 minutes.
In the evening we reached Molopo Lodge, which we used as a stopover. We moved into our little bungalows, everyone was happy with their rooms, went to the pool and enjoyed a relaxed late afternoon.
And then came dinner.
What a hammer!
Of course you could tell clearly, also from the body shapes of the rest of the guests, that in this region meat, and I mean a lot of meat, is eaten. The menu was full of meat dishes.
When I asked the waiter which pizza he could recommend, he pointed to a pizza with a meat topping!
Everyone was happy … except Anita, our vegetarian.
In the end she got a hearty plate of vegetables and chips.
When I told the waiter that she was a vegetarian, he stared at me in bewilderment:
“Oh. That’s a problem. Then she’ll just get a salad, but she won’t get full tonight.”
You could tell he simply couldn’t understand how anyone can be a vegetarian.
10 September 2026 – Rietfontein, Keetmanshoop and the Mesosaurus fossils
The drive back into Namibia went superbly as far as the road was concerned. As far as the border was concerned, rather so-so.
At the Rietfontein border post one should definitely plan a good two hours in future.
Suddenly they demanded from me a South African confirmation that the car was not stolen and was legally in the country.
This confirmation, they said, could be applied for 24 hours in advance. But they would be glad to help me.
So we waited and waited and waited …
The confirmation was supposed to come from the head office, be printed out, and then I would be allowed to drive on.
Everything seemed completely unproblematic, until a good hour and a half later we were still standing there.
After my diplomatic efforts, my gnarled face and an increasingly desperate expression, we were finally simply waved through by the responsible officer … Good grief!
The lady added that you can also do it online, which is great if you have no internet at all.
We drove on to Keetmanshoop and checked in at Gessert’s Guesthouse.
Getting there is always a bit like coming home. The rooms are furnished with a lot of feeling, a lot of love goes into the garden, and the parrot, which is already with its third owner, cracks, bangs, talks and says hello.
I’m not a fan of parrots in cages, but what can you do? You can’t just make the animal disappear.
After that we went on to the Quiver Tree Forest.
We decided to drive another 20 kilometres or so to Farm Spitzkoppe, where guided tours to the Mesosaurus fossils are offered.
The operator, “Oom Giel”, proudly announces that the well-known Quiver Tree Forest holds about 300 quiver trees. On his farm, by contrast, there are more than 5,000.
The tour to the fossils was great. Oom Giel himself is well into his eighties, an authority in his field, extremely likeable and at the same time looks like a main attraction himself.
The Mesosaurus fossils are more than 200 million years old and remarkably clearly visible. Even a layman can enjoy them.
Oom Giel explaining the Mesosaurus fossils · at the Schutztruppe soldier’s grave
After that we passed a Schutztruppe grave (a grave of the German colonial troops) before we reached the quiver tree forest at Spitzkoppe.
Here the giants’ playground is wonderfully combined with the quiver tree forest. Scenically, fantastic photo motifs are on offer.
Quiver trees on Farm Spitzkoppe
Everywhere you saw rock agamas practically begging to land in front of the lenses.
As it slowly got darker, we drove back. We wanted to experience the golden light of the sunset in the quiver tree forest.
Southern Rock Agama
Later we arrived at the Schützenhaus in Keetmanshoop, where the farmers had already gathered at the bar. Loud music, about 100 years old, accompanied the evening. Anita was completely carried away and stirred up and talked suspiciously much about “dancing and stuff”. I only thought that hopefully we wouldn’t soon hear that famous old hit about a certain lady alone in Mexico, you know the one, because then everything would have come true and the evening would have gone too far.
We had to wait relatively long for the food, since another group of around 30 people was being served at the same time.
When it finally came, though, everyone was content with their hearty, indeed plain home cooking, just as advertised, meal.
11 September 2026 – Through the Karas Mountains to the Fish River Canyon
Today there were two options to choose from.
The direct route would have taken us to Canyon Lodge in about an hour and a half.
Or we could take the longer route further south through the mountain landscapes, about an hour longer, I reckoned in my youthful, well, OK, senile recklessness …
The group chose the longer variant.
I was glad, because I love this route.
Again and again I stopped so that the group could take in the impressive landscape in peace and I could call up the odd little bird: blackish-brown dolerite ridges, cut through by mighty granite and sandstone formations. Sub-volcanic ridges run like dark bands through the landscape, between them huge sandstone layers of the Nama Formation. Behind them rise further, higher mountain ranges, a fascinating interplay of dark rock, warm sandstone tones and bizarre rock formations.
The horizon was adorned with the small and large Karas Mountains.
Sand Aloe
Again and again we crossed small riverbeds that offered habitat for interesting bird species.
We stopped for mousebirds, barbets, bustards and much more.
One bustard I do have to mention in particular: the Karoo Korhaan.
It is an extremely sought-after species in the ornithological world, and I actually spotted one by the roadside.
The group naturally wondered how I could spot something like that at all, but that was luck, pure luck.
They didn’t know, however, that I still didn’t have any really good pictures of a Karoo Korhaan and had therefore been lying in wait for these birds like a fox.
And there they finally sat, in the immediate vicinity.
First I played their call. They reacted.
Then I drove up a little to the side to improve the background, played the call again, and they didn’t fly away, oh yes!
My God, was I grateful.
And what pictures we were able to take!
Karoo Korhaan
I then noticed, however, that there was a certain unrest within the group because of the long driving time. Not everyone is a bird photographer, and not everyone is equally interested in birdlife.
And so, in a group like this, tolerance levels naturally fluctuate.
The gentle hints such as “I’m hungry” or “I’m looking forward to a salad” I had diligently ignored … oh dear.
When we arrived at the lodge I still believed that everything was fine.
We checked in and my guests got the wonderful rooms that I had worked on in advance. I always try to arrange it like that for my clients: the best available rooms!
At 7 p.m. was the meeting point for dinner.
As we sat down, Heinz asked:
“Tell me, do we have to eat already?”
“Yes. Why?”
“We’d have liked to sit outside a bit longer.”
I could see that he was unhappy.
So I asked:
“Tell me, what’s the matter?”
“Today was simply a bit too much larking around!”
I decided to improve and to broaden the fields of interest a little. So for now first of all a gin and tonic outside on the terrace, with Namibian gin from Stillhouse Atlantic Namibia! A bit of surreptitious advertising here for dear Sandy.
Dinner at Canyon Lodge is a buffet. I personally am not a big fan of that, because many people help themselves with the same tongs and I have become rather sensitive to every cough, nose-blowing and clearing of the throat, probably TOO sensitive, because then I picture all the bacteria on these spoons and tongs at the buffet in my mind’s eye … change of subject please! …
But nobody got sick, and the food tasted excellent.
Everything was wonderful.
12 September 2026 – Fish River Canyon
After a leisurely breakfast … yes, that’s not how people know me, I know.
I’m more the “let’s go, let’s go” type in the morning.
But I have learned that I have to adapt. After all, it’s no disaster to have breakfast half an hour or even an hour later once in a while if it gives the group a bit more peace.
We drove to the main viewpoint of the Fish River Canyon.
And it overwhelmed us particularly today.
Fish River Canyon after good winter rains
Everywhere beautiful plants grew across the ground like a purple carpet: Mesembryanthemum longipetalum, a small succulent ice plant, together with another species with white flowers.
It looked almost unreal, as if God had painted the landscape with a purple brush.
So we got to see not only the immense gorges and depths of the Fish River Canyon, but at the same time an incredible splendour of colour.
Mesembryanthemum longipetalum · Didelta carnosa · Gorteria sp. · Südwester Edelweiss · Karoo Violet · Gariep Spikeviolet
After that we went to another viewpoint, where we did a short hike.
I let the group walk along the canyon rim while I took a detour with Franz. I was hoping for the Cinnamon-breasted Warbler.
The bird unfortunately eluded us.
But we found a pair of Long-billed Larks and beautiful Dusky Sunbirds on the now flowering Aloe gariepensis, a red aloe species that occurs here in this area.
Seeing these plants in bloom is a real privilege and “refreshing”, I mocked. Normally they stand around here rather stunted.
Gariep Aloe · Toad Hopper
Everywhere on the slopes beautiful euphorbias were on show, which are constantly and wrongly called cacti. After the rains they were also lush green.
We met the group again, who were making their pilgrimage clambering up and down the slope, and walked back to the vehicle together.
Around midday we were at the lodge.
The afternoon stayed free, which suited very well, because it was extremely windy and you couldn’t have done much else anyway … crappy weather!
The birdlife around Canyon Lodge is remarkable, by the way.
White-throated Canaries sat everywhere on the broom bushes. In one tree I saw seven Acacia Pied Barbets at the same time.
Also mousebirds and Red-eyed Bulbuls, whose musical calls accompanied the birdwatching wonderfully.
Pale-winged Starlings sat in the fig trees.
Again and again you heard the Pale Chanting Goshawk calling.
Add to that hundreds of sunbirds in the Adenolobus garipensis, these small bushes with leaves reminiscent of bauhinias.
Dusky Sunbirds
And of course the Karoo Thrush with its orange bill.
You could really book in at Canyon Lodge for several days and just do bird photography.
That, too, would be a goal.
13 September 2026 – Across the Orange River to Klein Aus Vista
Many roads lead to Rome, or to Klein Aus Vista.
Today we deliberately chose not the shorter tar route but the long way down to the Orange River, along Namibia’s southern border river to Rosh Pinah and then back up the tar road to the north.
I chose this route deliberately because I knew how extremely varied the landscape is here, since the road runs directly through the old Namaqua metamorphic formation.
The expanses are truly vast, the contrasts enormous.
You can certainly claim that this is one of the most beautiful routes in Namibia.
One plant, however, attracts particularly many visitors to this area:
Pachypodium namaquanum, the so-called “Halfmens” (half-man).
The thick, usually solitary, very spiny trunk stands like a human figure in the barren landscape, topped by a dense crown of leaves.
The Nama connect a lovely story with this peculiar plant. The Halfmens is said to look north with its figure, towards the old homeland of the Nama. So it symbolically recalls a people who had to leave their original homeland and wandered south.
Whether that is simply a biblical borrowing of the story of Lot’s wife, I don’t know.
I don’t understand the story either, since I am only aware of a south-to-north migration of the Nama … Albert, do your homework please.
We were able to discover a number of these plants, even at places I hadn’t known before.
I got out and walked towards one plant. I was just about to start scrambling up when I looked back.
Nobody was following me.
Just lots of faces looking out of the vehicle.
That looked funny.
I asked:
“Well, are you coming?”
Shaking heads.
Then came the answers:
“I’m too old.”
“Too hot.”
“Too stony.”
“Too high.”
True, actually.
You should know your limits.
So I wandered around the hillside a bit and let the group wait a little.
I know, outrageous, but when something is chirping in the bushes and here and there something is in bloom and the odd blue butterfly flutters by, you’re allowed to steal a minute.
A Nicholson’s Pipit was strutting around in front of me.
I switched on my little speaker and tried to lure out further interesting species. I was rewarded, however, not with the hoped-for rarities but with Karoo Chat and Capped Wheatear.
Halfmens · Cape Bunting
When I suspected that our vehicle was probably turning into an incubator right about then, I hurried back. As a punishment they ate the Basler Leckerli (Swiss gingerbread) without me … grrrrr, but OK, I probably deserved it, I’m getting too fat on safari anyway …
The drive continued through the mountain landscape until we joined the tar road again at Rosh Pinah.
I filled up briefly, then we went on towards Klein Aus Vista.
The weather was, in the truest sense of the word, exceptionally shitty.
Thick clouds lay on the mountains, the wind blew insanely hard.
I said to the group:
“Swiss weather, only with more wind.”
We stopped at the Bahnhof Hotel in Aus. I believe that in the past the cakes here were still baked by the old tannies (aunties) of the area. Because whichever cake I chose back then, it was always delicious.
This time, though, the choice of cakes wasn’t quite as great as usual. I deliberately left the carrot cake to my guests, because that is normally the best. Since only two or three pieces of it were left, I took a cheesecake instead, or at least it looked like one, with passion fruit on top.
Although I’m actually not supposed to eat cake at all and can’t stand the stuff, of course I had to try it anyway. And I have to say: it wasn’t worth it. This time the cake-guzzling wasn’t worth the sin.
Well, some in the group will probably have liked it better.
But the coffee was really good and the waitress extraordinarily cheeky. And I love cheeky! Cheeky is good, cheeky is entertaining, and I can do something with that.
We southerners are just cheeky. But only when we mean well by each other!
The Eagle’s Nest Chalets at Klein Aus Vista lie on the western side of the granite mountains and look out over the endless expanse of the landscape.
The accommodation is rustically built of natural stone.
You are completely cut off from today’s far too fast world.
And immediately the remark came again:
“Why are we only here for one night?”
Since this was now already the fifth or sixth time I had heard that from guests, I think that in future I will actually build in two nights here.
The hiking trails are well developed and there are plenty of possibilities to explore the area.
Unfortunately Klein Aus Vista itself has by now become heavily visited by tourists through its membership of a large accommodation group.
That can be a bit annoying.
The food, however, was really very, very good. For me the kitchen definitely counts among the best within this group of accommodations.
I do have to issue a small warning, though, to all those who are sensitive to animals in the room.
Parallel to our group we also had self-drivers who set great store by good accommodation and whom I greatly value as regular customers.
Unfortunately there were exceptionally many field mice this year, apparently also very numerous in the granite rocks. Somehow some of them made it into the huts.
So one hut had unwanted mouse visitors, or infestation, hah, the word is harsh, but true, if you don’t like mice.
For one person that is not a problem.
For the next it is understandably a catastrophe.
So anyone who is sensitive to that sort of thing should definitely tell me when we plan the trip. Then we can choose other rooms accordingly.
One says:
“This is Africa, they are so cute.”
The next discovers a spider on the bed and calls for help.
So everyone simply has their own ideas of danger and pestilence, and we have to learn to look after our guests well!
14 September 2026 – Tiras Mountains and Wolwedans
Today the drive ran along the edge of the Namib, over the so-called escarpment and through the Tiras Mountains.
One of the most varied and scenically spectacular regions of Namibia.
On the left the stark dune worlds, on the right the Nama sediments of the Schwarzrand, Weissrand and Rotrand. Tiras Mountains, Nubib Mountains, Zaris Mountains and later the Naukluft.
We drove around the Losberg to reach the NamibRand Nature Reserve, which is over 200,000 hectares in size.
Here, with Wolwedans, lies one of the flagships of Namibia, at least for the Namibian desert.
First we drove through the wide plains along the Tiras Mountains and through the farms of the Schnebel family.
It was windy, cold and rainy. Grey and gloomy, the crappy weather lay over the endless Tiras plain. And yet, precisely because of that, a very special, almost mystical mood arose. A few ostriches were trying at all costs to get to the other side behind the fence, although across from them hundreds of kilometres of open space were at their disposal.
The combination of the grey sky, the endless landscape and the ostriches in the rain created an unusual atmosphere and some really great, mystical photos.
Then we again saw a group of Karoo Korhaans … otherwise really rare in this area. They even reacted to our call, ran across the road and could be photographed perfectly.
Ostriches at the fence · Karoo Korhaans
Then we drove past a gigantic contraption.
It looks like a huge windmill, a water mill or a mixture of a ghostly welded-together windmill construction and an agricultural monster.
Old Siegfried Schnebel had created this ingenious contraption.
It was a hydraulic pump that was theoretically supposed to drive up to nine mono pumps in different boreholes to bring water out of the ground.
Theoretically ingenious.
In practice it almost worked, even.
But the construction was never perfected, later no longer economically sensible, and finally was simply left standing there.
So everyone who drives past has something to photograph and asks themselves:
What the hell is that thing?
Arriving at Wolwedans, we were warmly welcomed at the Village. A very good check-in, a quick look into the shop, and then we went on.
Our destination was the Dune Camp.
The Dune Camp has been newly renovated and is such a wonderful accommodation that you notice at once how much hard work, planning and lasting commitment stand behind it.
Thanks again to Stefan Brückner.
There were nothing but beaming faces.
In the afternoon we went on a game drive.
The clouds slowly cleared, the sun came out and a light wind blew.
The dunes glowed in a rich red.
Dune landscape at Wolwedans
We were able to photograph Dune Larks in flight, sitting and twittering above us.
Every photographer was constantly faced with the question:
Wide-angle for the landscape or zoom for the birds?
Because large herds of gemsbok also stood in the dunes.
Gemsbok · Dune Lark
For the sundowner there was gin and tonic and the local biltong.
After a short traditional visit at the fire we enjoyed a wonderful dinner.
15 September 2026 – Wolwedans
Just sitting and looking.
It would actually have been enough to spend the whole morning drinking coffee and soaking up this landscape.
On my recommendation, however, the group decided to combine the morning game drive with a Village Tour.
Wolwedans sustainably produces part of its own food, and this Village Tour is not only interesting but also extremely entertaining.
Afterwards there was a wonderful lunch, locally produced, from the vegetables to the meat, delicious.
I myself stayed at the lodge afterwards and got a little annoyed about a French guest.
I also had a self-drive group there who had just arrived at the lodge. I greeted them in the morning and exchanged five sentences with them at the table.
Then a Frenchman came over to me, friendly but firm, and explained that he would like to enjoy his breakfast without hearing other voices. He wanted to enjoy exclusively the silence of nature.
But this was the general breakfast room, and other guests were present. Of course you can’t ban talking there.
To avoid any conflict I preferred to leave.
It annoyed me all the same.
Especially since Wolwedans also offers accommodation where you can stay completely exclusively and entirely secluded.
That was probably too expensive for the gentleman.
Better to grumble instead, no wonder nobody can stand this type … say no more.
That is simply something a tour leader has to struggle with sometimes.
In the afternoon we went on another game drive through this incredible landscape. Franz in particular got his money’s worth with his wish to photograph the Black-winged Kite well. He was not only able to observe and photograph this fascinating bird, but several times had the opportunity to photograph it in flight from relatively short distance, as well as a perched one from very close, fantastically.
But the Black-winged Kite is of course only one of countless specialities of this landscape. The area offers an impressive diversity of the most varied small animals, bird species and reptiles. Add to that the large herds of gemsbok and the numerous ostriches that keep moving through this expansive area. I have often spotted hyenas here, hence the name Wolwedans. The locals call the spotted hyena “wolf”. And also an African wildcat and a leopard, believe it or not!
In the evening there was talk about whether three nights here might not have been worth it after all.
16 September 2026 – Sossusvlei and Dead Valley Lodge
This morning we took a lot of time. Because I know: Sossusvlei is by no means the flagship of Namibia in high season that it once was. The crowds unfortunately take much of its original magic from this unique place.
When I was a child and we visited Sossusvlei, I remember Lappet-faced Vultures sitting on the dunes like dominoes. You didn’t visit Sossusvlei for just a few hours, but often stayed for days. Many people even camped there. And when someone had a problem, you were almost glad to be able to help. Of course people helped each other.
So much has changed since then. We have changed, for sure. Sometimes I even catch myself feeling a little ashamed that our matter-of-course helpfulness has declined. But with this unbelievable amount of tourism, at some point you simply can’t manage it any more.
And the way some tourists treat the local people has changed, too. That, too, you have to say quite honestly. It is sometimes hard to swallow this self-evident attitude: we have paid, so we get … and right now.
So we set off very comfortably and just let the morning come to us. Finally we checked in at Dead Valley Lodge.
Black-winged Kite · Sociable Weaver nest · Rock Kestrel
Arriving at Dead Valley Lodge is something a tour leader does only very reluctantly. The guide rooms are spacious and, let’s call it that, relatively good enough. But the whole complex is a bit of a bunker. It’s relatively loud, and you actually hear everything from the surroundings. So it has not much to do with a good night’s sleep.
This time I was assigned room number one. As soon as I opened the door, a rather foul smell hit me. Musty, plus clearly something in the direction of a drain.
I asked the lady showing me in:
“What on earth stinks in here?”
She wrinkled her nose too and had to admit that it did smell rather odd. Perhaps it was the air conditioner, which was dripping somewhere, and below it something was possibly rotting.
So I went to the lodge manager and asked him to please come with me into the guide room.
I explained to him:
“The room stinks of drain.”
He looked at me in horror and said:
“You know how sensitive I am! I, who anyway have a big problem with throwing up too quickly, am supposed to go into a guide room now? Yuck, no! I’ll give you room four.”
I actually had to laugh at that.
Then, fortunately, the nice lodge manageress, whom I have known for years, slipped me a key to a normal tourist bungalow and said, more or less: Take that one.
Ah, that is fantastic!
And so my loyalty to Dead Valley Lodge was sealed once again. 😄
In the afternoon we drove out into the dune landscape towards Sossusvlei. I have to admit that it is quite risky to go to Sossusvlei in the afternoon. Actually you don’t do that. In the afternoon the wind usually picks up, and the light and the conditions are nowhere near as beautiful and calm as early in the morning.
Today I took this risk anyway, weather-wise it was really borderline. We had beautiful light on the dunes and were able to do a really nice hike into Dead Valley. Of course the whole thing is a bit strenuous, and unfortunately the wind wasn’t perfectly still, so I can’t claim that this was now “the perfect moment”. But it was a 90, maybe even 91 percent experience. And everyone was absolutely thrilled by this unique landscape.
It was also very nice that there was actually still water in Sossusvlei. Because of the wind stroking the surface of the water, however, no reflections were possible. I had actually wanted those. As the Rolling Stones’ song title puts it, you can’t always get what you want. Instead, the few dead trees still standing in Dead Valley were beautifully set off in the warm afternoon light.
Springbok at Sossusvlei
When we left the area and set off back to the lodge, it was already dark. That is exactly why I had deliberately chosen Dead Valley Lodge: it gave us considerably more time in the vlei and we didn’t have to be governed by an early return. So we arrived at the lodge just in time for dinner.
The head chef received us there with great commotion. He drummed, shouted and sang so loudly that your eardrums almost burst. Then he “placed” us!
Sabina and I couldn’t suppress a little smirk, because the head chef was patting the plates with his fingers. These stand on a kind of warming device, sprung, so they can be pressed up and down. The good man was visibly having his fun.
Well, we’re not squeamish. But Sabina and I were probably both thinking the same thing: the fingers that had just been greeting all sorts of hands should perhaps not necessarily end up on the plate that some guest is about to pick up to load his dinner onto.
So we didn’t want to be difficult. We simply didn’t take the top plate.
We both grabbed one, no, two, below it.
17 September 2026 – Home at last: Nomtsas
Today I went home.
The farm Nomtsas is our family farm.
About 45,000 hectares in size, we use it as a private retreat and as a cattle farm. At the same time we have given large areas back to nature and protect them as a wilderness area.
Under the right conditions we can offer the farm to our guests.
We have simple but comfortable guest rooms. When I lead the trip myself or am on the farm anyway, we can also host guests there.
Trixi, my dear neighbour and professional cook from the guest farm Gamis, also highly recommended by the way, whom I had engaged, as so often before, to take care of feeding my guests.
Since my wife lives in Swakopmund with our child, Trixi was in charge of us and welcomed us, beaming, with a wonderful iced tea.
The rooms were taken, and there was a light lunch.
You simply feel at home here.
An American woman who once visited us said:
“This is such a happy place.”
In the afternoon I drove out with the group.
We saw impala and our sable herd, which has meanwhile grown to over 80 animals.
Actually we wanted to enjoy a sundowner, but the weather was simply too cold and too windy.
So we returned home, made a fire, sat around the fire and drank our gin and tonic there.
In the evening there was a braai.
Trixi made wonderful cordon bleu on the grill from gemsbok meat.
Anita, as a vegetarian, also got something great served.
It became a cheerful, somewhat damp evening.
18 September 2026 – Nomtsas: wilderness on the doorstep
A leisurely breakfast was important to the group! As I said before, with Trixi no problem!
That suited me fine, because I myself was by now a bit travel-weary and could sleep in in the morning.
The weather was such anyway that you could take it easy.
We climbed into our big open Ford and drove out into the wilderness area.
An African Black Duck showed itself today, finally, after years, so fantastically that we actually got it nicely in front of the lens.
African Black Duck
Again and again I stopped and explained one tree or another, from the one from which the crown of Jesus was plaited, to one that kudus like to eat, and so on and so forth.
A waterbuck ran straight across the riverbed.
A huge greater kudu bull stared at us, barely visible, before he finally bounded away.
Then we found the giraffes.
I left the riverbed and drove around the herd again and again so that my photographers got the best possible light.
A lovely herd with bulls, cows and a little calf.
After that we drove on to the big dam, the Heinodam.
There I told the sad story of my late father, who had built up this dam again and again.
We sat on his memorial bench, had something to drink and enjoyed the landscape, the flowering Jamesbrittania plants, a numerous springbok herd that hadn’t noticed us yet, and the peace.
Great White Pelican · Little Stint · Eurasian Whimbrel
Afterwards we drove past zebra and gemsbok herds on the way back to the farm.
All in all a very successful game drive.
In the evening there were game steaks from the Schüsselflug.
Anyone who wonders about that will simply have to come and visit me.
But I believe everybody loved it.
There was great interest in getting to know the farm as a whole.
So we did a farm walk-round in the old style.
I showed the boreholes, water pumps, electricity supply, photovoltaic systems and the auction scale. I explained how and when the cattle are sold and why.
We looked at my little carpentry workshop and of course at the other guest rooms.
I was very pleased about the group’s interest in our farm and in the life behind it.
Red-headed Finch · Yellow Canary · Sclater’s Lark
19 September 2026 – Through the Naukluft to Swakopmund
The drive to Swakopmund was dreadful.
The first stretch through the Naukluft Mountains was once again scenically beautiful, but at some point you get into the dreadful tourist traffic.
And the road was, there’s no other way to say it, driven to rubble and ashes.
It rattled and shook.
The whole drive actually consisted only of letting other vehicles pass, overtaking others, swallowing dust or producing dust yourself.
At some point we reached the better road sections towards Kuiseb and Gaub Canyon.
Scenically this stretch is fantastic, by the way … for first-time climbers!
In Swakopmund I did a quick express orientation drive through the town.
Then we checked in.
In the evening I picked the group up and we went to dinner at the Ankerplatz.
The kabeljou there is very good, although the correct term is actually silver kob.
The service is not exactly world famous, but everyone enjoyed it.
So we could tick a positive box here as well.
20 September 2026 – Desert and Lisa’s Gallery
The group set off early.
They were picked up by Absalon.
I like booking my Eco Living Desert Tours with Batis Birding, because I know that in the area where they are allowed to operate there is always something to see.
The group came back at midday extremely happy.
They had seen snakes and chameleons, among them a horned adder and a Namaqua dwarf adder.
A Web-footed Gecko and a shovel-snouted lizard were also discovered.
In the afternoon I picked everyone up and we visited Lisa’s Gallery.
Even the sign at the entrance, “Champagne in the Fridge”, pleased everyone.
Lisa popped the corks.
Everybody looked around her gallery and some even bought a picture or two.
That, of course, made me particularly happy.
After that we went to a small insider-tip restaurant.
Apart from one other small group we were the only guests there.
A good thing that nobody knows yet how fantastic the kitchen is.
Here you really get food from the top shelf, freshly prepared, high quality and without the tourist stress that has by now become rather noticeable in Namibia.
My mother joined us as well.
When I asked her whether she’d like to come along, she only said:
“Oh yes, I’m really up for that.”
And so it became a lovely evening.
21 September 2026 – Walvis Bay and the flamingos
I wanted to pick Franz up quite early.
He was the only one who wanted to go to Walvis Bay and the lagoon once more.
So I drove with him to the Walvis Bay Lagoon.
He was immediately blown away by the diversity of species and the number of birds.
At the moment there were still extremely many flamingos to be seen.
Young and old Lesser Flamingos, Greater Flamingos, tens of thousands spread across the lagoon.
Lesser Flamingo
Unfortunately the tide was just coming in. As a result we missed a few distinctive species such as Chestnut-banded Plover, Greater Sand Plover and Terek Sandpiper.
Franz was not unhappy all the same.
The hundreds of thousands of waders that normally gather here were more than enough for him as a bird photographer anyway.
After that we also went to the Bird Paradise.
And here I became sad.
Through road building, inconsiderate waste disposal and the ever-growing mountains of rubbish, this once natural paradise has by now become only a sad refuge.
Thousands of flamingos do still stay here, but you can clearly see that the water quality is suffering.
I am really sick to my stomach about it.
I wish the people responsible would finally wake up and preserve this wonderful natural heritage.
Somehow people these days seem to think many things are more important than nature.
Franz, on the other hand, was extremely happy about the many birds he was able to photograph.
You have to stay positive.
We drove back to Swakopmund to collect the group, fill up the car and then set off towards Hohenstein.
The drive went relatively smoothly, the traffic however as usual quite stressful.
Arriving in Hohenstein, though, there was great joy.
I had booked the luxury bungalows for my guests.
Once again it had paid off.
And once again came the question:
“Why are we only here for one night?”
22 September 2026 – Hohenstein and Okonjima
At sunrise there was already plenty of twittering in the bushes.
We went for a walk and found the usual hornbills, flycatchers, chats, weavers and larks of this area.
Phantom Tree · Green-winged Pytilia
Then we met for breakfast and set off towards Okonjima.
Heinz had a special wish.
He absolutely wanted to buy Namibian dried meat, biltong, and above all good chilli bites.
Now the thing is this: if you ask a Namibian about chilli bites and dried meat, it is certainly not enough to simply take any old packet off the supermarket shelf.
It has to be good quality.
So I wanted to shop first at a tried-and-tested place in Usakos.
Road works, however, blocked access.
So we drove on to Karibib.
There, too, what we wanted was no longer available.
So I made a big detour via Wilhelmstal, where I knew there were very good chilli bites and that they could also be vacuum-packed.
Happy and laden with chilli bites we finally continued to Okonjima.
In the afternoon the leopard drive was already starting.
The guests were all extremely impressed by the large, modern and beautiful rooms.
Okonjima is without doubt one of the best lodges in Namibia, even if you stay in the somewhat cheaper Plains Camp.
Expensive, but very good.
I wasn’t on the leopard drive myself. Later the guests told me that the leopard, lying, sitting, walking, in practically every position, was excellent to photograph.
Red wine, white wine, gin and tonic and perhaps a few beers too.
After all, it’s a holiday.
23 September 2026 – Birthday, birds and brown hyenas
Dear Anita,
all the very best for your birthday!
I sang.
I can’t sing, but I was the only one who sang that morning. Once you’ve started, you can’t stop any more either.
Not “Happy Birthday”, of course.
Where would that get us?
But “Viel Glück und viel Segen” (the traditional German birthday song).
When I had finished my croaking, everyone was pleased about Anita’s birthday and probably even more about the end of my singing.
Sparkling wine corks popped, a cake was brought out, and Anita received presents.
Later a group of singers from Okonjima Lodge even came and sang a fantastic birthday serenade. At least they can sing!
Here too Okonjima definitely wins: the people there know their stuff!
The morning was free.
With Franz I went briefly into the big garden.
We photographed a little honeyguide, a Golden-tailed Woodpecker and a few other species.
Actually Okonjima is almost more interesting ornithologically than just for the cats.
Of course, as is well known, I have a rather dark and cynical sense of humour, which is appreciated by some, despised by others and not understood at all by many.
Poor Anita, whom I teased a little now and then, asked at some point:
“Why do you always tease me?”
But I wasn’t really doing that at all.
I said:
“Because I like you.”
Whereupon the others of course immediately raised their eyebrows:
“Aha!”
Of course I like all my guests.
In the afternoon I went along on the game drive, because it was, among other things, about brown hyenas.
I love brown hyenas!
I have to tell a story about that.
I once had a regular client called John Wilshin, who went on safari with me thirteen times.
That was at a time when the animals weren’t yet collared and everything was still relatively wild.
Our greatest goal was always the brown hyena.
We never saw one.
Once, on a night drive, a shadow far in the distance might have been a brown hyena.
But that didn’t count.
Later, in old age, John Wilshin travelled to Kenya and wrote to me:
“Albert, I saw a brown hyena. I could take pictures, noted it down, but it doesn’t count, because it wasn’t with you.”
Can there be a lovelier compliment?
At Okonjima there are many brown hyenas, some of them fitted with transmitters. We found one hidden deep in the scrub.
The guide showed us how perfectly it can camouflage itself.
At some point it came out of the scrub, and we could first see it from behind and photograph it.
Thanks to the really good guide we later also managed to get a few shots from the front. He drove in different directions so that the hyena eventually walked towards us against the wind.
Later we drove to a hyena “den” where there were supposed to be cubs.
We unfortunately didn’t get to see the little ones.
But we saw the mother coming, with a guineafowl in her mouth.
Brown Hyena with a Helmeted Guineafowl as prey
And on the way there we repeatedly encountered a leopard.
Since we had already seen a leopard near the farm boundary at the start of the drive, this density of leopards seemed almost unreal.
This leopard too had caught itself a guineafowl for supper.
Leopard with a Helmeted Guineafowl as prey
We enjoyed our gin and tonic at the hyena den, watched the hyena mother bring the guineafowl to the den, and finally drove back to the lodge under a blood-red setting sun.
It looked extremely kitschy.
Later Claudia asked me whether that had been a special experience for me, too.
I stayed silent, I think, a bit too long.
Then I said:
Of course I want to show my clients wild Africa. The unadulterated. Animals without transmitters.
But if even John Wilshin, thirteen times out with me on the most intensive nature search, never saw a brown hyena, then I also have to accept that sometimes you have to drive into areas where animals are being researched and can therefore be found more easily.
That is great too.
But just not one hundred percent nature.
That is why, for me personally, the finest memories often hang more on the experiences and anecdotes than on the actual sightings.
It is hard to put into words.
The last evening! Oh dear!
On trips like this the last evening is often an evening that nobody talks about.
An evening when you don’t talk about the trip, don’t think back, don’t analyse.
You simply eat, laugh a bit, drink wine cheerfully and pretend the trip isn’t over yet.
I am blessed with nice clients.
It happens very, very rarely that I don’t get along with my clients or they with me.
That is of course also down to the nature of our trips.
Our individual trips are booked by people who are looking for special experiences.
And as a result the human level usually works out too.
We simply don’t do beach-holiday beer-tent safaris.
So the evening came to an end.
And at the same time I was looking forward to my family again.
24 September 2026 – Farewell and the drive home
What did bother me, though, was that the damn black-backed jackals kept roaming around the dining tables at Okonjima at breakfast and above all at dinner.
The staff kept coming and shooing the animals away.
Of course that was because guests were feeding the jackals from the table.
As a farmer I know the dangers that black-backed jackals can pose.
Above all if one of them should ever become rabid.
When the other jackals are already used to people and tame, at some point you no longer know which of them poses a danger and which does not.
And it can very easily come to a situation where somebody is bitten by a rabid black-backed jackal.
When I then also heard from Heinz that another guest, despite the express warning of the staff, kept feeding black-backed jackals with chicken, I was just about to say something.
Heinz, however, only calmed me down and said soothingly: “No, no.”
So I leave it in the hands of the lodge management to do something about it.
But in the end it always hits the wrong people anyway.
“I wanna go home.”
When my car goes round the corner, I sometimes hear a clunk at the back.
So I asked my clients to give me a little time, drove straight to Windhoek and took the vehicle to the Offroad Center, to my good friend Christian Heydenrych.
Springs, shock absorbers, axles, everything was checked, loosened, cleaned, re-bushed and greased.
Because a clunk can mean weakness.
And weakness can mean an accident.
This conscientiousness simply has to be there when you transport people.
Paulus, my driver, picked us up and took us to Leather Connection in Windhoek, where everyone once more bought shoes in a big way, kudu shoes and cowhide shoes.
After that we went to Wilde Eend Restaurant.
Our last meal together.
I said goodbye to the group and acted as if everything were perfectly ordinary.
But quite honestly:
Inside me it was heavy.
There was a slight throbbing in my chest.
I then collected the car and drove towards Swakopmund.
The sun was slowly setting.
And I prayed:
“Let them get home safely.”