NAMIBIA, Largest Meteorite in World

January 10, 2013

Arrived at Hopa Farm in northern Namibia and camped next to the LARGEST METEORITE in the world. As we set up our tents around the meteorite tens of thousands of ants appeared and made it very difficult for us. 

The Hoba meteorite, named after the farm on which it's found, was soon fully excavated. It was discovered to be 82% iron and 16% nickel. That makes it a rarity among meteorites, as only about 6% of meteorites are primarily iron. Most impressively, it weighs around 50 tons, making it the biggest intact meteorite on the planet.

After our tents were put up they seemed to go back to their business in the ground. For some reason I expected a larger meteorite but googled it and it is the largest.

Not my pic.

NAMIBIA, Etosha National Park (Day 1)

January 11, 2013

Meteorite to Etosha Camp. Very nice campsite at Lodge with restaurant/bar and great restroom/shower facilities. We did a game drive in the Big Yellow Truck from 3 pm till 7 pm and did not see any lions but lots of giraffes, flamingos and impala. Try again early in the morning. 

NAMIBIA, Etosha National Park (Day 2)

January 12, 2013

Left at 6:30 am for 4 hour game drive. Saw LOTS of lions including a pride of 8 lioness and 1 male lion next to the road. Looks as though they were looking to make a kill but it never happened as the baby antelope was too fast and too far away to make a try. Saw a black rhino in the far distance but too far away to get a good shot with my camera. (15X) More giraffes and then camped at nice lodge with pool and watering hole to see wildlife , if possible. Did not see any. Rose, Simone and Amy at the pool again. 

NAMIBIA, Himba Tribe and Village

Tour to visit the Himba Tribe in Namibia. The women only bathe once in their life, at birth. The rest of the time they use a small tepee fire to cause them to sweat which is their bathing. This is due to scarcity of water. The women also cover their bodies and hair in a red clay.

NAMIBIA, Etosha to Cheetah Park

January 13, 2013

Morning game drive after spending night at another lodge. Finally saw elephants in the distance and MORE giraffes. Also, saw more lions, ostriches and antelopes. Stopped and picked up lunch for 2 days at the supermarket. Set up camp at Cheetah Park which is owned by man and his 2 sons. They run a refuge for wild cheetah who have became a nusiance to the ranchers. There are 12 wild cheetahs and 4 domesticated cheetah which we visited and petted. Afterwards we went to feed the wild cheetah donkey meat. The guide would toss the meat high in the air and they would leap up to snatch it. We were in the back of the truck while they were being feed but it did not seem really safe there. The brothers were quite entertaining.

NAMIBIA, Cape Cross Seal Colony

January 15, 2013

Left the Cheetah Farm and started our drive towards Swakopmund. On the way we stopped by the Cape Cross Seal Colony which is located on the Atlantic border of Namibia. We were only there about 30 minutes as the smell is horrible. There are between 100,000 and 200,000 seals there depending on the time of year. Sadly, many of the seal pups were dead for a variety of reasons. It is estimated about 27% of the seal pups die of natural causes. 

NAMIBIA, Swakopmund

January 15-18th

A welcome break on our safari (journey) in the German town of Swakopmund. Namibia was first claimed by Bismarck and the Germans in the 1890's. There are still many Germans living in Namibia and Swakopmund has been called more German than Germany. The town has between 25,000 and 30,000 residents with a large contingency of Germans visiting during the German winter to take advantage of the more favorable weather in Namibia's summer.There is a really nice beach, though the water is cold, and Swakopmund has been promoted to one of the adventure and adrenalin capitals of Africa along with Cape Town. Lots of sky diving, sand boarding on the sand dunes, quad biking (4-wheelers) and go karting on fast track. 4 of the girls went sky diving the 1st day and had quite a time. Sand boarding was the choice of the day on the 2nd day. I am enjoying my "down time" and ability to use free internet to catch up with uploading of pictures and blogging. 

 

NAMIBIA, Sossusvlei Sand Dunes

January 18, 2013

Camped at Sesriem, gateway to the sand dunes. After putting up the tents we went the 6 miles to the sand pan that is located between several large sand dunes up to 960 feet tall (96 stories). About once every 3 years the sand pan is flooded and creates a beautiful lake in the midst of the sand dunes. The sand dunes are Namibia's #1 tourist attraction and cover 32,000 square kilometers (20,000 square miles). The dunes reach as high as 325 meters (1000 feet). It was amazing to stand in the middle of the salt pan while surrounded by the sand dunes.

Afterwards we went to Dune 45 (called that because it is 45 kilometers from campsite) and climbed to the top of it and watched the sunset.    

NAMIBIA, Fish River Canyon

January 19, 2013

The Fish River Canyon is supposedly the 2nd largest canyon in the world at 160 km (100 miles) long and a depth up to 550 meters ( 1700 feet ) deep. Nice but not the Grand Canyon. We watched until sunset. 

NAMIBIA, Orange River

January 20

After Fish River we drove to a beautiful campsite on the Orange River at the border of Namibia and South Africa. We did a 2.5 hr canoe trip down the river. It was very beautiful and we saw several fish eagles. About half way down the river we stopped on a sandbar for a swim.