Head South: day 3: etosha national park (namibia)

We woke up at Namutoni rest camp before sunrise, packed the car and hit the road with hot coffees in hand to try and spot some game before moving on out of Etosha.

Our morning had a magical start as we watched black-faced impala and zebra bound out to their morning grazing spot just a few minutes after the sun rose. We watched a group of zebra fend off a hyena, and then watched the hyena track the zebra for ten minutes or so across the big plain before disappearing from view.

We made our way back west across the park, retracing our steps and seeing more oryx, wildebeest, and giraffe.

After leaving the park, we drove another four hours or so to the tiny outpost of Khorixas, beyond which the road turned to dirt. We were slowed by herds of goats and cows in the road; they always managed to run out of the way of the car, but usually not until the last second. We also saw people traveling the same paved and dirt roads by donkey cart. The axel of the cart and wheels were usually from a car.

We stopped at a petrified forest site to see the hardened remains of 250 million-year-old trees. These giant coniferous trees grew in central Africa during an ice age, and as the ice age melted they were washed down to north-central Namibia in floods. They were buried under silt and mud where they landed, outside the town of Khorixas, and after millions of years wind and rain erosion began to uncover the petrified wood. Locals first started finding pieces in the 1950s. One tree is nearly preserved at its full length of over 250 feet.

Our destination for the night was Abu Huab community-run rest camp, where we took a beautiful campsite next to the dusty Huab riverbed. Just a couple of weeks before desert elephants had come through and stepped on a pipe, making one shower unusable.

Black-faced impalas graze a few minutes after sunrise.

A large male black-faced impala.

These zebra were grazing in the same field as the impala. It was interesting to see how many animals chose to graze near each other.

A kori bustard struts through the grass.

A view of zebra walking across the pan under early morning skies.

A troop of helmeted guinea fowl. These guys are common near our house too - we see at least one or two every time we go for a walk.

Oryx, or gemsbok, go grazing. We saw oryx all across the country.

This wildebeest had apparently been rolling in some mud near a water hole, possibly to keep cool or to keep bugs away.

The road from Khorixas. We saw more cows than cars.

A giant petrified wood tree trunk. The ground is littered with stumps and blocks of wood this size.

The national plant of Namibia, the Weltwischia Mirabolis, is unique to say the least. It can live for thousands of years, growing just one centimeter per year. It grows two leaves along the ground, and over time wind splits the leaves into pieces. The age of a single plant can be determined simply by measuring its leaves. This plant only grows in parts of Namibia and Angola.

The Namibian government runs a smart system of tour guides to employ locals at these heritage sites and make sure tourists don't damage or steal the items of interest. Samantha, our guide at this petrified wood site, had grown up in Khorixas and had been leading 20-minute tours of the petrified wood forest for three years. She was very interested in and knowledgeable about the plant life of Namibia.

This is the famous "Himba perfume" tree. A tribe called the Himba in northern Namibia collects the bark of this tree, grinds it up into a powder, and uses that powder to make a paste which they use to cover their skin and to clean themselves. We met a perfumer, Tammy Frazer, in Cape Town who is contracting with the Himba to purchase the resins from the tree to use in her natural perfumes.


Heading to find the end of this long tree

Even compared to the rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula in Seattle, this was a big tree! The water bottle marks about the start, and Jennifer is standing at the end.