Namibia- Day Twenty Two

The Last Day

I woke up early and after sitting around for a few hours we left for the lodge. It was so pretty there but not as big as I was expecting and there was wifi.

The buffet was so nice and they had the most amazing apple cake with fudge topping! I wish I could have asked for the recipe. After a few drinks and food we went to the pool and I got to sunbathe even though it wasn't exactly hot.

We got back to N/a'an ku se around 5.30 and I was given Koos. After tea and saying bye to Margaux, Koos and I headed to bed. He seemed to be able to sleep but I didn't unfortunately. He woke in the middle of the night for a bottle and annoyingly his nappy leaked all over my bed. Thank god I didn't have another night in that bed.

Goodbye Namibia

After an eventful nappy change, breakfast was relatively easy. I went round and took pictures of the animals and said goodbye to Samira the Cheetah. We left for the airport at 12.30 and after checking in I bought a few souvenirs. The first flight was on time and over quickly. I then only have a 50 minute wait in Johannesburg before I was on the plane to Zurick.

Home

My flight arrived into Manchester to grey clouded skies and temperatures of 13degrees. A stark contrast to the 20 degrees sunny heat of Namibia that I had only left a day ago. I found Mum around 9 and it was lovely to have a reunion. Although its good to be home, I can hardly say that I would rather be back home than in a beautiful country like Namibia. Until next time.

Namibia - Day Nineteen, Twenty and Twenty One

Camera Traps
The rest of the group went to the sand dunes so we went through 1500 camera trap pictures and then went to check and collect the memory cards from the cameras. They were the same as we had previously done though. We went to the Honey Canyon to see if there was any where suitable to put a man made watering  hole but it was decided that the only way would be to have a long hose from the top to the bottom due to the first part being so steep that it would be to dangerous realistically for people to carry lots of water. We then wandered down a different canyon where there was a Zebra skeleton which still had most of its skin still  on. We then went for a little sun downer as well which was so nice!

My Last Day at Neuras
Instead of doing camera trap work, Kate offered to take us up the Naukluf Mountains! After a late start due to puncture we started the climb. It wasn't like a normal  mountain walk as there were lots of boulders and it was incredibly steep. One bad footing meant your legs and lots of loose rocks fell down which nearly happened. After the huge boulders the climb it became even steeper which felt like a real rock climbing wall just with a slight slant, there were so many loose rocks though that it wasn't easy at all! When we reached the top the views were incredible, you could easily see about 200 km! The way up took 1 hour 10 minutes but the way down was so much harder! We found bones of a kudu that was probably a leopard meal. As we descended very slowly we needed to get out of a dip so as went to climb the boulder that I thought was secure and it rolled down onto my foot. Somehow though there must have been a dent in the boulder which somehow was the bit of the rock that landed on my foot, if it had really hit it definitely would have shattered a few bones. We got down in 1 hour 30 minutes. We then went for a final sun downer. I cant believe how fast my time went at Neuras, it has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. Part of me will always remain in Namibia though, not just on thorn bushes but in spirit too.

Back to N/a'an ku se
The journey back to N/a'an ku se took 4 hours but we did get to stop for food on the way. We played with the monkeys for a bit, they do really stink! After a chill around the camp fire we all headed to bed.

Namibia - Day Sixteen, Seventeen & Eighteen

Day 16
Unfortunately I was ill for a day which can I tell you is not cool in any way shape or form when you are in a foreign country! In the afternoon, we went out with Matt to complete some footprinting tasks which was interesting and saw so many leopard prints!

Solitaire II
This way my second trip to Solitaire so I knew what to expect this time. I had to sit in the back of the truck as there wasnt enough room inside and it was certainly a little chilly even with sleeping bags to keep us warm. Once we arrived we prepped all the meat and went into the enclosure. Laura and Rusty were waiting for us and so they were given the crocodile we had made for enrichment which they destroyed easily. Just as we were feeding them though Teddy and Illa decided to show up which caused a little bit of tension as had to get the meat out really quickly so not to have a bit of a cat war on our hands.
After that we found Sparticus who disappeared as quickly as he came and then it took us AGES to find Pepper. Pepper is really interesting in the fact that she always places her meat on branches of some sort so that the food doesn't get dirty and covered in dust.
After feeding we picked up some old bones in the enclosure and filled up their water.
Once back at the lodge I got to call my Mum which was lovely. We then headed Solitaire where we stocked up on cakes and snack food. On the way back 2 kids hitched a ride with us which was an entertaining experience!
After a shower to remove the layer of dust I had aquired we then all went for a Sundowner and came back for tea. As it was Alice's birthday Moose had made her a huge brownie which we all got to eat some of! Being at Solitaire is such a great experience from the Cheetahs to the pack of dogs that live there its like a family that captures your heart.

Finding Sites
After breakfast we dropped the boys of to start their Eco Challenge. All the girls then went with Matt to help find some new possible camera sites for the second half of his study. We drove to the first site which had a promising area which looked like it had plenty of leopard tracks from the past 2 weeks which was good. The second site we visited sadly wasn't as good due to being very wide and so we walked for an hour to see if there were any other possible places. Sadly we found nothing bar a dead lizard and a dead Kudu which smelt horrific!

Once we got back we had lunch and then went on a game drive which was cold due to it being so windy! We did get to see lots of Zebra though and the herd had 4 babies in which were so cute. Its hard to really capture the beauty of the animals here. All of them have something which makes you in awe. Whether its Kudu horns or Zebras soft faces everything is beautiful.

Namibia - Day Thirteen, Fourteen and Fifteen

Solitaire
It took an hour and a half to get to Solitaire from Neuras and it was a beautiful resort with the sweetest dogs around especially the two puppies called Socks and Bear and then a really fat terrier called Jackie who's belly practically drags along the floor! Then there was the huge ridgeback called Butch and a really ugly bull dog called Spike. All of them were crazy too.
For enrichment we had made an elephant and a dinosaur and after placing meat in them we went into the massive enclosure. The two boys called Teddy and Illa met us and they were given the dinosaur. Teddy managed to get his head stuck in a box due to not being the brightest of cats but it did give an incredible comedy moment when he stuck his head up with the box on it. After feeding them we went and found Laura the mother and Rusty her daughter and they were given the elephant. They seemed to struggle to find all the meat but at least they didn't seam to get their heads stuck in the box.
Next we tracked Sparticus then Pepper using the Radio Tracker which was good fun listening to the beeps and learning how they work. After finding and feeding them huge chunks on meat we headed back to Solitaire where we had lunch before heading to the actual town of Solitaire homed to an amazing bakery called Moose McGregors Desert Bakery which apple pie has become famous due to Ewan McGregor talking about how its the best he ever had in his program which he biked through Africa. I do have to say the apple pie is amazing but then so are their chocolate chip muffins as well! Solitaire is such a quaint little town with really just a petrol service station and the bakery but all makes a very quaint and quirky stop when travelling.
After travelling back to Neuras we went for a lovely sun downer and watched the lion king. At 8pm we went on a short night drive where were got to see a very elusive African Wild Cat, Kudu, Jackels, Hares, Zebra and Steembok so was quite successful even if I was falling asleep due to being so tired!

The first group leave Neuras :(
Whilst everyone else was waiting to head back to the animal sancuary Kathryn, Alice and I went with Matt to do some Leopard footprinting. The idea of footprinting started with trying to identify Rhino by their footprints as the collars that they wore seemed to have an effect on their mating success. Since then the company are trying to come up with algarithms for cheetahs and leopards so that each individual cat can be identified by their paw print and for unidentified animals it will let you know  things like whether the animal is male/ female, the weight and the age of the animal as well. When we got near the sight which was where the footprints were we discovered that the leopard that had been in the area was right where we were trying to go and so we had to come back instead. We did get to use the radio signal tracker though which was cool and to here the beep out in the wild does give you a bigger surge of adrenaline than you are expecting! On the way back we spotted a Crested Eagle, I never knew that they were that big until I saw one in the sky. They are enormous!! 
he rest of the morning was spent relaxing and going through Camera trap pictures until the new group arrived.

At lunch we heard some loud grunting noise which was very close. We thought it was just cattle until Kate came over and told us that she thought it was the male leopard that stays close to the farm that they have been trying to collar and it was probably only 50-100m away!!
After lunch we all headed out in search of the leopard that we had been close to in the morning. We tracked her to the top of a hill but by the time we reached the top she had already disappeared into a river bed so we didn't see her which was a shame especially as we were so close in the morning. 
We had a braie again for dinner but I concluded that I prefer Springbok meat to Kudu as its not as tough.

Camera Traps

So on Sunday we did more camera trap work visiting 5 sites. The first 2 we could drive to, one was a water site and another dry. The 3rd was a natural water site which we watched 1.5km to get to. There were signs of leopards there and a tree which Matt things the leopard may use as a hide out. He also explained about Ostrich's getting stuck in the fence and dying from the heat or being killed. The 4th site was a digging site where animals find their own water. On the way we saw really fresh hyena track but they unfortunately didnt go past the camera.
After lunch we went on a game drive but we didnt really see anything var Kudu and Springbok but we did see some ground squirrels which are cute.

The Apple pie

leopard tracking

Hyena Track

Leopard Footprinting

Namibia - Day Ten, Eleven & Twelve

Sossusvlei- The Dunes
We awoke at 4.30 to head to the famous red sand dunes of Namibia. After an hour of travelling we had entered the national park which the dunes are in and we saw a wide variety of animals including oryx and jackels! We had to drive another 45 minutes to reach the Sossasvlei where only 4x4s could drive to and we then decided to walk one of the biggest climbable dunes in the world called Big Daddy that stands at just under 300m tall. The walk destroyed my calves due to having to push your legs into the sand and trying to walk on your toes not balls of the feet and some bits were so steep that you had to scramble on all fours. It took just under an hour to reach the top but only 5 minutes or so to reach the bottom due to the fact that you run down at a very fast speed. The views from the top were just truely breathtaking. You could see for so miles and the fact that there was no houses, cars or roads in the view just made me realise how special our landscape really is and that without all the things we have filled it with its more beautiful than you could imagine!

After running down the dunes we entered Namibia's dead trees which was very eary. The trees are set in natural clay which has dried out and so the trees have died but still remain perfectly in tact in the ground. The trees are a national treasure of Namibia and are definitely beautiful. You are not aloud to climb on the trees but no one said you couldn't handstand against them. After the dunes we went and ate at an all you can eat buffet which I definitely ate to much of as on the way home I didn't feel to good. The dunes are a truly remarkable experience that i will remember forever, even if the sand was giving my face an exfoliation when we were at the top it was a once in a life time experience. Not many people can say that they have climbed one of the biggest sand dunes in the world now can they?

Eco Challange
The eco challange is a 12 km walk through the Honey Canyon where you have to find and identify different feaces, footprints, trees and animals. My group didnt have any luck when it came to spotting animals as we only saw 4 female kudu, a lizard and 2 birds which was horrifically poor but we did get to see lots of poo and prints from animals such as spotted hyena, cheetahs, leopards, springbok, zebra, jackel, kudu, steembok and clipspringer. We practically followed an entire route of a hyena which had HUGE front legs. By the end my legs were certainly achy and we had been out for over 5 hours! Before we left we visited the grave of a bushman who had fallen to his death from the wall of the canyon as many bushmen risk their lives to collect honey from the crevices in the walls. We each placed a rock to show respect.
I managed to finish my second book of the trip called 'Hush Hush' which is the sequel to Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick and then we started on the cheetah enrichment that we took to Solitaire for the cheetahs to play with and find the meat in them.

Bushmans Grave

Hyena Footprint

Camera Traps
First thing we went through lots of photos from 7th June and recorded all the different animal sightings that had taken place in the 4 days that the camera had been up for. After we had finished that we headed out with Matt to change all the memory cards in the cameras. We visited 5 sites, 3 were dry sites that we had to walk about 1km to each. The first sight was really interesting as it had a leopard marking site on a strangling Fig Tree. After the 6km walk (I never knew I would do so much of this walking lark) we visited the 2 watering holes where the other 2 camera sites were. On the way back we stopped at the site where they had put a cage in the hope of capturing and collaring a leopard. We then finished of creating our elephant for the cheetah enrichment which was great fun!

Here is a video of me running down Big Daddy the Sand dune. IT WAS SO FUN!!!!!!