Day 19: Etosha to Rundu
Today we travelled east on tarred roads. It’s Monday and a lot less traffic on the roads, unlike at home.
At Oshivelo we passed through a vet control point. This exact same point was what was called the Red Line during the border war, after crossing this point, the soldiers received extra danger pay.
We stopped at Lake Otjikoto, a large circular sinkhole with vertical dolomite cliffs, that holds many secrets. It’s depths and subterranean capacity are still unknown. The first explorers discovered the lake around 1850. In 1915 when the Germans were about to surrender they threw their field cannon, guns and ammunition into the lake. It was also visited by Gray when he was in the army. There is an old steam pump in the beautiful gardens.
Between Tsumeb and Grootfontein there are mealie farms.
We stopped in at Grootfontein, with it’s beautiful trees to buy a table at Cymot.
There are no big towns between Grootfontein and Rundu but it is a well populated rural area that is clean and tidy. Best seen in pics.
At Gondwana’s Hakusembe Lodge we have definitely left the desert behind. Situated on the banks of the Kavango River the gardens are lush and beautiful with big green trees.
A tip to friends travelling into Namibia, it’s well worth getting a Gondwana card. Their lodges and camp sites are all amazing and staff are super friendly. As SADEC members we get greatly reduced rates on accommodation.
Our clocks on our devices all went wild, some stayed on Namibia time, others changed to Angola time, an hour behind. Not that it mattered to us. We had a cooling dip in the pool before heading off on a sun set cruise along the Kovango River between Namibia and Angola.
After seeing the crocs it was scary to see Angolan children playing and swimming in the water, women washing clothes and men fishing and collecting water. We saw amazing bird life and the number on our bird list increased dramatically in two hours. The sun set again was spectacular
Another kak day in Africa.
Pandas in Africa 