Day 20: Rundu to Divundu
We had a welcome visitor while eating breakfast.
We stopped in Rundu for fuel, it was bustling with people and had a nice vibe. It was fun to see a man walking past in a St Stithians supporters shirt.
Today was an easy an easy 210km drive along a good road. We arrived at a scorching Nunda lodge and campsite at midday. The lodge was fully booked, so we are camping. At 38 degrees, with no relief from an air conned room, we spent the afternoon at the pool.
We have a grassed camp site on the banks of the Katanga. We set up camp with hippos watching us from the water about 10m away. There is a sign warning us to beware of crocs and hippos.
This afternoon we went on another sunset cruise. We are further east in the Caprivi, along the Kavango, making the area the greenest in Namibia. The river rises in Angola and flows southeast into Namibia where it forms a natural border between the two countries for over 400km. The 1600km river empties into the Okavango Delta wetlands in Botswana.
It was an awesome cruise, this section of the Kavango is much wider and deeper. Joseph our skipper, took us to a Carmine bee-eater colony, it was amazing to see so many of these beautiful birds flitting in and out of their nest holes that they had burrowed in the sandy vertical river banks. We also saw a fish eagle and a flock of my favourite violet backed starlings.
On both sides of the river banks were children playing, people washing clothes, collecting water and fishing – clearly a way of life with little concern for any danger lurking in the depths.
The contrast between child rearing here and in our suburbs are such worlds apart. Children as young as 3, 4 and 5 years olds play on the side of the road, fetch water by themselves, look after baby siblings, shepherd livestock and are seldom seen with adults around. Can you imagine our Sandton mommies, taking their precious little ones to the best play schools, in their 4 x 4’s, even contemplating a life such as this. Yet these children look so happy; always laughing and playing, waving to us and smiling – no devices, no TV and I can say with absolute certainty no therapy and medication. Makes you think!!
Back to our cruise. We stopped on a little island in the middle of the Poppa falls (more like rapids) for a drinks break before returning to the lodge.
We stayed at Nunda in 2011, during the floods, we did the boat cruise then too, the river was much wider and higher. The water level being up to the deck, I remember getting onto the boat from this deck.
Getting back late we decided rather to have dinner on the deck than to start to a braai. Back in our tent it took me a while to get to sleep, over the sound of the hippos snorting and Gray snoring – don’t know which was worse.
Pandas in Africa 