An African Adventure Part III
The Desert of Damaraland
Deserts. Hot, dry, barren. That’s exactly what I see on the descent to the airstrip where we’ll be met by a representative from Wilderness Safaris Damaraland. The temperature in the airplane was fine, but damn, the blowing dust below just screamed “scorcher“. Imagine my surprise when the door opened, and a cool breeze met us! Wow, this place just got so much better!
Indeed, the landscape was reminiscent of northern Arizona, between Tuba City and Monument Valley. Stark, harsh, little in the way of vegetation. It was obvious that we wouldn’t see the sheer numbers of animals that we did in King’s Pool and Vumbra. However, on the way in, we spotted a number of vultures circling the carcass of an impala that had apparently been killed by a cheetah earlier in the day. A promising sign to be sure!
The camp is rated at 5+ stars. The other camps on our itinerary are 6 star camps. The first, and most obvious difference that we note is the actual guest accommodations. These tents are closer to their namesake than those at the other camps. We use zippers to enter, and have mesh windows which can be closed by folding a canvas flap up, secured with Velcro. While entirely reasonable, the interior doesn’t have the polish that the other’s did. The toilet wasn’t quite as private (a simple flap of canvas as opposed to a real door), and we didn’t have an electrical outlet that could handle anything more than charging a camera battery.
The staff of Damaraland treated us to a traditional open fire cooked meal that night called a boma. The staff knew about it, and tried their best to keep it a secret all day long. When dinnertime arrived, we were escorted with flashlights to a spot just outside of the camp where they had set up the meal. Lanterns and open flames lit the area, and the campfire with food cooking in pots and on grills was going strong. The staff sang traditional songs for us, and then announced the menu (chicken, Oryx, salad, vegetables and chocolate pie) in both English and their native tongue that included clicking sounds. It was a wonderful experience. After dinner, and some great conversation, the camp manager, Paul, treated us to an astronomy lesson. The sky here at night is so incredibly clear that you can actually see the Milky Way! Only the sky at Reef World (on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia) seems to rival this one.
One other difference with our camps in Botswana that became clear on the second day was the much longer drives. For the morning drive, we opted to see the rock engravings, and visit the desert elephants on the way back. Although the scenery is absolutely beautiful, the ride in the jeep is dusty and jarring. The route to the rock-engraving site crossed the elephant’s area. Since they were right there, we opted to visit them for a while before moving on. This group had two baby elephants, and ten older ones. Ironically, baby elephants are like baby humans in many ways. For instance, both are so cute that you end up taking way too many pictures of them. We watched as they casually moved along a dry riverbed, grazing on low hanging tree branches, and dead fall. I was particularly impressed with the dexterity of their trunk! They are able to pick up the smallest objects, and break the biggest limbs.
Finally, we began to finish the trek to the rock engravings. It was long, but on the way, we did see ostrich, Oryx, and other types of antelopes. The rock engravings themselves were quite interesting. I couldn’t help but think back to The Flintstones as I examined them. The drawings, while not detailed, did clearly show the different animals of the region.
