The town has gone from a sleepy backwater, where during winter it seemed everyone went into hibernation as the streets were often pretty much deserted, to streets that even in winter are often devoid of parking places and  busy with pedestrian/shoppers who now have a town that boasts a New World Supermarket, The Warehouse and a great variety of retail outlets, cafe’s and restaurants.

The photos are from 2003 through to 2011 and do not come up in cronological order

Etosha, meaning ‘place of dry water’, is encloses a huge, flat calcrete depression (or pan) of about 5 000km². The ‘Pan’ provides a great, parched, silver-white backdrop of shimmering mirages to an area of semi-arid savannah grassland and thorn scrub. The pan itself contains water only after very good rains and sometimes for only a few days each year, but is enough to stimulate the growth of a blue-green algae which lures thousands of flamingos.

At time when we visited the park there had been more rain than normal for the time of year and so there was water in the Pan (but no flamingo’s) and,  of course, more  grass.

We spent most of our few days in Chobe along and on the Chobe River which is teeming with wildlife, notably the Elephants who spend quite a lot of time down at and in the river, crossing over to the islands to graze on the lush grass. Chobe boasts the largest elephant herd in Africa.

Swakopmundwas founded in 1892 as the main harbour for German South-West Africa, and a sizable part of its population is still German-speaking today  and is an example of German colonial architecture.

After German South-West Africa was taken over by the Union of South Africa in 1915, all harbour activities were transferred from Swakopmund to Walvis Bay which was originally a British port

The dunes of the Namib desert (the oldest desert in the world) have developed over a period of many millions of years. It is thought that the vast quantities of sand were deposited into the Atlantic Ocean by the Orange river. This material was subsequently moved northwards by the Benguela current to be dumped back onto the land by the surf.

The coastal dunes developed as a result of this and were shifted further and further inland by the wind. Wind continuously reshapes the patterns of the huge dunes of the Namib desert. It timelessly forces the grains of sand on the flat windward slope upwards to the crest of the dune. Here they fall down in the wind shade. The leeward slope is therefore always considerably steeper than the windward side.

For anyone interested in wildlife and landscape photography this is a great part of the world to visit. Blue sky days every day and endless photo opportunities

The first flight was on the Eastern side of the park and was in the company of another balloon and then the other flight was on the Western side of the park with the landing site close to Tanzania’s Serengeti boundary.

This a quiet and pleasant way to see the savanna and wildlife without alarming them unduly.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter gave a demo of a rescue from the water and shortly after landing were called away to an emergency near Whangamata.

All photos are low resolution.

“The Maasai Mara National Reserve (MMNR) covers some 1,510 km² (583 sq mi)^[1] in south-western Kenya. It is the northern-most section of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, which covers some 25,000 km² (9,700 sq mi) in Tanzania and Kenya. It is bounded by the Serengeti Park to the south, the Siria escarpment to the west, and Maasai pastoral ranches to the north, east and west. Rainfall in the ecosystem increases markedly along a southeast–northwest gradient, varies in space and time, and is markedly bimodal. The Sand, Talek River and Mara River are the major rivers draining the reserve. Shrubs and trees fringe most drainage lines and cover hillslopes and hilltops. The many and varied facial expressions of the Lions I find quite fascinating. Wildebeest, topi, zebra, and Thomson’s gazelle migrate into and occupy the Mara reserve, from theSerengeti plains to the south and Loita plains in the pastoral ranches to the north-east, from July to October or later. Herds of all three species are also resident in the reserve.

It is also where the movie ‘Out Of Africa’ was filmed.

The following is taken from Wikipedia:

Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes at an elevation of 1754 m above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park.

The lake’s abundance of algae attracts the vast quantity of flamingos that famously line the shore. Other birds also flourish in the area, as do warthogs, baboons and  the Black Rhino and White Rhino have also been introduced.

The lake’s level dropped dramatically in the early 1990s but has since largely recovered.

Nakuru means “Dust or Dusty Place” in the Maasai language. Lake Nakuru National Park, close to Nakuru town, was established in 1961. It started off small, only encompassing the famous lake and the surrounding mountainous vicinity, but has since been extended to include a large part of the savannahs.

Lake Nakuru National Park (188 km², 73mi²), created in 1961 around Lake Nakuru, near Nakuru Town and is a haven for Flamingos. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognizable due to the continually shifting mass of pink. The number of flamingoes on the lake varies with water and food conditions and the best vantage point is from Baboon Cliff. Also of interest is an area of 188 km (116 mi) around the lake fenced off as a sanctuary to protect Rothschild giraffes,black rhinos and white rhinos.

The park has recently been enlarged partly to provide the sanctuary for the black rhino. This undertaking has necessitated a fence – to keep out poachers rather than to restrict the movement of wildlife. The park marches for 12.1 km on the south eastern boundary with the Soysambu conservancy which represents a possible future expansion of habitat for the rhinos and the only remaining wildlife corridor to Lake Naivasha.

The park now (2009) has more than 25 black rhinoceros, one of the largest concentrations in the country, plus around 70 white rhinos. There are also a number of Rothschild’s giraffe, again translocated for safety from western Kenya beginning in 1977. Waterbuck are very common and both the Kenyan species are found here. Among the predators are lion, cheetah and leopard, the latter being seen much more frequently in recent times. The park also has large sized pythons that inhabit the dense woodlands, and can often be seen crossing the roads or dangling from trees.

(No close encounters with snakes….thank goodness)

As well as flamingos, there are myriad other bird species that inhabit the lake and the area surrounding it, such as African fish eagle, goliath heron, hamerkop, pied kingfisher and verreaux eagle.

The lake is a freshwater lake with a surface area of 139 sq km and and is part of the Great Rift Valley and sits at an elevation of 1884 metres. The lake has an average depth of 6 metres but varies in level greatly and almost dried up entirely in the 1890s.

We had three trips out onto the lake to try to capture the resident African Fish Eagles plying their trade. Conditions were not ideal with mostly overcast skies and light levels lower than what we would have liked, however we did get a few shots of the African Fish Eagles, Pied and Malachite Kingfishers and others that were worth keeping.

We stayed two nights at the very comfortable Naivasha Sopa Lodge and it was quite a long stroll from the Lodge Restaurant to our accommodation so, as a precaution, we were escorted to our rooms by security guards at night because of the danger from Hippos that graze throughout the grounds after dark. Hippos kill more people in Africa than any other animal. [[Show as slideshow]]