Namibia day 15 - Okonjima

Another early start this morning - we met for coffee/tea then were on the safari vehicle by 6.30am. Today we focused on endangered animals, but saw giraffe and many antelope on our way to find the brown hyena. We smelt them before we saw them! Brown hyenas are mainly scavengers, unlike the spotted hyenas who also hunt. They were very skittish and I only had an about a minute to take a photo  before they moved off. I was delighted to see them as I have never seen them before - see extra photo.

We then went to find white rhino. Rhino are still poached in most African countries, so rangers never radio each other with the location of rhinos, and numbers of rhinos on a reserve are never disclosed. We found the anti-poaching unit who monitor the rhinos every day, and then we found one male. To be honest I find them quite boring to photograph as they just stand there and eat! The extra shows the rhino as it is crossing the dry river bed.

After spending some time with the rhino we went back to the lodge for a late breakfast. We lingered after breakfast as at 11am we went to visit the Africat Foundation which is based on this reserve. It was founded in 1992 and its aim is to conserve Namibia’s wildlife through research and education. They have a small reserve with rehabilitated cheetahs who cannot be released back into the wild so we saw some of them, sleeping under a tree in the heat of the day. They are such beautiful creatures, so this had to be my blip for today.

By then it was lunch time and after lunch we finally went back to our rooms for a short while, before it was time to head out for the afternoon game drive. We saw Hartmans Zebra again, various antelope - oryx, steenbok, dik dik, springbok, sable, kudu, impala. The leopards were being too elusive! 

We had sundowners at a spot where we saw the most spectacular sunset, with 360 degree views with the colour bouncing in all directions. Then the drive back to the lodge in the dark was so exciting as we saw many nightjars, an eagle owl warming itself on the road and many antelope. We were hoping to spot a pangolin as they are nocturnal but they are also tricky to find. The night sky was breathtaking, you felt as if you could reach up and touch the stars and the Milky Way. 

Sadly tonight is our last night and tomorrow we return to Windhoek to the airport. It has been one of our best holidays as we love the natural world - you probably guessed as I have used up a good chunk of my extra photo allowance on this trip!