Viewing Wildlife in Namibia

We spend a little over two weeks in 2006 driving around Namibia. From Sossusvlei in the south to Etosha in the north, it was a great trip. Although part of what made it great was the wide open, desolate landscapes, the other part was the wildlife. Even though much of Namibia is a desert, you can find almost all of the usual African fauna there — with the exception of the animals that need a lot of water like hippos. The photos below show some of the wildlife in Namibia we had the opportunity to see.

Sossusvlei

You might expect the desert beside a dune sea to be sparse in animals, and you’d be right. We saw these ostriches on the drive in to our climb of Big Daddy Dune & Dead Vlei but that was about it for the wildlife.

Damaraland

We stayed in the Damaraland Camp which was remote, even by Namibian standards. There we met Aloysious, the best wildlife guide we’ve ever seen. He could see animals a full minute before we could make them out. We took two safaris, the first was to see desert-adapted elephants in the dry bed of the Huab River.

Desert elephants in the Huab River — Oryx

The next day we looked for and found a pair of black rhinos as well as surprisingly difficult to spot giraffes.

Black rhino peeking out — Aloysius, our excellent guide

Etosha

After Damaraland we went to Etosha National Park. Here you can drive yourself and view the wildlife. The Etosha has a number of natural and man-made watering holes, so you just park at the watering hole and wait for the animals to come.

After our self-drive we stayed at the luxurious Mushara Lodge, at the east side of Etosha. Our guide there was able to find a lion with its kill during our morning safari.

The in the afternoon, we drove ourself again and saw warthogs and a roadside kudu.

Aloegrove

And we wrapped up our trip at Aloegrove Safari Lodge, a lovely hilltop place run by the personable and friendly Johann and Ivy. They have a number of big cats that have been rescued and cannot go back into the wild. We went around at feeding time and was able to see the reclusive leopard.