More Coast, Then Inland

Tuesday 16 april

Continuing north from Terrace Bay, we reached fresh water, the first I think we’ve seen, at the mouth of the Hoanib River. It rained enough to fill the river last year or the year before, and there has been some rain recently.

We saw a pair of jackals, apparently playing. Very handsome animals.

Farther up the coast, we came to Mowe Bay, home to a marine research station and a tiny but wonderful museum. I liked all the skulls.

At some point we turned right, heading inland (east). We rejoined the Hoanib somewhere and made the very bumpy ride, much of it in the rocky riverbed, toward the Hoanib Skeleton Coast camp.

Along the way, we got stuck in the sand and had to go around instead of over the dune.

Serendipitously, we met Philip Stander, a researcher and advocate for desert lions. We learned of the female lion who had killed some cattle, been relocated by rangers perhaps too aggressively, became aggressive herself, and was injured in a fight with another lioness. She was known to be somewhere near the camp.

Before we finally arrived, we saw the larger group of elephants known to the local researchers and spent a very long time taking photos with the roof of the vehicle popped up for the first time. Here’s one of many:

We also saw giraffes beside the river bank (which actually is a bank when the river flows).

The Hoanib camp is even more luxurious than the Kulala (where we stayed before climbing the dune), though the swimming pool is smaller. My room is huge.

This is not roughing it.