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Back to Namibia years later. Not much new ... just beauty !


africawild

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What a great feeling to fall sleep under the great african sky again !

 

 

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It was not my initial plan to go to Namibia this time but the opportunity to go back with my 2 sons´s again made me change destination . My older son did not want to go back on safari again ( can you believe that ??? ) but Namibia has always captivated him since we visited 9 years ago and also the idea of self driving for 2 weeks altogether was a big change for him , not our regular safari .

 

So here we where again , the whole family ready to spend 7 days in the Namibian desert and 6 days in Etosha .

 

I won´t cover a day by day report or similar , just will be adding several pictures of the areas we visited and some comments and stories .

 

Paco

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Great introduction to this report @@africawild :)

 

Thanks Matt , it is great for me to have a place to share our best safari moments with like minded safari goers , sadly i don´t have many around here at home !

 

! Viva SAFARITALK !

 

Paco

Edited by africawild
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Back in 2005 my wife and me ended our trip in the NamibRand reserve and i thought it was great . This time i decided our trip was going to start in the desert and The NamibRand was a good place for our first 3 nights .

 

We stayed at Wolwedand Dune Camp , a very nice place with unbeatable location .The picture i used for my introduction is our tent so the place is a joy day and night !!

 

Some views around camp

 

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Walking around in the dunes was also fantastic , we enjoyed very much seen many small creatures and tracks all over the place.

 

 

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Paco

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Another family outing. How wonderful and the night shot is a great start.

 

I believe you told me 4-5 nts minimum for Etosha and I followed your suggestion. I see you did 6--me too, I will be very interested in following along with your report as I finally get ready to post mine. When did you go?

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I just posted my first installment of Namibia. Now it's your turn. Let's see some more!

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Wow! what a stunning night sky. Your pictures make Namibia so enchanting.

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madaboutcheetah

Indeed - more stunning images, Paco!!!

 

Never been to Namibia yet ...... It's almost like going on the trip with you via these fabulous images.

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Stunning pics. Great detail in the inverterbrate ones, and that's a hugely impressive African night!

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Thanks Lynn .

 

We arrived in Namibia July 25th and drove directly to Namib Rand Reserve for 3 days , then 2 days in the Sossusvlei área , 2 days in Swakopmund and 6 days in Etosha , flying back to Spain August 7th .

 

I see Safaritalk is going to have a good dose of Namibia with your report and mine coming at the same time ! What days were you there ?

 

Paco

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@@africawild - What a stunning image to start your report Paco. I always expect outstanding photography from you and it's clear that I'm not going to be disappointed!

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Thank you all !!

 

The NamibRand Nature Reserve with more than 200,000 ha is one of the biggest private nature reserve in Africa .Is located in the south-west of the Namib Desert. It is an important buffer for the National Park desert wildlife since it shares 100km border with it and there is even small migration routes from one place to the other ( there were almost no springboks around and our guide said they migrate to the National Park this time of year ) . Touring the reserve is basically a desert experience but at the same time you can find different small ecosystems like sand and gravel plains in the valleys between the red dunes , big mountains and even small savanna patches . It´s also nice that only 4 camps-lodges are in place which means low impact tourism.

 

We enjoyed very much the incredible landscape and the feeling of driving most of the time in complete solitude , well there were always oryx around.....

 

 

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And of course night landscape , red dunes and the milky way

 

 

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Paco

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Paco, absolutely beautiful - thanks for sharing. I particularly liked the photo of the oryx lounging on the hillside.

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It is a toss up right now between Namibia and Zambia for our next trip...of course we will visit both places but not sure which one will be next....not a bad decision to be making...

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Ahhhh- so beautiful. Keep the Namibia reports coming please everyone, I STILL don't have an itinerary for March 2015, just airline tickets!! I'm sure all these photos will help gel something for me :)

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This is just fantastic so far. What a beautiful place and it's so nice to visit it with you, Paco. The first Oryx shot (with watermark) is outstanding. Anyway, I look forward to seeing what is next.

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Thank you again !!!

 

One of the 3 days we had in NamibRand i wanted to visit a small quiver tree forest that is inside the reserve and our guide said we could only do it on a full day trip because it was far from our camp. So we decided to take that full day trip and we´re lucky to get the car for ourselves .

 

These are a few pictures of the day;

 

It started as usual , orix on top of the dunes

 

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Then we passed by a big waterhole that was full of oryx , zebras and hartebeest .

 

Near the waterhole

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We saw a family of 4 Bat-Eared Fox and an Aardwolf but very far from the road

 

Just from the record

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We drove around a small savanna area where we saw giraffes and kudus

 

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We started to climb towards the Quiver tree forest and came across this shay mountain zebras

 

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Then we arrived to the place. Too bad it was the worst time of day for photography , but enjoyed a lot anyway

 

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We had an amazing place for lunch , on top of a rocky outcrop .

 

This was the view

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After lunch on the way back we came across another 2 Bat-Eared Foxes a bit closer

 

 

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Another Quiver tree on top of the mountain and a relaxed Oryx

 

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Back in camp after dinner a try to play with star trails just in one shot

 

 

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My son took a multiple exposure shot with star trails with much better result , i will try to show it also.

 

Next i will cover the 2 activities we took in the Sossusvle area , but have to edit photos jet.

 

Paco

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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@africawild: Paco, that is just great. Photographing quiver trees and night sky is also on our agenda next April. As lucky as we are, first week the moon will just start to rise. Will you be so kind and share some of your (or your son) star trails technique? Maybe in a Photography forum, with samples? I am sure there are others interested in that type of photography. Thank you in advance!

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it is really an Oryx trip! they are everywhere. looking forward to more.

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Thank you Xelas !

 

Sorry but i am no expert in night photography , this trip was the first time i have ever try this tecnic . I can tell you that there is a lot of information in the web about the matter so i read a lot and practice a bit at home before the trip .

 

However i will try to post one of my son´s star trails and then i can explain a few simple but important things you should know in order to get some decent shots.

 

Paco

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