I have driven from Arequipa to Cotahuasi many times and have been interested in some of the side roads that we pass. One of them has a sign that says it goes to Cabanaconde, on the rim of the Colca Canyon. Another one goes in the direction of Colca Canyon around the backside of Nevado Coropuna. I have always wondered if it is possible to drive directly to Colca Canyon from Cotahuasi, where I live, rather than going all the way around through Arequipa, which is the normal way. I have a map that shows a road there, but it also shows roads in my area that I know do not exist.

I had been told that this road doesn't exist either, but then a friend of mine, Marcio, who is a guide here, said there really is a road there. Now that I have my 4x4 van, we, along with Frank, who is doing research to update his Peru Travel Guidebook, decided to check it out and see if we could drive all the way to Chivay, at the entrance to Colca Canyon. We started in Arequipa on Friday morning, and on the way to Cotahuasi, we stopped at the Majes River Lodge, which is just a few minutes off the main road. They have a number of bungalows, a pool, outdoor eating areas, and very interestingly, a parking area that is in an old bull-fighting ring. Julio, the owner, is a major promoter of tourism in the area, and he took us to see a hillside that was covered with pre-Inca graves. Vandals and erosion have uncovered many of them and there are pieces of clothing, straw baskets, and pottery, as well as bones and even complete skulls laying all over the place. I have seen many gravesites here in Peru but none as extensive as this. Julio said there are thousands of graves, which I didn't believe, until we saw them, they are everywhere. There are also dinosaur bones and petroglyphs but we didn't take time to go see them.

We told Julio of our plans to drive from Cotahuasi to Chivay and asked him if he knew anything about the condition of the road. He mentioned a number of towns on the route, including Andahua, where we wanted to stop, and others I didn't recognize. He said the road is good to Andahua, fair to Orcopampa, and very good from there to Chivay, because there are mines in Orcopampa and they have fixed up the road. We later found out that the Reyna bus line also goes all the way to Orcopampa and the ticket agent confirmed what Julio had said about the roads.

After spending a few days in Cotahuasi, we left at 8:30 am on Tuesday, and arrived at the cutoff to Andahua two hours later. From here we were on a road that was new to us, on the high plain at just over 14,000 feet. I was surprised at the number of houses we saw near the road, which belonged to llama herders. We saw a number of both llamas and herders, walking on paths along the road. We also had a great view of the north side of Coropuna, which I had never seen before. As I looked ahead, I could see some loaded burros, and a few people walking down the road. I assumed it was some of the local herders, however as we got closer to them, it looked like they had large backpacks, like hikers or climbers would use. We could soon see that there were two gringos, a very rare sight in such a remote location. We stopped and talked to them for a few minutes, and found out that they were archeologists, doing some geological studies of Coropuna and the ancient ruins in the area.

After two more hours of driving, passing above 15,400 feet, and taking many more photos of Coropuna and other sights, we arrived at Andahua without any problems. We did have one more surprise though, we picked up a hitchhiker in the middle of nowhere, he was a schoolteacher on his way to Andahua. He teaches in a one-room school and said he has 14 students in grades one through six. He told us a lot about the area, including the fact that there wasn't a gas station in Andahua; the nearest one is in Orcopampa, about an hour and a half away. Fortunately, we have enough fuel to get there, but I still hate driving around on these roads with less than a half of a tank of fuel.

After we reached Andahua, we stopped and looked at best looking hostel, the rooms weren't too bad but the bathrooms left a lot to be desired. Although they do have fresh air, the back is wide open, facing the building next door. No one answered the door at the next hostel, which was still under construction, so we went back to the first one. After checking into the hostel, we decided to go for a hike up one of the volcanic craters outside of the village. We met a young man named Antonio, at the base of the crater, and he joined us on the hike to the summit, which is about 12,000 feet. We found out he used to live here, but now was just visiting from Arequipa. We took many more photos and were about ready to leave when Antonio took out a cell phone and to our surprise told us there was a signal there, as there was a clear line of sight down the valley to Aplao. I needed to make a call to Arequipa about my car, and just happened to have my cell phone in my daypack, so was able to make the call from there. The village does have regular phone service, but no cell phone service. I had some free minutes left on my phone, so was happy to be able to use them before they expire.

Back down in the village, we stopped at the local Internet, which had agonizingly slow satellite service for about 28 cents for 30 minutes. It was really starting to get cold by then as the sun was about to set, the village is at 11,450 feet, and it is fall here. I found a sidewalk vender selling french fries for 56 cents, which with a banana, was my dinner. While I was eating, Marcio went and looked at the other hostel that was now open, and found out that it has a very nice bathroom. At least we know for next time! It's now 7:25 and my hands are getting too cold to type much longer, but I have to quit soon anyway as the outlet in our room doesn't work and my laptop battery is almost dead. Tomorrow we plan on doing some more hiking, maybe to a waterfall, and then in the afternoon we will drive on to Orcopampa.

The restaurant selection isn't too good in Andahua, so we bought some fruit, bread and jam, and ate in our room this morning. It was cold when I got up at 6:30 but the sun rose soon after that and the sunlight coming in the window took the chill off the room. I went next door to the city office, where we had gotten some tourist brochures yesterday, to check on a guide to show us some of the sights. I met the mayor and he said one of his workers would show us around. We drove on a poor winding road, up, down, and around some craters and, then hiked down to see a waterfall. It was a very poor trail and I was thinking that it wouldn't be too popular with the average tourist, but then found out that there is a much better trail on the other side of the river. That is a longer hike, all the way from the village and we didn't have time for that, which is why he took us on the poor trail. The waterfall was nice, and quite interesting, as the water was also coming out of the mountain in various places from an old canal, which was actually a tunnel in the rocks.

The Andahua River cuts through a number of narrow and very deep slot canyons, so deep that we could hardly see the river because it was so dark at the bottom, even though it was a bright sunlit day. We crossed the canyon in one place on what looked like a natural bridge, but when we walked upstream a ways, we could see that there was an old stone bridge underneath the dirt path, which must have been 400 or more feet above the river. Actually it wasn't really dirt; most of the area is covered with fine black volcanic sand, which was very tiring to walk on. We also went to see some pre-Inca ruins, which seem to be everywhere around here.

At 3:00 in the afternoon, we left Andahua for Orcopampa, and were delighted to find out that the road was in quite good condition, in most places better than the road to Cotahuasi. For much of the way, it follows along (and once through) the Andahua River, which was now flowing through a wide flat valley, between two mountain ranges. Orcopampa is a busy mining village, and we had trouble finding a hostel with rooms available. Finally on our fourth try, we found one, supposedly with cable TVs and hot water showers, and even an enclosed garage for my car. The rooms are small and dingy, no reception on the TV, there is no water at all, not even cold, and a couple of miners tried to get the only parking spot from me (they didn't succeed), but we have beds to sleep on, so we are thankful for that.

Last night before I went to bed, I added an extra blanket from the empty bed next to me. I still got a little chilly during the night so took one more blanket and then slept better; except for when the bus honked it's horn long and loud at about 3:00 am! That's when it arrives from Arequipa and then continues on to Orcopampa. Tonight I got my sleeping bag out of the car and am using that, as we are even higher up, about 12,490 feet. We walked around for a bit and found a nice restaurant, where we had dinner. On the way back to the hostel, we passed one of the three Internet signs we had seen when we were looking for a gas station. I almost didn't stop, after the bad experience last night, but when I got close to the sign I saw that it said "Speedy", which is the telephone company's high-speed service here. It wasn't as fast as in Arequipa, but better than the dial-up service I have at home, and a huge improvement over last night.

Tomorrow we go to Chivay and Cabanaconde on the other side of Colca Canyon, and again we have received varying reports of the road's condition, from bad, due to the recent rainy season, to very good, because of the mines. The road today, which passed a mine, was in great shape for the last few kilometers into Orcopampa, so that gives us some hope for tomorrow as well, as there are many more mines along the way.

We had planned on leaving this morning (Thursday) at 7:00, and I was concerned that my car might not start because of the cold. I didn't start it until 10:00 am yesterday, after the temperature had warmed up quite a bit, and it didn't start very quickly, it took a lot of cranking. There was a good layer of ice on the water container outside when I got up at 6:15, but thankfully it did start, again after much cranking. I had planned on going back to Cotahuasi tomorrow, but have decided that I better return to Arequipa and get the cold starting problem checked. By 6:45, we were on the road, which after a climb up to the high plain, remained above 13,000 feet for the next five hours, reaching 14,980 feet at the highest point.

The road started out about the same as yesterday, fair with enough potholes and curves to keep our speed down to 25 to 40 kph most of the time. However once we got up on the high plain, it turned into a good gravel road, which was nice and wide as well. After being able to go 60 to 70 kph for a half hour or so, we came to a fork in the road. The map we have showed a road going straight and one angling off to the left. They both arrived at the same place, but the left fork was quite a bit longer.

The good road continued straight ahead, which we were going to take, but the road sign said that it went to a vicuña reserve, and the left fork went to our destination. Because the maps here are often not correct, we regretfully took the left fork, which was a much poorer road. It meandered all over the place, finally meeting up with a good road again, coming from the direction of the previous junction. Sure enough, when we looked back at the sign on that road, it said "vicuña reserve". Why the previous sign said to go around I don't know, but next time we will know better and go through the reserve on the good road. Less than an hour later, the road turned real bad, full of holes and washboard, and we were back down to 20 to 30 kph again.

A couple of hours later, I could see what looked like road construction in the distance ahead of us. It was, and when we reached there, we had to wait about 10 minutes for three dump trucks to unload and a bulldozer to spread out the gravel. After that, we were able to continue, on a much-improved road. It stayed good all the way to the bottom of Colca Canyon, where we crossed a bridge and continued on our way. However we soon realized that we were going the wrong direction, when Frank looked back at an intersection and saw a sign that said Chivay was the other way. We turned around and headed back, and soon found the correct road back on the other side of the river. There was only a sign for Chivay if you were coming from Arequipa or Cusco, there wasn't one coming from the back way like we did. We noticed this numerous times on our trip, so we got pretty good at looking back at intersections, but this one we missed.

From Orcopampa, we arrived in Chivay in about six hours and 10 minutes, which we were pleased with, considering that from what some people had told us, it could have taken much longer. Twenty minutes later, after taking our first showers since leaving Cotahuasi, we were relaxing and soaking in the popular hot springs just outside of Chivay. It really felt good after three days of dust filled driving, much of it on rough and tiring, high altitude roads. I don't think I am ready to take the trip again soon, but at least now I know that it is possible and I know the correct route.

godiva chocolates

Sitting on top of the world, looking down on creation...

I don't remember the rest of the song and we were over 10,000 feet short of the top of the world but it was a pretty good view anyway. Finally, a dream of about two years was completed. I made it to the top of El Misti, the volcano right outside of Arequipa, Peru, that had been calling my name since I first saw it about two years before. I tried to climb it as a day hike then but failed due to a very late start and not being used to the altitude, reaching only about 15, 500 feet. I still think it can be done as a day hike so that is a future goal.

I had been waiting eagerly for my friends Jason and Lisa, SCARAB (Southern California Adventure Racing Buddies) members from Los Angeles, to get to here. We had been communicating by email for months as they were on a round the world trip and we wanted to get together when they came through Peru. Our schedules kept changing but at the last minute they meshed and we were able to meet a couple of times in Arequipa. I arranged the use of a Suzuki 4x4 and Jason and I made plans to climb El Misti on Saturday and Sunday. Lisa decided to relax in Arequipa so we drafted her to be our chauffeur as it is not safe to leave a vehicle at the trailhead. We did some quick shopping, and after getting lost on the way to the trailhead, we arrived safely and were ready to start hiking at 12:30 pm. We were told that it was a five hour climb to the campsite but we were hoping it would be less because that would have meant arriving at camp about the time it got dark. I also realized that we were on a different trail than the one I had attempted two years before so it was a totally new trail to me (there are three routes up to the summit).

We were well matched, my year of living at 8,800 feet and hiking regularly at altitudes of over 12,000 feet made up for my age and Jason's (relative) youth and three weeks of high altitude hiking in Peru made up for his living at sea level in L.A. We followed an easy trail up to the campsite at about 15,000 feet, arriving there in three hours and 10 minutes. We were glad that we hadn't left earlier and had to just sit around in the cool wind. This also gave us hope that the supposedly five to seven hour hike to the summit should be less than that. We had also been told to expect temps as low as zero degrees so were thankful that it was warmer than normal. Helped by the cloud cover it didn't get below 30 degrees, so we were plenty warm in our 20 degree bags and my cheap Wensel tent.

After we got camp set up, Jason suggested scouting out the trail to the summit, as we planned on leaving about 5:00 in the morning and weren't sure if we could find it in the dark. We easily found the trail and hiked up about 20 minutes to another campsite; the people there said they planned on starting for the summit at about 2:00 am. By the time we got back down to our camp, the wind had died down and it felt warmer, especially after hot chicken noodle soup with tuna, cheese and bread and some tea. I used my soda can stove, which worked fine, after removing the windshield; I guess it needed a bit more air at that elevation too. Our campsite neighbor, a Frenchman suffering from the altitude wasn't looking too good, we found out he didn't attempt the summit. We were still below the clouds so got a great view of Arequipa as the lights came on and the quarter moon illuminated Misti above us. By 7:00 pm we were in our sleeping bags, hoping to get a good night's sleep before the 4:00 am alarm.

Following a breakfast of instant oatmeal, we were on the trail at 4:45 in the morning, climbing by headlights, with very little trouble following the trail. We could see the lights of other climbers, which seemed a long ways above us. Again it was a fairly easy trail, not too much sand (unlike the trail from my previous attempt) and enough large rocks to make it interesting, but also harder to see the trail. By this time I was deeply regretting my forgetting my gloves as I hurriedly packed for the trip but Jason said his hands were warm enough and let me use his - thanks Jason!

About the time it got light, we caught up to two other groups that had started earlier but were climbing very slow. One of the guides asked if one of his team members could follow us up so Steve joined us, again a very good match as we were all climbing at the same slow steady speed, taking very short breaks every so often. We soon lost sight of those below us and never saw them again until we got back down to their camp; unfortunately they had to turn back and were not able to reach the summit. When we were about a half hour away, we could see a large group standing on the summit. They had gone up a shorter route on the backside; we met them later after they had explored the crater. We finally got some sunlight when we reached a saddle between the summit and the crater, which really felt good. We had been climbing up the dark side, away from the sun, which made it very cool but we were also treated to a great view of Misti casting a shadow over miles of landscape when the sun rose on the other side. At 8:55, after crossing a couple of small snow patches and a couple of sandy stretches, we were on the summit at 19,100 feet, four hours and 10 minutes from camp. We marveled at the huge iron cross, about 20 feet high that was up there. It was constructed in sections; each about three feet long. I couldn't have carried even one section up there. We were hoping that it had been helicoptered up so that weren't totally put to shame by the super humans it would have taken to carry all the pieces up there.

After taking a lot of pictures of the almost unreal landscape offered by the crater, black sand, light rocks and snow, and a few more of neighboring 19,925 foot Chachani, we went down to the saddle and ate a light snack. Both of us were feeling good, no altitude problems but to keep it that way we decided to forgo exploring the crater and headed back down. We didn't hire a guide for the climb but were fortunate that Marcio, my guide friend, went with us to the trailhead and pointed out the route up to us. Steve's guide explained the route back down to camp. No need to hike down, just go over to the dark gray sand slope and "ski" down that, lots of fun! We stopped at Steve's camp and left him there with his teammates who were packing up, and then continued on down. We made it down to our camp in about two hours; we would have made it faster except we stopped to take a lot of pictures of our fun descent! After a simple lunch (should have brought another package of soup), which finished all of our food except a little trail mix, we broke camp and headed on down. There was no rush because Lisa wasn't scheduled to meet us until 4:00 pm. We had expected on being at the summit about noon, instead we were back at camp by 11:00 am. After a couple of final photos at the trailhead, we decided to walk down the dirt road, getting almost to the highway before meeting Lisa and Marcio. That gave us plenty of time to talk about our next adventure, after they finish their trip. Of course Chachani is calling our names, there are also two 6,000 meter mountain peaks on the way to Cotahuasi where I live, Coropuna at 21,075 feet and Solimana at 19,985 feet. And then there is my plan for a two week bike ride, all between 9,000 and 16,000 feet.

Looking down on creation...

inca city

Namibia is a largely arid country of stark rough-hewn beauty. The most vivid images are those of a haunting technicolor landscape of swirling orange dunes, shimmering mirages and treacherous dust devils. The apparent desolation is deceptive and plant and animal life and even man has adapted to this environment. The country is designed almost specially with the active and adventure seeker in mind. Timeless deserts, thorn bush savanna, desolate wind ravaged coastlines, majestic canyons, and sun-baked saltpans are the bounty that awaits the traveler.

Namibia’s top draw is the Etosha National Park, rated as one of Africa’s finest game sanctuaries. The birding experience in the country is truly superior. On a Namibia safari, the range of activities you can indulge in the unsurpassable physical environment is truly impressive. Ballooning over the desert, skydiving over land and sea, paragliding, whitewater rafting and sand skiing along coastal dunes are good activities for starters. More fun games to pick from include abseiling – that most spectacular of rock sports, coastal and fresh water angling, desert camel riding, scuba diving, 4x4 desert runs, hiking and mountaineering.

Namibia has four distinct geographical regions. In the north is Etosha Pan, a great area for wildlife and heart of Etosha National Park. The slender Caprivi Strip is nested between Zambia and Botswana and is a wet area of woodland blessed with a few rivers. Along the coast is the Namib Desert, which at the age of 80 million years old, is said to be the world’s oldest desert. At the coast, the icy cold Atlantic meets the blazing African desert, resulting in dense fogs. The well-watered central plateau runs north to south, and carries rugged mountains, magnificent canyons, rocky outcrops and expansive plains.

Namibia, one and half times the size of France, is very sparsely inhabited and carries only 1.8 million souls. The people are as unique as the land they live on. The most intriguing are the San, otherwise known as Bushmen. These most hardy of people have a highly advanced knowledge of their environment. It is a marvelous thing how well they are adapted to their difficult habitat. Just pause and think that these are the only people in the world who live with no permanent access to water. In the Kalahari Desert, one of their domiciles, surface water is not to be found. Tubers, melons, and other water bearing plants as well as underground sip wells supply their water requirements.

In Namibia today, Bushmen number about 50,000. Historians estimate that they have lived, mostly as hunters and gatherers, for at least 25,000 years in these parts of the world. Bushmen speak in a peculiar click language and are very gifted in the arts of storytelling, mimicry, and dance. Namibia’s other people, who are indigenous to the continent, are mostly of Bantu origin. They are thought to have arrived from western Africa from about 2,400 years ago. The African groups include the Owambo, Kavango, Caprivians, Herero, Himba, Damara, Nama and Tswana.

The Africans aside, other groups comprise about 15% of the population and have played an important role in the emergence of the modern nation. White Namibians amount to about 120,00 and are mainly of German and Afrikaner heritage. Germans arrived in significant numbers after 1884 when Bismarck declared the country a German Protectorate. Afrikaners, white farmers of Dutch origin, moved north from their Cape settlements, especially after the Dutch Cape Colony was ceded to the British in 1806. This strongly independent people, whose ancestors had lived in the Cape from 1652 resented British control.

Two other distinct groups complete the spectrum of Namibia’s people - Basters and Coloureds. Coloured in Namibia and southern Africa refers to people of mixed racial heritage, black- white for example. They have a separate identity and culture. This makes sense considering that Namibia was run by South Africa after the First World War. Even in pre-Apartheid South Africa, racial classification was a fine art. The Afrikaans-speaking Basters, descended from Hottentot women and Dutch settlers of the Cape. Alienated from both white and black communities, they trekked northwards, finally founding their own town Rehoboth, in 1871. Baster is actually derived from “bastard”, but it is not derogatory, and the Basters are indeed proud of it.

Namibia’s barren and unwelcoming coastlines served as a natural deterrent to the ambitions of European explorers. That was until 1884 when the German merchant Adolf Luderitz established a permanent settlement between the Namib Desert and the Atlantic seaboard that afterwards took his name. Bismarck subsequently declared the territory covered by Namibia a German colony and named it Südwestafrika or South West Africa. As German settlers moved into the interior, conflict was inevitable with the inheritors of the land.

The German occupation was a particularly unhappy experience for the Herero. The Herero resented the German’s harsh and racist rule and the effect of the encroachment on their lands on their livelihood and way of life. On the first day of the year 1904, the Herero led by Chief Samuel Maharero, rose suddenly and unexpectedly in arms against their colonial overlords. The Nama joined the insurrection and the authorities did not regain control even after six months of trying. Over 100 German settlers and soldiers died in the uprising. Historians now consider events that followed to constitute the first genocide of the twentieth century.

Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha was furnished with a contingent of 14,000 soldiers and tasked to put down the rebellion. The governor general of the territory was then Rudolph Goering -the father of Herman Goering, Hitler's right hand man. Lothar von Trotha was a generation ahead of his time and his kind of thinking was to become government policy under the Third Reich. He argued that the Herero must be destroyed as a people and he did not wince at the murder of women or children. At the end of it all, 100,000 Nama and Herero were killed. The survivors were herded in concentration camps where unspeakable things happened. The Herero fared very badly and 80% of her people perished. The population of the Nama diminished by 35-50%.

Windhoek, the capital of 165,000 people is the only true city in the country. For those traveling to more remote regions, this is where you settle practical matters. The positive aspects of the German period can be seen in the charming style of older buildings in the city. Places of interest in the city include the State Museum, State Archives, and the Namibia Crafts Centre. The Dan Viljoen Game Park lies 24 Km west of Windhoek on the gentle hills of Khoma Hochland. In this resort you find ostriches, baboons, zebras and over 200 species of birds. The Waterburg Plateau Park, located 230 km from Windhoek is popular with weekenders. This extensive mountain wilderness is home to cheetah, leopard, kudu, giraffe, and white rhino.

Etosha National Park is what brings wildlife lovers to Namibia. The park is comparable in size and diversity of species with the best in Africa. The unusual terrain of Etosha holds savanna grassland, dense brush and woodland. But it is the Etosha Pan, a depression that sometimes holds water and covers 5,000 sq km, that is the heart of park. The perennial springs around the pan, attract many birds and land animals in the dry winter months. The effect of this background is magical and some of the best wildlife photographs have been taken here.

There are 144 mammal species in the park and elephants are particularly abundant. Some other interesting wildlife here includes giraffe, leopard, cheetah, jackal, blue wildebeest, gemsbok and black rhino. The birding is great at Etosha and over 300 bird species have been recorded. You will get best value by spending at least three days here. There are excellent accommodation facilities at the three rest camps of Namutoni, Halali and Okaukuejo. The best time to see animals is between May and September, when water draws them in huge numbers to the edge of the pan. Etosha is 400 km to the north of Windhoek by road.

The Fish River Canyon is unrivalled in Africa and only the Grand Canyon in the U.S in larger. The Canyon runs for 160 km and reaches a width of 27 km and depth of 550 m. But size alone does not explain the appeal of the canyon. You experience incredible views at various points along the rim. Adventure lovers do not merely come for the views. Hiking through the canyon is the ultimate endurance adventure for hikers. There is an established 90 km hiking trail that will take you 4-5 days to cover.

The trail ends at Ai-Ais hot spring resort where you can unwind. You are allowed to hike between early May and end of September. The hike is quite strenuous and needless to say, you must be physically fit. The authorities disbelieve the capacity of most people to undertake the hike and will actually insist on seeing a medical certificate of fitness before allowing you to start off. Fish River Canyon is 580 km to the south of Windhoek.

The Skeleton Coast has been the graveyard of seafarers and whales and deserves that morbid name. The problem is the dense fogs. And woe to the ship wreck survivor who expects respite onshore! Ahead is the Namib Desert, one of the driest and most unwelcoming places. Adventure travelers love trekking along the coastline as they enjoy the stark beauty of the area. To the south at Cape Cross, you find a seal colony carrying tens of thousands of seals. The Skeleton Coast Park covers 16,400 sq km and begins at 355 km northwest of Windhoek.

The Portuguese explorer Diego Cao reached this part of the world in the year 1486. He is probably one of the people whose experiences discouraged Europeans from venturing ashore until the arrival of the Germans 400 years later. Further south is the Namib-Naukluft National Park, a vast wilderness covering 50,000 sq km. The landscape is very diverse and covers mountain outcrops, majestic sand dunes, and deep cut gorges. For really spectacular dunes, the Sossusvlei area is unsurpassed. Here you have dunes rising to 300 m! The orange tint giants extend as far as the horizon and the area has an unreal, unforgettable atmosphere.

To the northeast of the country, the well-watered Kavango and Caprivi Strip region offers an unspoilt wilderness suitable for rugged game viewing and camping. The area also promises a feast for bird lovers. Game reserves in the area include: Kaudom, Caprivi, Mahango, Mudumu and Mamili. Poachers did great damage to wildlife during the years of the civil war in neighbouring Angola. Animal numbers are however building up rapidly. Some of the wildlife in the region includes leopard, elephant, buffalo, cheetah, lion and various antelope species. The Caprivi Reserve falls in an area of swamps and flood plains. Here you have an opportunity to partake fishing, hiking, game viewing safaris and river trips in traditional mokoro boats.

In Namibia you can enjoy up to 300 days of sunshine. The coast is temperate and thermometers run between 5C-25C. Inland, daytime temperatures range from 20C-34C, but can rise to 40C in the north and south of the country. Winter nights can be quite cold and frost occurs over large parts of the country. The rains inland fall in summer (November-April) and are heaviest in the Caprivi region. Rains do not much affect travel, but beware of flash floods in the vicinity of riverbeds. The best time to travel is over the dry months of March to October, when it is easier to see animals at waterholes. It is best to avoid the Namib Desert and Etosha between December and March when it can get unbearably hot.

You can get by wearing light cottons and linens in summer. Over winter nights and mornings, you need heavier cottons, warmer wraps and sweaters. Comfortable walking shoes are essential, as the ground gets very hot. Some useful stuff to pack includes: camera, binoculars, sunglasses, sun hats, sunscreen and mosquito repellant. Be ready for dusty conditions and carry your clothing, equipment and supplies in dust proof bags. Do not be tempted to buy items made of ivory. You may not be allowed to carry them through customs at home. And it also good that you do not encourage the trade in ivory products that keeps poachers busy.

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