Erindi - A place of mixed emotions
Monday, September 05, 2016
Otjiwarongo , Erongo, Namibia
To feel grass under one"s feet is just heaven after the dry sandy camp sites of Tshaa, Drotskys and Etosha . Shaded parking for two cars - a luxury - but how were we going to fit both trailers with awnings and some breathing space on such a small piece of turf! COPK had a brilliant idea - forgo the parking shade for cars and put Peter's Conqueror trailer there instead and our smaller set-up would fit on the grass! Less equipment needed due to our superb shade, kitchen wash up area and double door fridge/ freezer. We were chuffed with the quick set up and Camp Elephant even had a walking track around the perimeter of the fenced in area - exercise Yay yay!! G&T's at 3pm - no complaints !
Erindi Private Reserve covers 70,719 hectares and is owned by Gert & Paul Joubert. Gert was also the developer/ owner of Shelley Point on the West Coast of SA. In the early 1980's he bought this land, then just a struggling cattle farm but now the biggest privately owned game farm in the Southern African continent. Over the Years he has built self catering chalets and camp sites at Camp Elephant and also built the Old Traders Lodge which is an upmarket popular Namibian establishment with standard and luxury chalets accommodating 110 guests with all the bells and whistles and more!
One has to pay for self-drive game drives at CE, so feeling a bit peeved off as the campsites were not cheap, we headed out the next afternoon with both cars . A lone elephant, white rhino with horn cut off to prevent poaching and a few dead bloated animals, due to the drought, was all that we encountered - expensive drive!! Surely this was not the norm - where were the Elephants and other animals they boasted about?
After a lot of tooing and froing with a rather sullen front desk lady, TK secured a private game drive on our last afternoon, or so he thought!! In the meantime we did some trailer cleaning after our previous dusty destinations and Peter, the compulsive excessive cleaner of his new Toyota Hilux and trusted Conqueror trailer, was in his element. Carol was in the trailer repacking for their next leg in the Richtersveld, when suddenly she felt the whole trailer move. Unbeknown to her, Peter was moving his car, forgetting that the electric extension cord from trailer was still plugged into his car socket!! As bystanders watching things unfold we cried out a warning and Peter emerged perplexed while Carol, Terry & I were in fits of laughter after another faux par by our McGyver! Guess what Peter, the Mampara trophy remains with you !!
Then came the bad news! Our private game drive would not happen because they had no spare vehicle for us ! Now considering we had not seen much game on our 'expensive' self drive outing and were told by Daniel that we were good to go for that afternoon's private game drive, Terry blew a gasket while Peter gave the bearer of bad tidings an ear bashing in her home tongue of Afrikaans . Did Erindi not realize that this balls up would come back to bite them with our displeasure on social media and friends in high places? We were "pissed off" to say the least as it was our last chance to find those elusive Wild Dogs and the Aardwolf that we were told about and not forgetting the Lions who had kept us awake for two nights on a trot! Our lunch suddenly gave us indigestion and our impression of management was rock bottom.
Within an hour all was back on track! How come?? Well, thankfully our cries of discontent had not fallen on deaf ears, so Erindi management went from zero to hero! Liz put away her poisoned pen, Carol breathed a sigh of relief, Terry did somersaults and Peter redeemed himself by taking a 'regte boere' stand with management. The Mampara trophy is back on the shelf for now Peter!!
Dynamite comes in small packages and this was so true of our game guide 'FN' who took matters into his own hands and gave us a game drive to remember! Not many people have seen the Aardwolf as he is a nocturnal creature but within 10 minutes of our drive starting, FN found him down a burrow with just his large ears sticking out ! TK got a picture of his big ears but not good enough for the blog! A first sighting for us 4! Then a black Rhino with horns still in tact - spotted by the scribe !
It's Erindi policy that Camp Elephant guests can only visit Old Traders Lodge if you book a walk with Leopards or Cheetah's and they request a donation of R2000 . FN rolled his eyes when we recounted our earlier 'debacle with management' and promptly took us to the Lodge some 25 kms away. En route we saw a huge 50 year old 'Bull' elephant who stood there in all his glory - wonder what he was thinking about !! We pulled into the Lodge like we were celebrities and FN gave us a guided tour around the establishment and then found us a pack of 27 wild dogs and their pups of which there were 13. We watched for 20 minutes while the pups regaled us with playful antics on the doorstep of Old Traders Lodge while some Elephants hung around to watch the show!! Great photography as the sun was dipping onto the horizon and the G&T's, Beers and snacks on our drive tasted like mana from heaven. Out came the spotlight to find those elusive leopards or lions but sadly we had to be content with Eland, Genet Cat and Mountain Zebra, Tsessebe, & Gemsbok. We rolled into Camp Elephant at 8pm with smiles on our faces. Give that man FN a Bells!!
Moral of this story : Don't sit back and take the bulls...t! : Emotions can do a 360 : never judge a person by their size or an animal by their age!!!
This leg is the end of our camping jol as we head south to the Kalahari via Windhoek.
PS: for those new to my blogs - COPK means ' change of plan Kelly' aka TK!!
Other Entries
Comments

2025-02-11
Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank
Martine Kemp
2016-09-12
Dear Aunty Liz, you look as if you are having the time of your life, thank you for sharing your stories and pictures. Love the 5 legged elephant! Love from Julian. ps. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Janet Owen
2016-09-13
Sounds like you guys are having an amazing time. Loving readying your blogs Liz, when are your guys home. Drive safely x x x
doug.emanuel
2016-09-13
Hi all,
Thanks for sharing your stories which were great fun to read, as always! Sounds like you had yet another superb trip. It's hard to believe you are home already! Need to catch up some time.
Doug & Fern.
Cliff Kelly
2016-09-13
Welcome home Lizzy and Terence. No doubt good to have home comforts again! ! Thanks for the entertaining reads Lizzy, the best. Great fun had by all. Super photography Boet.
Liz Singer
2016-09-13
Always great fun reading your blogs. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Maria J. Garcia
2024-01-03
I see that your site is very informative, and every article is better than any other website's blog and articles. Your blog contains more information than any other. I think you are one of the best informative article writers, and I am sure you are. Farming Plan