Getting lost and cheetahs

Saturday, May 23, 2009
Gobabis, Namibia
Thurs 21st May. Day 11

We had a relative lie-in this morning with breakfast at 7.30am although I was awake by 6 so decided to use the time to clean my snotty hankies. Half an hour later, we had left camp on our way to the Waterberg Plateau NP, which we reached around lunchtime with a couple of stops, one to get a closer look at a Snake Eagle which we had startled causing it to drop its breakfast and an hour stopover in Ojiwarango for stocking up on food.

At the National Park, we had lunch comprising beef sausage hot dogs. We were then given a rudimentary map for a hiking trail to near the top of the plateau (the bottom of the cliff-face section) and told not to go alone as it was very steep and rocky in parts. However, the girls had decided to go hiking in a group by themselves, and Doug appeared disinterested and had decided to spend his time sleeping by the pool, so I had to attempt the trail by myself, setting off about 3pm.

I soon discovered that the trail map wasn't particularly accurate, and the splashes of paint on rocks along the trail were non-existent in certain sections. The first part of the trail was called Mission Way, was not signposted, and there was an unmarked (on the map) deviation to some ruined stone buildings which eventually led back to the main trail. The second trail was called Francombe Way and there were a couple of forks not marked on the map. I just noted which fork I would take, and was prepared to backtrack if it led nowhere. However, more by luck than judgement I think, I eventually reached the main road to the NP chalets, hot, sweaty, and having not seen any wildlife so far. Now there was a short trail to a bird lookout point here, but we had been advised to head further up to near the top of the plateau since the views would be better and there was also the chance of seeing baboons. The path to the top was called Mission Walk but the map and trail were confusing and I set off along what looked a track trodden through thick scrub. I passed a couple of huge water towers and thought these would make a good marker if I needed to backtrack. The going got tougher but I eventually reached a clearing through thick, tall reeds but there didn't seem to be a path leading out from the clearing. Hoping to backtrack, I discovered that I couldn't find my entry point to the clearing as I had pushed my way through thick scrub and not left a discernible path! Around me there was only tall scrub, nearly head high, and trees obscured the water tower which I had hoped to use as a marker. I tried for about 45 minutes to push my way through the scrub to return to the main path but could only get through a few metres in any direction. It was getting darker and I was starting to panic that I'd be stuck there all night. I was getting snagged on the thorny bushes trying to find the path back, and lost my expensive sunglasses which I'd only had for 2 days, the bush was so thick that I couldn't find them again even though they couldn't have gone far. After a period of mild panic, what should happen but Doug turned up in the clearing! It transpired that he had decided to attempt the trail but had got lost on exactly the same path as me! Fortunately, his arrival meant that I now knew which way the path back was and we headed back, me mightily relieved but also very pissed off at the crap map we'd been given which seemed to bear little relation to the poorly-marked trail. I was so pissed off that I failed to notice I had dropped my cap on the way down and ended up losing that too! Back at camp, I had a rant about the map and trail to Que, which was rather unwarranted and then took solace in downing a fair few cans of lager. We had hake fillet and spiced potatoes for dinner which was very nice though.

Fri 22nd May. Day 12

We left camp at 7.30 this morning to drive to Zelda Farm, a private game reserve near to the town of Gobabis, getting there mid-afternoon. We stopped on the way in Gobabis for food shopping (and a pair of sunglasses and new hat for me) and a roadside stop for lunch. The farm had 4 cheetahs which they hoped to release back into the wild and a leopard which was too domesticated and too old to be able to be released. These cats had been taken in to stop them being killed by farmers. They also had other animals there - warthog, eland, wildebeest and peacocks, plus a private reserve where the wealthy could pay to go and hunt and kill some animals (they didn't tell me which ones, presumably there must be a law regarding which animals you can and can't kill). We got the chance to see the cats being fed. The cheetahs were very impressive. I'd never heard a cheetah before but the sounds they made while waiting for the food to come over the fence were surreal. There was also some impressive leaping as the food came over.

There was a buffet dinner in the evening comprising oryx steak and pineapple-flavoured chicken. Afterwards, I handed out a few more pool lessons, this time to Robert and barman Jaco, who came out with such seemingly outlandish stories about what he had done and who he knew that he needed taking down a peg or two. Tomorrow, we'd be off to the Okavango Delta.

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