It’s January 10th, Maria’s birthday! <Cue wild celebration>
We spend New Year’s Eve in Opuwo. We settle in for a comfortable stay at the ultra-posh Opuwo Country Lodge.
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Again, we stay at the campsite, the steerage class of posh hotels, where available. This has become a habit of ours: find a fancy lodge that has a camping option and enjoy all the amenities at a fraction of the price. Imagine staying at the Chateau Montebello for 30 or 40 dollars a night. Canadian dollars!
Maria spends a lot of time in the infinity pool overlooking a beautiful valley.
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Opuwo has a lot of National Geographic-style costumed locals, mainly Himba people and Herero people. They are related, but quite different, both in lifestyle and clothing habits.
The following is a selection of each. (All photos taken surreptitiously by Maria.)
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We drive to Epupa Falls, on the Angolan border. It’s 350 kilometres down a gravel road and back.
On the way to the Caprivi Strip, we wind up stopping in Etosha for one last night.
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So we are back in Botswana. We stay at the Senyati Safari Camp.
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We stayed here in 2020, just when our trip was cancelled by COVID. It’s still a great place to stay.
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Especially because of their waterhole, which always has lots of wildlife slaking their thirst.
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We drive into Chobe National Park for some game viewing.
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Sight or Insight of the Day
Among the pleasures of being back in Senyati: there is a tame banded mongoose on the property.
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Turns out he is super-friendly. I can cross ‘pet a banded mongoose’ off my bucket list.
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