WWTBAM Bored

*Miles and Miles of Bloody Africa

Google Image search of "Kaokoland" to see where we might be going in 2020 summer. Northwest corner of Namibia. Pretty raw rugged country.

A lot of safari companies have a business model of donating trips to local chapters of the Safari Club International and so forth. These trips can sell very cheaply at the live auctions. Their goal is to then upsell you or get you back in the future.

I have wanted to take the Spocklette to Africa for a lot of reasons as she has gotten gypped on a lot of things.

Saturday night at auction, I paid $500 for 7 days for me and Mrs Spock in Kaokoland-all inclusive 1 hunter and 1 observer. Hell, transportation from Windhoek is included both ways and it is 6 hours away-so that is worth something of itself.

We have to pay for the animals that we choose to hunt and we will upgrade to add the Spocklette as a hunter. This will be a much lower grade trip than the first trip a few years ago.

I have been watching these things sell at auction for awhile and this one takes you to an area where there are wild elephants and lions and even free-ranging Rhino. That is an indication of how remote it is. Most trips that sell like this are to more settled areas. Mrs Spock really wants to see a rhino.

Etosha National Park is right there, so we will build a day there as well.

The Kaokoland location is the most likely at this time, but I have the option of going elsewhere with them instead and the area they have in Bushmanland sounds interesting as an alternative-more trees and so forth.

No one here should be surprised that, a few years ago, I read an in-depth book on the Kaokoland called "An Arid Eden." I will have to dig into it again.

One goal, and it may not be possible, would be to get far enough north to at least see Angola.

Mrs Spock really wants to see a rhino.

Me too, and it sounds like you'll probably have better luck than we did. The first time we went to South Africa, we were told we had missed the rhinos by two hours near the ranger station in Kruger National Park. When we were there last summer, no one would say where rhinos were because of poaching There's a daily update on where lions, elephants, impalas, hippos, alligators, etc., have been spotted, but the rhino line is crossed out. Hoping the rhinos survive . . .

SportsFan68 wrote:

Mrs Spock really wants to see a rhino.

Me too, and it sounds like you'll probably have better luck than we did. The first time we went to South Africa, we were told we had missed the rhinos by two hours near the ranger station in Kruger National Park. When we were there last summer, no one would say where rhinos were because of poaching There's a daily update on where lions, elephants, impalas, hippos, alligators, etc., have been spotted, but the rhino line is crossed out. Hoping the rhinos survive . . .

At the very least, we are hoping to see rhinos in Etosha. However, obviously it would be a little cooler to see one out on the open range (so to speak.)

Mrs Spock missed the lions last time. She didn't feel well that day, so she stayed in camp-so she has those on her bucket list as well.

I don't remember if I have mentioned this before but Littlest Spock is going to South Africa on a school trip this summer. A little game viewing in Addo Elephant Park, but the core of the trip is more cultural and agricultural based.

If anybody is interested in reading this kind of stuff.

Rick Bass, a prolific conservation author, has a book out called "The Black Rhinos of Namibia." I had read it several years ago, but just started re-reading it as it will obviously mean more now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005M ... tkin_p2_i0

I think Sprots and I have talked about Rick Bass before and his book "The Lost Grizzlies" which is about the search for remnant populations of grizzlies in the southern Rockies of Colorado.

It appears that Bass's Rhino book is set in the Palmweg conservancy which is just west of where we will be. We will apparently be on a number of smaller communal conservancies between Palmweg and Etosha Park.

I have previously mentioned it, but my favorite "Modern" Africa book is Game Changer by Glen Martin. This book has a lot on the development of the communal conservancies in Namibia. I have to re-read this book as these portions will now be more interesting and relevant.

https://www.amazon.com/Game-Changer-Ani ... ref=sr_1_2?
keywords=Game+Changer+Martin&qid=1553793169&s=books&sr=1-2-catcorr

If interested: here is a map.
http://www.met.gov.na/services/conservancies/193/

Scroll down a little ways.

Etosha National Park is the rectangle (long axis east and west) in the North/northwest part of the country.

Palmweg is the large "C2" to Etosha's southwest.

Apparently, we will be based on the group of conservancies between the 2.

Thanks for the amazing resources. Be safe and have a good time.

SportsFan68 wrote:Thanks for the amazing resources. Be safe and have a good time.

Thanks. It is going to be a long 15 months till we go. Last time it was only 6 or 7 months from inception to the trip.