20-35 years of age
An awesome 3 days in isolation
As a group of friends in December 2006 we decided to make Khaudum Game Reserve one of our destinations while on a 4x4 self drive trip through Namibia.
We had read a fair amount about the park during our preparations but the main attraction for us was that it was a destination where not many people tend to travel at that time of the year, mainly due to the heat and because it's the beginning of the rainy season so there is less game to be seen. Now because we live in South Africa it's not all about the Big 5 for us, sometimes the smaller things have far more appeal!
We entered the park from the North and had read all about the thick sand on the way in. Shortly after we turned off the tar we decided to let some air out of our tyres to make the sand driving easier. We immediately felt the immense heat both from the sun as well as the sand! It was very slow going due to the hot sand but we slowly made our way South. Along the way we stopped to help another group of vehicles the were headed North but were stuck and had been for a few hours. They were towing large off-road trailers which obviously made the going more difficult. We managed to help them and then headed off again.
We reached Khaudum camp and were the only vehicles there, just as we'd hoped. We setup camp and head off for an afternoon drive. We didn't see too much but the scenery was magnificent to say the least. We arrived at a watering hole to the East of the camp and had a few sun downers and chatted amongst ourselves, what more could one ask for.
Early that evening while were were headed back to camp there was large thunderstorm that had been building up in the distance, little did we know that it had come straight though camp and simply tossed our tents into the trees some 50m away from where they had been erected, tent pegs and all! Let's just say that we didn't have a good nights sleep at all due to all our bedding being wet!
The facilities at Khaudum camp weren't very good but that isn't of much importance to us. It's about being out in nature.
The following morning was another glorious morning in Africa, we were now headed for Sikereti but had decided to make a full day of it and travel most of the parks roads. We went East via Leeupan and zig zigged our way towards camp. At Leeupan we decided to break for breakfast, while we were eating we had a very large bull elephant come to visit. He was extremely inquisitive and kept coming closer and closer till we eventually decided it was time to move away quietly in our vehicles and let him be.
Along the way we saw a brilliant herd of Roan Antelope, this for us was one of the highlights of the trip purely because there are very few natural breeding herds left in Southern Africa and this is the one area that can still boast this!
The birding was good in the park and the scenery magic.
In Sikereti camp the facilities were better than Khaudum camp and we had a lot more nocturnal animals visiting us in the evening. The Hyena's can be a pest but that comes with the turf I guess.
The road from Sikereti South was very wet with lots of black cotton soil, in total contrast to the North in terms of terrain and scenery.
All in all Khaudum in an wonderful park to visit and we'll most certainly be back there again. September / October are the best times for game viewing but will also be the busiest in terms of visitors. I know which time of the year I will go back though ... December / January.
Cheers
Mike
20-35 years of age
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