Blog Archives

Spirit of Kgalagadi
Posted on: 31st Aug 2018| By: MarielleAs many of you already know, Quirky World View sees things a little differently so I give you a number of not-so-run-of-the-mill pictures of Kgalagadi. More scenics, less wildlife. (Well, okay, just wait for the owls …) Did you know that the name Kgalagadi, translating as “the great thirstland”, in fact is a SeTswana word?…
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Kgalagadi Lodge … One big wow!
Posted on: 26th Aug 2018| By: MarielleNever say never … suddenly there are bouts of connectivity … and then reasons to get excited! So I know I’ve already said goodbye, but … we were so damn impressed with this lodge just a hop, skip and jump outside Twee Rivieren camp in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park that the photos simply HAD to be…
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Hardap Dam Resort, what a surprise
Posted on: 25th Aug 2018| By: MarielleOh my, oh my. Out, damned preconceptions! just like Lady Macbeth’s famous Out Damned Spot! What a really, really pleasant squelching of low expectations. Hardap Dam took us quite by surprise. Admittedly we’d booked into VIP chalets but, goodness, we were impressed. Particularly as it’s an NWR resort and you know our feelings on that….
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Oh, Swakopmund, where has your charm gone?
Posted on: 22nd Aug 2018| By: MarielleSorry, Swakopmund. I just don’t feel the love. This town has utterly lost its early German charm. It is now one great, big, holiday resort. In spite of my laments, we just love The Beach Lodge right on the seashore, designed like a boat complete with portholes, which we return to again and again. But…
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Twyfelfontein petroglyphs, Damaraland
Posted on: 21st Aug 2018| By: MarielleEngulfing dust, persistent corrugations, shuddering and juddering and bouncing. The speed at which the rented double-cabs (and local drivers) tear along these gravel roads, no wonder it’s like driving over a cattle grid for 60 kilometres at 60 kph. Which is exactly what we did, driving 2 hours due west to get to the Twyfelfonteintein…
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Eagle’s Nest, Vingerklip
Posted on: 20th Aug 2018| By: MarielleSunset panorama by Keith Titley! I can’t claim ownership to such iPhone artistry. I always feel a step behind … Hirsh gets his Gravel Road Adventures Facebook post in waaaay before I get there. A blog needs a little more thought and composure and planning, so by the time you get this, it’s old news!…
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Heaven is … Vingerklip Lodge
Posted on: 20th Aug 2018| By: MarielleLove, love, love this place. After Etosha, it is sheer luxury! I will come back here again and again. The drive here was painless. After the park’s eternal flatness, suddenly we had a pimpling of rounded wooded mounds which grew into sizable hills sprouting rock spines and boulders. Ahead, a looming stone barricade of bands…
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A lion’s roar farewell
Posted on: 19th Aug 2018| By: MarielleWhat a finale from the Okaukuejo waterhole! The resounding award went to the bellows and rasping hiccoughs of two male lions saying hi to each other (or firmly re-establishing the boundaries of their respective turf) at 3:00 in the morning. One male sat maddeningly just out of sight of the waterhole, very close to our…
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Atonal
Posted on: 18th Aug 2018| By: MarielleBenches at Okaukuejo’s waterhole A leafless pod acacia at Halali’s waterhole which is a bit of a trek into the thornveld and clambering over boulders — luckily so, as the sound of revelling campers travels pretty far! But look closely at those beautiful striated rocks … Sections of the park are immensely dry, but…
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Halali to Okaukuejo
Posted on: 16th Aug 2018| By: Marielle We loved our “Family Cottage” (one of only two) at Halali; it also gave us the opportunity to do some self-catering. Dinner was stepped up a notch! Meals at the Etosha Camps have been nothing short of pedestrian, with seriously no imagination. And with the abundanceof meat around, vegetarians are the indisputable losers ……
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