Namibia, Land of Emotions

ETOSHA PARK - OKAUKEUJO REST CAMP

I remember with intense emotion the arrival at the rest camp in Etosha Park; our guide, Elena, a girl from Venice, extremely nice, tells us about the illuminated waterhole near the camp, where, after sunset, the animals go to drink. A bit skeptical, because of experiences I'd had before, after dinner, armed with a camera and video camera, I head to the waterhole, convinced I'd spot at most a jackal…..

but once I got close, the waterhole gave me an incredible sight… dozens of elephants, an entire herd, made up of females with young, stop on the banks…I remain, in the general silence, broken only by the clicks of cameras, watching them for a long time, moved by the care that these giants of the savannah devote to their little ones and by the games the latter play among themselves, chasing each other like children, spraying each other, still somewhat unsteadily, with their tender and funny trunks, constantly watched over by the mothers, who, like all mothers in the world, are in continuous anxiety….. But the emotion continues….

The herd, in small groups, slowly moves away from the waterhole, to be replaced by a few families of rhinoceroses, which, strong in their powerful offensive-defensive weapon, chase away, repeatedly, other herbivores that try to approach the water….after a while it's the turn of the giraffes, which, poor things, have to make an enormous effort to drink…in practice, spreading their long legs as wide as possible to bring their heads down to ground level. I watch them with bated breath… at this moment they are completely vulnerable to the attack of a predator! The surprises are not over……we sense, more than see, that those whom everyone has been waiting for since 8:30 p.m. are finally arriving, practically when the long wall surrounding the waterhole, at a safe distance, especially for the protection of the animals' tranquility, has begun to fill with guests. People barely whisper..

with emotion, in various languages…lowen, leeuwen,.lions, leones ……lions…! Frantically, I search with my binoculars and magically a trio materializes, made up of 2 females and a male, coming out of the clearing and slowly, almost indolently, approaching the water…. A sssssssssssssss… quickly circulates among the various groups that stir at this apparition, but we are downwind and they cannot hear us…indeed, they calmly approach the waterhole and begin to drink. Due to the excitement caused by the sight of the little group I hadn't noticed the arrival of a fourth lioness, who is happily lying on the side of the waterhole closest to our position…. I frame her perfectly with the video camera, I can see her eyes lazily closing now and then.

Five hours have passed since I arrived at the waterhole and only the ancestral fear that takes hold of me, since I have been left almost alone, makes me give up staying any longer. These images will remain forever in my mind and in my eyes…..

ETOSHA PARK

But other adventures await us… We spent a few days in Etosha Park… we traveled the "pan" far and wide, a salt depression, arid and dry, where across its blinding expanse thousands of animals, especially herbivores, are in a perpetual search for water… springbok, kudu, impala and the splendid oryx (all antelopes), ostriches, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest. We stop at the first big waterhole where a myriad of animals are busy drinking… It's something incredible, I didn't think so many animals could gather so calmly. I have fun watching a group of zebras playing, splashing water on each other, then running away, frightened by the flight of birds circling above their heads.

Unfortunately, it's already time to leave this wonderful place… many, many kilometers of dirt road await us to reach the extremely isolated village of Opuwo, from which we'll set off to reach the north of Namibia and the Epupa falls.

KAOKOLAND-OPUWO

Wake-up at 4:00… a group of zombies slowly comes out of the rooms to head to the table where meals are served, outdoors, under a large wooden canopy… we set off at 5:30, it's still dark, at 5:45 the sun finally rises… all calm..! What a rude awakening…!!!!?? But luckily I'm not on the train to Caserta…!…. (my workplace)! Traveling to the Epupa falls, crossing the territory of Kaokoland, 400 km of dirt road await us and, despite the early wake-up, no one sleeps… partly because of the constant jolts of the off-road vehicles, but above all because of the splendid landscape. Kaokoland is a vast desert territory, we are truly far from "civilization": here radios and cell phones don't work, there are no houses, very few vehicles travel on these roads that stretch out endlessly…. We stop for a snack, eaten quickly on the tailgate: cheese sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, fruit juice and nescafé.

The parked cars attract the curiosity of some Himba boys, the local population, they are young shepherds, we offer them sandwiches, which they gladly accept, and they let themselves be photographed with us. Many more km await us, so everyone quickly back on board, there are 2 vehicles traveling far apart from each other because of the very fine dust that completely covers the road, preventing visibility and you even find it in your… underwear…. Along the way we stop to visit a few Himba villages. The Himba are one of the last African peoples not yet touched by the Western lifestyle. They still live wildly, organized into tribal villages made up of one or more families.

They are very faithful to their traditions and do not easily let themselves be dazzled by the well-being offered by Western "culture." The huts consist of a structure supported by tree trunks and covered with earth mixed with dried animal dung. The Himba are nomadic and the villages are made up of a few huts. Near the huts there are pens for grazing sheep, the source of livelihood for this people. Himba women use to smear their bodies with a moist mixture of earth and red clay that gives the skin a reddish appearance, considered very attractive. The hair is carefully styled with metal and leather objects and is likewise coated in equal measure. The Himba are generally very hospitable (in the remote areas where they live there's no crowding of tourists). They let themselves be photographed calmly.

Upon arrival at the village they welcome, as a sign of goodwill, the offer by tourists of salt, sugar or (unfortunately) cigarettes, the only concession to consumer goods from the so-called "civilized" world. Not very many km separate us from the falls, but it takes many hours because the dirt road is extremely rough, crossing riverbeds and forcing whoever is driving into enormous effort. Near the falls the territory suddenly changes, water dominates everything, and the prevailing green is that of the palms. It's an asphyxiating humid heat and the sight of all that water certainly doesn't bring relief. Among those rocks small natural pools have formed… inside, some groups of locals and tourists from the nearby campground are happily bathing.

I must say I strongly envy them… I've got the urge to do the same… But stoically, with the rest of the group—there are 14 of us, including Elena, our Italian guide, and the other driver, a South African guy—I take a short hike on the little hills surrounding the falls. It's already lunchtime, we set up the table… from the trunk come the containers with the food that Elena had prepared by the cook at the Opuwo hotel: rice salad… then we eat some gorgonzola-type cheese, bananas and oranges… then there's the coffee ritual… each person helps themselves from a big jar of nescafé the necessary dose, diluting it with hot water from a thermos, the drinking water is almost warm too… on board there's no room for a fridge… it was the constant on this trip, whenever we were on an excursion, we almost always drank lukewarm water.

After a short nap, necessary especially for the two guides, we set off again, many kilometers of grueling route await us… which we experience cheerfully because we are fascinated by the landscape we cross. The stops are highly technical… peeing, smoking, stretching our legs and resting our backs, battered by the continuous jolts! The village of Opuwo sees us arrive by now late evening, tired but happy for the wonderful day we've experienced.

The Namib

I clearly remember the emotion I felt at my first encounter with the desert: I was left speechless, I tried to "stock up" on images in my eyes and in my soul as much as possible… the immediate desire, even a bit childlike, was to roll down those dunes, to walk barefoot in the sand made cooler by the impending sunset. Or to sit alone listening to the wind that constantly combs and reshapes the profile of these magnificent fiery-red little hills and to watch the road, a ribbon of black satin, that seems to lose itself in infinity, farther than our horizons. To experience the spell and perhaps also the awe of the desert you have to climb the dunes at dawn or sunset, walking along their sharp crests. From those summits you can embrace the infinite spaces of the desert and perceive the ineffable voice of its silence.

You raise your gaze and you see it become enchanted before a sky of intense cobalt, which lights up your soul and time stops in an unreal silence.

DEPARTURE FOR THE NAMIB

The next day the Namib desert awaits us, the oldest in the world. This is the land of our origins, here the women of the lineage of Lucy, the mother of us sapiens, ran swiftly across the plain, completely unprotected from animals. and the adventure continues…….

...THE FAREWELL...

I always feel a sense of sorrow at distancing myself from this enchantment, from the sight of the countless animals that populate these regions, which sometimes you struggle to encounter (felines in particular) so immense is their territory. I will return, for sure, in fact in 2004….but that's another story and another tale. Happy travels to everyone...