It was then back to the Fort for a final light lunch – a huge chicken salad – before mounting our safari jeep for the last time. Much as we tried to persuade Justin to turn right back to the Park he drove steadily ahead and back to the Makuti airstrip and our waiting Cessna and pilot, Paul, for the flight to Windhoek – the capital of Namibia. None of us wanted to leave of course. We had had 4 days of the most gratifying wildlife safari I will probably ever experience. We had been blessed with fine weather, an excellent Ranger and a comfortable stay at the Fort.
As I experienced later game drives, about which I have yet to tell you of course, I came to appreciate just how successful Namibia has been in establishing and maintaining the National Park at Etosha. I saw animals that were free from poaching going about their daily lives unperturbed by the wildlife paparazzi and for the most part showing only natural curiosity. This last picture from Etosha demonstrates this feeling amply I think – a giraffe in the sunset at Onguma.
We had one more delight to enjoy after the flight to Windhoek and that was the Air Namibia international flight aboard a brand spanking new Airbus A319-100 – one of 3 in the fleet – to Cape Town. BA eat your heart out the crew were immaculately dressed, polite and full of smiles, an all female cockpit crew and a choice of three hot meals – chicken, beef or fish – and some of the most delicious food I have eaten aboard an aircraft. The last two long-haul flights I have had with BA have been characterised by poor service, surly crew, especially toward Chinese passengers, and the food has been inedible. I think there is a lesson for me there – don’t fly BA!
The flight over the Namib Desert and then over the mountains and the wine lands of Stellenbosch in the setting sun was pretty spectacular too before landing below Table Mountain after the most wonderful 4 days!
I hope you have enjoyed reading this Blog as much as I have writing it.
I will now begin the postings for Cape Town and beyond.
No comments:
Post a Comment