Apart from the splendid rooms another superb feature of our stay at the Onguma Plans Fort was eating in the open air dining room – well with one open wall leading out on to the verandah and overlooking the waterhole with its statuesque central camel thorn tree. We were up early enough in the mornings to witness the ‘pink dawn’ with all the exciting sounds of the birds and the animals as they gingerly, in the half-light, made their way towards the waterhole.
Dusk was equally spectacular with the ‘purple’ tinge that characterises sunsets in Africa. We were to have a sunset drive on the last evening but a heavy thunderstorm set in and on previous evenings we had been travelling back from game drives but the picture shows a Black Mamba – the mostly deadly of snakes – in a tree against the sunset. The lighting over the Etosha Pan was pretty spectacular too!!
The meals at the Fort were excellent with the African Chefs welcoming us to the restaurant and describing what we were to eat. At dinner the tables were lit with candles to reduce the bugs but it did not deter the kamikaze moths! They were about 2 inches in wingspan with big fat bodies and clearly adored wine, beer and anything else from which they could extract moisture. We were given drinks mats to cover the glasses. As we ate geckos ran up the walls into the uplighters lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on any unsuspecting insect attracted by the light and all this accompanied by a cacophony of sound from insects and birds as the light faded.
On the final evening we were joined by a pair of owls that took up position below the arc light that lit the verandah and which of course attracted a great cloud of insects and moths, although they were hunting bigger warm and cold blooded prey on the ground.
I hope I have done justice to this magical experience!!!
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