STAY HERE
ABOUT TSUMKWE AND THE SURROUNDING AREA Tsumkwe is a small settlement in the north-eastern part of Namibia, about 40 km from the border with Botswana and 60 km south of Khaudum National Park. The nearest reasonablysized town is Grootfontein, 250 km to the west. All the roads in the area tend to consist of deep sand (or mud in the rainy season) and should not be attempted without a 4x4 vehicle and a good measure of off-roading experience. The region was formerly known as Bushmanland. Nyae Nyae Conservancy is the second largest conservancy in the country, according to NACSO, with an area of 9 000 km2. More than 1500 elephants live in or migrate through the Nyae Nyae Conservancy. Tsumkwe is the ideal starting point to continue to the Zambezi Region via Khaudum National Park or to Botswana via the Dobe border post to experience the famous Okavango Delta.
Our accommodation was easy-peasy to arrange. We stayed at TUCSIN Tsumkwe Lodge, which is located on the edge of town and has ample camping areas, a number of chalets and a restaurant. The campsite bathrooms are simple yet functional, with hot-water showers. The waterhole is the ideal spot for sundowners while watching the elephant, kudu, eland and hyena that frequent it. Tel: +264 (0)67 240 901/3/4 Coordinates: -19.601414, 20.495222
The ground squelches with excess water. Small turtles scuttle away from the danger of the game viewer's wheels. And then finally, the pans. Stunning. Flocks of flamingo all the way from Walvis Bay on the coast, have they come to breed? Young ones, not as bright pink (perhaps they haven’t eaten enough canthaxanthin, the natural pink dye, yet) bring up the rear of the line. The rose quartz soldiers move as one, a wall of pink proceeding forward, scooping up nutrients with their large beaks. It is a paradise. Of course, it is. What else did we expect? I did wonder if perhaps the lions were just hidden in the thick foliage. It is a wild place, it brings out the wild in all of us. It's finding turtles, small and large, in the pools of water. It's seeing the wild landscape open up like the veld flowers that lend colour to it. The baobabs that stand proud and majestic. What really got us excited, though, was the birdlife. Yes, that’s right. We had a bunch of birders among us. We saw a variety of birds, the birders getting all riled up with the debate over what species of little black and white feathered jobs were squatted on the mounds ahead of us. It turned out they were Whiskered Terns, also found at the seaside. Then the ducks, geese, bee-eaters, spoonbills, African Openbills, Saddle-billed Storks, herons and the Wattled Cranes with their elegant train of feathers flowing behind them like the back of a little black dress. The overall impression of the Nyae Nyae Pans in autumn is what one would have expected in spring. The veld flowers coloured the expanse of the landscape a soft shade of lemon yellow, interspersed with lavender and pink. Lilies sprouted up between the tall grasses, eagerly reaching skyward for more rain. TNN
TRAVEL NEWS NAMIBIA SPRING 2018
37