Nai-publish: 12.06.2018
We 💗 Namibia! And we are glad that we don't belong to any Hummeldumm travel group 🤗
Last week, we went on a lion trekking tour in the open Jeep with ranger David from the Kalahari Game Lodge. When we left the safe and fenced area of the lodge through the gate, we felt like we were in the Jurassic Park movie. After just 10 minutes in the wilderness, using GPS and Papa's eagle eyes, we spotted the first lion at a safe distance. Our ranger David then drove through the undergrowth, bushes, rocks, and holes straight towards the lion. We all got scared when suddenly, even 2 lions (1 male and 1 female) appeared in the bushes just 2 meters in front of our Jeep. A short time later, another lion showed up. We were a little nervous as the 3 animals surrounded our Jeep just a few meters away and kept their eyes on us. Even David looked around anxiously. There was supposed to be a second lioness in this group, but she somehow didn't show up, at least we couldn't see her. According to David, both lionesses are pretty mean specimens.
Afterwards, we went in search of another pride - 2 lionesses with 4 cubs. We found them shortly after. The pride had just killed an oryx antelope and was feasting on the carcass. You could clearly hear the breaking of bones and the tearing of flesh.
Why is a wildebeest called a wildebeest? We now know the answer: The deep growling sounds like "gnu". The path from our accommodation to the restaurant was poorly lit, you couldn't see more than 2 meters in the darkness. So, we were quite startled when suddenly we were vigorously "gnu-ed" on the way to the restaurant. In the light of the flashlight, a number of pairs of eyes also shone back at us, startled. The wildebeests fled into the plains and we went to the restaurant.
Very delighted by the "gnu-ing", we wanted to play a little prank on the parents in the next lodge. We sneaked up to their cottage and imitated the wildebeest sounds. Despite uncontrollable laughter between the "gnu-ing", the parents really believed to be surrounded by wildebeests (quote from Dad: are the wildebeests really that close?) 😉
Next stop of our trip was the Fish River Canyon. The Canyon Lodge is surreal, but beautifully nestled in the rock formations. There was even a huge rock in our room. We could have easily stayed longer here.