Getting There and Away in Africa: Ngepi Camp to Kasane Example

How to Not Travel Light

(But......You know, like the name of the blog say: Adventure Travel the World, In Style, On a budget.)


Ngepi camp: Getting There and Away options Traveling independently in Africa allows you to be creative and practice patience! On this trip we added some new and varied experiences of travel options. We have traveled using both the large commercial buses and the minibus, an empty overland truck and taxi between two cities. While we were at Flatdogs in Zambia, Robert was talking to a gentleman that runs a small, independent tour using a 4x4 vehicle with seating for five, a rear storage compartment, and two tents on the top. He was taking his group to Malawi for a week and then returning to Windhoek. He usually e-mails camps along the way back asking if anyone is interested in hitching a ride, paying for part of the gas. Since he knew we were heading to Ngepi, he asked if we wanted to ride with him and make it to Ngepi in two days.! Shared a taxi with two guys to Chipata and he picked us up the next morning and we were in Ngepi in two days as promised! When we left Ngepi, we decided we didn't want to wait for the Intercape Mainliner and decided to "catch a hike" as they call it. We had Nathan drop us at the police checkpoint and we settled down to wait. The guard at the entrance to Mahango had told us there was a minibus that ran from Rundu to Katima Mulilo. We were hoping to be able to catch a ride with them or if the right person came along, "catch a hike." Finally after about two hours of waiting, the guys at the police checkpoint told us they had a ride for us. It was a long distance lorry (18 wheeler) heading for Katima Mulilo. We got all our luggage loaded in, and climbed aboard. As usual, you can have some of the most interesting conversations as you travel along. He was traveling from Walvis Bay to the Congo carrying a load of frozen fish. We had a great discussion about traveling in the Congo, and just his experiences of travel in general.

When we got to Katima Mulilo, he needed to go the Engen station and charge up the freezer. Luckily for us, Mukusi Cabins are right next door and they allowed us to set our tent up on the lawn. They have a nice restaurant and bar and so it was a great experience. The next day we caught the minibus to Kasane and were delivered directly to Chobe Safari Lodge to continue our adventure travels! The border crossing from Namibia into Botswana was done very smoothly.

Swine Flu
Interestingly enough we were asked to fill out a paper about swine flu since we had U.S. passports. The customs agent assumed we were traveling by private vehicle and told us we needed to pay. He was surprised when we told him we were traveling on the mini bus !
We got wonderful help from locals at the police checkpoint : "I will catch you a hike ! " and they did, including helping with our bags. We tipped them.


Our limo...


Laura riding high up in a beeg truck!



Thanks to John, the very nice Namibian truck driver who gave us this ride from Divundu to Katima Mulilo through the Caprivi Strip! Lots of signs on the road warning of Elephants, but we saw none this day.

Near the station where John stopped to plug in his freezer trailer full of fish he was taking to the Congo through, Zambia, there was a little oasis we had noticed when we were passing through Katima Mulilo before. Mukusi camps The showers and toilets were not very clean but we were glad to have them. Camping was not on the list of prices, but they did allow camping when asked.











Next morning, Robert caught us a ride from a guy in the Engen parking to the mini bus rank.

This is the second time we have taken the mini bus (passenger van) to Kasane, and though it left full we were comfortable, and the price was right! They made room in their trailer for all our bags, and dropped us a Chobe Safari Lodge as we requested.


Transiting through Chobe National Park with the locals on the mini bus, we saw zebras this time.


We knew we were in Kasane when we saw the warthogs in the street!

Game Drives to Mahengo National Park

Game Drive in Mahango National Park

Very close to Ngepi are two parks, Mahango and Bwabwata which are currently joined together, according to the Ranger at Mahang.

Mahango is about 15 km south of
Ngepi and Bwabwata is across the river from both Ngepi and Mahango, so the wildlife there
can be seen from Ngepi and some of the animals pass back and forth between the two parks.

To go on game drives from Ngepi into Mahango Park, there must be at least 4 people for them
to set up a drive. We were not having much luck getting a game drive arranged so we decided
to do our own "intrepid adventure to the game park". We set off walking from the camp to
the main road, were picked up halfway and taken to the entrance to the park. We have done
this before and you wait, enjoy the birds at the water pool by the entrance, and visit with
the guard.

The guard at the entrance this time was interested in birds, had actually done a course in
wildlife and so helped us spot some of the birds around the entrance. She also told us some
interesting stories of different birds, life in the village, and life in general in Namibia.



Finally at about 2:00 in the afternoon, a safari vehicle from another camp arrived with
only one passenger. The guard convinced the driver he should take us into the park. We had
a very nice day, seeing wildebeest, a magnificant male kudu, hippo out of the water, elephants
eating palm leaves and roan. This park is one of the few places where you can see both roan
and sable antelope. We also saw a young Bateleur on the ground who then flew up into the tree
and posed for us for awhile!

This park is also a very good bargain for the person doing self drives. The entrance fee is
40 Namibian dollars for international travelers and there is not a fee for the vehicle.
Another interesting thing about the park is the main road in the park goes directly to the
border with Botswana. As a result, if you enter Namibia through that gate, you can have a
mini-game drive as you enter Namibia!

We were able to go on two more game drives while we were there, one with Ngepi camp and one
with people camped next to us who invited us to go along with them. On the game drive from
Ngepi, they took us out the back way past the village where many of the workers live and
then out to the main road. Christopher was along and was able to talk about some of the
animals and their habits. He also is incredible about being able to see things long
before most of us can! That day we did see both sable and roan and were quite happy about
that.

The people we went with the last day wanted to see elephants, and he was quite into birds
so was quite happy to stop and look at birds as we went along. We drove the entire length
of the 4x4 track but did not see much wildlife. It was interesting to see the topography
change as we went along the track. We were successful in seeing elephants and even more
exciting were the wattled cranes. This is the third time we have seen them in our trips
to this park.




Sieg and May, thanks for the great drive! Come see us!





One horned Roan?





Owl, but which one?






There are some awesome baobab trees in Mahengo!





Immature Snake eagle?






Male giraffe, note the horns lack full hair from butting.



Elephant and baobab tree, classic Africa!





The Giant Baobab


Elephant eating palm

Sunrise Between Your Legs: Ngepi Camp, Namibia

Another upper Okavango Delta mokoro (watu) adventure with Christof, the outstanding Ngepi Guide!

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We arrived late to Ngepi Camp after crossing the Caprivi Strip, a a the second day of two day ride from Chipata, Zambia via a night outside Lusaka, riding with the very fascinating tour operator JP Botha of Blue Africa Adventure Expeditions, South Africa. He should have been more exhausted than we were since he drove and answered our endless questions about the countries in southern Africa, but he made dinner and continued to entertain us at the bar.

( From JP's website:

MOZAMBIQUE - NAMIBIA - ZAMBIA - ZIMBABWE - SOUTH AFRICA

Blue Africa specializes in hand picked tours and destinations. )

Thanks JP!

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The next morning, we were awakened by a cacaphony of bird and hippo calls, and without getting out of the tent we looked out between our legs through the door of our tent to the pink sky sunrise. What an experience, one we will never tire of, feels like coming home! Ahhhhhh! Ngepi ! Just fine, thank you very much!






This visit marks the third time we have been so fortunate as to experience this wonderful camp in remote northern Namibia. Our title today is a hat tip to the following article which really says it all about one of our favorite places in the world, Ngepi Camp :
Sunrise between your toes






This big water monitor was not really disturbed by us as we made our breakfast at the river's edge.

(Well, not too very close to the edge, for there are big crocs in the Kavango River which we really did not want to disturb. :)




Though we were quite happy to be back at Ngepi camping in our own dome tent with the occasional game to view across the river and birds galore day and night,

we highly rec the other forms of accomodation there, some details of which are pictured below.












Ngepi is "famous" for its humorous "toilet and shower theme park." These facilities are without a doubt some of the most photographed ablutions in the world! With all the beautiful scenery and birdlife to take pictures of, at first it might seem strange to think that people are taking pictures of toilets. Don't laugh, you just really must experience them for yourself!





The new waterfront building for dining, reading relaxing is really welcoming after days on the road, and it is a great viewing platform as well!





We really cannot emphasize enough the importance of the local staff who work very hard to make your experience memobable and enjoyable. Thanks again, guys!




Below are some pictures from our Mokoro ride with Guide Cristof, with chasing each other during our island walk and us as well! What a real adventure it always is, made safe by this very experienced and knowledgeable guide! Thanks for another great time, Christof! Ngepi Rocks!







We were delighted to see all the sustainable improvements at Ngepi this trip, including solar power and water heating! Great job, Mark and Margie!






Fishing for tigerfish at Ngepi is sustainable 'catch and release,' and depends on your luck, but what a fish that one is, all colorful and a mouth full of BIG teeth!








Brother Reggie always tells us before we leave for Africa to be on the lookout for Tarzan, Jane, and Cheetah. We finally met Cheetah, who was in this case an orphaned infant baboon instead of the chimp in the famous Tarzan movies of our childhood.

(Note: We are catching up with our posts, but will get behind again we are sure as we will leave in a few days, probably back to South Africa and eventually the Kruger Park. This was posted today from Kasane Computers, Kasane, Botswana.)


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For reservations and information on the wonderful Ngepi Camp, see their website:

www.ngepicamp.com/