We had a 5 hour drive to do on Friday as we headed to the Waterberg Plateau Park. It is north east of Swakopmund. Unfortunately I have managed to contract a virus/infection of some sort and really wasn’t feeling well at all on Friday morning. That meant H had to drive the majority of the way. The first few hours of driving had heavy traffic as we took the road between Windhoek and Swakopmund. Lots of trucks heading in both directions which made it difficult to overtake. I managed to nap a little and when we stopped for some drinks and a bathroom break at Usakos, we changed drivers and I drove for about 90 minutes until I really couldn’t anymore and H took over again. Fortunately the majority of the route was tar road and only the last 15 kms was gravel leading up to the park.
We arrived at the Waterberg Plateau Park at about 2:30pm and we checked in. There are 80 chalets/rooms here and I reckon about 5 of them were only occupied last night. H and I both napped in the afternoon and then took a drive to restaurant to get WiFi (only place it works in the park and cellphone signal is terrible). We then sat for the balance of the afternoon/early evening on our veranda and just watched the bird life right in front of us and we managed to add another lifer while doing that. The birds are just calling non-stop in the park – I don’t think I have ever heard the quantity and consistency of bird calls anywhere else like this.
We had a braai for dinner (chicken wings and corn). There is no catering facilities really at all but we knew that in advance. The only thing we forgot to bring were braai tongs so I had to the braaiing with a fork instead. Not ideal and definitely burnt a finger in the process (but not too serious – it just blistered today slightly). It was lovely and peaceful sitting outside. The sunset is only 750pm at the moment so you can sit outside and eat dinner and be finished long before it is dark. Makes for a pleasant difference that in the Kruger Park where it is dark by 6pm and then when you eat at night and turn the lights on, all the bugs in the park seem to head toward you.
H was tired from the driving and I hoped for a good nights sleep so that I felt better in the morning so we headed to bed relatively early and were both asleep before 10pm even. We woke around 6am and headed for breakfast (breakfast is included in the rate) just after 7am.
After breakfast we walked from the restaurant down the road to the campsite and did some birding. It was a good call as we added 3 lifers on the walk. We are currently on 13 lifers for the trip and I have seen 125 birds for the trip and H has seen 130 birds. H stretched her lead on me this morning because when we got back from the walk I was wiped out and slept for 2 hours and she just birded from the veranda again and added a number of other birds. I managed to catch up a few of them over the course of the day but she still has 5 more than me. One week into our trip and well over half way of my target of 200 birds for the trip and with some different birding still to come, I would be disappointed to not reach that mark.
Due to the limited WiFi and cellphone signal, not sure when I will be able to send this but hoping to do it tomorrow morning before we leave!
Until then …
P & H