Blog May 2014 Dolomite

Blog 18 - May '14 - Dolomite

As a researcher in Etosha, time goes on without much to distinguish one day from another. So it becomes easy to forget about things like public holidays. That is, until you go to the Senior Warden asking for guards for Monday and Tuesday and get met with a resounding ‘not gonna happen, thats Easter’. I always make sure to plan my vegetation clipping for weekdays and within working hours for the staff and give lots of notice so that it can be organised. But I forget about public holidays. They mean less than weekends do to me. But when you make plans to do vegetation clipping, and have a supervisor in camp to either show around or put to work (sorry Martine), you have to do something. So I decided to take the forced day off on Easter and have an adventure.

We had the whole day, almost 13 hours of sunlight, to head approximately 200km west, do a loop and come back. Not a long drive by Aussie standards, yet we pushed it to get back in time partly due to the roads (although not bad, they and their potholes were unknowns) but mostly because at all times, or so it seemed, someone was pointing out one thing or another. This trip was quite amazing. We saw springbok, wildebeest and zebra by the dozen all with that look of gritty determination that animals get when they migrate. Whilst animals in this part of the world have had their migration routes blocked by fences, they still migrate. They just do it on a much smaller scale. So all these guys were on their journey back east, where they spend the dry season. This was quite awesome to watch as it was unexpected in this area, it meant a lot of game to view and I got hope that my ‘beests were coming back to my study area. We also saw a large breeding herd of elephants on their trek back – these were actually the first elephants I’d seen all year.

Birds abounded out in the west. We saw numerous rollers, whydahs, secretary birds, and other birds of prey. Out there flowers made plains appear purple and yellow. But what was most unexpected was the lodge. Dolomite camp, Etosha’s only lodge in the west is relatively new but is owned and operated by the same people that operate many camps in Namibian national parks - NWR. Unfortunately being a parastatal company it is constantly being bailed out by the government and given first dibs on any new resort development on state land which means the company has no real incentive to improve. As a result the resorts are left so unmaintained that buildings look abandoned. Also, the staff seem about as uninterested as possible which is a shame as Namibians are by and large happy and helpful people which you don’t get the sense of in these resorts.

But back to Dolomite. I was astounded. The place looked like it was run by Wilderness Safaris. It was beautifully designed (albeit the tented accommodation was perched perhaps a little too high on the ridge for some of Etosha’s fiercely windy days), the whole place was immaculate, the staff were so happy and helpful and best of the best – the beer was icy cold. If the place wasn’t booked out and we had so much as a toothbrush each I fear we would have been digging into our pockets to stay for the night. We ate our prepacked picnic (that we’d snuck in, on the off chance it was frowned upon) while imagining spending the afternoon and evening there overlooking the vast savannah, swimming in the infinity pool and being waited on by the lovely staff. Unfortunately reality kicked in, but not before we stopped to have a beer whilst savouring the amazing view. By this point we had been delayed, by luxury, for an hour and had to get a move on to get back to camp before night fall. So back in the bakkie we got and after a slight detour we were on our way (note: deciding to take the long way when you are rushed is a bit silly, but can be made worse when the long way is blocked by water and you have to go back to where you started). The return journey was further delayed by so many animals that we could never have predicted. There were lions (that we almost, and in actual fact did, drive past), tortoises, snakes, secretary birds, rhino, breeding herds of elephants and so much more.

Despite the numerous delays, both purposeful and unexpected, we managed to time a 200km drive with such precision that we drove in the gate with about 2 minutes to spare. We squeezed every last second out of the daylight and it was well worth it. Not only did we experience spectacular wildlife sightings, views vastly different to the Etosha we knew, and enjoyment out of a masterfully planned picnic (with an unexpected beer chaser) but I also got a day off - from wildebeest and driving. Now I just need more people to come and enjoy more spontaneous adventures.

**Upon my arrival the bar tender realised that whilst she knew how to mix a springbok and a giraffe she was pretty sure there wasn’t a wildebeest shot. Until then. Mixing equal parts Amarula, chili tequila and peppermint schnapps apparently gives you a wildebeest but surprisingly not a hangover.