Armed with the map drawn the previous night by Teo (he also gave the team the name of the man in charge of the park – Mr Boas Eric)team lipstick went off towards the Etosha national park of Namibia.
Leaving the main road ( the B1 ) after some 80km Lipstick took a turn to the right towards the Nehale gate ( named after King Nehale who defended this part of the world against South Africans and Germans ) marking the entrance to the Etosha pan.
Wikipedia quote:
Etosha, meaning ‘Great White Place’ is made of a large mineral pan. The area exhibits a characteristic white and greenish surface, which spreads over 4,800[1] km2. The pan developed through tectonic plate activity over about ten million years. Around 16,000 years ago, when ice sheets were melting across the land masses of the northern hemisphere, a wet climate phase in southern Africa filled Etosha Lake. Today however the Etosha Pan is mostly dry clay mud split into hexagonal shapes as it dries and cracks, and is seldom seen with even a thin sheet of water covering it.
Wikipedia unquote
Indeed the Etosha Park is the flattest area Lipstick came across its travel along the west coast of Africa and it is huge. Teo’s route was great as the team entered the park in the North West and left the park in the south east and in doing so crossed right through this natural wonder.
On entering the first animal to be seen was an elephant hiding behind some trees
Well done to those who can spot the elephant…..
Soon thereafter on the way to Namutomi the team spotted more animals
Kudus…
Giraffes….
And a lone gemsbok…. Amongst others
Just before midday the team arrived at Namutomi which is an old german Fort dating back to around 1900 when the Germans ruled this part of the world.
Team lipstick in Namutomi under the Namibian flag
And tasting some good southern African beer…….
Thereafter off following the route of Teo another stopover in Halali which was named by the old german soldiers to mark the end of the fights against the local tribes ( Halali still today is the sound of a trumpet after the end of a good hunt in Germany)
A Rhino having lunch in some distance
On the way outof to Okakuejo the team experienced road blocks of a different type not yet seen further up in Africa
Elephants highlighting the fact that left hand drive is a must in Namibia and NOT right hand drive to which the team got used since way up in Morocco.
With Lipstick still suffering from fuel starvation it was decided to head now straight to Ojwarango where Toyota apparently has a workshop.
A beautiful guesthouse was found called C’est ci bon and great it was indeed.
Again the team met another great gentlemen by the name of Tom Mukaiwa who acts as consultant for Southern African governments. He specializes on labor matters as well as renewable industries and the team promised to keep in touch with him (Johnny if you read this – Tom would love to get in touch with you and join forces with Global)
Tom’s immediate goal in life is to not wave the white flag again when playing Nkonki’s chess.
As he is also consulting governments on renewable energy projects he will soon be visiting Ikhwezi Solar in East London.
Another great day in Africa for Lipstick…