Adventures with Julia

Friday, March 27, 2026

This was a travel day. We left Shipwreck Lodge at 8:30 and spent 12 hours getting to Base Camp called Cuatir, which is a 60,000 acre conservancy in SE Angola. To start, we enjoyed 3 flights. The first flight got us out of Namibia. The second and short flight got us across the border and into Angola and the third flight got us to our rendevou with our Angola contact, Stephan van Wyk, who escorted us to our camp destination. We drove 8 hours over 95 kilometers of potholed roads full of water and mud.

We stopped at a couple of villages to meet some local people and shortly before dark we got stuck in tall, wet grass trying to get to a barge to cross the Cubango river.

We succeeded, but it was dark by the time we got on the barge and 8:30 pm by the time we got to camp.We were all utterly exhausted. Dinner was excellently prepared Oryx. We happily fell into bed at 10:30.

Saturday, March 28, 2026

We were met by Stephan’s chef, Stallin, who made us the best breakfast that we have had yet, in spite of the fact that we are so remote and the accommodations are so simple.

After breakfast we went in search of wildlife. The animals are scarce but we saw a few

Kudu, Roan, Reedbuck, giraffe and duiker. A little later on we rushed off to see a group of 15 elephant at a watering hole with a highly desirable salt lick.

We stayed for over an hour watching this wonderful sight and the elephants were so close that we were able to take in their every move, including their eyelashes, so close were they. They were very curious and spent time sniffing and nearly touching us with their trunks. Back at camp we had a delicious lunch and a relaxing afternoon.

At about 4pm we went out again to see what was around and gradually headed for Stephan’s tree house restaurant, up on a hill with a super view.

The “restaurant” was a cabin in the woods that contained a full kitchen. He had stocked it with a full bar and snacks and we happily sipped drinks and enjoyed the view. The ride back to camp was only 12 minutes, unlike the hour long ride up the hill.

Dinner was an excellently prepared springbok and we enjoyed every bite of the rare and tender meat. Later, when we stepped outdoors to head for our cabin we saw in the shadows, a group of elephants.

That got our attention. Eventually, the Elles wandered off and Stephan walked us to our cabin, just to be safe. We were in bed by 9:30.

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Up at 6:30 for a 7:30 adventure, we walked to the water hole, about 2 kilometers away, and back. We saw no animals, but had a lovely breakfast when we returned. Then we went for a short drive in search of more elephants, and found 6 new ones at the water hole.

One was very curious and checked us out, thoroughly. The others were not interested.

After lunch we enjoyed a big lightening and thunder storm followed by more than enough rain. I stayed in the camp kitchen with the crew, while the group went searching for animals. They returned with some good sightings to report. Two saddle billed storks, two fish eagles, a herd of impala, and a wart hog on the run. I was glad they had a good outing, but still happy I stayed in. Mark got no photos.

Dinner was another delicious meal of roasted chicken with couscous and green salad.

Monday, March 30, 2026

Another travel day back down the horrible road we came up a few days ago.

We hit the road at 7am and drove 41 kilometers back to the barge and crossed the river. Then we proceeded to get stuck in the tall grass again.

Stephan decided we should get back on the barge and motor up river until we came to a dryer path with no grass. Going up river took more than an hour, but we sat on the barge with our feet in the pleasantly cool river. Once off the river, we had to repeat the 10 kilometers we had just lost going up river. Stephan drove us as fast as he could manage over the potted and water logged road, but the 95 kilometers still took 4 hours of bouncing and bumping.

We arrived at the Caila airport at 3:30, packed the plane and flew to the town of Namib. The weather caused many changes. We had expected to drive to a mobile tented camp for 2 nights, but ended up staying in a hotel in Namib instead. No complaints. We had an ok meal in a 3 star hotel and a cozy bed. Meanwhile, the road to our camp was flooding and becoming impassible. All this rain in the desert is distressing everyone. Stephan is calling it the “year of water in Angola”.

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Namib is a town of a million people in SW Angola. It sits on the edge of the Southern Atlantic Ocean and is normally a relaxed desert town. In the morning we went back to the airport to fly to an island called Isla dos Tigres. It was part of our planned program, but a bit out of sequence. Like us, our pilot, Matthius, had not been there before either. All we knew was that the place had been in existence from 1850 to 1970 as a town supporting a fish packing plant. The Main Street was built to support a concrete runway.

Sometime during the 60’s the town had been cut off from the mainland by wind and rain storms and become an island. Fresh water that had flowed from a nearby river was cut off as well. A desalination plant was installed, but gradually people left the town and it was abandoned by 1970. Today it is a ghost town with a runway. The perfect spot for pilots like us to want to visit. We took lots of photos on the way and while there. My favorite building was the Portuguese Catholic Church called Saint San Martinho. Unfortunately, a bunch of Angolan military have taken up residence and are even using the church as a kitchen and storage facility. They have been in residence only a week, but Stephan thinks they will be permanent residents and destroy the place.

We flew along the coastline on the return and spotted 2 shipwrecks. We also noticed walls of sand with dark stripes along part of the beach and were told that is how the island was named “Isle dos Tigres”.

Back at the airport, we said good bye to Matthius, who was flying the plane back to Windhoek. We were back to ground pounding.

Stephen, Claire, Mark and I went to a very casual restaurant on the beach for dinner and happily munched on juicy, fresh crab. That was followed by some local fish and lots of beer. We have agreed to be up by 5am for tomorrow’s adventure so to bed early it is.