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-   -   Weekend at the Omaruru wildlife lodge (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=33074)

chrisinhouston 10-02-2017 02:14 AM

Weekend at the Omaruru wildlife lodge
 
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Over the weekend we went a private game lodge within decent driving distance to Swakopmund. Etosha National Park where my wife and I went on our last trip is 6 hours each way, this lodge was only 3. We took 2 of my wife's co-workers from the states who have never have been on game drives in Afriaca.

Private lodges operated differently than large parks, there is less land for the animals so more management of herds. And this is the end of the long dry season so they supplement their diet a bit with hay or other food sources and have ample water pumped from the ground as streams and rivers are dry now. They also have some orphaned animals or ones taken from illegal canned hunt operations that can not be released back into total wilderness as they can not properly fend for themselves.

That being said this place had a bit of a feel of a zoo but a very open one, at least around the lodge and rooms with only a meter high wall separating us from the animals. Some were leery, others were accustomed to humans. 2 that were especially habituated were a young giraffe found after it's mother was killed in the bush and a huge male black rhino who had broken his horn and after it was infected it healed badly and would be in danger if it was left on it's own. He especially liked having his thick hide scratched!

We did a 3 hour game drive that included a visit with a small family of elephants, 2 adult females, 2 younger "teenagers", and one young male who was only 2 years old. The male was quite curious and would come to our open truck to sniff around and inspect things which sort of freaked out my wife who got slimmed by the end of his trunk.

Here are a few snaps.

chrisinhouston 10-02-2017 02:17 AM

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The small bull was rather cheeky, he would come over and slime whomever was on his side of the truck, the guide would shoe him away and he would turn his head almost with a laugh and trot back to the others.

When they had eaten enough of the hay they wandered off.

chrisinhouston 10-02-2017 02:24 AM

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The lodge had a nice patio for sitting and having a cold drink and watching the animals come and go. The elephants are not in this area as they would be a bit too much for the small barriers, they were in a very large fenced off section of the property. But in the lodge area any of the animals could wander in and have a drink in the large waterhole. Most of the day you would see ostriches, zebra, giraffes and lots of birds. Later as sundown approached the bovines would appear, waterbuck, eiland, besbock, heartbeast, springbok and wildebeest. Also the female rhino would come see the male who hung out in camp a lot.

chrisinhouston 10-02-2017 02:30 AM

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A few more showing my wife and her coworkers up close with the animals.

chrisinhouston 10-02-2017 02:42 AM

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One last set of images... The park does have a cheetah and leopard. The leopard had become a nuisance predator for farm stock so the government captured her and relocated here, otherwise they would probably be shot by the farmers. The cheetah was separated from her mother so would have died in the bush.

They have huge fenced enclosures that give them room to run but they are fed as they can no longer hunt.

The lodge also had a large enclosure for 2 hippos which are not normally found in this dry area of Namibia. They had a huge pool to swim and stay i. The female was quite docile but the male snorted and splashed about a lot.

The lodge leaves some spotlights on the waterhole all night so you can see animals come and go.

All in all a fun and relaxing weekend. We had a great dinner on Saturday night and had grilled oryx steaks and were treated to a big thunder storm with lightning and a power outage. After the storm we all sat out on our patio watching the animals and flashes of lightening in the distance and then the power returned so we went to bed. The next morning we had a nice breakfast and checked out. The whole bill for my wife and I for the weekend was about $250!

xoxoxoBruce 10-02-2017 02:45 AM

Wow, outstanding, thanks.:thumb:

fargon 10-03-2017 04:47 PM

It looks like a good time was had by all.


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