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ImageArt’s Project 365 - 2022

Mon 8 Aug

Namibia Day 3 - A short journey to Luderitz

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We are lucky to see a group of wild horses by the side of the road on our way to the harbour town of Luderitz. Normally you don’t get so close.
 
Luderitz

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Luderitz feels like a pretty sad town. The buildings are in an old German style (Namibia was annexed by Germany during the colonisation of Africa and the land grab) and many look quite shabby. Most of Namibia is still very German and lots of people speak this language.

Speaking to our waitress in the evening, it’s clear that Namibia was badly affected by the lack of tourism during Covid. The country relies heavily on tourists and people were flocking there before.

This is the area where diamonds were discovered in 1908. They are still mined in these very protected areas north of Luderitz but the many mining towns that sprang up in the area are long gone or ghost towns, one of which we are going to see tomorrow! An exciting photo opportunity!
 
ImageArt said:
On our way to Aus, I see an ostrich caught in a fence. We turn back and at first glance it looks like the bird is well dead but as we are pulling away it struggles and we realise it is very much alive so we stop. The poor creature got it’s foot tightly stuck in the wire at the top of the fence while it was trying to get over. It’s mate, on the other side, has run off although I didn’t see this. We flag down a lorry driver to see if he has any wire cutters. Our friend gives the bird a long drink of water (picture 1) and I then cover the bird’s head to keep it subdued (picture 2) so that the lorry driver can free the foot using a hammer. My sister and I then turn the bird away from the fence to free both legs and move away quickly to avoid the legs while our friend takes away the ’blindfold’. The poor bird tries to stand up once but sits down panting. I think it was pretty exhausted and shocked. We left it there hoping it wouldn’t try and leap the fence again and we contacted someone at the next town who apparently got hold of the local farmer.

I was so concerned about helping the bird, I didn’t even think of taking a photo but here are stills from a video my sister took on her iPhone 8.

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What an adventure! And good for you guys for helping the poor thing out.
 
ImageArt said:
On our way to Aus, I see an ostrich caught in a fence. We turn back and at first glance it looks like the bird is well dead but as we are pulling away it struggles and we realise it is very much alive so we stop. The poor creature got it’s foot tightly stuck in the wire at the top of the fence while it was trying to get over. It’s mate, on the other side, has run off although I didn’t see this. We flag down a lorry driver to see if he has any wire cutters. Our friend gives the bird a long drink of water (picture 1) and I then cover the bird’s head to keep it subdued (picture 2) so that the lorry driver can free the foot using a hammer. My sister and I then turn the bird away from the fence to free both legs and move away quickly to avoid the legs while our friend takes away the ’blindfold’. The poor bird tries to stand up once but sits down panting. I think it was pretty exhausted and shocked. We left it there hoping it wouldn’t try and leap the fence again and we contacted someone at the next town who apparently got hold of the local farmer.

I was so concerned about helping the bird, I didn’t even think of taking a photo but here are stills from a video my sister took on her iPhone 8.

View attachment 184247
Click to expand...
OMG!!!! What a drama. Just what you need when you’re journeying. Well done for stopping and helping.:hearteyes: Let’s hope it survives.
 
Wed 11 Aug

Namibia Day 5 - Road to Sossusvlei

OMG, what a smorgasbord of delights today just driving in the car (8 hours on the road). The views were just so spectacular but photographs just don’t do them justice. Lots of birds and animals but too far away most of the time to get decent shots.

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ImageArt said:
Sun 7 Aug

Namibia Day 2 - Aus

Apart from the vast bare plains and mountainous landscape, which makes up a lot of Namibia, Aus is famous for it’s wild horses and walking trails. We went for a short hike to the top of a small rocky hill to look down on the plains where the wild horses roam.

If you zoom in on this first image you will see one horse on the right edge of the photo about half way up.

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The scale of the landscape is quite something.
 
Fri 12 Aug

Namibia Day 7 - the drive to Swakopmund

Oh dear, I have my day date numbering all wrong but the day is right.

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A 5 hour drive today with such varied scenery. This was particularly different and impressive.

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And then outside Walvis Bay for about an hour’s drive, absolute flat nothing with just the occasional car passing us. The dirty sky is due to the windscreen. A video still.
 
Sun 14 Aug

Namibia Day 9 - Kayaking with Seals in Walvis Bay

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Me in the middle.

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This little seal came up and tried to bite my sister. She nearly died of fright. It was just being playful but it hounded us for a good 5 minutes. Tried to grab my phone so my sister was keen to get back to shore but once we moved away from the group it let us be.
 
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Mon 15 Aug

Namibia Day 10 - Quiver Forest and Puncture.

We are now on our way back to SA. We had congratulated ourselves on not getting a puncture because it’s pretty much standard you will get one and low and behold we got one. Fortunately we stopped in Helmeringhausen to have coffee and noticed the back tyre was really low. It was a slow puncture but there was an excellent small garage there and they took off the tyre and repaired it. Very lucky even though we knew how to do it ourselves.

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Quiver Tree Forest.

Due to our puncture we only just got there in time before the sun went down. Fabulous light but a bit rushed.

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Shadow Selfie
 
ImageArt said:
Mon 15 Aug

Namibia Day 10 - Quiver Forest and Puncture.

We are now on our way back to SA. We had congratulated ourselves on not getting a puncture because it’s pretty much standard you will get one and low and behold we got one. Fortunately we stopped in Helmeringhausen to have coffee and noticed the back tyre was really low. It was a slow puncture but there was an excellent small garage there and they took off the tyre and repaired it. Very lucky even though we knew how to do it ourselves.

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Quiver Tree Forest.

Due to our puncture we only just got there in time before the sun went down. Fabulous light but a bit rushed.

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Shadow Selfie
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I. Love. Those. Trees.
:hearteyes:
 
ImageArt said:
Sun 14 Aug

Namibia Day 9 - Kayaking with Seals in Walvis Bay

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Me in the middle.

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This little seal came up and tried to bite my sister. She nearly died of fright. It was just being playful but it hounded us for a good 5 minutes. Tried to grab my phone so my sister was keen to get back to shore but once we moved away from the group it let us be.
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Wow, what an adventure. We have plenty of seals in Scandinavia but sadly enough I have never seen any except for in zoos.
 
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