Camping in Namibia

Tsumeb is a two-day drive from Namwianga, so we camped along the way. Nambwa, the campground where we stayed, is part of a conservation effort in the Bwabwata National Park. Nambwa is called a 4 x 4 campground, which means it is accessible only by 4-wheel drive vehicle. In fact, it was 45 minutes of 4-wheeling to get to it from the main road. Our site was right on the Kwando river, and we could hear the hippos and all kinds of other critters during the night.

We had just finished eating dinner and were enjoying the sounds of the river when we heard some crashing in the bushes around our secluded camp site. We couldn't see anything in the darkness, so we reassured ourselves that it was probably just a warthog. The noise stopped after a few minutes, so we walked up to the shower house. On the way back, we heard the bushes rustling again. David shone the flashlight into the woods and the beam caught the glint of an elephant's trunk through the leaves. We very quickly and quietly scooted for the tent where we could safely look through the mesh and watch the elephants feeding in the brush just 15 yards away from us!

The next morning we talked to a guy who was staying at the campsite next to ours. He too had seen the elephants, but he'd had an even more exciting encounter. He had gotten up at 3 a.m. to go to the restroom, and on his way back had seen two lions and four hyenas!

The director of the campground told us they had never had any problems with the animals harming the campers, but he did tell us not to walk outside the tent when the elephants were grazing. We were happy to comply.