Day 11: July 4, Namibia safari

I've mentioned that we're touring around Mudumu National Park: But within the parks, and the surrounding areas, there are what's called "communities." These communities are responsible for the wildlife management of their areas of the parks, and most of them are arrangements between the government and the local tribes who were (usually) kicked off their lands. When they are looking to create a park, usually there are several villages that are displaced. In return for moving off the property, the villagers are offered perks (like solar panels for electricity, etc.) and are at times, given the professional responsibility of maintaining the areas as wildlife rangers and keeping them safe as animal sanctuaries, or whatever.
I say "whatever" because not all of the allocated land areas are necessarily for wildlife viewing only. Some are for touring, safaris, and research (like the areas we're visiting) and some are set aside for hunting. You can hunt many things in Southern Africa, including elephants, lions, zebras, any of the various antelopes, etc etc. There are several factors regulating hunting and they are required to follow the rules and regulations of the countries they are in, which include adhering to hunting seasons and hours (i.e. no "spotlight" hunting is allowed), using certain caliber weapons, etc.

Hunting is also quite expensive: A permit to hunt an elephant, for example, costs at least $15,000, and requires a minimal stay at a hunting lodge of 18-21 days, costing usually $1,000-$1,200 per night (and even if they kill your prey on day #2, they are required to pay for the entire bulk of those 18-21 days.) Hunters are also required to hire a professional hunting guide who will accompany them on your hunting excursions (they help track the animal they are hunting, and make sure they're following the rules. They'll also save their butts if they are a bad shot and the animal is about to kill you.)

While animal activists are up in arms about the hunting, the countries of southern Africa see it as a multi-level blessing. First, it brings in much-needed income to these poor countries, and the funding usually filtered into wildlife management areas. Second, by controlling the hunting, it avoids the need to cull overpopulation by simply going out and shooting masses of them. Third, when a hunter is successful, the trophy (usually the head or the pelt) is given to the hunter, but the meat and other parts are given to the local people to help feed them. Needless to say, the hunting areas are clearly marked, and no tourists are allowed in those areas.

Anyway, back to our non-homicidal journey... This morning was freezing cold - the coldest it's been since Pafuri - and we looked like a bunch of Eskimos all bundled up on our truck. The drive, however, was beautiful, and we saw a herd of roan antelope: Our guide, Victor, and Priscilla were very excited about spotting these animals. They are extremely rare and apparently quite shy, usually running from vehicles before they're even spotted. They are rarely found in groups as big as the one we saw, so once again, our reputation as a lucky group is holding. These roan seemed quite relaxed around us, surprisingly. I have to admit, though, for all the awe I was supposed to be feeling about seeing these magnificent animals, I personally think they look absolutely ridiculous.
I mean really - was it a joke to stick donkey ears on such a regal animal as this? And couldn't they have at least gotten some decent-sized horns so they could kick the butts of other antelopes that are undoubtedly laughing at their donkey ears? Okay, okay... in the interest of giving them a fair shake, here's a perfectly gorgeous pose that one of them struck for us... right in the middle of the main road:
We also stopped at the wildlife management office, where we played "name that skull" with our guide, Victor. Here, he's holding a zebra skull:
More buffalo:
We also saw:
- Double-banded Sandgrouse
- Zebra
- Warthogs
- Slender Mongoose
- Blacksmith Plover (gorgeous birds - one of my favorites)
- Wattled Plover
- Coppery-tailed Coucal
- Impala (of course)

The evening boat cruise was wonderful... as you can see below, the reeds on the riverbank can grow up to about 20 feet high, so there were times that it seemed that we were completely encased in foliage. Pretty cool. Baboons playing in trees again:
Ever feel like you're being watched?
Here's a better show of some hippo teeth... Wow. All I can say is thank goodness these guys are vegetarians.
We also saw elephants, and another Coppery-tailed Coucal.

The sunset was - once again - totally gorgeous. We stopped to watch it alongside some baboons who were trying to soak up some of the last of the sun's warmth:
It made for quite a nice little photo:
The sunset... I couldn't figure out which photo I liked best, so I'll put both of them up:
Here is the other boat, as we dash home after the sun sets.
And here is the last photo I took that night because I went blind about two minutes later.

You see, the reason we dash home after the sun sets is because that's when all the bugs come out. And when I say "all", I mean plagues of them... billions of them. The mosquitoes are nothing compared to the little gnat guys that suddenly appeared everywhere. I felt them in my hair, on my neck, on my cheeks, and started at one point feeling them crawl into my ears and breathing them up my nose. At one point, I looked down at my bag on my lap, and the surface looked as though it was alive - it was literally crawling with millions of them. I got a few in my eye, even though I was wearing my sunglasses, and eventually wrapped my scarf around my whole face to keep more out of my eyes and nose. (Thank goodness for contact-lens-wearing travel mates, who gave me some saline to wash out the bugs that night - thank you Pam!!!) Later, I even found several had flown down into my bra. Ew. I can't imagine how bad it is during the "heavy bug" season!!! I took a long shower before I went to bed.

Dinner was - as usual - fabulous, and the staff at the lodge sang "Happy Birthday to America" for us and gave us champagne to celebrate Independence Day. Cool.