On November 10 we arrived in Windhoek, Namibia (country #22) without...do you want to guess? Paul's luggage! We couldn't believe it either but indeed the airline (this time South African Airways who is another Star Alliance partner) lost his bag. The process was similar - file a report and call the next morning to check the status. The next morning on November 11, the tour manager of the place we were staying at (Chameleon Guest House and where we booked our tour) was nice enough to try to reach the airline while we visited N/a'an ku se, a wildlife sanctuary that was also recently visited by the Jolie-Pitt's. We had the chance to get pretty close to lions, wild dogs, leopards, baboon, caracals, and a 3-legged cheetah.
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| We were welcomed in our room by a friendly spider |
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| It's nice to know that you can't park your car outside the guest house |
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| Namibia is beautiful...on our way to Na'au kuse |
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| Where are Angelina and Brad? |
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| These lions are 25% bigger than the average lion...scary |
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| This is Wendy - she is the bigger female weighing in at around 200kg |
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| This is Nancy - she's smaller at about 190kg |
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| Get a room! |
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| Crazy being so close to these beasts |
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| Look at those teeth! |
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| Lickin' her lips |
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| Yeah, I was a little afraid |
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| I loved taking photos of Clarence |
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| He got mad at us and roared a few times...and yeah, I jumped |
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| See, he wasn't happy with us |
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| Hello |
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| Look how big their paws are! |
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| Meow |
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| He reminds me of Snagglepuss except he's not pink |
After upsetting these guys, we moved on to check out the wild dogs.
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| Aw, cute puppy |
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| These wild dogs are extremely endangered |
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| Their preferred prey is buffalo and oh, they also pee in their drinking water |
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| I don't know, this one kind of looks like Mickey Mouse to me |
The leopards were fun to take photos of. We met three of them - Umbili (male), Shakira (female, her hips don't lie), and Cleo (she had the most personality).
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| This is Umbili |
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| This is Shakira - she was saying, "Whenever, wherever" |
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| Waka Waka |
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| This is Cleo |
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| She was quite the character |
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| Beautiful kitty |
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| Then she would make faces like this |
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| But I still enjoyed taking photos of her |
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| Miss Cleo's special talent is to tell you your future |
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| Only 99 cents a minute on a toll free number! |
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| Shakira is looking relaxed |
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| We fed the cats some meat |
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| I'm hungry too |
After feeding the cats, we drove towards the baboons.
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| He just wanted to hold our hand |
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| He would be cute except he's scary |
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| Baboons have K9s bigger than a lion's |
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| This baboon was different than the others - he was watching us while chewing rocks |
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| Close up of his hands |
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| Hello Mr. Baboon |
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| Hanging around - the baboons are separated by age so that there would not be fighting between the alpha males |
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| The females are in heat and for some reason like to chew on wood |
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| This piece of wood |
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| While in heat, the buttocks of the female will get quite swollen, indicating to the males that she is ready to mate - attractive, huh? |
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| This guy again - the one who chews on rocks |
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| Oh, he's spitting something out |
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| This goat almost attacked me |
We then walked over to the caracals, a type of lynx. And guess what, we were allowed to get inside the same caged area. A little concerning but we were told they are friendly and will allow you to pet them but they have to tell you it's OK by standing next to your leg and kind of rub up against it like a house cat. I'm allergic to cats so they must have known so I was the only one who didn't get to pet them. Glad Paul got to though.
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I thought the leopard's name was Cleo but this is Cleo...but I didn't
want to rewrite my Miss Cleo jokes. |
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| Look at their funny ears |
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| Cleo, Medusa, and Yoda (the only male) |
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| Marking her territory |
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| Paul's too cool to try and pet Cleo |
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| She got close to me but didn't give me the signal it was ok to pet her |
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| They can jump up as high as 4 meters |
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| Meow |
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| Paul says she was soft |
Our last animal visit for the day was a 3-legged cheetah named Babba.
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| You can't really tell she only had 3 legs here |
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| Beautiful creature |
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| She's a little suspicious of us |
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| She got her leg caught in a trap so they had to amputate |
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| We fed her too - there she is running off with the meat |
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| mmmmmmmmm |
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| I tried to tell her that she had something on her cheek but she ignored me |
And on our ride back to the front office, we saw a few more animals. It was a really great experience and if you're in Windhoek, should take the time to go on this tour.
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| Young kudu |
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| Just when you thought there would be no more warthogs! This one looks quite athletic. |
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| Pretty |
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| This oryx was trying to hide from us but I don't think he knew his horns were sticking out |
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| Paul looks forward to eating you |
