Shamvura
Next morning was an early hike up the mountain side where we fortunately eventually got good shots of the rockrunner and managed to at least see thebefore having to almost run back to get to the camp restaurant for breakfast – which was great!! Then it was back to packing the car (which is getting tiring to say the least) and a long dirt road trip to start off our trip to Shamvura. Quite interesting going through various cattle enclosures, glad Trevor took it upon himself to jump out and open and close all those gates.
A few more traffic control points to stop at on route. And the trip time was also extended a bit by having to drop speed to 90km/h everytime we went through a “little town” – there must be about 8 or 10 of these leading up to Rundu, quite quaint little settlements with clusters of about 4 to 6 reed huts enclosed by fences made either from tree stumps or more reeds – some even had patterns of various yellows and browns running through them. There are also lots of local crafts being sold on the sides of the road, and at a better price here than in the stores or other markets.
Shamvura was an experience for us brick and mortar people – we each had a tented camp, ours with the bathroom about 5 metres away from the tent!! I always wondered what it would be like to shower in the bush! They have a sign in the bathroom warning of the presence of mice and gecko’s, but really the closest we came to see one at our tent was at about 5am (still pitch dark inside) when “something” tried stealing an empty packet of niknaks out of our tent through a gap on the side. Of course this was quite mild compared to the snake outside Trevor and Mags’ tent (or the one that was found 2 weeks prior in the shower)
The best thing about Shamvura has to be the Otter – a Cape Clawless Otter – known as Otty!! Wow, how cool is that to have an otter as a pet – he even sleeps in their bed and baths with them. Of course I did get out of the pool when Otty got in, just in case and we sat on the side while he tried biting our fingers and toes. He is really a cool dude and so playful and soft – except for those teeth! Then too they have a goat – named Goaty – how original! This too is a friendly pet, however just watch out for those horns. So it’s rather amusing watching their dogs, otter and goat play together. Oh yes and they have a horse roaming around – no, his name is actually not horsey.
Shamvura