Guest Post by Jennifer Leigh Warner

After postponing our Namibia Photo Tour for two years due to the global pandemic 2022 was finally the year to make it happen and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

Our group arrived in Namibia after their long journey half way across the world eager to get their long awaited photo adventure underway. Our first stop was at the Galton House in the Capital city of Windhoek. After some down time and a much needed nap we were treated to a fabulous dinner and a meet and great with our guide and naturalist Alpha.

Our first travel day took us to the Dead Valley Lodge where we would be heading out to the Red Sand Dunes in Sossusvlei. As we traveled to get to our lodge we came across large bird nests, home to the sociable weaver which is a species of bird in the weaver family that is endemic to southern Africa. We also found a puff adder which is a venomous viper and a family of ground squirrels.

Once we arrived at our tented camp in the Dead Valley Lodge we headed out for a sundowner trip and photographed the beautiful sunset.

Before the sun rose we were off to see the sand dunes. We wanted to arrive at the Deadvlei which is a white clay pan located near the more famous salt pan of Sossusvlei, inside the Namib-Naukluft Park before the sun rose over the dunes and lite up the trees. With the dramatic contrast of the trees and the red dunes it makes for incredible landscapes. As we had our picnic lunch we were visited by a curious black-backed jackal. I lay down in the sand to photograph the jackal and got this dynamic image of him. As we traveled around the dunes we found other wildlife such as oryx and Ostriches.

Next we headed to the coastal town of Swakopmund, which is German coastal resort town and is home to the cape fur seal as well as over 150,000 different bird species. As you travel up the Skelton Coast you can see shipwrecks.

We continued our journey to Etosha National Park. As we traveled through the country to get there we found the very elusive Desert Adapted Elephants. As we got to Etosha our wildlife sightings began to soar. We found Zebras, Giraffes, Lilac Breasted Rollers, Mongoose, Elephants, Rhino and so much more. We could have driven around looking for wildlife there for the rest of our lives. Our highlight was seeing a pair of wild cheetahs come into our camp and drink from the watering hole at sunrise.

After two short days in Etosha National Park we headed to the Cheetah Conservation Fund. This location was extra special to us as both I and Alexa have worked for CCF over the years. We spent two days getting to experience all that CCF has to offer in the way of Cheetah conservation.

Our last stop of our journey was Erindi Private Nature Preserve. This location was particularly interesting as it is one of the locations that the Cheetah Conservation Fund releases the cheetahs that are released back into the wild. We were fortunate to see two cheetahs that were the offspring of a female that had been released many years ago. At this location we finally found the lions, which not only included several males but also three cubs as well. We were also able to photograph African Wild Dogs.

We had the most amazing journey through Namibia and it was well worth the wait, but the best part was the incredible people who made it happen. Thank you Holbrook for making this trip a success, thank you Alpha for your incredible knowledge and safely getting us to all the best places to see the most incredible things and of course thank you to Linda, Alexa, Cheryl and Sally for being the best travel companions. We hope to do this trip again soon.

Learn how you can join us on our next photo adventure at: https://www.experiencewildlife.com/workshops-tours