Namibia. The Africa you have to see!

there are certain stereotypes associated with the countries that are located below egypt on the map poverty infections crime bad roads etc and obviously these are real issues but in reality there's also an africa that is safe civil without malaria and most importantly it is beautiful and right now we are in exactly such a place my friends welcome to namibia [Music] to kick things off let's take a look at a map to get a better idea of where exactly we are namibia is located in the southwest of africa near south africa it is one of the least populated countries in the world and judging by this map it may seem like this place is tiny but in reality that couldn't be farther from the truth namibia is a vast country with huge distances between cities one of the main difficulties in navigating namibia is that less than 10 percent of the roads are asphalt the rest are either gravel or straight up off-road which is why you need a special vehicle to travel across it [Music] suvs are the best means of travel here something like a toyota hilux for example these are very popular here and ours is a full-fledged camper it has big tires and crazy off-road capabilities it also has a 140 liter double gas tank good for a 1200 kilometer range there's also some square thing on the roof we'll explore that later but the best feature of all is how much equipment this thing carries that's worth a whole other conversation too what's great is this suv comes with all sorts of little knick-knacks it's packed to the brink with a whole host of things that will help you to stay alive in the desert we have a fridge that is powered by an auxiliary battery all the cutlery and dishes you will ever need a gas tank a water canister and last but not least two spare wheels just in case the best parts is that these guys even teach you how to change the wheels because there's no one to help you in the middle of a desert and it's not like you can call anyone either once the training is done you fill out the paperwork and pay the rental i've decided to stock up on food and of course water which we'll need a lot of now we're ready to go oops i forgot to mention that in namibia you drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side which is why you may be getting into the passenger seat in the first few days and you'll probably be putting the wipers on every time you want to use the blinkers but you get used to it eventually if you're sick of traffic and people for that matter and just want to drive for pleasure then namibia is for you it's all about vast distances and empty roads i mean you can drive for over 40 minutes and not see a single car also this is a country with a very small population in fact it is second only after mongolia in terms of population density second from the end of the list that is namibia is larger than turkey and even so its population is only about two and a half million people the population density here is two and a half people per one square kilometer in comparison singapore has over seven thousand people per one square kilometer this is the best place for coronavirus social distancing right we'll spend the next two weeks on the road and i've planned quite an extensive trip so that we can see the most of what namibia has to offer i hope that this episode will turn into a good old-fashioned travel vlog where i kind of broadcast to you everything i see the first thing you notice on namibian roads are the fences on both sides of the road they span over miles and are pretty much there wherever you go most of the country is occupied by farms so in addition to setting boundary lines these fences also protect animals from reaching the road and this place is full of them you can practically study the local fauna just by the road signs and animals are really everywhere here shortly after taking off i came across a group of baboons which were causing a ruckus right in front of me by the way animals are one of the main reasons why you shouldn't drive at night here bottom line is that everything that surrounds you here is a little different than what your eyes are used to and one thing becomes apparent from the get-go this is africa [Music] since i was really tired after my flight i could only do 300 kilometers on the first day and then i checked into the hotel but nevertheless i got a glimpse of my first african sunset [Music] this is my first sunset in namibia and it is unreal i can't even imagine what's next but now i need to take a short break just to tell you guys about uh today's sponsor nordvpn by the way this is not namibia i'm in uh norway right now you can see the fjords up there you can also switch between countries with one click to install the nordvpn every time you provide your credit card details order tickets or connect to wi-fi public network someone can steal your data but you can protect all your online activities with nordvpn technically it replaces your ip address with an ip from some server in the country of your choice to learn more follow the link in the description and get four months free when you buy a two-year subscription there are more different discounts everything is down there now it's time to head back to namibia the next morning i took off early before the sunrise and now i want to tell you a little bit about what traveling across namibia is all about to me it's about the road and believe me this is exactly what i love driving is like a meditation to me and regardless of how tired i was last night i started to feel rejuvenated as i left early in the morning and drove through places i'd never seen before seeing the sunrise unfold upon me it was like hitting a reset button and with every new kilometer everyday problems became simply irrelevant you just hold the wheel as your thoughts take you away oh and since namibia is all about long distances with not much else going on around it's an ideal place for this so-called automotive meditation you drive and relax alright here's a story for you i checked into the hotel yesterday and went downstairs for dinner and then i started to realize that people around me were speaking a language i'd never heard before it was a language that didn't sound anything like i had heard just listen fascinating the language is called namo and many of the people speak it here it's part of a very rare language group specific to this region in some places in tanzania and instead of familiar sounding consonants they make these unique clicking sounds you won't find it anywhere else in the world i expected this from some tribes but not all across namibia especially in the north they speak this language everywhere at gas stations in restaurants hotels amazing there are roughly 30 languages spoken in namibia and they are all pretty unique this is why to understand each other people from different regions of the country need to find a common language and wouldn't you know it there is one what's your native language but you speak together on english english english africans the first common language is afrikaans live is 90 dutch the second most common language is english it carries an official status here which makes namibia much easier to navigate for a foreigner since everyone speaks english [Music] in the meantime we reached the first milestone of our trip the quiver tree forest the bushman ancestors used to make arrow quivers out of them hence the name everything is so simple quiver trees look pretty alien and the most interesting fact about them is that these are not actually trees but rather aloe plants [Music] and another thing i should mention about this forest are these giant nests looking more like bird dorms the most interesting thing is that all these bird dorms are constructed by tiny weaver birds you can see these huge nests all over namibia see this nest here it's not even the biggest one the nest can reach eight meters in length and contain up to 500 individual nests which in turn house hundreds of birds at once all right enough with the ornithology let's get back on the main gravel road i know it sounds a little bit treacherous but the roads here aren't all that bad let's take a second to talk about the different types of road in namibia so check this out right now we're driving on a gravel road and the camera isn't even shaking plus you can do over 100 kilometers an hour on it which is 60 miles per hour as if it were a german autobahn i wish we had gravel roads like these back at home here in namibia asphalt is something you should just forget about and try to get used to the thought that ninety percent of your time you're going to be driving on roads like these and actually these gravel roads are taken care of and leveled by graters which makes for a pretty comfy ride the only disadvantage is the dust that envelops you from the oncoming traffic and blocks your view for a few seconds and you can't see a thing that's why the speed limit is set to 80 kilometers an hour and this is monitored by the car itself there's an alarm in the car that starts beeping every time you go over the speed limit right now we're doing a hundred kilometers an hour and it starts to beep it's like it says dude slow down which is really great actually because it kind of snaps you back to reality when you start daydreaming leaving the kalahari desert behind one of the two deserts on our route we edge closer to the south which brings me to the next checkpoint a place that you don't want to miss in namibia [Music] meet the largest canyon in africa and according to some sources the second largest in the world this canyon spans over 160 kilometers in length reaching over 500 meters in depth this is the trail that takes you to the bottom of it but because of flash floods and extreme heat that can reach up to 50 degrees celsius in the summer trail passes are only given out during the african winter which is from may to september as you may have experienced canyons are often compared to the grand canyon in arizona sometimes these types of comparisons don't seem fitting but in this case i actually really do see many similarities the horseshoe bent for example greatly resembles the one at the grand canyon you'll never forget the first time you see the grand canyon at least that's how it was for me this one is arguably perhaps not quite as jaw-dropping but the fact that it exists here in namibia is quite impressive all in all fish river canyon is a great place even though i had to deviate from my route and spend half a day getting here that's why i didn't bother with the hotel i enjoyed these quiver trees so much that they made me want to stay here for the night and it's about time i show you what the rack on the roof is for this box transforms into a tent that fits too it's like a transportable house that you always carry with you which makes it possible to stay the night almost anywhere this is really convenient for a trip like this i love this thing it only took seven minutes to put up i really hope it's comfortable to sleep in the place of it being on the roof is that you don't get stomped on by an elephant at night since there are a lot of wild animals here in africa it's safer to sleep on the roof of your car a little later in the evening i was greeted by a majestic african sunset nestled in the quiver tree forest your feet [Music] there's no turning back now this love has just begun so sure of anything i hope you didn't think i was going to go straight to bed at a place like this of course i can't this area is a very well known location for astrophotography workshops it's not as packed these days due to covid the stuff you see out here is mind-blowing and once again we'll attempt to take some pictures of the starry sky and this time i have a good feeling about it let's go i know i know you guys are probably tired of my astro photography adventures but i simply can't pass on it this time and i've located just the right spot with a quiver tree i think it's exactly what i need a few settings later we take the first pick it came out a little dark since the actual tree wasn't lit up but i managed to come up with a quick workaround i'm not trying to brag but this might be the best night sky picture i've ever taken i'm proud of myself guys it's the first time i managed to capture such a bright milky way it was a small victory [Music] it did get a little chilly at night but sleeping in a tent with a flat floor is pure bliss and i mean just look at this morning and at these colors so dope [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] in summation the quiver tree forest is a top tier location and you absolutely have to spend the night here if you ever come to namibia then i paid a visit to a gas station which took a lot of time given how big the 140 liter gas tanks are i probably even should have planned ahead for it [Applause] [Music] let's go on with our travels heading towards the coast in the west part of the country i'm tempted to describe these landscapes as alien or martian but that feels a little cliche just trust me it's an extremely beautiful place where you're taking in all sorts of amazing sights all around you 24 7. about 300 kilometers later we reached the border of the namib desert which is where you start seeing partially demolished houses beside the road they look absolutely surreal amidst the sandy landscape like this deserted railway station for example [Music] these places are currently being tended to but if it stops everything will quickly turn into sand dunes [Music] on this section of the road we can clearly see how the desert is moving the 80 kilometer an hour speed limit kind of tells us that it's not the safest of places to drive on given how sandy the road gets at times the desert never stops trying to take back the territory that we humans take and sometimes it succeeds at it the best example of this is the deserted city of kulmanskop it's the most famous ghost town in namibia [Music] and it just so happens that i was the last visitor of the city on that day and all the staff were gone too [Music] coleman scope was built at the beginning of the last century in the days of the namibian diamond rush it had a population of a thousand there was a school a restaurant a library and even a concert hall then the mining ended people started to leave back in 1956 this place became fully deserted and turned into a ghost town honestly kind of feels like i'm in a playstation game and [Music] my mission is to pass a deserted town i'm getting goosebumps right now [Music] oh yeah and most of the doors are still open it feels super creepy in here the wind rocks the structures and you constantly have this feeling that you're not alone we know it's only the wind though because i'm the only one in the town it feels super weird man once the people left the town became prey to the desert and sandstorms that happen quite often here as a result the sand is everywhere even though the town has already been cleared many times for tourists in most cases the sand goes all the way up to the roofs but there are some surviving structures as well [Music] similar to prepeat coleman scop shows how mother nature takes its belongings back after the people leave then again some of this town has survived the test of time even today some of the houses still showcase how wealthy and prosperous they had once been being part of a desert coleman scop is incredibly picturesque and if you come at the right time the sun sand and shadows turn it into an unimaginable and absolutely surreal painting [Music] it may sound a little strange but i love visiting deserted places like this and coleman scope is now part of my list next to fukushima and chernobyl nearby this ghost town there's a lively little town called luderetz with a population of 20 000 situated on the atlantic coast of namibia the surprising architecture with its colored houses makes you feel as if you were somewhere in bavaria definitely not namibia so namibia is an ex-german colony and traces of the german culture are all over the country moreover seven percent of the namibian population which is roughly 150 000 people are the white namibians of european origin the descendants of german dutch and british colonists it seems as though many people of that ethnic background live here they often live in the richer neighborhoods with high fences and live wire however all things considered namibia is a very safe place and the locals themselves told me that south africa is much more dangerous which says a lot all in all the country is very civilized full of nice people great restaurants and as of late is becoming quite a tourist attraction which once again makes it worth visiting let's get back to the city for now there's something very special about looterance and as surprising as it may sound penguins live here too a few kilometers from the desert okay so the bad news is that there are no penguins i mean right now but still here in luderitz on the penguin island it's possible to meet african penguins that's the way it is guys yep penguins live in namibia too not today though the next morning i hit the road once again and left the asphalt behind [Music] we have a 500 kilometer off-road stretch in front of us and it's where the fun really begins first off the landscape started to change also i began to really start seeing some unexpected stuff guys look at this you see those watermelons they're practically growing right next to the road crazy right just hanging out in the middle of a desert about seven hours later we reached our destination guys we are finally here welcome to the oldest desert on planet earth the nameb desert is over 80 million years old and it was here even in the days of the jurassic period i didn't find any dinosaurs but there were other animals like this herd of oryx so they made up for it they can be distinguished by the sharp and very long horns that can get up to one and a half meters in length oryx are very unassuming animals and they can survive without water for long periods of time getting their water from food and because of their stamina they are even part of the namibian national crest however it's not just antelopes that live in the namib desert zebras do too [Music] all right i'll obviously be seeing these guys a lot during the trip and we'll probably get kind of used to them but this first time is a moment of pure magic i mean you're just driving along and then you see them so close like 70 meters away and in the wilds so cool as predicted later on i saw hundreds of them but it was my first encounter with these striped cuties by complete accident in the desert that became truly memorable now let me introduce you to the surrounding area this is the suzu's flay plateau renowned for its red sand dunes which are the largest in the world [Music] and i've gotta say they are absolutely hypnotic apparently they contain lots of iron that is oxidized for thousands of years and it is this that gives these dunes such deep dark colors i'd love to go to the top of one but it's currently four o'clock and this place is boiling probably best to do it in the morning but there are other interesting spots here too [Music] like this esrium canyon it's not as large as the fish river canyon but it's still one of the main attractions in the region really beautiful place of course but i think kamikaze will really open it up to us [Music] the canyon is narrow at times it is just two meters in width but its origins are what really are truly impressive this place has been carved out by the sushab river for over two million years and the reason why you don't see the river right now is because it only forms when it rains becoming deep with a strong current in a matter of minutes and it's thanks to this river that even during the dry season animals can still find water reservoirs at the bottom of the canyon the second interesting site is known as fairy circles and as the name suggests it is chock full of circles on the ground there aren't that many of them in suzu's flay but namibia is full of fields that are covered with such circles from the air it looks like the aftermath of a carpet bombing but again it's just circles on the ground i can't tell you why this is happening because even the scientists don't have a clue there are a couple of different theories as to the origin of these circles the first theory is that these circles are formed by plants fighting for water in the dry climate the other hypothesis is that the circles are formed by termites there isn't any agreed-upon explanation and so the circles continue to remain very like i decided to spend the night at the cesarean campground and it's definitely not your usual camping site there are wildebeests walking around like they own the place to be precise they are blue wildebeests which are quite common in namibia i also met the south african family that drove down in their modified toyota land cruiser this car packs everything you need for comfortable travel including solar panels on the roof and even a washing machine in the back so my new friends have just told me that this is their washing machine i didn't believe it apparently you put your clothes in add water and washing powder and it all mixes and washes while you were driving on these roads this is pure genius and this is how my night ended all right it's 6 a.m and i'm in line to enter the souza national park we're on our way to see the most well-known site in the country [Music] all right next is the most difficult part of the trail it's only five kilometers long but the odds of getting stuck in the sand are pretty high we could take a shuttle bus that arrives in an hour or we could try to do it ourselves which is exactly what we're gonna do so prepare for the unpredictable guys most people lower their tire pressure but i decided to stick to the 4x4 mode and shortly after driving off it became apparent that i screwed up the sand is really deep here which makes the car impossible to drive the most important thing is to never stop moving because that's when you get stuck yep the look on my face describes the drive perfectly but i managed to get through that was cool but don't even think about coming here without a 4x4 you'll get stuck for sure [Music] and now to the namib dunes they span many miles towards the atlantic ocean and at sunrise they don't just look pretty they're drop dead gorgeous [Music] the mixture of early morning light in the light and dark shadow draw absolutely stunning gradients and it is definitely worth witnessing [Music] everything seems so tiny compared to these huge dunes the people even cars the largest dune is over 380 meters high and below it lies the most renowned site of namibia [Music] deadly literally means dead swamp it's a small clay plateau with dozens of dead trees on it these are acacia trees and according to some sources they have been here for thousands of years [Music] there was a river here a long time ago the same river that created the canyon we saw earlier that's how the trees used to get water until the dunes which are constantly shifting changed the flow of the water and left the trees to bake under the blazing sun this ground hasn't seen water for years and now it looks more like pavers and it's because of the dry climate that the trees didn't rot but dried out instead i haven't seen anything like this before deadplay is incredibly unique it's best to come here at sunrise when the shade from the nearby dune slowly uncovers the plateau it's in this moment that the valley and all its fantastic mixture of colors makes it feel like we're on a different planet [Music] honestly i didn't expect this place to be so jaw-dropping it's part of every namibian brochure which usually means it's not going to be that great and you might get disappointed but with deadplay the opposite happened this place is seriously giving me goosebumps i saw another interesting local animal on my way back it's the springbok antelope also known as jumper antelopes they can jump up to three meters high reaching speeds of 90 kilometers an hour they are really quick remember when i said that some namibian roads are in the middle of nowhere i was talking about roads like this highway it's pretty empty in all directions but just like the rest of namibia there's beauty in that too as evening approached i reached a town called walvis bay and it met me with the ocean and perfect weather [Music] weather has quickly changed by morning but that's common here all right so for the next place we're going to we could theoretically drive there but the chances of getting stuck in the sand are too high so i decided to play it safe and take an experienced driver with me his name is hans your ancestors from germany we are from the 1800s really yeah wow they came here 1876 as a missionaries and hans's car is apparently better at sand driving [Music] first stop is the walvis bay lagoon it's known as the place where pink flamingos come to feed and in case you didn't know flamingos sleep with one foot up which is what they also do so they don't freeze in the cold waters of the atlantic and while they sleep these guys face against the wind kind of resting on it in a way basically flamingos are like weather veins and it's what locals rely on to know what direction the wind is coming from [Applause] as for us we take a route that goes right next to the ocean [Music] i've got to say that driving this close to the water is an amazing experience seagulls the ocean sand love it [Music] [Applause] have you noticed that this sand is a little red this sand contains rubies and hans told me it's usually spots like this where people find diamonds where there is red sand such as this there are likely diamonds nearby and it's not just diamonds that people find here in the middle of the trip hans jumped out of the car and started to dig he did this about 10 times in different locations until he finally found what he was looking for we did it we found a gecko meet jack the gecko interestingly these guys don't drink instead they lick their own eyes because it's where all the moisture collects so it's in this way that they get their water and they don't have eyelids either after a quick chat with jack we set him free then lower the tire pressure and hit the road once again [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and now the best part begins we have ocean on one side dunes on the other side and they get higher and higher in all actuality this is a pretty dangerous place because if the waters get too high then it's almost impossible to get in or out of here the road only opens at low tide and you've got to constantly keep an eye on the waves or else you could get stuck for a long time in this area a guy came around he went over the hill and he got stuck and it took half an hour the seat took his car we collected it the next day about two kilometers up north half an hour later we started to climb up the dunes it's something i've never done before and although it doesn't come across as very adrenaline inducing trust me when i say that it took my breath away a few times [Music] this is it the postcard side of the country where the name desert meets the atlantic ocean for me this is the number one place in namibia what a unique place you have huge dunes that go far beyond the horizon on one side and endless ocean on the other side this place makes you feel so tiny and if you ever come to namibia make sure you pay this place a visit sandwich harbor is my recommendation [Music] all right we've got a difficult day tomorrow and that's why i've decided to spend the night at a beautiful spot yes i know i do say beautiful a lot but it's because this country is packed with it take a look for yourself while i unpack honestly it's insane [Music] i was in awe as soon as i saw it from afar you just drive across endless valleys of the namib desert and then you see this the peak of this mountain rises 670 meters above the desert and it's so big that its shade spreads out a few miles beneath it [Music] this is the spitzkope mountain and it's often called the african matterhorn given the resemblance [Music] what can i say i love sleeping near matterhorns the views from the top of it are simply astounding but the best part is that there's a campsite right at the bottom of it and it's the most beautiful campsite i've come across during my whole trip the best part about it is that unlike other campsites where i've stopped before this one really places you in the wilderness you may get neighbors nearby but you can choose not to see or hear them in short it's a sociopath's dream [Music] i spent most of my nights at campsites and hardly ever stopped at hotels it was amazing i mean who needs hotels when you have a tent on the roof of your car in these beautiful views i mean in my opinion the whole outdoor tent situation is an integral part of the namibian experience making it truly vibrant and fulfilling early in the morning i decided to conquer the peak with the help of kamikaze of course but then things went a little sideways i think i just lost kamikaze i flew it all the way up and then it got disconnected and it's gone luckily the goggles i wear record everything i see so this is when i flew up to the peak and oh by the way just look at these incredible views then this would have been the most legendary dive ever but then i decided to make one more round and this is where kamikaze died on me mountain blocked the signal and that was the last i saw of him [Music] i guess the mountain just didn't want to get filmed kamikaze served me well and sacrificed himself in the name of art [Music] many miles later i decided to stop at a car wash and guys check this out i found a hairdresser and a car wash it was like dinner and a movie for the locals africa quite convenient you can have a haircut while you wash your car the further we travel to the north the greater the social difference first there were nice neighborhoods with palm trees then smaller houses and then shelters where people were gathering wood to make a fire [Music] holy [Music] ladies and gentlemen you are witnessing the largest seal colony in the world it's called cape cross seal reserve and it boasts a seal population of roughly 250 000 yep sounds impossible let me show it to you from other angles the seals are everywhere with the colony spanning far beyond the horizon they're all over the place including the water it pretty much looks like cancun at peak season but without the tacos [Music] and to really immerse yourself in the moment i want you to just take a listen [Music] [Applause] unique noises right it kind of sounds like they all feel a little sick [Music] just like at any budget resort by the ocean these guys fight tan sleep and chill out to the max [Music] and they occupy practically every inch of this national park [Music] it's all nice and cute but this steel colony causes some pretty serious issues each seal can eat up to eight percent of its body weight per day which is roughly three kilograms of fish so multiply three kilograms by 250 000 seals and you get a mass fish extinction event for this area male seals can mate with many females which will eventually end up turning the colony into a metropolis if no action is taken i spent the night at the national park and after a short morning drive i reached an intriguing place called skeleton coast you'll have to fill out a little bit of paperwork and leave your contact details to enter and only then will they let you in all the precautions are there for safety reasons the skeleton coast is fully deserted for miles and miles ahead it's uh not a good place for a car to break down the skeleton coast is a lifeless piece of land spanning for many miles in its time it has taken countless lives it's usually really foggy here because it's where the hot desert air meets the cold air coming in from the atlantic the coast also has strong currents and rocks the fortunate survivors of the shipwrecks that have taken place here throughout history would later die in the sand since there are no signs of life for miles people still find bones in the sand but it's the shipwreck remains that this place is known for they're hard to spot since most of the wreckage has been consumed by the sand but the edward boland shipwreck is a prime example it's a german transport vessel that ran aground here at the beginning of the last century looking at this sand covered wreck it's hard to imagine that it once sailed but remember the desert never stops moving and it can even overtake the ocean's territory today this shipwreck is 500 meters away from the shoreline and within a few decades it will be fully consumed by the namib desert the xelia trawler on the other hand is the most well-preserved example that's only because it ran ashore in 2008. now it serves as home to seagulls and cormorants [Music] i tried to leave as quickly as i could just because of how depressing the place is and then i came across this weird little plant it looked dead but in actuality it is very alive this plant known as the velvicia mirabilis thrives in places where plants usually can't grow getting moisture from the fog it also has a life expectancy of over 2 000 years okay enough at the plants apparently lions live here too can you believe that it's kind of a miracle they're called coastal lions and somehow these guys learn to survive in the desert among the sand they feed on antelopes and even seals it's unfortunate that we didn't see any but i think if you had a whole day to explore it's not unreasonable to believe you would see some the biology of the north of namibia is quite different from the southern part of the country it's full of lush greenery which makes for a beautiful landscape whoa i just saw a giraffe first time of my life seeing a draft in the wild guys we are crushing it [Music] super cute my plan was to leave the animal pack national parks for the desert but it just so happens that they are all over the place you just drive around and you can spot them in every direction but national parks are still worth a visit since you can see near extinct animals and it's where you can find the so-called big five of africa those are elephants buffaloes lions leopards and rhinoceros so how about we go and look for these guys equipped with a lot of patience and a little bit of luck let's go photo hunting i got checked and was asked to leave my drone at the entrance which is standard practice now we enter the largest national park of namibia called the tasha natasha covers both the park and the salt pan which is its main feature this place is huge to give you some context it's as big as slovenia can you imagine a park the size of a country and even though i'm only planning to spend a couple of days here i'm confident that you could probably spend a week exploring it i hope we'll have enough time atasha is home to 144 types of mammals 340 kinds of birds and an extensive variety of other wildlife that surrounds you in every direction [Music] in fact the national park is so big that there's a seasonal migration of animals within the park itself so animals migrate across it depending on what season it is [Applause] now let me show you some shots i managed to take in my first day in natasha this park is known for its 1500 strong draft population which made finding them really easy then came the news and oryx but we've already seen them etasha abounds with birdlife but since my bird knowledge is relatively non-existent my attention was drawn to this little guy the black-backed jackal and a chipmunk looking squirrel cute isn't it [Music] the national park has over 20 water holes half of which are artificial and the rest are natural it's where all the animals go which results in almost guaranteed sightings [Music] some water holes are positioned right next to the campsites which makes it easy to spot animals while sitting on a bench behind a fence this is how i saw the kudu antelope known for their funky twisted horns male species love to fight i guess it's kind of like arm wrestling for them [Music] hold up is that a rhino over there i can't tell from here oh my goodness it really is a rhino crazy i think it's the white rhino and they're super rare man we're so lucky and luck is truly on our side because you're looking at both the black and the white rhino the largest of its kind they can weigh up to five tons and while they may have poor eyesight their sense of smell is extraordinary can i take it this guy has just realized something despite being a dying breed their population in natasha slowly continues to grow as they are safe here these are all of the interesting animals that i managed to spot on my first day i would have stayed longer but the gates closed at six because you're not allowed to drive here at night so let's get back to camp natasha has a few camps on the premises that are fully fenced and protected from wild animals with live wire i spent about 40 minutes sitting by the camp's waterhole hoping to spot some more animals but unfortunately no one came and i headed back to set up my tent and prepare for the night but then i got lucky again and i saw an elephant coming to the waterhole and a lioness on the other side who you can't see this just goes to show that in natasha you can see animals without even having to leave the campsite i think this is good enough for the first day mistakes were made but tomorrow i'll come more prepared i bought a few maps and studied all the different water holes in the park as well as the animals that are most often found there and most importantly i woke up early i think i get it now this photo hunting game is like a version of the lottery where you're trying to get a great shot of an animal if you go about it the right way your chances increase of getting the shot first you need to wake up super early because all the animals only stay active before lunch afterwards it gets too hot and most animals sleep in the shade morning is when you have the best chance to see the wildlife that's why i waited for the park gate to open and then headed straight for a water hole i must say it's quite a tedious process but at the same time it's extremely captivating and back to the lottery analogy you kind of bet on a water hole and then wait to see how it plays out and that morning i had a winning streak all right our first hit it's a lion [Music] he's so close to my car right now about 10 meters away this is unreal [Music] when you meet a lion for the first time you realize that this really is a true king of its surroundings he doesn't even notice you he just looks right through you this is legit scary even though the doors are locked and the windows are up when it gets close your heart beats faster the lion didn't come alone they live in prides which are like big families and interestingly it's the females that hunt the most males on the other hand concentrate on mating and protecting the territory in particular from other lions each pride usually has a few males this one had two they hung out for a bit and then the king took off with his mate [Music] but wait there's more i saw the king of the jungle take a dump seeing this was yet another first for me and it was just a monumental moment utterly life-changing [Music] apparently some other people saw elephants at the waterhole 30 minutes ago and in order to find them i need to try to think like them if i were an elephant what would i do after drinking some water and go chill out in the shade right let's look for trees then and elephants under them you won't believe it but this is exactly where i found them just under the trees where they were shaded from the heat meet the atasha elephants they're considered to be the largest elephants in the world and they need to eat a lot in order to maintain such a status each elephant consumes between 100 kilograms to 300 kilograms of plants a day this is the exact opposite of seeing elephants at the zoo here you have to find them and you only see them when they're really close which makes it tough but when you do find them it's like coming across a treasured pleasant prize as you can probably imagine i loved the photo safari this ended up being i want more i managed to see three animals out of the big five in a day and a half and i have a feeling that i would have seen leopards too if i had more time i'm happy with the outcome you can maybe make the case that safaris in kenya or tanzania are better but a national park of this size and with such a vast number of animals is a huge win for this country i spent most of my time on the road and at campsites you've gotta admit it would have been a shame not to spend a good amount of time at campsites with a vehicle like mine but at the end of the trip i decided to run a lodge in a national park just so you don't get the wrong impression that namibia is only about camping man look at it [Music] nice right i was falling asleep and waking up to the sound of baboons who live here rhinos also live here too but i heard the baboons the most this part of the country is fairly tropical which is a huge contrast to the namibia we saw at the beginning of the episode it's mind-blowing and guys i need to show you the place i'm at right now in more detail i routed it as my final stop it's called the waterburg plateau and it is breathtaking [Music] check it out it has its own table mountain this region is covered with greenery which is such a drastic change from the namibia we were previously in on the first part of the trip really cool and now to the summary as you've seen namibia is an absolute gm for tourists and not only in africa i'm talking about a global scale it's a country with extremely diverse nature interesting culture unique places that you won't see anywhere else and it's guaranteed to make your instagram pop with all the photo ops the best part is that namibia is about the drive exploration and challenges that come with it traveling across the whole country with a tent on the roof of an suv is really cool the only nuance that's worth mentioning is that although it may seem like all the sites are right next to each other they're really not i clocked over 4 000 kilometers during this trip and it took me about 11 days it's six or seven hours of driving per day at a minimum and it's really tough so you can come with friends or a partner and you'll have a fantastic experience and definitely learn to love it to pieces so when you're ready give yourself two or three weeks come to namibia rent an suv spend the night at campsites and enjoy this absolutely stunning country do travel guys because it's still worth it all the best [Music] you

Channel: Anton somewhere

Views: 2,010,180

Keywords: anton, ptushkin, Namibia, Africa, Safari, Windhoek, Discovery, African nature, Photo hunting, road trip in Africa, African national reserves, African five

Id: YSMNBrzJWGA

Length: 55min 51sec (3351 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 14 2021