The Hoanib
If you have ever watched a David Attenborough programme featuring wildlife in an African desert, then there is a good chance it was filmed in Namibia.
And if you watched an episode featuring two battling male giraffes, it would have been in the Hoanib.
This is a dry river valley and only has water when there is significant rainfall far off in the Etosha National Park. The water makes its way underground westwards, filtering through the rocks and eventually escapes to the surface at the lower level of this area and then flows on toward the sea.
Though there can be a significant amount of water that arrives, it doesn't last long. There is tremendous evaporation under the hot sun, but much water is also lost into the deep layers of sand that form the river bed.
All that said, it was not hard to see areas where debris of vegetation, branches and even some fallen trees had been swept along by flood waters only to be piled up against living trees or occasional rocky outcrops standing in the path of the river.
The last five bird images were taken either in the very early morning or late evening at our Hoanib base – at Khowarib.
And if you watched an episode featuring two battling male giraffes, it would have been in the Hoanib.
This is a dry river valley and only has water when there is significant rainfall far off in the Etosha National Park. The water makes its way underground westwards, filtering through the rocks and eventually escapes to the surface at the lower level of this area and then flows on toward the sea.
Though there can be a significant amount of water that arrives, it doesn't last long. There is tremendous evaporation under the hot sun, but much water is also lost into the deep layers of sand that form the river bed.
All that said, it was not hard to see areas where debris of vegetation, branches and even some fallen trees had been swept along by flood waters only to be piled up against living trees or occasional rocky outcrops standing in the path of the river.
The last five bird images were taken either in the very early morning or late evening at our Hoanib base – at Khowarib.
