08/22/2025
I have now moved from the lodge to Swakopmund, Namibia on the coast for the roller hockey Africa cup. I wanted to show more of the lodge though so here’s some drone footage of the lodge with the wildlife I posted in the last post. It will give you a good idea of what the environment is like here. I didn’t take these shots, but I thought they were really neat. Also, I wanted to talk more about the safari. It has surprised me how safe the bush seems in the part of Namibia near Windhoek. When you drive down the highway, you’ll see people just walking through the bush or making fires on the side of the road. Despite this next comment, there are plenty of dangerous animals in parts of Namibia. I would proceed with a lot of caution if you go. There seems to be not as many predators as I thought there would be where we were at in this region of Namibia. Besides seeing the Giraffes, Zebras, & Lions, there were springbok, kudus, jackals, warthogs, baboons, wildebeest, ostriches, and a few other species. The main predator on the lodge is one leopard that patrols the area. It made me a little nervous to leave my cabin to walk to the bathroom at night. The animals seem to have a unique relationship with humans. If I were an animal, I would attack humans. Physically the human is so much weaker than these animals. However, the animals show a lot of respect to humans. I’m guessing it’s a technology thing. It’s a very interesting dynamic. The giraffes are the only animal on the safari that do not dash off when they see us or hear the car. We got very lucky, because normally the largest group of giraffes they see are six giraffes, and we counted 17 in one group. Also, the Rhinos are fed by the lodge workers, which makes them friendlier than most rhinos. I would not recommend going up to a normal rhino. It’s very dangerous. You could see in the photo with the rhinos that their horns were cut off. In 2019, poaching was at an all time high, so to discourage poachers they would cut the horns off. This may not be true, but I was told if someone poached on your property in Namibia you can kill them. It’s not murder or criminal at all, which would also keep poachers away.
-John Klein
