93 Svakopmund - Etosha
14th March 2011
After arriving in Swakopmund yesterday, I went for a walk in this peculiar town, built on the edge of a dessert. Lots of sand around! Couldn't help wondering, why some Germans some 100 years ago would leave their bier stubes and settle here?
But these days it is a holiday resort of a kind.
I decided a day was enough in Swakopmund, and at 11 I went to the airport, to leave again and fly further north to the Etosha national park.
One of the more troublesome parts of my preparation of my trip, has been to make sure I could get avgas. Certain information is hard to come by - but in Namibia it has not been a problem at all. And it is relatively cheap at about 1.75 US $ per liter. Even in the dessert, at Sossusvlei, could I get fuel had I needed it!
I got fuel here in this friendly airport at no time, and soon I was on my way, heading north along the coastline of the Skeleton Beach. I was going to follow the coast for a while before turning eastward, but I soon ran into low clouds and poor visibility, and decided to climb over the clouds and head towards Etosha.
It took me over some spectacular landscape in this, the worlds 4th largest country! The Etosha pan was visible 50 miles away, and soon I cruised along the edge of the salt pan to my destination, the airfield at Kigula Lodge.
Upon landing, I was met by staff from the lodge, who took me the very short distance to the reception in a kind of golf-cart and then to my room, a nice upgrade, so I ended up in my own luxurious bungalow.
