Getting to know the north: from elephants of Mahongo to the villages of Kavango people

If you want to see a different side of Namibia, the lush green scenery, the hippos and the crocodiles, head to north to Caprivi strip. The northern parts of the country are the only ones with a year-round running rivers (as well as malaria, so it’s good to have your mosquito repellent with you). The drive from Etosha to Caprivi journeys through a couple towns, Tsumeb and Grootfontein, where it’s good to stock up before heading up north towards Rundu.





Our initial plan was to stay at Grootfontein and then drive to the beginning of Caprivi strip to Mahongo Game Reserve. (We decided to spare the last miles and not go further from there, maybe + 6000 km on the road is enough ;) But the rain season was starting, and our drive up north got interesting with heavy rain and thunderstorm. Driving in the pitch black evening in pouring rain was an experience of its own, but it was only fair to skip camping that night and have a roof over our heads, so we headed to Tambuti Lodge at Rundu, and had a very pleasant night there with dinner in the room and a nice Namibian local breakfast the next morning.

On the next day, 200 km down the road, we got to our final destination, Ngepi camp with campsites by the river side, with hippos swimming by. We decided to take an afternoon game drive at Mahongo Game Reserve before it got dark, and that turned out to be quite an exciting drive. Even though we missed the big herds of elephants in Etosha, we got to experience plenty of those at Mahongo, even a bit too close this time! The last 30 minutes before the gate was closing and sun setting there we were trapped between an elephant herd at the waterhole and + 10 km to go on a 4x4 accessible only road. Have to admit, we were quite happy to get out of there ;)

On our way back from Caprivi we stopped at N’kwazi Lodge to take a village walk with a local guide. It turned into a very interesting and inspiring afternoon with Marcus, our guide, and the local Kavango tribe people from the village. The owners of the lodge together with the community have started a pre-school in the village, which enables the children to get a basic education without having to walk +10 km daily. How handy would bikes be in the rural areas of Namibia! In the villages there might be tens of people living in a few huts, and women practically run the daily life there since their husbands are living elsewhere farming / herding goats or cattle. Marcus told us that according to a small study executed in the area, it turned out that women do 75 % of all the work there is to be done in the households, in the fields, carrying water from the wells, preparing meals for the whole family etc.  There’s a German lady, Ingrid Poike, who traveled in the area and since then has been widely supporting the community. She keeps a blog about the ongoing projects in the village together with Marcus, you can read more from here (helps if you understand German though).