Part 1 : To Hakusembe on the Cubango River
After a few days experiencing the Kalahari and dry bushveld of a Namibia, we were excited to venture to the northern border of Namibia, the first stop at a camp called Hakusembe, near the town of Rundu. Hakusembe is located on the banks of the Cubango ( Kavango or Okavango) River, which originates in the Angolan Highlands and flows more or less south east, draining into the Okavango Delta in Botswana, a total length of around 1 700 km. The campsite and lodge is on the banks of the river, which at this point forms the border between Namibia and Angola. So sitting in your camp chair, one looks onto Angola.
We set up camp , enjoying the 32 degree heat ! My turn to cook – lamb curry as we had loads of lamb we bought at Tsumis. While I played in my kitchen-with-a-view, the men set up their fishing gear and even got their lines wet. After sundowners with a pink-orange sunset, dinner was served complete with poppadoms and Naan Bread cooked on the fire. Early to bed, as we had planned a full day.
An exciting day began with Richard and Scott heading off for some morning fishing by boat, with a guide, Shelley enjoyed some quiet time and yoga at camp, while I headed off on a birding session, which was also by boat. It was just me, so what a treat to have the full attention of my guide, Bernard. A knowledgeable, happy gentleman who clearly loves what he does. The highlight was seeing a couple of White-backed Night Herons hiding in a shrub overhanging the river. These beautiful birds are rare in these parts, and difficult to see anyway as they are nocturnal. Local knowledge just makes birding even more rewarding than it is. Exploring the area by boat allows one to witness a little of the local way of life, including the relatively porous border of the river, with people popping over from Namibia to a Angola and visa versa on their Mokoros. Some even walk over in the shallower bits, despite crocodiles inhabiting the river ! A wonderful 2 hours on the water.
Back to camp and met up with the men, who sadly had not had any luck in the fishing department. Scott, with some help from Richard, made a delicious brunch (see Richard’s dodgy post under the Husband’s page). The afternoon we spent relaxing by the pool, reading, identifying birds, and writing blogs. More relaxing was required, so we headed off with other guests on a sunset cruise (hijacked by us to be a birding-sunset cruise…). This time we headed downstream and enjoyed watching people crossing the river (which is wide) mostly by Mokoro, but some actually waded across despite there being crocodiles lurking! A surprising sighting while staring into an overhanging tree looking at night herons, our guide spotted a boomslang at eye level with us…bright green – same colour as the leaves of the bush.
While we were on this not-do-much roll, we opted to spoil ourselves to dinner at the restaurant at Hakusembe. An impressive buffet to sort all diets. While enjoying the feast, we spotted a nightjar flitting between the rafters – luckily, I still had camera and binos with me, so there we were, in quite a full restaurant walking around staring up at this bird trying to note identifying features. Eventually we decided it was a Fiery-necked Nightjar. Another incredible bird I spotted on our arrival day was a Cinderella Waxbill! The distribution map does not indicate that this species occurs this far west, but on consulting with the bird guide, he said he has seen them a couple of times around Hakusembe. Sadly, I didn’t manage to get a photograph.
