Terrace Bay to Palmwag, Namibia

31 Oct - 2 Nov 07

A five-legged elephant outside our tent

Palmwag is a lovely lodge, in a beautiful setting surrounded by tabletop mountains with spectacular sunset and sunrise views. The food and wine were also good. Our only complaint would be the hard bed-chairs by the two pools, which were in short supply.
We went on a late afternoon guided walk with Peter. We had come to Damaraland more for the views than the wildlife so were pleasantly surprised to see some oryx, springboks, kudus and two elephants close to the lodge. Peter said one of the elephants had been around for quite a while and had even been given a name, Sebastian, which amused us since that is the name of Flemming’s daughter Anne’s partner, who is, I hasten to add, tall and slim and most un-elephant-like!
The vegetation was pretty sparse but there were some interesting specimens such as the poisonous euphorbia damarana, that kudus, rhinos and elephants nevertheless like to feed on. The poison only hurts them if it penetrates their blood stream, i.e. when a bushman hunted them using an arrow loaded with the poison. I say ‘hunted’ in the past as the local bushmen are no longer allowed to hunt – only wealthy white hunters who can afford a licence can hunt these days. We also enjoyed the ‘bottle’ tree, rather like a miniature baobab, with a bottle-shaped trunk. Peter was an excellent guide and we enjoyed the stories he told us.