In September and a bit of October, Josh (son-in-law), Melinda (daughter), Cathy (wife), and I (self) flew to Cape Town, South Africa. Josh, Cathy and I came via Atlanta. Melinda, being navigationally challenged, flew in from the Arctic Ocean, Norway, or possibly Mars.
After a visit to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town, we loaded our massive collection of bags onto an airplane and flew to Namibia.
There we rented a car and began a month-long scenic motor tour of Namibia and Botswana, more than 5,000 miles. It was REALLY interesting! Here are a few (176 or so) photos, with a couple of 4k videos.
Also, here are a bunch of iNaturalist observations from the trip in case you're interested.
Africa 2025
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The Route: Namibia and Botswana
Egyptian Goose
Cape Bulbul
Southern Double-Collared Sunbird
Southern Sable Antelope
9/4/2025 6:18 PM
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A marker for a race, out in the country, from around 8,000 BCE.
A thorn tree?
Lilac-Breasted Roller
Josh under a Sociable Weaver bird nest
Sociable Weaver bird nest
Racing Stripe Darkling Beetle
9/5/2025 6:16 PM
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Mosquito
9/6/2025 12:04 PM
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9/6/2025 1:27 PM
9/6/2025 6:23 PM
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9/6/2025 6:27 PM
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9/6/2025 6:38 PM
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9/7/2025 7:44 AM
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Why did the ostrich cross the road?
Rüppell's Bustard
9/7/2025 4:06 PM
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9/7/2025 4:52 PM
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9/7/2025 4:57 PM
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9/7/2025 4:57 PM
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9/7/2025 5:08 PM
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9/7/2025 6:00 PM
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Water Thorn
Sociable Weaver bird nest
Chacma Baboo
9/8/2025 5:51 PM
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Southern Masked Weaver
Greater Flamingo
Flamingos, Walvis Bay, Namibia
Common Tern
Little Egret
Southern Greater Kudu
Cape Starling
Zebra, Kudu
Springbok
Kori Bustard
Northern Black Korhaan
Crowned Lapwing
South African Ground Squirrel
Southern Giraffes
Cattle Egret (with Wildebeests)
Gemsbok
Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill
A Zebra parade (and some Springboks)
Burchell's Zebras, a subspecies of Plains Zebras.
Springboks
African Savanna Elephant
Popular watering hole
Giraffe, drinking
Common Ostriches
Southern Kori Bustard
Blacksmith Lapwing
Burchell's Zebras, a subspecies of Plains Zebras.
Wildebeest
Pale Chanting Goshawk
African Gray Hornbill
Gemsbok
Damara Dik-Dik
Kudu
Some doves and a guineafowl
Wildebeest
Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill
Elephants coming...
...and elephants going.
Giraffes tussling
Hamerkop
Lion
Savannah Monkey
White Faced Whistling Ducks
A monkey and a warthog
Roan Antelope
A bunch of elephants, with cape buffalo in the background.
Giant Kingfisher
Hippopotamus. They stay mostly or completely submerged most of the time.
Hippopotamuses
Southern Carmine Bee Eater
Cape Buffalo. These are pretty dangerous.
Impalas
African Spoonbill
Black Winged Stilt
White Browed Coucal
African Openbill
Helmeted Guineafowl and a Banded Mongoose. It looks like the mongoose has a tracker around its neck.
African Fish Eagles
Caperbush
Blue Pansy butterfly
Josh and our ride
9/17/2025 8:50 AM
Lotsa Birds
The Sleeping Lion
African Baobab Tree. Some of these are over a thousand years old.
Chacma Baboon
Impalas and Elephants
9/17/2025 5:09 PM
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White Headed Lapwing
Yellow Billed Stork
This is a valve for a waterline (for humans). During a recent major drought, elephants learned to lift off the lid and open the valve to get at the water. And elephants never forget...
Plains Zebra
Hippopotamuses and Zebras
9/19/2025 3:00 PM
Elephants are bigger than Zebras.
Swallowtailed Bee Eater
Cape Buffalo, Springboks, a Zebra, and a couple of Blacksmith Lapwings.
White Backed Vultures
Cicada. They sound different, with a steady noise.
Josh, Melinda, and a termite mound. There were a lot of these.
Ghost Porcelain Roach
Raspy Crickets
Mottled Avocado Bug (a planthopper)
African Barred Owlet
Common Myna
We occasionally saw people using donkey carts.
9/23/2025 4:42 PM
Helmeted Guineafowl
Red Crested Bustard
Swainson's Spurfowl
White Crowned Shrike
Black Kite
A Bee
Wildebeests in the foreground, elephants in the background.
Waterbuck
Cattle Egret and a Frog
A Black Kite (top) chasing off an African Fish Eagle (bottom)
Sometimes birds sit on the backs (and heads) of giraffes, like this one.
Spur-Winged Goose
Tsessebe
Spotted Hyena
African Jacana
Yellow-Billed Stork. That might be an elephant bone on the left.
Egyptian Goose
Lechwe
Lilac Breasted Roller
Pearl Spotted Owlet
Hippopotamuses in the river
Black Winged Stilt
Egyptian Geese
9/26/2025 5:58 PM
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Solifugae. Maybe some sort of windscorpion? Zeria schoenlandi? Red Moon Spider?
Something in the Mantid family.
Lesser Striped Swallow, on a thatched roof.
9/27/2025 7:48 AM
Eurasian Hoopoe
Southern Red-billed Hornbill
White Browed Sparrow Weaver
White Browed Sparrow Weaver
Cape Starling
Elephants come to the water at Omogolo Lodge.
9/28/2025 6:27 PM
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Go-Away birds
White-Browed Robin Chat
Water Lily
Wire-Tailed Swallows
Malachite Kingfisher
African Darter
Pied Kingfisher
9/29/2025 6:20 PM
Pioneer White. There was a big migration of these butterflies.
Southern Masked Weaver
Southern Masked Weaver
Scarlet Chested Sunbird
A Pigeon and a Warthog.
Long Butterfly Stork's Bill
Hadada Ibis
Gardenia Twig Wilter
Cape Fur Seal, on the dock in Cape Town
