Namibian Series pt. 3—Dinosaur Capsite and Back to Windhoek

During our night in Windhoek, Samuel and his friend mentioned that they were having their birthday party later in the week and that we should come back down for it. We had so much fun with those guys that we knew it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. So instead of going home down along the coast and through the Namib Desert (gives me a reason to go back to Namibia!) we decided to take the same route home—Windhoek, fish river canyon, cape town. Instead of driving all the way back to Windhoek though, we decided to stay somewhere in between for the night to break up the driving a little bit. With no plans, we decided just to take a turn at the first campground sign we saw off the main road a few hours in. Awesome enough, it ended up being called Dinosaur Campground! We had to check in at this fancy lodge up the street and when we were doing so she mentioned there being a lion feeding later that night that we could go to. Uh…yes please.

Our campsite here was absolutely beautiful! It looked out onto this lake/pond thing (possibly sewage reservoir but we were able to look beyond that) and we were completely isolated, which was a nice change from the other campgrounds we had stayed at. We had our own bathroom/shower and a circular wind shelter with a fire/braai pit in the middle. We hung out there for a long time watching once again, an absolutely incredible sunset then headed back up to the lodge for the lion feeding.

We were all pretty nervous as we loaded this rickety old bus type thing and were carried out into the bush. The drive alone was pretty freaky. The perfect setting for a horror film in which the drivers turn on the passengers and we become the lion bait. We got to this concrete bomb shelter barricade looking thing and the driver unlatched a ladder from the back and told me not to move. I’m getting the chills just thinking about it again. Then he came back and was like ok you can come down now. Still freaked out and wondering what he had done to somehow make it safe now for me to move, I nervously went down the ladder and followed him into this concrete barricade. It was dark and quiet and we all sat down on this bench behind a concrete wall with thick steel bars looking out onto a dimly lit concrete slab, now the plate presenting a dead warthog to some hungry lions.

The guys told us we could take pictures and that the flash was allowed (weird enough) but that we should just be quiet. Pretty soon 2 lions and a lioness came wandering out from the trees, licking their chops, ready to tear pumba to shreds. The lioness and the dominant male went in for it first. Tearing at its flesh without much hesitation, while the other male sat beside them patiently waiting his turn.

I wish I had a recording of what it sounded like. The only thing that would have made it worse would be if the warthog had still been alive and squealing. You could hear every bone crunch and its skin rip open. I couldn’t help but sit there and think, “this is exactly what I would sound like if I were being eaten by a lion.” Pretty soon the non-dominant male began pacing around—probably to pass the time as he drooled waiting to get his chance to eat—and came right up to the wall and looked straight into Dan’s eyes. I don’t even know what Dan was thinking, but I just about peed my pants. A hungry lion two-feet away staring at you? No thanks. Finally the dominant male had had enough and he walked away leaving the rest to be had by the other male as the lioness kept on at it. Before they were completely finished the guide motioned for us to head out and load back on the bus. I had never seen anything like that and while I’m not completely convinced it was a wild act (there’s no way they’d be able to feed wild animals like that), it was a crazy experience for sure.

The next morning we headed out to find what gave this campground its name—dinosaur tracks! After a quick puke at the trail head (the reason I gave up on my malaria medicine), we started hiking up to this rock plateau type deal where it seemed like there would be tracks—the people at the lodge didn’t have any information for us besides where to start the trail. There was a lot of wandering around and “maybe this is one,” until we finally found the area where there were some definitelys. It was pretty stinkin sweet to end our wildlife safari adventure with some dino tracks let me tell you! Standing on this rock slab next to huge dinosaur footprints looking over Namibia it was hard not to feel like Little Foot. With a quick, “bye dinosaur campsite. We love you dinosaur campsite. We’ll miss you dinosaur campsite,” we were off and on our way back to Windhoek.

We decided to stay at the same backpackers as before and prepped for the night with a nap and shower before meeting up with Dan’s other friend Ian and catching a cab to the birthday party. The party was a lot of fun and while it was a little awkward at first, after a little social lubricant and people learning we knew Sam and Ian (and weren’t just random white kids off the street), everyone became really interested in talking to the Americans.

Pretty soon everyone was ready to hit the clubs, so that we did! None of us had packed for going out so we felt a little underdressed and had to go to a club that wouldn’t mind as much (although Whit’s shorts caused a little bit of a commotion at the door with the bouncer).

I had seriously one of the best nights ever dancing with everyone at the club! Everyone was out there and everyone was dancing. Even though us white kids couldn’t really keep up with the sweet dance moves, they still gave us a chance and nobody really cared that we looked ridiculous. We danced our hearts out until probably 5am and then decided we should head back and get some sleep before our drive again the next day. It sucked having to say goodbye to all of these amazing people we had just met and who had welcomed us in better than I could ever imagine. That’s the hard part about travelling though. Something that somehow doesn’t stop me from doing it all over again.