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
back to xpda.com-
The Route: Namibia and Botswana -
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Egyptian Goose
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Cape Bulbul
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Southern Double-Collared Sunbird
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Southern Sable Antelope
9/4/2025 8:03 AM
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9/4/2025 9:18 AM
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A marker for a race, out in the country, from around 8,000 BCE.
9/4/2025 9:23 AM
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A thorn tree?
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Lilac-Breasted Roller
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Josh under a Sociable Weaver bird nest
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Sociable Weaver bird nest
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Racing Stripe Darkling Beetle
9/5/2025 6:38 AM
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9/5/2025 9:16 AM
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Mosquito
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9/6/2025 3:04 AM
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9/6/2025 4:27 AM -
9/6/2025 9:23 AM
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9/6/2025 9:27 AM
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9/6/2025 9:38 AM
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9/6/2025 10:44 PM
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Why did the ostrich cross the road?
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Rüppell's Bustard
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9/7/2025 7:06 AM
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9/7/2025 7:52 AM
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9/7/2025 7:57 AM
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9/7/2025 7:57 AM
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9/7/2025 8:08 AM
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9/7/2025 9:00 AM
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Water Thorn
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Sociable Weaver bird nest
9/8/2025 2:11 AM
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Chacma Baboo
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9/8/2025 8:51 AM
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Southern Masked Weaver
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Greater Flamingo
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Flamingos, Walvis Bay, Namibia
9/9/2025 7:54 AM
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Common Tern
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Little Egret
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Southern Greater Kudu
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Cape Starling
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Zebra, Kudu
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Springbok
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Kori Bustard
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Northern Black Korhaan
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Crowned Lapwing
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South African Ground Squirrel
9/11/2025 7:41 AM
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Southern Giraffes
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Cattle Egret (with Wildebeests)
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Gemsbok
9/11/2025 9:05 AM
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Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill
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A Zebra parade (and some Springboks)
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Burchell's Zebras, a subspecies of Plains Zebras.
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Springboks
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African Savanna Elephant
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Popular watering hole
9/12/2025 3:52 AM
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Giraffe, drinking
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Common Ostriches
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Southern Kori Bustard
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Blacksmith Lapwing
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Burchell's Zebras, a subspecies of Plains Zebras.
9/12/2025 7:40 AM
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Wildebeest
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Pale Chanting Goshawk
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African Gray Hornbill
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Gemsbok
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Damara Dik-Dik
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Kudu
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Some doves and a guineafowl
9/13/2025 12:28 AM
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Wildebeest
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Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill
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Elephants coming...
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...and elephants going.
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Giraffes tussling
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Hamerkop
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Lion
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Savannah Monkey
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White Faced Whistling Ducks
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A monkey and a warthog
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Roan Antelope
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A bunch of elephants, with cape buffalo in the background.
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Giant Kingfisher
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Hippopotamus. They stay mostly or completely submerged most of the time.
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Hippopotamuses
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Southern Carmine Bee Eater
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Cape Buffalo. These are pretty dangerous.
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Impalas
9/16/2025 10:07 PM
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African Spoonbill
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Black Winged Stilt
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White Browed Coucal
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African Openbill
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Helmeted Guineafowl and a Banded Mongoose. It looks like the mongoose has a tracker around its neck.
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African Fish Eagles
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Caperbush
9/16/2025 11:48 PM
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Blue Pansy butterfly
9/16/2025 11:48 PM
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Josh and our ride
9/16/2025 11:50 PM -
Lotsa Birds
9/17/2025 1:37 AM
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The Sleeping Lion
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African Baobab Tree. Some of these are over a thousand years old.
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Chacma Baboon
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Impalas and Elephants
9/17/2025 7:40 AM
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9/17/2025 8:09 AM
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White Headed Lapwing
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Yellow Billed Stork
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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...
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Plains Zebra
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Hippopotamuses and Zebras
9/19/2025 6:00 AM -
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Elephants are bigger than Zebras.
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Swallowtailed Bee Eater
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Cape Buffalo, Springboks, a Zebra, and a couple of Blacksmith Lapwings.
9/20/2025 2:11 AM
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White Backed Vultures
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Cicada. They sound different, with a steady noise.
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Josh, Melinda, and a termite mound. There were a lot of these.
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Ghost Porcelain Roach
9/22/2025 10:12 AM
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Raspy Crickets
9/22/2025 10:13 AM
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Mottled Avocado Bug (a planthopper)
9/22/2025 9:06 PM
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African Barred Owlet
9/22/2025 11:00 PM
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Common Myna
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We occasionally saw people using donkey carts.
9/23/2025 7:42 AM -
Helmeted Guineafowl
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Red Crested Bustard
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Swainson's Spurfowl
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White Crowned Shrike
9/25/2025 12:16 AM
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Black Kite
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A Bee
9/25/2025 12:44 AM
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Wildebeests in the foreground, elephants in the background.
9/25/2025 2:39 AM
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Waterbuck
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Cattle Egret and a Frog
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A Black Kite (top) chasing off an African Fish Eagle (bottom)
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Sometimes birds sit on the backs (and heads) of giraffes, like this one.
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Spur-Winged Goose
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Tsessebe
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Spotted Hyena
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African Jacana
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Yellow-Billed Stork. That might be an elephant bone on the left.
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Egyptian Goose
9/26/2025 12:16 AM
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Lechwe
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Lilac Breasted Roller
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Pearl Spotted Owlet
9/26/2025 7:29 AM
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Hippopotamuses in the river
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Black Winged Stilt
9/26/2025 8:40 AM
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Egyptian Geese
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9/26/2025 8:58 AM
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Solifugae. Maybe some sort of windscorpion? Zeria schoenlandi? Red Moon Spider?
9/26/2025 9:25 AM
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Something in the Mantid family.
9/26/2025 10:26 AM
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Lesser Striped Swallow, on a thatched roof.
9/26/2025 10:04 PM
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9/26/2025 10:48 PM -
Eurasian Hoopoe
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Southern Red-billed Hornbill
9/27/2025 8:18 AM
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White Browed Sparrow Weaver
9/27/2025 8:23 AM
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White Browed Sparrow Weaver
9/27/2025 8:26 AM
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Cape Starling
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Elephants come to the water at Omogolo Lodge.
9/28/2025 1:01 AM
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9/28/2025 9:27 AM
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Go-Away birds
9/28/2025 10:20 PM
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White-Browed Robin Chat
9/29/2025 6:07 AM
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Water Lily
9/29/2025 6:20 AM
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Wire-Tailed Swallows
9/29/2025 7:51 AM
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Malachite Kingfisher
9/29/2025 8:13 AM
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African Darter
9/29/2025 8:29 AM
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Pied Kingfisher
9/29/2025 8:50 AM
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9/29/2025 9:20 AM -
Pioneer White. There was a big migration of these butterflies.
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Southern Masked Weaver
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Southern Masked Weaver
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Scarlet Chested Sunbird
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A Pigeon and a Warthog.
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Long Butterfly Stork's Bill
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Hadada Ibis
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Gardenia Twig Wilter
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Cape Fur Seal, on the dock in Cape Town
