Camping paradise at Kwando Camp in the Caprivi

The garden sprinklers were ticking away and the sun was filtering through the leaves of the knobthorn, apple-leaf and bushwillow trees. We were at Kwando Camp, near Kongola in the Caprivi/Zambezi region of Namibia, and it was the first time we’d had a grassed campsite instead of sand in a whole month. It felt like five-star luxury.

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That ticking sound mingled with the scratching of rakes gathering leaves into piles and the distant jingle of cowbells. It made Kwando Camp a peaceful retreat, somewhere to sit in the dappled shade and fall asleep with a good book. Until a camelthorn tree would drop one of its large pods with a thud nearby and startle me awake.

Less lazy than me, my travelling companion spent a whole morning faffing around with solar panels and fridges and pliers and drills and whatnot. That he was humming tunelessly as he worked was a sign he was as happy fiddling about in these lush surroundings as I was dozing.

We rounded off a perfect day with a short walk to the river at sunset, then a visit to the lodge’s circular deck overlooking the river for a sundowner. A fire was lit in a central pit, and candles in brown paper bags lined the walkway for atmospheric effect. The ambience was broken only briefly when a rude bird pooed on my arm from the tree above, a great big mushy brown splat. By
the time I looked up to see what it was, it had already flown away.

We’d been self-catering for all but one night of a whole month, through the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and Etosha National Park in Namibia, so we treated ourselves to dinner. At N$200 per person it wasn’t dirt-cheap, but it was good. A spinach and herb soup to start, followed by lamb with sweet potato mash, veg and gravy (which they somewhat pretentiously called jus) and a chocolate banana bread-and-butter pudding. It was definitely more sophisticated than our dinner at Ngepi, which had cost us N$140 per person for two courses, but not necessarily any more tasty. 

There were only two other campers sharing the huge campground with us in mid-winter, even though it was hot during the day and mild at night. I’m not sure how many of the chalets along the river’s edge were occupied, but the barman told us there had been just one couple for dinner the previous night. Tourism in Namibia seems to have been harder hit this year than last year, if the people we spoke to were to be believed. All those Spaniards, Italians, Greeks and other Europeans with no money to spend? 

For us, it was a bonus. We had that green, shady paradise almost to ourselves.

More about Caprivi and Namibia

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