By Roxanne Reid
Most people have a picture of Namibia in their heads that’s all dry desert, strange-looking welwitschias and quiver trees. But if you venture northeast, above the veterinary cordon, you’ll find the rivers of Namibia – a different world.
Most people have a picture of Namibia in their heads that’s all dry desert, strange-looking welwitschias and quiver trees. But if you venture northeast, above the veterinary cordon, you’ll find the rivers of Namibia – a different world.
There’s nothing we enjoy more than getting off the beaten track. Up here, along the Kavango, Kwando, Zambezi and Chobe rivers in northeast Namibia, which make up the Four Rivers Route, there’s a chance to see a life lived differently. Here among the rivers and floodplains the traditional mokoro – a long canoe carved from a single tree trunk – is king.
To us it was strange to see people using mokoros as wagons over dry land, drag, drag, scrape along the sand. They carried firewood, thatching grass or barrels of water fetched from a water pump, and were pulled either by people or hooked up to a donkey. But in this land where you might be crossing a floodplain as often as a patch of dry land, it probably makes sense as a multi-purpose vehicle. For instance, guide Mathias Ndana at Hakusembe River Lodge told us that the road to the lodge was flooded in February and guests had to be ferried there in boats.
To us it was strange to see people using mokoros as wagons over dry land, drag, drag, scrape along the sand. They carried firewood, thatching grass or barrels of water fetched from a water pump, and were pulled either by people or hooked up to a donkey. But in this land where you might be crossing a floodplain as often as a patch of dry land, it probably makes sense as a multi-purpose vehicle. For instance, guide Mathias Ndana at Hakusembe River Lodge told us that the road to the lodge was flooded in February and guests had to be ferried there in boats.
Man in mokoro, Kavango River, northern Namibia
The mokoro is also used for fishing on the rivers, the men standing upright and poling their way along in a way that looks much easier than it is in practice. The Kavango River (the same one known as the Okavango in Botswana) is a source of tiger fish, bream and small kapente fish. Here people also use traditional fish traps to catch small fish – not the conical basket traps you find further east, but sheets of woven basketwork that are gradually closed into a circle so the fish can’t escape.
Hakusembe River Lodge
The Kavango forms the border between Namibia and Angola, just a five-minute swim across the river from Hakusembe River Lodge. As we settled into our chalet along the riverfront, we watched Angolan children on the far bank fishing and swimming naked or in their skivvies. Their mothers had done the washing and colourful clothes were lined up along a fence to dry. Four children came down to the water’s edge with a cart drawn by two oxen, to fetch water.
Hakusembe River Lodge
The Kavango forms the border between Namibia and Angola, just a five-minute swim across the river from Hakusembe River Lodge. As we settled into our chalet along the riverfront, we watched Angolan children on the far bank fishing and swimming naked or in their skivvies. Their mothers had done the washing and colourful clothes were lined up along a fence to dry. Four children came down to the water’s edge with a cart drawn by two oxen, to fetch water.
Hakusembe's chalets are on the riverfront or surrounded by shady gardens
The deck has a great view over the river
Our reception at Hakusembe had been warmed by genuine smiles. When I told lodge administrator Immo Gawases later how much we enjoyed our interactions with the staff, she smiled, ‘We understand that when someone arrives he’s hot and tired. If you don’t welcome him with a big smile and a friendly attitude, then just now he may start to shout at you.’ It’s a winning plan.
The blooms on our bed made us feel like honeymooners
My memory of Hakusembe is of cerise bougainvilla blooms scattered on our bed, of shady green gardens, with views of the river around every corner. Joseph Kamangwa was happy to show us around his small veggie garden, packed with spinach, carrot, beetroot, cauliflower, beans, peppers, lettuce, brinjal, rocket and tomatoes. We spotted herbs like coriander, chives, basil and parsley too, as well as orange and banana trees. There were even a few ripe strawberries in the middle of winter!
No wonder the food on Hakusembe’s buffet tables was delicious – fresh salads, a salmon tart with crisp pastry, oryx fillet with mushroom sauce, broccoli cheese, and my favourites, roast sweet potatoes with orange zest and fried cabbage with fennel seeds.
No wonder the food on Hakusembe’s buffet tables was delicious – fresh salads, a salmon tart with crisp pastry, oryx fillet with mushroom sauce, broccoli cheese, and my favourites, roast sweet potatoes with orange zest and fried cabbage with fennel seeds.
Joseph Kamangwa in his veggie garden
Kavango river cruise
Late afternoon saw us out on the Kavango River with self-confessed bird nut, Mathias Ndana, the perfect river guide. He was content to cut the engine and drift slowly with the current to get closer to a fish eagle sitting on a branch in the sun or to a dozen black-crowned night herons roosting in a tree, before taking to the skies just after sunset.
Late afternoon saw us out on the Kavango River with self-confessed bird nut, Mathias Ndana, the perfect river guide. He was content to cut the engine and drift slowly with the current to get closer to a fish eagle sitting on a branch in the sun or to a dozen black-crowned night herons roosting in a tree, before taking to the skies just after sunset.
Flat-bottomed boats ready for cruising on the Kavango River
Fish eagles and openbill storks were just two of many birds we saw on our river cruise
Together we saw a multitude of birds like greenbacked heron, openbill storks, an osprey flying overhead, African jacanas spreading their long toes as they searched for food along the river’s edge, and little bee-eaters perching at their nesting holes in the riverbank. A pied kingfisher hovered for a moment then shot like a bullet into the water in search of supper. Mathias said there were more than 400 bird species in the area and he seemed to know and love them all.
Guide Mathias Ndana spoilt us with sparkling wine
Sunset over the river at Hakusembe River Lodge
After our birding frenzy, the sunset had its own calm, quiet excitement as we drifted in the current. A coucal called through the trees on the riverbank as the sun sank over the river and behind the reeds, leaving pink and ginger tinges in the whisps of cloud above.
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