A holiday in Namibia in 2009 was our first return to Africa after leaving Rhodesia in 1970, and our first stop on our safari was for two nights at Okonjima. In many ways it suited us well, as it was a short drive from Windhoek airport and made a very comfortable break before we journeyed deeper into the country.
The package came with a couple of drives into the bush and it wasn't until we started the first that we realised that the cats for which Okonjima was renowned were all locked up in runs. In fact, we found some of the wildlife visits....
....to our veranda were more exciting than viewing the cheetahs and leopards from a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by an armed ranger.
We were surprised then to be given the okay to walk by ourselves in the bush in the area around the main buildings. I love walking in the African bush: it brings me alive but, as we wandered further, I became increasingly nervous. There were animals around us but we had difficulty in spotting them, and I finally decided I'd had enough when some baboons started calling from a ridge a few hundred metres away and....
....we finally saw one of the animals near us, a kudu.
So, yes, I was frightened - but that is the point of these walks. We've forgotten what it's like to be frightened, to be virtually defenceless, to not be in control.
We had several more walks during that holiday and I became more accustomed to the fear, even though some of the walks were in places where leopard, rhino and elephant roamed. As at Okonjima, all the other walks were guided by armed rangers except for those led by Denis at Etendeka - by far the best camp - who was unarmed. Yet I felt completely safe in his company.
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