NAMIBIA: Spectacular Dunes and Abundant Wildlife, Part II, Guest Post by Owen Floody.

Zebra at Etosha National Park, Namibia.

With many thanks to our friend Owen Floody, who was my husband's field partner on our trip to East Africa in 1971. Art and I have not been back to Africa since then, but Owen has made numerous trips in recent years and written about several of them for The Intrepid Tourist. His latest report chronicles a trip to Namibia—his third—and is accompanied by his excellent photographs.

Where the Namib desert meets the sea.

My previous post began with my description of a recent photo-tour of Namibia and ended as we flew by small plane from the red sand dunes of Sossusvlei to coastal Swakopmund, marking the tour’s transition from an emphasis on landscapes to one on wildlife. The flight itself provided a second look at the shapes and distributions of the Sossusvlei dunes. Particularly impressive was how abruptly the dunes end and the ocean begins. In addition, the flight permitted us to look down on one of the shipwrecks that give the Skeleton Coast its name. Finally, we viewed an impressive bank of mist extending inland from the ocean, as is very typical of this area.

These mists limited our activities in the Swakopmund area. One victim was a planned excursion to Walvis Bay in search of flamingos and other water birds. But we did see quite a few flamingos from the plane.  And the mists could not completely derail a Living Desert tour that exposed us to a few of the small creatures (chameleons, geckos, skinks, and spiders) able to make the dunes their home.

Gecko.

From Swakopmund, we continued on to our last two stops, Etosha National Park (in northern Namibia) and the Erindi Private Game Reserve (about midway between Etosha and Windhoek, our endpoint).  Even though we saw wildlife earlier in the tour, these were the areas that we expected to be the most wildlife rich.

The Etosha Salt Pan.

Etosha is the third largest of African national parks at 8600 sq mi, closely approaching the size of New Hampshire. Contained almost entirely within it is the Etosha Pan, a salt pan of about 1840 square miles. Etosha is dry, though average rainfall levels vary seasonally and regionally.  Due to its aridity, much of the wildlife viewing in Etosha occurs at waterholes, some natural, others man-made.  A few of these (including one a few feet from my room) are lit at night, permitting interesting views of a great variety of animals as they (very cautiously) visit to drink.

Giraffes and rhinos at the water hole.

Of the waterhole visitors, zebra are so photogenic as to be hard to beat. Nevertheless, the most prized nighttime visitors were the black rhinoceros and giraffes: I did not expect to see this many rhinos and was very pleased by the turnout.  And nothing could have beat the show put on for us by a large herd of elephants during a daytime waterhole visit. All of them, but especially one expressive and irresistible baby, had a grand time frolicking in the dust, water and mud.

Mother elephant and her calf having a mud bath.

Even though these sightings were great and made our visit to Etosha memorable, sightings of some other animals, especially big cats, were scarce. It was suggested that this reflected eastward movements of some animals in response to conditions that were unusually arid even by Etosha's standards.

Mother cheetah and her cubs.

We hoped that these gaps would be filled at Erindi.  And, to some extent, they were, as we were able to get good views of cheetah (6th image) and lions there. Unfortunately, at least some of these sightings came at what I considered unacceptable costs.  One of the benefits of private reserves is the ability to drive off road and at night.  And done judiciously, I think that these can be valuable.  However, our efforts to track a hunting mother cheetah suggested to me that the drivers at Erindi (which were not those attached to our tour) were prone to engage in two unethical practices.  First, they frequently plowed right through any shrub or small tree that might otherwise have required a detour. Secondly, several vehicles maintained positions close to and on at least three sides of the hunting cat. It is hard for me to believe that these intrusions didn’t compromise the hunt (which did end unsuccessfully). One of the drivers claimed that he knows the animals individually and well and would have broken off the pursuit if the animal was distressed. Perhaps this is true, but I am unconvinced. Since many of the cats are radio-collared, it should be possible to collect data on the outcome of hunts accompanied and unaccompanied by safari vehicles. If the success rates are similar, I will praise the sensitivity and skill of the drivers. Otherwise, I will give Erindi a pass, as I did on our remaining game drive.

Please bear in mind that this incident occupied no more than two hours of a 17-day trip.  Therefore, anyone attracted to Namibia but concerned about the incident should recall the saying about throwing out the baby along with the bathwater. Taken together, the sights and experiences of this trip for me elevate further a destination that already was one of my favorites. In my opinion, tweaking the itinerary would be an appropriate response, staying away would be overkill and unnecessary.      

Part I of Owen’s report appeared on July 3, 2023.

TULE ELK RESERVE: Preserving California's Wildlife

I don’t know how many times I’ve driven Interstate 5 through California’s Central Valley and passed the signs to the Tule Elk Reserve (near Taft and Bakersfield) and said to myself, I should stop and see how the elk are doing.  Twenty-five years ago I wrote a book about the tule elk and how they had been saved from extinction by rancher Henry Miller.  Under his protection, the few elk on his property began to reproduce and the herd slowly grew.  Most, if not all, of the tule elk alive today are the descendants of those animals. Tule elk can now be seen in several places in California, including a herd in Cache Creek and in the Owens Valley.

Finally, on a recent drive between Oakland and Los Angeles, I decided to make the Tule Elk Reserve my rest stop.  It is only three miles from the interstate, but when you get there you feel as if you are in the middle of what California used to be, before the land was developed for agriculture.  The Tule Elk Reserve, near the small town of Tupman,  is a 953 acre fenced area where the elk can live safely and are supplied with plenty of food and water.  Several ponds have been built on the land to give the elk drinking water and places to wallow or bathe.  Cattails, or tule reeds, grow around the edges of the ponds and provide hiding places for young elk.

Male tule elk

While the grassland of the reserve is dry and open, the visitor area is a green oasis with picnic tables, bathrooms, and a viewing platform where you can look into the reserve.  With luck you can spot some elk.  On the afternoon that I visited, I could see a few animals resting in the distance.  I didn’t have my binoculars, so I used the telephoto lens on my camera to get a closer look.  Even though the elk were so far away that the image looked more like an Impressionist painting, I could still see the majestic antlers of the male elk.

Viewing platform

The Tule Elk Reserve is operated by the California State Parks. According to the website, you can take a ranger guided auto tour of the reserve on the second and fourth Sundays of every month.  This is what I did when I was researching my book and is the best way to see the elk up close in their natural environment.  My book Tule Elk (Carolrhoda Books, 1989) is illustrated with photographs by Richard Hewett.  It is out of print but is available online as an e-book.

Directions:  The reserve is 20 miles west of Bakersfield off of the Stockdale Highway west of I-5, in the vicinity of Buttonwillow.
The park has a picnic area that offers an excellent  opportunity to observe birds of San Joaquin Valley.  Interpretive exhibits may be viewed to the south and east of the comfort station.
Video:  Follow this link for a short video tour of the Tule Elk Reserve.

The Carrizo Plain: A Glimpse of California's Past

A Day Exploring California's Grasslands (May 2011)

Beginning in the early 1800's Spanish Missions used the land of the Carrizo Plain for grazing cattle.

In the mid’1800's, when pioneers descended the foothills surrounding California’s Central Valley, they found hundreds of thousands of elk, deer, and antelope grazing on the valley floor.  In some places, there were so many animals that they darkened the plain as far as the eye could see.  Today, the valley is no longer a haven for wildlife.  Instead of animals, there are ranches, roads, and towns spread across the plain. To get a glimpse of what California’s Central Valley was like before it was developed, you can go to the Carrizo Plain, a little known valley where designation as a National Monument is helping to preserve California wildlife in its natural habitat. Both pronghorn antelope and Tule elk have been reintroduced to the area and the herds are growing. It is also home to the endangered San Joaquin Valley kit fox, giant kangaroo rat, which hops around at night collecting seeds, and a variety of other small mammals, reptiles, and birds.

A Haven for Wildlife

Herds of Pronghorn Antelope can be seen on the Carrizo Plain, usually in the morning or evening.  They typically rest during the middle of the day.

Hidden behind the Temblor range to the northeast and the Caliente Range to the southwest, the Carrizo plain is a flat valley that follows the San Andreas Fault as it heads north toward San Francisco. (You can pick up a self-guided geologic auto tour at the Visitor Center.  You can see where past earthquakes have actually rearranged fencelines and creek beds!) A visit to the Carrizo Plain is a day’s trip from Bakersfield or, if you want to get up early, from Los Angeles.  We went there recently from our house on Mount Pinos.  We have been to the Carrizo Plain three times, each time in a different season.  Our first trip was in March, and the valley floor was lush with green grass, yellow spring flowers and thousands of migrating and nesting birds.  Our second visit was in November, after the sandhill cranes had arrived for their winter stay in the shallow soda lake at the far end of the valley.  At the end of the day we watched them take off, flapping their wide wings and honking like geese.  On this trip, in May, the spring flowers were gone and the grass had turned golden, but the wild mustard was in bloom and meadowlarks and other birds were busy nesting.  Red tailed hawks perched on poles along the side of the road in between bouts of circling in search of prey.

Springtime is Nesting Time

Bullock's Oriole

Historically, the Carrizo plain has been ranch land, and it is still crisscrossed by fences, and roads are punctuated by cattle guards to keep the cattle that still graze there where they belong.  We entered the Monument from the east end, north of Maricopa on CA 166/33.  The narrow road is paved at first, but quickly turns to dirt.  You can’t drive very fast, but that is fine if you want to look for wildlife or appreciate the scenery.  Absolutely no services are available along the 30 mile road to the visitor center.  We brought a picnic lunch and stopped at one of the two campgrounds to eat it.  Only one other campsite was occupied.  To our delight, a pair of yellow and orange Bullock’s orioles, who had a nest hanging in the eucalyptus tree over our heads, were busy collecting insects for their hungry babies.

Rock Art and a Dry Lake Bed

Soda Lake on the Carrizo Plain is dries up in summer leaving behind crystals of sulphate and carbonate salts.

At the northwest end of the monument is the Goodwin Education Center, which is small, but filled with interesting exhibits and helpful park staff. On previous visits, we had walked from the parking lot not far from there to Painted Rock, once one of California’s most spectacular examples of Native American rock art, but now badly damaged by vandals.  In the past, Painted Rock was open to the public.  Now, in order to see it, you have to go online and make a reservation for a guided or self-guided tour.  On the weekend we were there, it was closed to protect the native raptors which were nesting in the rocks.

Before we left, we stopped at Soda Lake and walked along the boardwalk.  The drainage of the valley is such that the water collects and evaporates, leaving mineral deposits behind.  In winter, Soda Lake is filled with water and provides a home for sandhill cranes and other birds.  In summer, it is a dry lake bed. After leaving Soda Lake, we headed northwest and left the Monument.  As we passed through farmland on our way back to highway 58, we saw a lone pronghorn antelope standing in a field.  Perhaps on another day, we would come back and see a whole herd.

The Carrizo Plain became a National Monument in 2000.

Getting there: The Carrizo Plain National Monument can be accessed either from Highway 33/166 north of Maricopa, or from Highway 58 west of McKittrick. At Traver Ranch, about ten miles from the east entrance you can stop and pick up a map and get other information.  Be sure to have plenty of gas and bring your own water and food.  As we drove along the road through the Monument, we stopped frequently to look at birds and take photos, and rarely met other cars.  That is the attraction of the Carrizo Plain.  While it is not that far from civilization, not many people go there.