Waterberg Plateau Visit

Just returned from visiting the Waterburg Plateau. The Plateau is located 150 km or so north of Windhoek. It is a most strange geologic formation that resembles many of the mesas of the Arizona/New Mexico region. It began to form over 300 million years ago and is an interesting mixture of sedimentary rock that has also seen volcanic activity. The sheer rocky face of the Plateau contains every shade of orange and brown and is dotted with psychedelic lichens of neon yellow, green or even blue. We hiked all the way to the top on one of the days of our visit. Annie did the best job, especially since we were moving almost vertically towards the top of this thing. I think her lower center of gravity helped her maintain her balance better than the older members of our family. The view was spectacular from the top.
We were pretty pooped when we descended the trail, but we still had a little left in us to visit the German cemetery on the grounds. Waterburg is the site where the Germans and the Herrero people clashed during the height of German colonization of the area. The Herrero, needless to say, lost. And the infamous ‘annihilation order’ was subsequently issued. It was rescinded sometime later by the Kaiser himself, but not before the death of many an indigenous man, woman or child. Most of the Germans buried there, however, did not die as a result of battle. They died mostly from disease or from the lack of appropriate medical attention after the battle.
In more modern times, the place has recently been turned into a resort complete with “chalets”, a restaurant and a humungous pool (which of course Annie fell into with all of her clothes on). There’s also camping for the more modest budget. Game drives are offered as well and guided hikes. Since we were staying up the road a bit which offered its own game drives, we just availed ourselves of the well marked hiking paths. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to spot the black rhino that inhabits the top of the plateau.
The lodge we stayed in was called WABI and it is a most interesting place indeed. Its décor is a bit of a throwback to the early eighties. It's also filled with hunting trophies from its earlier days when it was a hunting lodge. Its owner, Christine, is the ultimate hostess. She is the type of person that seems to anticipate one’s needs before one can even verbalize them. Our kids ate up her three course dinners with gusto, which is saying quite a lot. Because WABI is located so far in the bush, much of what is needed for the lodge is produced on site. There are ducks and chickens whose eggs are eaten at breakfast. So the experience was also much like being on the farm. The meat course is usually of some sort of game variety so we were offered kudu steaks, kudu stroganoff and springbok in a nutmeg sauce. Yum!
There were other animals just for the viewing—giraffes, sable, oryx, white rhinos, hippos, wildebeest, kudu, lechwe and black-faced impala—just to name a few. The lechwe are bred there for live sale to other lodges. It is normally an animal that inhabits Northern Namibia in the Okavango Region. Additionally, there was a flock of magnificent peafowl; the alpha peacock of the bunch being the most beautiful and well kept we’ve ever seen. They tended to roost on our doorstep, the roof, the exterior window sills or just about anywhere they darn well please. A small herd of nyala roamed free among the ‘chalets’ and the kids were able to get some really up-close and personal shots of them. Lastly, a pair of injured and / or elderly cheetahs were kept in a huge enclosure where they could be fed and kept safe from predators. On our last morning there, Christine took a group of tourists into the enclosure and one of the cheetahs began to express his discontent over the situation and it looked like it might be curtains for the tourists, but one of the bigger women in the group averted disaster by shooing him away like one would a troublesome dog. Emma said her knees were shaking after witnessing that little scene. What an interesting departing gift!