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| ashley's Diary |
| Date |
Sunday, 13 Aug 2006 |
| Country |
Namibia |
| Weather |
Sunny |
| Diary |
Etosha National Park 12th, 13th & 14th August.
One of the strangest things about Namibia is that it isn’t necessary to visit Milan to see the latest safari fashions. The reason is that it is full of Italians on holiday. I had thought that the Germans would be in the majority out of a nostalgic loyalty to Kaiser Bill and the old colonial name of German South West Africa, but no, Italy must be nearly empty this summer. I just had to get to the bottom of this and so asked a few Italians why Namibia was so popular with their countrymen…. “it isa becauseofa Angelina anda Brad” So, there you have it Namibia has become trendy in Italy because Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt decided to have their baby here. Lesson for the tourist industry in Bath there….when Angelina becomes pregnant again, maybe the RUH could invite her to have her baby on the wonderful National Health Service….or maybe not. Anyway apart from the odd fashion disaster (pirate scarves over the hair seem to be “in” on men in Italy) they are so cool and trendy that dirt, dust and sweat don’t dare go anywhere near them and the morning mutual grooming sessions on the campsites are worthy of a BBC wildlife documentary…”Here we are, in the deserts of Namibia and if you look carefully we can spot Maria applying Luigi’s moisturiser and yes…I can see Luigi picking up the hairdryer and back combing Maria’s locks” Look, I know I’m just jealous, not ever having been accused of being a fashionista myself…. I go for the rugged, smelly look. Etosha is a huge salt flat surrounded by grasslands (23000 square km) where wild animals thrive although where they buy their moisturiser from is a complete mystery. Stayed at Namutoni the first night, which is an old (1899) German fort which was unsuccessfully defended by seven German soldiers against 500 Owambo warriors in 1904. The Kaiser’s plucky lads bravely held on all day, but managed to sneak away during the night when the Owambo warriors were distracted by a couple of Italians involved in mutual moisturisation. The floodlit waterhole is great and we saw lions, giraffe etc etc come to drink and frolic as we sipped our chilled white wine. Next day we went off on a game drive and stayed at another rest camp - Halali which was a bit of a dustbowl, but had a great waterhole viewing area where we saw rhino, elephant and leopard come to drink. If you are in Namibia then Etosha is a must.
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