Change In Plans

SUNSET AT MOWANI MOUNTAIN CAMP

Greetings from Mowani Mountain Lodge, in Damaraland, Namibia. We made the short (25 km) drive up here from Doro !Naus yesterday afternoon.

Despite being so close together, the physical setting of Doro !Naus is totally different from that of Mowani. We went from looking at flattish desert plains, with sparse pale-yellow grass yesterday, to looking at steep hillsides covered in giant red-granite boulders today.

The west-looking view from the door of our tent is 30 kilometers of red rocks and low mountains. It looks a little like Enchantment Lodge in Sedona, but with 14 tents instead of 200 condominium units. Spectacular.

Mowani Lodge organizes sunset drinks each evening from a rocky viewpoint, set about 20 meters above the few thatched common buildings. After going on a guided nature walk in the late afternoon (which became the ‘Zola Asks a Thousand Questions Hour’), we hiked up to watch the sunset.

Mowani has the most guests in residence of all of the lodges we have stayed in in Namibia. There were 18 Germans, two flamboyant Austrians, the Namibian-husband-and-Belgian-wife manager team, and the Baird family, all sitting on cushions in the fading red sunlight. Not including us, the average age was about 65. It was a very festive atmosphere.

Klaus and Sylvia, the flamboyant Austrians, live in Namibia 4 months of the year, and have done so for the last decade. Back in Vienna, Klaus is a fashion photographer. As he waited for the optimal reddish light to photograph the sunset (it was his fifth day of waiting) he took some hilarious catwalk shots of Tallulah. She vamped wildly for his camera. Watch out, boys!

TALLULAH

Vincent, the husband of the manager couple, looked like a German army colonel out of a movie: balding, with sharply defined handsome features and excellent posture. His khaki work clothes added to his military bearing.

Vincent and Zola got to talking about snakes, which is Zola’s third favorite current topic, after Pokemon and scorpions. Vincent, the old desert hand, told us a great snake story in his soft German/Afrikaans accent.

Here is Vincent’s story (as close to verbatim as possible):

“A few years back, I was managing a camp in the Caprivi Strip, about 800 kilometers from here. We had Black Mambas there, which, as you know, are the deadliest snakes in Africa.

“One evening, an Australian couple came to me, and said, ‘Excuse us, Vincent, there is a dead mouse in our tent. Also, we may have seen a snake.’

“So I grabbed a plastic bucket and my snake stick, and I went down to their tent. Sure enough, there was a dead mouse on the floor, just inside the mosquito net. I scooped him into the bucket, and started looking around for a snake.

“Underneath the desk, I saw about 10 centimeters of a black snake tail. I started pulling the tail, to get the rest of the snake out from behind the desk. I kept pulling, and pulling, and pulling. Suddenly I was at one end of a meter-long black mamba, and he was very cross with me.

“With my Mag-Lite torch, I bashed the snake right on the head before he could bite me. I really donnered him, and killed him stone dead on the floor.

“I put the snake in the bucket, closed the lid, and tidied up the tent. The Australians went to bed.

“The next morning I went to dump the snake and the mouse into the garbage. When I opened the bucket, that black mamba flew up and struck me. I guess I had only knocked him out, not killed him.

“Fortunately, I had broken his jaw, so he couldn’t work his fangs properly. He struck again and again, his broken jaw flapping harmlessly against my leg. agains. Gave me a hell of a fright.”

Vincent drained the remainder of his gin and tonic in the twilight, and said, “Right. So who is ready to go down to dinner?”