Purros, Namibia
Located in the least populated, northwest corner of Namibia, Kakaoland is home to desert tribes and special breeds of desert elephants, rhino and lions. Five hours of rough roads had us pretty wiped by the time we reached the campground run by the Purros Conservancy. We had hailed one of the few cars down on the trip in and the couple and given us a tip to get site 3 if possible as it’s located under a gigantic Camel Thorn Tree. The site is larger than most suburban yards, totally private with showers, toilets and a sink for dishes, what more could a woman ask for. Other than the sign nailed to the tree warning us not to leave food where elephants can see or smell it, it could not have been more perfect. We ended our evening with sundowners on the deck of the neighboring lodge, the air was perfect, a light warm breeze, no bugs and quiet with the exception of the chicadas and occasional howl of coyotes.
Dan carefully strung the nylon line positioned so I would catch the mid day sun to dry our laundry. We’ve been moving daily with no time to do wash, now on my last pair of clean underwear and a free morning I began to boil water on the gas cooker.
Thank goodness for a proper sink, in his effort to kill a spider crawling across my dishpan, Dan stabbed a hole in it rendering the plastic pan less than adequate to do wash. I took great care to shut the spigot off quickly and to only use minimal water which is so scarce in the desert. I heard a faint rustling in the bushes just across the clearing. A very large family of Baboons were attempting to be stealth as they moved in closer. I felt like Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark when he said “Does it have to be snakes”, “Does it have to be Baboons”? Chacma Baboons are omnivorous, meaning they hunt prey, they have large canines and travel in groups of up to 100, think furry LA street gang up to no good. The camp caretaker Max arrived to chase them off, they returned of course lurking from the surrounding bush as I guarded my precious laundry drying on the line, no way I want to see my underwear on the head of a Baboon.
Mid day we had a visit from two very naughty, young bull elephants. We stood helpless and paralyzed as they ripped the water hose to our showers out to quench their thirst. It saved us a trip to see the desert elephants having had this very close, personal interaction.
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