Ngepi Camp, Kavango

We drove from Etosha via Rundu to the Ngepi Camp, on the shores of the Kvango River in the Caprivi Strip.  In the car park we spied this Black-collared Barbet:
















This is where we first met Christopher too.  A local man, he's also an expert birder and loudly enthusiastic.  He pointed us to a Swamp Boubou nest, however the nest was empty and remained so.... we suspect too many people knew where it was so the birds had decided to move on to somewhere less disturbed.

We were shown to our rooms.  The use of the word room here is an exaggeration.  You need someone on point when showering for example as anyone on the river can see you.  The hut is basically two-walled, though these are wicker affairs so 'breezy'.  The other two walls are rolled-up tarps.  When we unrolled them it was obvious they'd been rolled-up for some time judging by the beasties fleeing the scene.  The rolled wicker was also an attractive home to wasps judging by the volumes of them hovering around.  And the geckos liked it in there too.  We're sure some people love this, but it was a bit too primitive for us.

We found out we were staying there because our guide used to work with the new manager.  I was at this point really regretting not having named accommodation for the trip so we could check it beforehand.  Lesson learned.

Anyway, the view of the river was splendid:

And right outside our room a resident Black Crake:

And a Dark-capped Bulbul:

After a sit down and recharge we wandered around the grounds of the lodge, seeing Broad-billed Roller:

Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove:

and Fork-tailed Drongo:

We watched the late afternoon fly by overlooking the river, seeing Knob-billed Duck:

And a gentle sunset:

Dinner was very good, probably the most thoughtful veggie food of the trip in fact, and the beer was good too.  We slept soundly right-up to the point where a hippo knocked into our hut, probably grazing on the river-watered grass right outside...