Our next camp was near a little creek which run over the rocks to form a pretty waterfall with a beautiful private pool underneath, surrounded be reed. It was such a nice place and a good feeling to have a save bath. The advantage for us two climbers and the drawback for the others was that this place was only accessible by a 5m down climb the rock face. We followed the cascades down for a while until we came to a spot with a good view at the magnificent Kunene river. After taking in the view we climbed back up to the camp in fading day light. This evening our guide bought a goat from the nearby village. It was slaughtered and skinned and then barbequed straight away. We tried the heart and liver which were good and later had the ribs which were tasty, but the meat was very tough and not much of it.
The next day took us some of the time along the river again. At one point we wanted to fill our water bottles and were looking for a suitable way through the reed down to the river. We changed our mind when we heard a loud splash, probably originating from a crocodile that had rested on the shore and jumped into the water at our approach. Later, at the campsite we saw a big one on the rocks on the other side of the river, in Angola. We climbers usually went in front of the group as the geologists were slowed down by rock sampling. We followed our guide through a wide, dry river bed which narrowed into a steep gorge. About 120m from the gorge our guide stopped and pointed at a leopard coming down the rocks to drink from the puddles in the gorge. The animal had not noticed us. We waited and after a while it returned, looked at us and majestetically jumped up the rocks to where it came from. What an elegant, powerful cat! We were very lucky to see a leopard in the wild. The sides of the gorge were vertical, water washed rock. At the bottom were pools with fish in them, it was nice and cool. Further in the gorge the pools merged and filled the whole gorge so that we had to take our shoes off and balance barefoot over the pebbles. It was great to look at the steep walls from down there, tree trunks which had been carried there by the river far above us. We continued until our feet became tired of the permanent hopping and balancing, then returned to leave the gorge and carry on on our route.
Our last camp directly by the river was at a wonderful place. The river was wide and calm, with mountains in the background reflecting in the water. Another river flew into the Kunene. In this river was a small waterfall, very convenient for a shower. The next day we followed this river which again required some rock-hopping, an unusual exercise in this country. Then we crossed the mountain range which brought us trough a new type of a beautiful landscape. There were more gorges and rock face inviting us to climb. However, we did not have any gear with us, so we left it at eye-climbing. The walking became more interesting and challenging, involving some climbing over boulders along the creek. Unfortunately, we only had foul tasting water from some pools at one camp there and exactly on that day I felt a bit dehydrated and had to drink a lot. I put a water disinfection tablet in and some lemonade powder so that it became drinkable. Even the tea tasted bad.
