Wild Adventure – Namibia and Kgalagadi – Day 5 Ai Ais to Hardap Dam

31 October 2018

Today we left Ai Ais and made our way to Hardap Dam, one of the Namibia Wild Resort rest camps.

We spotted these klipspringers along the road from Ai Ais

The landscape was at first rocky and dry with interesting vegetation from time to time.

Every so often a tree or bush erupts from the rocks

Awesome view toward the Fish River Canyon

We last visited Hardap in 2005. Before booking in at the time  I read a review about the place which proclaimed that it’s only Redeeming Feature was the Restaurant – We’ve joked about that ever since!  The Redeeming Feature boasted an awesome view of The Dam and served reasonable meals.   Soon after we stayed the resort was closed for several years and some major renovations took place. It is now much improved with upgraded cabins, pleasant campsites and modern ablutions.

Our Campsite – Renovated cabins in the background

Hardap Dam

A welcome addition – a lovely pool near the restaurant

Outdoor seating at the restaurant

Sunset at our camp

Lovely braai area

 

We enjoyed a refreshing swim in the lovely pool which overlooks the dam then had drinks at the restaurant before going back to our campsite to braai.

We expected high temperatures after Springbok but were pleasantly surprised to have cooler evenings and morning in both Ai Ais and Hardap.

As we spent only one night here we did not do a game reserve in the reserve. However, they do have guided tours with a competent guide and you are likely to see black rhino, Gemsbok, giraffe and other game.  There are no predators besides black-backed jackal.

The bird life in the area is also interesting.   We saw white-browed sparrow weavers, mouse-birds, Namaqua Sandgrouse among others.