March 16
Swakopmund to Mokuti
269 nautical miles
2hrs 50mins flying time
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From desert to savannah and high ground
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Fox formation is, for the first time, back together for the northbound leg. Minus David and Angela in the Cessna twin, sadly missed, who are back in th UK after their nosewheel collapse in the Sudan and William in the Whisk. We leave the coast and head inland. The landscape changes from desert to savannah.We head in loose formation towards the Etosha Pan, a 75-mile long dry lake, at the heart of one of the great game reserves of Africa.
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| A "benign" CB. Just don't it for granted |
We climb initially to 1,500 feet on the QNH ( a sorr of average above mean sea level) and are then are cleared to fly " low level" at FL55 ( 5,500 feet) by Walvis Bay. The terrain rises gently but unmistakeably. So does the temperature. So do the clouds. As we approach Etosha it becomes murkier. In the distance we see a Cumilonimbus (CB) cloud forming in a great tower. These can sometimes rise to 60,000 feet. This one is relatively benign. It shows no electrical activity on Alpha Charlie's Strikefinder storm detection gizmo. We nevertheless respectfully give it a wide birth. My good friend Laurie Kay gave Jo and I a masterclass in navigating tropical storms before we left Johannseburg.
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Fine cloud chimneys
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Closer to Mokuti the Etosha Pan stretches to the left. The visibility clears but chimneys or curtains of fine, low cloud stretch from the solid base above to the gound below at 10-20 mile intervals. We weave in and out of them and occasionally through them to give Alpha Charlie a shower. Derek, in the Mooney, and I later debate what to call them. Answers on a postcard please. We land on the mostly dirt strip of runway 26, a bit short. Alpha Charlie gets a (mud) bath. She goes to bed in a bit of a huff. Her last words: " I am an aeroplane. Not a hippo."
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| The Etosha pan..filling after heavy rainfall from Angola |
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An Etosha elephant: a terrestrial CB
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Tomorrow we go Angola, a beautiful country ravaged by civil war where over 10m landmines were planted with a budding ecotourism industry.
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