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| "Lion hunting" at Outpost Safari Lodge Kalahari, Namibia 2026 |
While staying at Outpost Safari Lodge, we can choose a daily activity — typically a guided walk, a morning game drive or an afternoon drive or the traditional sundowner from a beautiful viewpoint.
This morning we have chosen the morning game drive.
We are going "lion hunting"!
Breakfast at Seven
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| Breakfast at dining table Outpost Safari Lodge Namibia 2026 |
Breakfast is served at 07:00 around the enormous dining table.
Our attentive hostess, Elize and her two assistents, have prepared Greek yoghurt with fresh fruit and muesli, followed shortly afterwards by freshly made omelettes filled with delicious spinach and other greens.
A very welcome change after the many substantial breakfasts we have enjoyed at some of the other wonderful places on this trip.
After breakfast, our ranger Thomaz arrives with his assistant, who will accompany us as guide and tracker.
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| Blogger and wife, heading for morning drive Outpost Safari Lodge Namibia 2026 |
We take our seats high up on the back of the Toyota, while Elize brings a cooler box with cold drinks, should we feel the need for refreshments during the drive.
There are also warm blankets waiting on our seats to protect us from the chilly Kalahari morning.
Nothing has been left to chance.
Following the Lion
We head out into the Kalahari, which is particularly green this year after good rains.
In places we follow tracks in the sand; elsewhere we simply make our own track through the bush.
There are animals everywhere.
Kudu, springbook, eland, red hartebeest, blue wildebeest, giraffe and, of course, plenty of oryx.
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| Our ranger Tomaz shows us sorted ostrich eggs Outpost Safari Lodge, Namibia 2026 |
We also pass an ostrich sitting on a nest.
And what a nest!
There are eggs everywhere — enough for some seriously large omelettes. ;-)
The ostrich has apparently sorted the eggs into different groups, sitting on those considered viable while the others have been pushed aside.
It is remarkable that she can apparently keep track of the whole arrangement.
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| Ostrich runs away, we leave her in peace Outpost Safari Lodge Namibia 2026 |
She gets up and runs away as we suddenly appear "around the corner".
We take a few photographs and then leave her in peace.
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| We see lion tracks Outpost Safari Lodge Namibia 2026 |
A little later, Thomaz spots lion tracks in the sand along the fence bordering Botswana.
This is what we have been looking for.
He suggests that we get down from the elevated back of the vehicle and sit inside the Land Cruiser, as we are now following fresh tracks and could encounter the young male lion at any moment.
That sounds perfectly sensible to us.
We have experienced lions right outside our tent in 2012 in Central Kalahari Game Reserve with our children in a roof top tent — a rather terrifying experience (link). Read the scary story! I also had the same experience with my son in 2015, but at a slightly safer distance (link).
Along the Botswana Border
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| We drive slowly along the fence Outpost Safari Lodge Namibia 2026 |
We drive slowly along the fence while Thomaz leans out of the window, carefully following the tracks.
Eventually, we reach a hole underneath the fence leading towards Botswana.
According to Thomaz, this is where the lion has crossed through.
He believes the lion is still somewhere inside the area, but despite searching carefully, we cannot find him.
So we climb back, now onto the elevated seats again and continue our drive.
For the next couple of hours we travel through the beautiful Kalahari landscape, constantly encountering large groups of animals.
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| Giraffes running away Outlook Safari Lodge Namibia 2026 |
What an extraordinary abundance of life.
Eventually we reach the place where the lion killed the zebra.
There are tracks everywhere.
But no lion.
He has clearly moved on.
Back to Our Little Oasis
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| Our little oasis Outpost Safari Lodge Namibia 2026 |
After three hours in the bush, we return to our little oasis at Outpost Safari Lodge.
Elize is waiting for us in the sun lounge with a freshly baked apple pie.
It is difficult to imagine a better welcome after a morning in the bush.
Then it is time to relax beside the plunge pool.
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| Wife relaxing in (cool) plunge pool Outpost Safari Lodge Namibia 2026 |
What a life.
We feel extremely fortunate to be able to experience this.
Later that day, Elize tells us that Thomaz has returned to the site where the lion killed the zebra. He followed the tracks all the way through the bush to the same hole in the fence that we discovered — and closed — earlier that morning.
According to Thomaz, the lion is now back outside the property.
Good for us.
But probably good for the lion as well.
It is clearly dangerous to be an uninvited lion killing animals inside a private wildlife area — particularly one where hunting also takes place.
A Kalahari Delicacy
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| !nabas, Kalahari truffles Photo Benutzer Chtrede, wiki (link) Outpost Safari Lodge, Namibia 2026 |
And then there is lunch.
We are served warm, breaded pork with fried potatoes and a very special local delicacy: freshly harvested Kalahari truffles, known locally by their Nama name: !nabas.
These unusual desert fungi appear in the Kalahari after good rains and are a highly prized seasonal food. Unlike European truffles, they grow underground in the sandy soil and have a more subtle, earthy, nutty-mushroom flavour.
We have never tried them before.
Freshly dug from the Kalahari and now served with our lunch, they are a rather extraordinary addition to the meal.
What a privilege.
We enjoy every bite.
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