Namibia - and a long-hoped for encounter

I know I am fortunate in having travelled as much as I have. I do use my trips to gather material for my books (the opening of The Divide came from a holiday in Costra Rica), and I take photographs for watercolours. It took me many years to finally see a leopard, but just like buses, you wait for ages and then a whole load of them come along. 

I've seen white rhinos, but just the backside of a black one until July 2022, when I finally got to one really close to. The other animal I have always wanted to see is a meerkat. But not only did I get to see one, I got to cuddle it as well. We stayed at a place called The White Lady Lodge, names after some rock painting.Just behind the lodge is a rocky escarpment, in which a colony of meerkats live. During the day they forage for pests in the garden, making short work of scorpions and other potentially unwelcome invertebrates. They are not fed by the lodge at all. But we were there during their winter, and it gets very cold in the morning. Two meerkats ventured into the lodge one day, and discovered the cat basket.

They were so impressed that the lodge bought them one of their own, and every evening they scapered across the veranda, dashed through the bar, and put themseves to bed. But in the morning there was nothing they liked better than being picked up by a nice warm human, and cuddled inside a coat... What was so delightful about all of this is that no bribery was involved, as they were not fed. It was their choice to interact with us, and one of the best experiences of my life.

There were some pretty good birds, too!