In the north of Namibia the Kunene River flows along the Namibian / Angola border. This river starts its life from deep within the highlands of Angola, running south and when the river turns to the west it then becomes the border between these two countries.

At its western end, not far from the sea, is an isolated community campsite run by the local Himba people. This site is very remote and in order to enjoy its absolute serenity and beauty you need to be able to travel at least 1000 miles between refuelling stops. Because of this it is rarely visited, which adds an extra edge to the isolation here, making you feel that you are deep in unexplored country. When we visited, the visitor’s book had few entries and a year later on our second visit no other names had been added since the first time that we had enjoyed the shade under the Ana trees.

As you drive out of the Marienfluss and into the camp a magnificent sign proclaims that you have arrived. There are some rules of great importance written by hand on it, one of which is:

“Swimming is prohibited due to the presence of crocodile in the river”.

Fantastic I thought, as we drove in, so no sooner had we set up camp and I was off with camera in hand to find a crocodile.

A few hundred yards from where we had set up camp the river’s pace slowed and here I found this crocodile basking in the sun on some river worn rocks. He let me watch him for a while before with a heave, that belied the speed that he could travel, he ambled away to slip quietly into the brown waters of the Kunene River.