One Big Cat's Diary: Brandberg mountain

Our next camp was based right next to the Brandberg mountain - the highest in Namibia at 2,573 metres - which lies within the Damaraland region. The Brandberg means "fire mountain" and we were able to see precisely why when the sun set that evening, producing a spectacular orange glow all around.

We were all keen to have a shower that night, as the heavy rain had put us off the night before. There were two shower blocks - one that was surrounded by wild donkeys and one that wasn't. I decided to opt for the one without the donkeys, as I thought I'd have at least one day where I wasn't grappling with wild animals. My wish was not granted, however, as I forgot to close the zip on the bottom of my tent and a meercat snuck in there later that evening. I found him poised over my stash of chocolate-chip cookies and not planning to leave any time soon. I thought that shining my head torch into his eyes would frighten him off, but he was too tame and tenacious. So one of my fellow campers came to the rescue and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and removed him.

After we'd finished our dinner around the camp fire, our guide briefed us on the next day's activities and issued a warning before we went to bed. I thought we were about to get another snake lecture, but this time the animal that we need to be worried about in the middle of the night is elephants..

Our campsite was right in the middle of the migration path of the desert elephant that lives in the region. This is a unique phenomenon within Namibia. It was thought that elephants could never survive in the desert as they typically need to drink around 200 litres of water every day. But these elephants have evolved to suit the environment and are able to survive on much less. Apparently they are much skinnier than normal African elephants. Our guide advised us that if we needed to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, we should go in pairs. I am not entirely sure how that would have helped, but I am happy to report that I managed to control my bladder throughout the night and avoid any potential confrontation with an elephant in the queue for the toilet.