Flying Adventure: Namibia Tour – Day 8 (FYTF – FYEF):

We are flying up to the most northerly part of Namibia today, the Epupa Falls on the Kunene River. The Kunene River forms the border between Namibia and Angola.
But before we can depart we need to fill up fuel. It is a far distance we have to cover until we can refuel again. He has arranged fuel in advance and this worked out very well. As we reach the aircraft in the morning, the fuel truck is already at the airfield waiting for his business of the day.

The Epupa Falls are a true N3 Aviation destination. They are very remote, and challenging to reach by land. It is a beautiful unspoiled environment.

The local airstrip requires a bit of planning. Firstly, it is not the airstrip you find on Google Maps, that’s a soccer field and not suitable to land. The actual strip is about 5 km out of the settlement, and not easy to identify from the air. Secondly, it is situated between mountains and less then 900 meters long. About 150 meters or so on the western threshold are unusable due to erosion. Thus there’s only about 700 meters available. This provides little room for error. In particular with a fully loaded C206, in very hot weather and an altitude of 762 meters above sea level, which all reduces available aircraft performance.

We touch down safely but use pretty much all of the available runway to roll out due to reduced available break power. At the parking spot we pay the local Himba people the landing fees, and are then picked up for our transfer to the Epupa Falls Lodge.

The Epupa Falls

The afternoon is then spent exploring the falls and surroundings. It is a tranquil, relaxing and absolutely stunning place.

In Zambia the Victoria Falls are called Mosi oa Tunya, or “the smoke that thunders”. The Epupa Falls are not at large as the Victoria Falls, thus there’s no thunder and no smoke either. The falling and gushing water is here referred to as “foam”. Epupa means “foam” in the language of the Herero people.

In the late afternoon we enjoy the sunset from the hilltop overlooking the falls, and then proceed to a great dinner at the lodge.