Dawn at Okapuka Lodge

The Kalahari Morning Star's pixellated printing presses will be shut down for the next several days as we board the Jewel of the Desert for our journey through Namibia. But our stay at the Okapuka Lodge is worth reporting, however briefly. 

Our arrival last evening was in time to watch several dozen warthogs graze in the field just outside the dining room. They're a lot cuter in person than you'd expect, and they graze on their elbows, if that's the proper term, paying us little mind. 

But as it turns out, they're just the first shift. At dusk, they head off into the sunset, to be replaced by a herd of wildebeests and blesbok antelope, who stay until nightfall.

The dawn brings even more unexpected delights. A beautiful vista of shadows that gradually give way to morning sun, just for starters, and then the first of what we hope will be many more wonderful visitors. Well, more than one, actually. Six giraffes grazing nearby watch us as they move from tree to tree -- big, beautiful hints to what will come on our Namibian safari.