'For a few years in the 1990s lions were occasionally seen in the vicinity of the Uniab Delta on the Atlantic coast in Namibia. Much of this was rumor but I did walk several times from the coast road down the bed of the river to the sea in the hope of a lucky sighting. I once saw tracks of a lioness but never the actual animal. However I did see lots of gemsbok and springbok. It was exotic place to see plains game - especially when they had Atlantic Ocean waves in the background. But that sums up Namibia perfectly - it's a very bizarre place with lots of very unusual wildlife sightings in unexpected surroundings. As someone who surfs I was also intrigued by the waves I saw breaking here on one of those hikes to the mouth - they were perfect peaks peeling off to the right and left. The warden of the Skeleton Coast Park, who surfs, warned me that he knew of the wave but he had seen great white sharks patrolling the river mouth area. I knew when I saw this place that it would make a spectacular painting.'

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