The group is a mix of Westerners from Canada, Australia and England plus us two Americans. Our trip leaders are American and British so this is an all English speaking crowd. The age mix goes from gap year students to a couple in their 60s. Half of the group is younger than 30. All pretty nice people who are very helpful. We all have “jobs” to do like unload the truck, set up camp, and rotate every five days in food preparation with our amazing Kenyan cook.
While I don’t want to bore anyone with too much detail of our everyday life (trust me, I remember that the Seinfeld Show was called a show about nothing), there are many daily events that are definitely different than most everyday Western life.
Today in the grocery store for example, the lady in line behind me had her baby in a papoose, her hair in braids or dreadlocks and a copper colored powder all over her body. Of course, I did a double take when I saw she was naked from the waist up and thinking nothing about it as she went through her daily life.
The first two days took us west through the southernmost portion of South Africa where we camped the first night. The camp was very nice with hot showers, a beautiful pool and a meal cooked by the camp owners. All good except it was very hot for us. (In Massachusetts, they would call this wicked hot.) The temperature was around 38 Celsius which is 104 Fahrenheit. We have been warned that it was around 45 C in Namibia which is around 113 F where we would be camping two nights later. While there is a lot of wind in the late afternoon, it takes a while for the air to cool so sleep didn’t come too quick for me the first night. To keep myself occupied, I went out while the others were drinking and tried to take some photos that are called star trails. My star trail efforts from the first week will have their own short blog.
The second day, we crossed the border into Namibia. No Visa needed so this was pretty simple. We continued on to a camp site just over the border, next to the Orange River that is the border between these two countries. They had a much nicer pool but much worse showers/bathrooms but still, very acceptable. For two days we had been riding on a vehicle to get us to the border that is not as nice as the one we will use for the rest of the trip. At night, we met up with that vehicle and transferred our goods and camped for the night. The combination of tired from heat and lack of sleep had me snoozing by 9 PM. The air was a bit cooler and the tent a bit nicer.
We are now in a routine of camp set up and break down that will hopefully make for a smooth trip. Day three, we had a late start and will headed toward Fish River Canyon, which is something like the Grand Canyon with lots of heat. It was an interesting place to see as Namibia began to unfold its natural beauty. We stay in this canyon (where it was “only” 100 in the shade when we arrived), because the following morning, we will rise early to go to a massive sand dune area to climb up for sunrise. The Grand Canyon of Namibia is shown in this composite of four photos “sewn” together on my computer.
The sand dune was a very interesting place as some of the photos may show. We hiked up a 400 foot path on the spine of the sand dune. The dunes are stunning with red and orange tones, little tree or plant life.
There was the occasional surprise around these dunes as we spotted an ostrich family with many young moving at the base of a dune.
After that we went to an area in the desert where there has been no water for a long time and the trees are still standing 300 years later. Talk about desolation!
We then proceeded to another area where we would spend the night but not before taking a tour of the 30,000 acre property by the owner who is a 4th generation white Namibian (Dutch origins). He showed and told us amazing things about living in this desert area where this year they have had 10x the normal rainfall. We saw a lush green desert filled with wild flowers that would usually be an arid wasteland. Here are a few from his property…
The end of week #1 finds us in Swakopmund on the western Namibian coast next to the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a relief to be in a cool, temperate climate and not worry about beating the heat. Since I was in a bed for the first time in a week, I slept 11 hours. We will have three nights here to chill out here before heading into our first serious wildlife area called Etosha National Park.
Now a few words about Namibia. Namibia is a relatively new country established in 1990. Namibia was formerly German Southwest Africa until the League of Nations gave the land to South Africa, which had administrative control until 1990. The land is a mix of desert, mountains, colonial cities and seascapes. The people are a mix of Germans, Dutch, English, South Africans and local tribe people. The languages are English (the official language), German and Afrikaans (simplified Dutch). Namibia is one of the least populous countries in the world with a density of 2 people per kilometer.
The country is full of wildlife. The first few days we saw ostriches, Oryx, gemsbok, springbok, mountain zebras and gemsbok, among others. While the zebras (pronounced zeb-ras here) are the most interesting, the springbok are by far the most entertaining as they intermittently run and jump high in the air as the move away from us.
There is so much to talk about and what we are moving through is quite amazing. While it’s hard to believe one week is already complete, we still 7½ weeks remaining so there will be plenty more shock and awe at the people, natural beauty, wildlife, etc.
Oh yeah, here are a few animal photos...
Zebra
Springbok
Gemsbok
Ostrich
I love your pictures. I'd like to put a new one on my desktop, but I'm still admiring the Taj Mahal! :)
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