I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last post! Sorry for the delay…my week long adventure through Namibia left me with no idea of how I would organize some kind of reflection into blog form. First and foremost…if you ever get the chance, go to Namibia…it will change your life.
My housemate Dan’s visa expired on feb 16 so he had to leave the country so that the visa would be renewed when he got back. Perfect excuse for an adventure outside of Cape Town! Dan lived in Namibia for a year in 6th grade (his dad taught at the law school there for a year) and so we decided to head up north so he could get back there and we could see some of the amazing stuff he remembered from when he was a kid. As you probably figured, the plans all came together pretty last minute but we planned to leave Saturday, feb 13, and get back Sunday the 21. We rented a badass safari truck and scanned the travel books for a couple camping spots up towards Etosha (the game reserve in the north).
Saturday morning, when Whit and Dan got back from the rental place with the truck we were seriously amazed! It came packed with EVERYTHING you could ever need: An ice chest, connected water spout thing, table, folding chairs, all of the kitchen supplies, propane grill, two tents (to be set up) connected to the top of the truck and even bedding (4 sleeping bags, sheets, 4 pillows, 2 heavy blankets). Can you even believe it?! We all decided we would each own one of these things in our lifetime. The ultimate adventure truck.
Anywaaayyyys….we left around 11 that morning and after a (not so) quick stop at a grocery store for just about the only supplies (food) not included with the truck, we were on the road headed north for the border! …about 6 hours later, covered in sweat (little did we know we wouldn’t stop sweating until we got back to Cape Town 9 days later) we finally reached the border. It only took us probably 15 minutes total to get through customs on both the South African and the Namibian side…not too bad. From there we continued up north towards Hobas along the Fish River Canyon.
About an hour or so in we had to veer off the main, paved road and onto a long dirt road towards our campground near the canyon. The sun was beginning to set at this point and as we drove along the dusty road, hanging out of the windows breathing in the Namibian air and trying to capture a few good pictures, we saw what would be the first of 9 incredible sunsets.
Dan had remembered seeing game all over the place so we were glad that we wouldn’t be driving in the dark for too long. As we drove along, all of a sudden we saw a huge animal in the middle of the road. It was a giant Kudu buck! We slammed on our breaks and sat there staring at this beast of an animal for a minute or so and then it ran into the field beside us. Soooo cool! One of the things I forgot that came with our truck was a huge, hand held, spot light. After the Kudu spotting, Whit took control of that little baby and we spent the rest of the drive scanning the area for more animals.
We got to the campground, set up our tents (the easiest tents ever to set up!), and made somedinner then pulled out the chairs and went out into this open area to look at the stars. Namibia is one of the least populated countries in Africa, meaning few lights and therefore the most amazing night sky I have ever seen. I’m pretty sure you could see every single star. And don’t even get me started on the Milky Way! She was doin’ her thang, dancing all sexy-like across the sky, like nothing I have ever seen!
We woke in the morning to baboons ransacking the camp garbage cans and searching for any food people had left out. That’s right, raccoons shmacoons…in Africa you get Baboons trying to get into your stuff! It was seriously crazy. They looked so much like people it was weird. Dan was out making breakfast and one teenager-sized one came right up to the table and he had to bang some stuff together to try and get it to go away. The big ones were pretty freaky lookin, but the little bubbas were adorable!
Before heading up to Windhoek (the capital of Namibia and our next destination), we obviously had to stop by and have a look at Fish River Canyon. Looking online, nobody seems to know or agree on if this is the 2nd largest canyon in the world or 2nd largest in Africa…or neither, just a claim to keep tourists coming. Regardless…it was the biggest damn canyon I’ve ever seen and most definitely the prettiest! We were absolutely blown away by the sight as soon as we stepped out of the car and hung around for quite a while before deciding we should hit the road once again. We also decided that we would stop here again on our way back to try and catch the sunset at the canyon. ::foreshadow to future post::
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