Namibia: Days 3-11

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Fish River Canyon

Our first stop in Namibia was Fish River Canyon.  It is the second largest canyon in the world.  After a fairly long truck ride we were dropped off at one side of the cliff top so we could walk along the canyon to where our truck would be parked.  The canyon, as well as the surrounding landscape was beautiful.   Our group made it to where the truck was parked just as the sun was beginning to set.  Once again we were able to continue with our theme of experiencing each sunset together as a group and ate the awesome dinner our wonderful guides had cooked for us while we were busy hiking.  That night a bunch of us decided to forgo sleeping in our tents and instead sleep outside under the millions of stars (no exaggeration). 

Sesriem/Namib Naukluft National Park

Sesriem (meaning six ropes) is a dry river bed located at the bottom of a 200 meter gorge.  We got to hike down and around it before returning to our campsite for an afternoon at the pool.  Yes, our campsite had a pool as most of them, in west africa, have.  Our camping has been a lot nicer (amenity wise) than I had thought it would be!  Our group gets along brilliantly and I find that I am constantly laughing and enjoying myself (and their company).  We met another Acacia truck there that had been together for probably 4 or 5 weeks coming down from Nairobi, and we had just been together for 4 days and it was clear that we got along and had more fun together than the other group....group dynamics are so interesting! 

We had an early night as we were waking up at 4:00 am to try to be the first truck out of the campsite.  It is an understood competition, especially with other Acacia trucks, as the first people to get to Dune 45 in the Namib Naukluft National Park have a better chance of making it up to the top for sunrise as well as experiencing the hike up the dune with no footprints from people climbing it before you. Giving you the better shot.  Our group took this challenge seriously and we did actually make it there first.  The stars were still out when we began the drive and by the time we started hiking up the dune the sky was getting a bit lighter.  It was a really challenging hike since the sand constantly sank with each step forcing you to exert more energy and for smaller steps.  Luckily most of us made it to the top in time to watch the sunrise.  It was one of the most breathtaking experiences to watch the sunrise over the many sand dunes surrounding us (it's practically all sand dunes as far as the eye can see all around 100-300 meters high).  The sun changes the color of the sand \, to bright red, as it rises and it is incredible!  As I write this I am finding it is also indescribable as I know I am not doing it justice.  The whole experience was so romantic that Paul staged a marriage proposal to me.  From there on out our engagement became an ongoing joke.

After having breakfast at the side of the truck we drove to Sossusvlei for a bushman walk.  Our guide, Boesman (I think that's how it's spelled, but it actually translates to Bushman), took us on an interesting hike to Deadvlei. Deadvlei is very eerie and intriguing.  Tovah and I both felt we could have chilled there all day.  It is in the middle of the desert and it looks like concrete with really old, dead trees growing out of it (though the trees do not appear to be decaying). Imagine the mixture of bright blue sky over tall red sand dunes surrounding a white almost clay field with black dead trees growing from it.  The reason for the trees in the desert is because long ago the desert flooded so the trees were able to grow, but then when the drought followed they dried up and are preserved  due to the lack of moisture in the desert. 

Swakopmund

Swakopmund is sort of like an oasis.  It seems to be a man made, European town that is lush and green in the middle of a huge desert that spans out to the ocean.  The change of scenery from desert to this town made the truck ride interesting as did Tovah and Lynzi's game of 'name that african animal'....we come up with lots of things to make the drives more entertaining. 

It was a nice change as we stayed in a hostel with beds, laundry, and even went out for 2 nice dinners together as a group.  One of these dinners was on Thanksgiving and Tovah had everyone go around taking turns saying what they were thankful for. 

While not an idea I have ever really entertained, I made a spontaneous decision to go skydiving along with 9 other people from our group on our first full day in Swakopmund.  Tovah, Ros, and Donagh came along for support even though they were not jumping.  I was a nervous wreck the night before and in the morning of the jump (Tovah was very supportive and patient with me), but then was very calm about it which helped cause Phoebe who I was going in a plane with needed someone to be more of a calming influence.  After a group shot/beer at the bar to quiet people's nerves the 1st of our group went, and Phoebe and I were 2nd so we had to get suited up and meet the guys that would become our best friends for the next 45 minutes.  On the plane our tandem masters hooked us on to them at around 8000 feet, and at 10,500 feet they opened the door and I watched as Phoebe was literally sucked out of the plane, and then it was my turn to scoot myself to the door putting my feet out and wrapped under the plane.  Eddie, my guy, asked if I was ready and before I knew it we had summersaulted out into thin air and as soon as I put my arms out like I was flying we leveled out and it was like nothing I had ever experienced!  I will not even try to describe into words as it would be no use, but all I know is I loved every second of it.  When the chute opened Eddie let me take the handles and steer the parachute for a while and it really felt like I was flying, especially as we went through a thick cloud...incredible!  

That night we had a big night out!  OUr entire group spent the night playing pool.  Some how I managed to make it up a few hours later to meet Nel for a jog/walk.  We have been making them a daily thing even when we have late nights which helps to make the day more productive to see and do things.  Later that morning Tovah and I went sand boarding with a bunch of the others.  We got to do both the stand up (exactly like snow boarding but down a sand dune) and lie down which is like the fastest sled ride you can imagine (Ros and Patricia both were clocked in at going 78 km/hr)!!  It was so much fun but also very very tiring.  Try hiking up a hundred meters of sliding sand in boarding boots, carrying a board after a huge night out, in the african desert and multiply it by 6 (the number of times we did it)!

Cheetah Park

 Our all day drive to Cheetah Park included a stop at Cape Cross- Seal Colony.  Most of us did not linger here to take it all in as the smell was so pungent and horrible that we could only bare a few minutes out of the truck...the smell even fought it's way onto the truck so there was really no escaping.  When we got to Cheetah Park (a refuge camp for cheetahs called Otijcotongaro) we went on a truck to watch their feeding.  We didn't pitch our tents as we decided to all sleep outside and so the rest of the evening was spent obviously laughing, playing pool, chatting, laughing (did I mention laughing?) at the bar.  Here we learned that we may be able to meet up with Phoebe in Thailand, and Nel decided she would like to take her time off then and meet us in Thailand as well, so we will see what happens. 

Etosha

 Our campsite in Etosha National Park (Okaukuejo) was like a small village with a post office, shops, pools, bar, ice cream, and so on.  Here we went on 2 game drives each of the 2 days we were there that were all 3 hours long.  We saw a pride of lions including cubs, lions eating after a kill, zebra, blue gnu, giraffes, gemsbok, owls, meerkats, thousands of beautiful and different birds, amongst others I cannot recall right now.  As a side note, Tovah has become quite the bird enthusiast and is always spotting birds with her binoculars and asking Nel (who happens to know every single bird) what they are.  Now we just ask Tovah what the birds we see are- she, and Nel, are really encyclopedias!

We had lots going on back at the campsite as well.  We spent many hours in and around the pool, enjoyed 2 beautiful sunsets, saw scorpions fighting outside the womens bathroom, had a fish braai that a jackal stole (Piet was able to wrestle him and get it back), and our first rain of the trip that leaked into Tovah and my tent.  It was also strange to go to sleep hearing jackals run past and brush against your tent!

Windhoek

We got to Windhoek in the afternoon and had a few hours to walk around the town.  We spent that time with the Irish or Leprechauns as we call them (they call us Merkins in their Irish accents for Americans).  We wanted to go to the Windhoek brewery for a tour, so we got a taxi that dropped us there and said he would pick us up in an hour and left.  Well...it turned out that we were not allowed to go into the brewery and if you wanted a tour you had to book a few days in advance (the tourist information in town called there and they said we could just show up- what can you do).  It was in the middle of nowhere and we didn't want to wait there in the scorching sun for an hour, so we started to walk to a hotel that was fairly far away to get out of the sun and heat and have a drink to compensate for our lack of brewery tour and tasting.  Luckily our driver decided to check on us and saw us walking so we caught a lift back to town.  We decided there and then to boycott Windhoek beer products!

We stayed that night in a hostel (yes, we got to sleep in real beds again).  We also went out to a nice dinner at Joe's Beer House.  The various types of meat they offer here is so interesting and different (although I have absolutely no interest in trying any).  There was zebra, kudu, crocodile, gemsbok, and much much more.  We hung out there for a while after dinner and had a great time, but had to wake up early the next day to cross the boarder to Botswana.