waking up in namibia was incredible. we've been skirting the coast since leaving morocco and the sentiment has been that namibia is the 'real africa.' surely morocco is a part of africa but there is a great difference between the climates of northern and southern africa. the africa seen in movies is most often desert, sand and little water. morocco was not like that; morocco has multiple cities and a longstanding history. namibia has just one city: windhoek and is just getting on it's feet.
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14 february 2009 walvis bay, namibia.
waking early, after just a few hours of sleep, i looked out my window to see the calmest water i've ever seen. it seemed that the ocean was only just waking up as well. the sun was just rising and i got goosebumps down my spine. i simply knew i'd fall in love with namibia. it was a good way to start off my valentine's day.
we were told to be up early for the diplomatic briefing which meant breakfast was crowded. we ate outside and took in the industrial port around us. we scrambeld to the union to find seats and listened to two state department officials. i would like to correct my previous post and say that namibia is twice the size of california and is home to 2 million people. i had some jumbled facts before and i wanted to set the record straight. the security officer told us a story about a break-in to his hotel last fall when he was supposed to be de-briefing the fall voyage in which he was stabbed in the forearm by a screwdriver. it was a long story but he said he didn't want to scare us; though we were all nervous disembarking after that. i suppose it's better to be hyper nervous than too comfortable-- it's most certainly safer.
afterwards was a little concert put on by a girl's choir from namibia. everyone ran up to the 6th and 7th decks to try and see the girls who were singing on the dock. twenty-two girls from about 4 to 18 sang and danced oa utside for over an hour. it was hard to get photos as so many people were packed along the railings. eventually the crowd began to disperse and i was able to get a little video and a few pictures. i quickly decided that i wanted some dance lessons from the girls -- they were precious.
the ship was cleared soon thereafter but the passport processing was not yet finished. i planned to get mine and waited, with my backpack in tow, at the entrance to the faculty/staff lounge. i met a bunch of kids signed up for the safari - there were 126 total - and waited. and waited. and waited. and waited. the entire ship has numbers based on the alphabet, so i am 050. usually this means i'd be at the beginning. but, no luck. my group of 001-100 was the second to last, meaning i did not board my bus until nearly 11. i was the last on my bus!
the wild-dog safari crew brought 9 of their safari vehicles down to walvis bay to pick up all 126 of us. each vehicle was designed for 14-15 people, a driver, a guide, all camping equiptment and food to fit inside. my bus had 3 girls i knew - cassie, andrea &danielle. i'm very glad we requested to be together because we pretty much spent the entire time with our specific bus. bus 7 was definitely the best one-- we had a great time.
our drive started around 11 or so and everyone was in high spirits. we stopped in walvis (pronounced vahl-fish) bay to hit up the atm and the convience store. i took out 1000 namibian dollars, which is equal to 100 USD. the namibian rand is equal to the south african rand and are used interchangably so i will be able to use my left-over money in south africa. i picked up some candy, some snacks, a newspaper (in afrikaans) and some beer. i'm not a huge fan of beer but i knew we had a long hot ride ahead of us and it was about the same price as water..
and so began our 4-5 hour ride. we somewhat caravaned north towards etosha, stopping far too often for more 'petrol', snacks, bathroom stops and more beer for the boys. we had some fun conversations, lots of naps, and some mystery meat sandwhiches and apples for lunch. after about our 5th stop my ipod died. poor thing just doesn't last very long when you look through the entire thing for a song to listen to or when people borrow it. oh well. we eventually came upon a broken down safari bus and about 7 of the 9 buses stopped to help out. i'm no mechanic so i couldn't tell you what happened but i do know that about 100 sas kids were milling around the road, taking pictures and overheating.
eventually the 14 kids that were on the broken down safari truck were dispersed through the remaining vehicles. we took on 2 girls who rode with us the rest of the way. their truck was eventually repaired and they were able to rejoin their group when we arrived in etosha.
just prior to leaving, i decided to take a bathroom break. it was absolutely necessary as we would not be stopping for a while so as to make up time. wearing flip-flops (i know, i know. not a good choice but i assumed we would just be on a bus all day long &had my sneakers ready for setting up camp!) and shorts, my friend andrea and i attempted to dash for a bush. encountering a TON of ants, which quickly climbed and bit our legs, we ran even quicker to some cover, as the entire bus was watching us. a few yards away we did our business but in the process i managed to snag my finger on a thorn, which were also everywhere. now bleeding and attempting not to get blood on my shorts, i was a mess. running back, still with ants crawling all over my legs, i ended up getting blood on my tanktop and sweated up a storm. i was officially a big hot mess in less than 5 minutes. one of the boys on my bus was an emt who used the trusty first aid kit to get me a bandaid and to clean off my finger. i'm happy to say that i'm all healed, i found a rather large scratch from a thorn nearly all around my thigh and managed to prove to the bus that i was not a camping gal.
after my thorn-related injury was taken care of, julius (our driver) took off. we made great time and a few more stops. it was now getting dark and it had begun raining. we were all wondering when we would just be there, after a good 8 hours on the truck. though the ride was long, the scenery was breathtaking. being from connecticut, i'm not used to true mountain ranges, so it was a treat to see them in the distance. they offer a great frame to any picture and seem to constantly change as our angle to them shifted. i also enjoyed the change from coastal desert to savannah. its incredible how different the climate can be in one portion of a country to the other.
we eventually made it to etosha national park at around 9-930, i'm not sure because we all stopped checking the time. and then it was time to set up camp.
we were considered "limited participation campers"which meant most of the work (i.e. food prep) was done for us. not included in that description was tent set-up. this meant setting up camp in the rain. after a quick change into more mud-friendly clothes and digging out my raincoat &flashlight, the setup began. cassie, andrea, danielle and i soon decided that though they were 2 person tents, we would be sleeping 4 to keep warm and reduce setting up time. we managed to all get brand new sleeping bags (wild-dog had never had such a large group and therefore purchased new ones to cover all the extra people) and some mattress pads. soon after completing our tent, we had a small fire and broke out the wine. at a cool 30 namibian dollars (3 USD), our tall horse south african wine made us all feel a little better about the conditions. cassie has a waterproof camera so we do have a few pictures to show for the night in the rain.
dinner was prepared by our assistant, cleo. no clue on his true age, he told everyone different ones. anyways, he was not too much older than us. he made a big huge pot of spaghetti and a meat sauce. there wasn't much tomato in it but it was delicious. there was also corn on the cob, though i'm so spoiled in that department that i wasn't too fond of it. it was a great meal even if it was 2245 (1045p). not long after dinner we all headed off to bed with julius promising to 'kick our tents at around 0600.
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15 february 2009 etosha national park, namibia.
our morning began early as we all rose to julius yelling, as promised. our tent was extremely uncomfortable -- it was too warm. there was a lot of moisture in the air and we all looked as if we'd showered. gross. after a quick clean-up at the shower facilities, we had a simple breakfast. there was cereal and milk but i stuck to a trusty nutella on bread. i figured neither the bread nor nutella could be spoiled (as milk could be). we cleared up our mess &straightened our tents before walking to the tourist shop. we most certainly took over the small establishment, buying bottled water, snacks, postcards and stickers. we all found the prices to be extremely refreshing - most snacks were less than one american dollar.
julius and cleo brought the truck around, collected our crew and we headed out. julius did not want to promise us any animals but said he was feeling lucky. we knew that this was the rainy season which meant less chances of seeing elephants, lions, etc. this is because when it's rainy, there are more options in terms of watering holes which means that there is no need to travel to the man-made or those most reliable when it is dry. we quickly ran into a few giraffes and everyone went crazy. we all jumped up and scrambled to the side of the truck they were on. after snapping away, julius promised we'd soon be sick of giraffes, though none of us believed him. i was just excited to see "melman"from the movie madagascar :)
soon we saw a large gathering of zebras. there were several baby zebras in the group and i was so so excited. i felt like i did when we were at disney-- ready to jump up and down and giggle like a 4 year old. again, julius told us we'd see more and that we needed to keep moving if we wanted to find lions.
soon we ran into a group of springbok, which are like the deer of etosha. they were everywhere and have similar coloring to the deer we know.
every so often we would pass a different safari truck - some of our own, wild-dog, and other companies - and the drivers would exchange information about what animals they'd seen and where to go, etc. it was so interesting to hear the men speak, as they were using a click language. we all tried our best to learn some words but we simply cannot replicate the sounds, some of which sound like a click one would make to make a horse move or something.
at one of these info-swapping sessions, we heard there were lions a few kilometers away. before the other guide could finish his sentence, julius sped off and we were in search of the lions. the entire bus was hushed, everyone keeping their eyes out for them. we screeched to a halt and reversed slowly. julius told us to look out into the trees and that there were 2 female lions there. i didn't know what he was talking about but we all looked. eventually, off in the distance, i saw two lions! i could see their outlines clearly but saw their faces with my camera's zoom. it was incredible! then began my endless disney movie references -- i think i drove the whole truck crazy.
after the lions we were all on a high and drove around a bit before lunch. we had lunch at another campsite and compared stories with the other trucks. we were one of the 2 trucks that saw lions and one saw cheetas! apparently they circled their truck! we all took a walk down to the watering hole which was about a 5 minute walk away. at each site there is a watering hole with benches (and a fence) for hopefuls to sit around and wait for the animals to come to them. the watering hole was beautiful - there were rock formations, trees, flowers, and looked nothing like what i pictured (or saw in lion king.. ..again with the disney..) after a few pictures and some sunshine, we all headed back to the bus for lunch.
lunch, we were hoping, would be hotdogs. the other buses had them and they just sounded so good! in the interest of time, however, we had tuna sandwhiches. i opted for cucumbers, tomatoes and cheese due to my dislike for all things mayonaise. some sweet melon and water rounded out our meal. it was nice to be out of the truck, to walk around and to catch up with other buses. we saw students walking around with ice cream bars and just had to find some for ourselves. we found the tourist shop, waited in a painfully slow line and enjoyed a few minutes by the pool.
loading back into our bus, everyone rested their eyes for a few minutes. before long the we were seeing more animals and other areas of the park, so the naps didn't last long. the bus had a pop-up roof that we could look out of while driving. we all stood on our seats (me on my tiptoes-- i was just too short to see!) and enjoyed the breeze. the trucks were not air conditioned but the giant open windows and pop-roof kept the air circulating and everyone comfortable. i was actually cold! never thought i'd have been chilly on safari! luckily i was able to use another girls sweatshirt and mine as a blanket!
a few more hours of driving brought us to the area near the etosha pan - a large area that fills with water. it reminded me of the shallows at the ocean-- small plants, birds everywhere and animals walking around. we saw some wildebeests (the animals that trampled simba's dad, mufasa, in the lion king.. ..see what i mean with the disney references?) and several cool birds. i like the walking birds, ostriches and eagles.
we made it back to our camp around 1700 (500p) and decided a swim was in order. the sun was just going down and the pool was too cold for me, so i simply put my feet in. a nice hot shower in the bathhouse and some clean, dry clothes made everyone feel new again. i hated having to put on bug spray after just rinsing off but i also didn't want malaria! (or any bug bites, for that matter). the sunset was incredible. we climbed ontop of our safari truck and i think i took 50 or more pictures. the colors kept changing and i was in awe. it was probably one of the most beautiful sunsets i've seen or will ever see.
dinner was again prepared by cleo, with a little help from julius. there were lamb chops, two kinds of squash, garlic bread, salad with feta cheese, a type of sausage (i'd guess brautwaurst but i think it may be something called boerewours that we learned about in global studies) and a funny mashed potato-like dish. the 'smashed potatoes"were actually a type of corn and were served with a tomato sauce. regardless, it was my favorite part of the meal. they were similar to pollenta in texture and the sauce was reminiscent of pizza sauce. we asked for the recipe but never got it. cleo promised he'd be friends with us on facebook so i'll ask him on there if i can. he promised it was really easy &i'd love love love to eat it again. cleo also broke out the marshmallows for us and they were pink &white! it was great fun toasting them, though the GIGANTIC bugs were not.
soon after dinner, which was at around 2100, a neighbor came over and offered us a warning. we were told it was quiet hours, to not be loud and to not make being an american any more of an embarressment. it was rather upsetting, to be honest, as our campsite was not being loud or obnoxious. it is unfortunate that americans have a poor reputation and that many of the sas kids appear not to care and treat this trip as an excuse to drink in excess wherever they can.
after dinner everyone was feeling much more social - i think the fact that it wasnt raining helped significantly. i took a walk down to our campsite's watering hole and enjoyed the lack of animals. it was very buggy so we didn't last long. afterwards, everyone broke out more wine (and cheap alcohol) and congregated at a further campsite. it was great to be social but it got rather loud, quickly. not feeling up to making a fool of myself, i headed back to bed relatively early for our 0500 wake-up kick.
from what i've heard, the american stereotype was upheld. many students were loud and many drank too much. on one hand i'm extremely disappointed and do not wish to be associated with those sorts of people, who do not care how sas kids are viewed in the future. and on the other hand i don't see how a group of 126 students would not become loud, especially when there is alcohol involved. my hopes are that we did not leave a negative impression upon the etosha staff, the wild-dog safari company or semester at sea. i am sure that some people delight in the idea that they were the 'loudest, most drunk bus' the driver had ever had but i would much rather be remembered in a less damaging light. i have a sneaking suspicion that this battle between fun and too much fun, as well as the views that preceed us, will be a challenge to me, my shipmates and our administration for the entire duration of the trip.
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16 february 2009 back to walvis bay
as promised, our 0500 wake up kick was delivered. some still intoxicated, we disessembled our camp site. the tarps, tents, sleeping bags and mattresses were loaded up into our truck and we had another simple breakfast. all our belongings were packed up, put in the storage compartment and everyone prepared for the long drive back.
the sunset that morning was incredible and was a perfect counterpart for the previous sunset. i again took several photos and now have far too many runset &sunrise photos to choose from for my computer background.
we told our guides all along that we needed to be back at the ship at 1600 (400p) when we really needed to be back by 1800 (6p). we wanted to ensure that we would make it back in time and not recieve dock time. the guides promised we'd be back &since we had no real idea of how long it should take, we crossed our fingers.
the ride back was much different than the ride there. first off, most just went back to sleep the second the engine turned on. secondly, i had a window and truly looked at the land around me. i was able to watch the sun continue to rise and to burn off the lingering cloudiness. i felt so peaceful and blessed that i could have cried. i don't tend to use the term 'blessed,' but i feel that there is no other word to describe how i felt as i looked out my window that day. all around me was quiet and i stared at the sun and everchanging scenery. in my hot, dirty bus, wearing the same clothes i'd slept in, wearing no make up and with dirty hair; i felt calm. it was the strangest feeling and i felt close to whatever powers are above. there i was, a young white female on a semester abroad, seeing countries many never dream of seeing and feeling overwhelmed with gratitude, joy and tanquility. for all the mixed up emotions i've felt in my time preparing for this trip, in dealing with heartbreak and with pushing my limits it was the best i've felt in a long time. leave it to africa.
after feeling so very peaceful, i was quickly brought back to reality when we stopped and everyone jumped out, started chatting and moving about. we stopped less frequently on the way home and there was little alcohol consumption which led to fewer bathroom breaks. we pulled over to grab our bagged lunches and everyone tore into them by 1030-- we were starved! i loved my yogurt, apple, candy bar &guava juice but could not force down my mystery sandwhich.
when we made it to swakopmund (pronounced swa-cop-muh-n-d) we were all relieved and knew we'd be back in walvis bay in less than thirty minutes. many students chose to spend their long weekend in swakopmund, a small beach town, sandboarding, surfing, atv-ing and partying. many students had a wonderful time, including my roommate mckendree and the other girls i hang out with. others, unfortunately ruined the reputation of semester at sea with their actions. apparently people were kicked out of the houses they rented and a hotel called the consulate &subsequently the captain of the explorer to complain about students. again, as i mentioned before, this saddens me tremendously and i cannot fathom how those students can be so blatantly disrespectful.
soon after swakopmund, where we got one last ice cream and some stamps, julius said he'd take us to a sand dune. we all cheered and woke up from our naps to dart out of the bus and up the giant dune. they told us to go in bare feet but i'm SO glad i wore my flip flops! i would have burnt my little toes off! the sand was scorching everyone's feet as we scrambled up the big hill. i brought my camera up to the top (in a ziploc baggy - unfortunately the pictures are not very clear) and took a few pictures. other people took some and so i'll have to get a copy from them. we all jumped around on the sand and enjoyed the view of the ocean on one side and the sand dunes on the other. it was awesome. my favorite part was definitely the run back down-- i was hesitant to do so for fear of falling - but i'm so glad i did. it was such a great feeling. we all got back into the bus, covered in sand and stinking just a little bit more, and headed back to the ship.
the buses brought us directly into the port which was industrial, similar to what we experienced in morocco. we all nearly ran off, thinking of one thing: showers. i delayed my showering and decided to head back out to grab a bite to eat and get some souveniers, of which i hadn't purchased any. we took a cab out a restaurant recommended to us by other students and quickly heard they had painfully slow service. on a time limit, it now being 1545 with an on-ship time of 1800, we decided to go somewhere else. after searching, in vain, for an open restaurant, we settled for kfc. i was absolutely kicking and screaming when we went in but it was the only place open and we were starved. luckily for us, i suppose, the kfc was totally different than in the states. there was an extensive menu but only certain items were available. similarly, they were out of ketchup, napkins, cup lids, and various other staple items. we all laughed it off but it was beginning to wear on me. let's blame it on the fact that i was filthy, tired and hungry.
i shopped for a short while outside the port gates, where craftspeople gathered to sell their wares. i got a great couple of souveniers and then began the trek back to the ship with cassie. being an industrial port, there were people working, large shipping containers and the rail yard all inbetween the gate and the ship. we made it into line and onto the ship at 1730-- the closest i've come and plan on getting to the designated on-ship time.
i found mckendree and the other girls when i got back and we instantly tried catching up. i needed to write my postcards (i'd purchased all those stamps..) and did so rather quickly. i learned that my moroccan postcards needed 2 stamps so i am unsure if the 2 i sent will ever make it to their homes.
i sent my postcards and ate a quick meal with my deck 2 girls before returning to my cabin to look through pictures. i love looking at them! i have over 1400 pictures thus far -- and its only the beginning! we had a hall meeting, known as a sea meeting, in the union with hot chocolate &cookies to meet our neighbors and to learn about the sea olympics. (more on those later)
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overall, i thoroughly enjoyed namibia and am dying to go back already! i am in love with the people, the scenery and the beauty of the growing country. i joked that i want to join the peace corps &work there and said i was returning on my honeymoon. i think i am going to have to come back, i've fallen in love.
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onto south africa in a few short hours, hope everyone is enjoying dinner. miss everyone &email soon. i may even try to get on skype at some point so watch out for that in the next 5 days.
all my love (&thanks), laura
