First Namibian Vacation

Our first travel experience in Namibia was definitely a great one! There were a group of 6 of us volunteers from Group 32, remember we all only met in August, who organized and went on this 2-week camping trip (mostly around Damaraland, a bit south of us here in Khorixas) which resulted in a ton of experiences and memories, such as the following:

Most impressive place:

- Spitzkoppe. We summited one of the peaks, it was a blast.

Spitz was also the most fun playground for climbing!  (Which was particularly enjoyed by the experienced climbers in our group.) 

And one of our cooler campsites:

And there was rock art!!!!

Coolest place:

- Dune 7 which is outside of Walvis Bay.  Pretty neat how the desert is cool in it's own vast, desolate way.

 

 

 

 

- Also, the shipwreck. They don't call it the Skeleton Coast for nothing! It's not a big tourist attraction so we didn't learn much new info about the wreck, but we do know it happened about 2 years ago.

Most interesting discovery:

- A ghost town we stumbled upon on our 15km death march. (See next point.)

Most epic: Hiking 15-18 km from our campsite since we didn't have transport, which required we spend a night sleeping in a dry riverbed (we think it was the Omaruru River) with baboons lurking about. We joked about having "beating sticks" outside of our tents just in case, but then of course we did actually have them ready. What made this journey really tough aside from the heat was that we had to carry our ~40 lbs hiking packs, which included plenty of water. We made it triumphantly, but not without some painful blisters on our feet, which we would stick with safety pins upon arriving at our next destination.

Greatest lesson learned: Don't eat the plants. One of the guys in our group taste-tested a very small sample of the inside of a tree whose insides kind of looked like a coconut, but he soon found that it numbed his mouth! This lasted until the next morning! We're glad he didn't have any more than a taste! A local we met likened African plants to Australian animals! Mother Nature just packed them with poison!

Greatest hospitality received:

... And did we receive A LOT of it!

- Our language teacher, Auntie Martha, preparing Kevin and me our own bedroom in her small modest home, while all the kids slept on floors throughout the house. She and the family also prepared us quite the lunch and dinner. This is her at her sewing station just outside the door of her house, on the porch.  Adorable.  And she can make some amazing stuff! (Mostly clothing for herself, family, and friends. Either traditional- such as what she is wearing in this photo, or modern for her growing up grandchildren.) I will add that Auntie Martha and her daughter are some intense Dominos players!

 

Kevin and her grandson, just classic. Cross-cultural exchange:

- All 6 of us being treated to a fish & chips dinner (and beer / "cool drinks" (soda)) at a restaurant by a South African family we JUST met. AND there were meer cats, perhaps slightly domesticated?!

- Spending 2 nights in a "dead lady's house," as we like to describe it. An older man, his son, and granddaughter saw us walking through town and we apparently looked like we needed a place to stay (doesn't come as a great surprise to me because of our appearance!) so they allowed us to stay in the older man's recently passed mother's house for the cost of the electric. Quite a treat after camping for numerous nights. He turned out to be head of the fire department and security and whatnot in town!

 

- Again, people felt badly for us so we were given a little tour of Swakopmund with cool drinks and then dropped off in a better place than we started

- I forgot my cell phone in the back of one of our rides so I called it using someone else's phone until the driver answered and brought it back to where we were staying. Huge relief.

Most breathtaking moment:
- Just settling in to a nice spot we made for ourselves on the beach and seeing dolphins jumping and just putting on a performance right in front of us and quite close to the beach.  Never have I seen dolphins jump so high out of the water!  We were cheering we were so excited!

Greatest success:
- Finding, cooking, and eating fresh mussels we "caught" on the beach.  Yummy!

Greatest failure:
- Climbing a windmill to turn it to try to get water, but not being able to do it long enough to have an effect.  No matter, we managed to get some from a cow trough! Don't worry, it was from the spigot. Plus Sam succeeded in facing his fear of heights!

Most depressing:
- Losing hope of getting transport to our next desired location after hours of trying and needing to change our plans. Sometimes, that's just Africa for you I guess! But things always work out... one way or the other... eventually.

Scariest thing we saw:
- Finding a large, reddish, ugly-looking centipede (my favorite, as the Metz's know well!) crawling on Kevin's pack just after he set it down for a moment. Apparently their bite is excruciatingly painful.
- Spotting a good-sized scorpion. Was actually scarier for him than us it seemed. Just wanted to go back under his rock.

Smelliest thing we experienced:

- Pretty sure it was the seal colony of over 200,000 of them. Pretty sure they out-stunk us, happy to report.

Seals, seals everywhere! Many were under the boardwalk, but this one somehow managed to get on the boardwalk! Only problem was he didn't know how to get back to shore with all of us people around!

Favorite food:

- Fish & Chips out with the South African family.

- Fresh mussels cooked in a pot over a campfire.

- Became quite fond of baked beans cooked with onions and curry powder.

- Roasted coconut-flavored marshmallows. So good, I can't imagine why I've never seen them in the States.

Most hilarious and priceless:

- Anything involving Sam and his excitement over all the small things (usually food). This photo wasn't actually taken on this trip, but I'm putting it here because I love it. (We are starting to figure that Sam is an animal whisperer... of dogs, seals, meer cats, iguanas, birds, and who knows what else.)

Coolest bird:

- Thought it might have been this guy who did the unChristmas-spirit -like thing of pecking open and tasting some of Kevin's Secret Santa gift. Guess he likes chocolate too.

Coolest tree:
- In case that's your kind of thing.

What we missed most:

- Besides you of course and maybe snow and trees and houses decorated in lights and festiveness, this guy right here takes the cake. And he sure is growing! Such a sweet reunion.

Although we learned he was quite the handful for our wonderfully loving and patient Patches-sitter. Thanks Sarah!!!!