Namibia

Wow, Namibia is an intense country! First of all it is huge with some crazy landscapes, game parks and coastline. Second, there aren't many people here. About 2.1 million which isn't much considering its size. In fact, it is a lot like Idaho: a big open expanse of adventure (full of wildlife, light on people) that is somewhat hard to get around but totally worth the effort.

Needless to say I have spent the last 10 days exploring this rugged, varied and awesome land. Mike and I rented a car (with some other travellers we met along the way) and covered about 2,500 miles in 7 days. Yeah, I am still trying to catch my breath.

So, we got to Windhoek just fine after a 20 hour bus ride. Problem was, we arrived at 4 in the morning. So, Mike and I trooped over to a nearby backpackers hostel with Yuko and Jeff, two other travellers on the bus to wait til day light. It's funny because we later ended up renting a car with those same two travellers. Our journey together started in Cape Town and we didn't even realize it.

Anyway, we explored the town all day Sunday. We walked along a hiking path on a ridge that overlooks town (which is in a valley, kind of like Boise.) and saw a lot of historic buildings. There is very little public transit around Namibia and it is hard to see the really cool parts of the country without wheels or joining an organized tour. Problem was, the organized tours are super expensive! So, we decided we would go it alone, rent our own car and finally have some flexibility to see and do whatever we wanted to.

I must say, it worked out quite well. The car gave us exciting new possibilities but also came with a lot of responsibility. But we were able to see what we wanted to and the car performed brilliantly.

The four of us started out in Windhoek on Monday and headed south-west to a little town called Sesriem. We camped there Monday night because it is right on the edge of a big national park with huge sand dunes. We got an early start and explored the park on Tuesday. We even climbed up a dune to watch the sunrise. We visited Sossusvlei which is a big flat pan that has dried hard after all the water evaporated. It was a short hike over to Dead Vlei which was a similar thing. The whole landscape is full of white pans with towering red dunes. It was very eerie and totally cool!

After that, we headed up north along to coast to Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. I tried sandboarding in Swakopmund on Wednesday and it was so awesome! Sand handles a lot like snow but it is heavier so it grabs your board when you go slow and throws you into the sand. But if you ride fast, it is quite smooth. It is tough though, because you have to climb back up the dune after every ride. We drove around Walvis Bay, home to a huge salt works that supplies 90% of South Africa's salt and also a huge coastal wetland network that hosts a huge migration of flamingos. Maybe you are beginning to see that Namibia is a country of truly epic porportions.

We headed north again on Thursday but left Yuko in Swakopmund as she had to return to Windhoek. We drove up the so-called Skeleton Coast. It is a long barren stretch of trecherous coastline layered first with a row of sand dunes and then a large desert and finally huge mountains farther inland. Anyone shipwrecked here could be sure about their fate. In fact, it is famous for its shipwrecks and we saw a few of them on the way. We also stopped in Twylfelfontein which is home to one of the most extensive collections of rock engravings in all of Africa. The artwork depicted mostly animals and is estimated to be about 6,000 years old! We camped just outside Etosha National Park Thursday night.

Friday morning bright and early we were into the park and driving around in our little white Toyota Corolla. It was quite covered in dust by now from all the unpaved roads but it handled well the entire trip and wasn't too expensive split several ways. On the way to the first water hole we passed ostriches, zebras, springboks and giraffe. At the first water hole, we were lucky enough to spot a young male lion, lazily sipping water and laying down in the tall grass while all the other animals eyed him warily and kept their distance. Throughout the day, we traversed the western half of the park in search of game. We drove around the giant Etosha Pan which is a large flat area that was left after an ancient lake dried up. The water is low because it is winter and the dry season so game is concentrated at the few water holes that aren't dry. We also saw a female lioness later at a different watering hole. It helped to start early because the game disappeared some during the heat of the afternoon. We later saw wildebeest and a rhino with a baby!

We camped inside the park at Halali Lodge which has its own floodlit water hole. Jeff and Mike even saw elephants there late at night.

Saturday morning we headed out, you guessed it, early again. By 7 am we had seen 3 lionesses stalking across the plains as well as a reclusive leopard hidden in the bushes. We didn't spot these magnificent creatures on our own, mind you. We just happened to be driving past and stopped where a bunch of other cars were stopped and got lucky. We saw a lot more giraffe on the way out as well as eland, impalas, roan antelope and oryx.

We drove most of the day, letting Jeff off in Rundu because he was hitching toward Victoria Falls (where we are headed to tonight) but Mike and I had to return the car to Windhoek today. As a final last hurrah in the region, we headed into Botswana to see the Okavango Delta because we had one day left with our sturdy little Corolla. We mis-timed the border though because it is an hour earlier in Namibia than it is in Bostwana. So we got out of Namibia but then had to sleep between the two countries at the border. We got safely into Bostwana at 6 am Sunday.
We drove down to Seronga on the Okavango panhandle and organized a makoro (small, traditional dugout canoe) ride into the delta for the afternoon. We saw some fish, snakes, monkeys and a water buffalo skull. Our guide was excellent but we didn't have time to go find hippos, as they hang out farther away from the population centers.

Then, not a moment to spare, we drove south along the delta, reaching the border at 7 am sharp to cross back into Namibia bright and early Monday morning. On the main road, right after the border crossing we spotted a cheetah, casually crossing the road! We have been so fortunate with the wildlife sightings and this one was quite a luckily find. Driving back to Windhoek, we also saw baboons and warthogs on the side of the road. We are trying to catch our breath in Windhoek right now. We had the car thoroughly cleaned and will return it this afternoon. I also had my first proper shower in 3 days and am feeling mightily refreshed. It was quite a high-speed adventure through this part of Africa and I am ready to relax for a few days at the wonderful Victoria Falls.

Hope everyone is well.
Cheers!