Chapter One -- Fire:
Hmmm...we'll start with fire since this internet cafe is like a sauna. I've been on this Intrepid Tour now, Overland Africa, for about 10 days, but it feels like a year, so much has happened. First of all, I have totally lucked out (I think) as our travel group only has five people. It's like being on Survivor, but in the final weeks. Since the truck and trip are designed for 21 people, we all have double seats to ourselves, three lockers each, extra mats for sleeping and our own tents. It's a bit like Gilligan's Island. There's Rhonda, who was a housewife for 26 years, but then did a total life-turn-around and now lives and travels on her own. She is a raw foodist/vegan, abstains completely from alcohol, is very spiritual and meditative, takes long walks at sunset and does energy healing and massages for us in the 'massage tent'. She works at a place called 'Smashed-In Head Buffalo Jump' in Alberta and is a true 'cowgirl'. Then there's Bernard and Ursula, a couple in their sixties, from BC. Bernard is happy-go-lucky and chuckly and and adopts a 'TIA' (This is Africa), shoulder-shrugging attitude when things go off course on the trip, and his wife Ursula keeps him on his toes and toeing the line. She's astute with a quick eye, whether it's spotting the first springbok in the wild and capturing it on film (kick-ass camera that puts our point-and-shoot cams to shame) or spotting her husband surreptitiously pulling a beer from the cooler mid-morning. Sandra is a social worker from Switzerland and has spent the last bit of time in a language school to learn English, in Cape Town. Bernard and Ursula speak Swiss-German, so sometimes they translate for her. She's really cute and fun, with a quiet side, but then she'll come out with these dead-pan zingers. The other day at the campfire she told us, "Many people have say me 'this trip will change your life'". The trip leader asked, "And has it?" She just shrugged and said, "Until now, no." We share a tent and have a lot of fun together.
Then there are the crew: Shiundu is our trip leader and he has the dubious job of trying to make everybody happy with questions on the budget, special food requests, through bugs, and heat and disasters. He's a really funny and fun guy from Kenya with a smile that lights up his whole face, but when he means business he means business and he'll whoop your ass into gear. Lelei is our driver, and he's really chill and cool, though I saw a different, boisterous side of him the other day when we were all drinking at the watering hole, and got kicked out for being too loud. He's trying to quit smoking, so I usually give him a sweet at the end of the day as a little incentive. He's on Day Four now. Henry is the cook and he makes me laugh. He's quiet and demure, bopping around the stainless steel table with his knives divvying up tasks, but when we do something wrong, he gets this startled bumble-bee look and says, "Ai! Not for hands, this towel. Not for hands!" He is always reminding us to wash our hands in the 'three bucket system' and last night he was quite perturbed because I cut the cabbage pieces for the salad too big. "Ai! Jenny, what has happened. Too big, too big, there will be big matata (problem)" I told him size doesn't matter and that I stand behind my work, but I could tell those cabbage slices were making him anxious.
Every couple of days we're are doing something new, and being that it's Africa you never know what's going to happen along the way. Our trip got off to an auspicious start as the first day we were camping out at Felix United, our hotel caught on fire. I had just finished going for a run by the Namibian border and jumped in the swimming pool when I saw a fire up in the sky. For a second I thought there must be a rooftop patio I hadn't noticed and they were cooking a braii, but the next second I realized how big the fire was and hopped out of the pool. I don't know the ignition rate of thatch, but an entire section of the roof was blazing. Unfortunately, Calas, the owner, in his haste to shut off the electricity also shut off the pumps, so the crew of his hotel were relegated to using garden hoses and buckets of water to put out the fire. Which was tantamount to putting a band-aid on a gushing amputation. Also, men from the hotel (who had been 'trained' in firefighting) were scrambling up the rooftop like ants, to position themselves at closer range. Seeing this from the ground was alarming, as you could see the fire burning like the dynamite sticks in Roadrunner, so Bernhard and I were hollering at the men to get down. Also, to make things more challenging, there is no fire department there! Lelei drove our truck out of the danger zone and then we scrambled to get our tents and gear out of the way, though two of our tents melted from the heat and there are openings big enough for a wildebeast to enter, never mind mosquitoes. I nearly knocked myself out trying to dismantle this dome tent by myself, under heat of fire.
I ended up joining the crew of guys who were trying to douse the neighboring rondawel rooves with water as it seemed a bit more productive than fighting the man fire which was just completely out of control. It was like trying to block out a shout with a whisper. So I ran back and forth to the swimming, filling up buckets with pool water for the guys dousing the rondawels, and giving pineapple and drinking water to the firefighters. The good thing was that nobody was hurt and the way they build in Africa they use lots of individual buildings, so the rondawels housing the double and singel rooms, and the restaurant/bar were all saved. But they lost all their computers from the internet cafe, the entire gift shop, ATM, and offices. It's weird how we had just paid and then seconds later all that money was up in smoke. Also, Calas has good insurance.
The next day we felt like bad luck was following us as we headed to Fish River Canyon. There were some motorcyclists at our camp doing an overland trip in a group of four. They left the camp about twenty minutes ahead of us, but the one guy must have inadvertantly popped a wheelie on the railway tracks as he'd flown off his bike and his mate was performing CPR on him by the time we arrived. I offered to take over the CPR to give the guy a break and Rhonda wanted to do energy healing, but it was a tense situation and this guy was screaming about 'fucking tourists' so Shiundu warned us back and let them continue until the ambulance arrived from Bethanie. Unfortunately, being that it was remote, the ambulance took 45 to arrive, and the prognosis didn't seem to be good.
We were on tenterhooks the next day, since bad things seem to come in threes, but (knock wood) it all seems to be going well now. We keep running into this German couple Derrik and Monja and they always ask us what disaster has befallen us now.
Earth
One incredible part of Namibia has been the sand dunes here. They are some of the tallest in the world and we did a sunrise climb up Dune 45. It's tough to climb sand, one step forward, half a step back, but it's a compelling view seeing the russet of the sand against the cerulean blue of the sky. When you see people climbing the dunes from down below they look like small hairs on a rhino's chin. Our guide showed us how to look for circular indentations in the sand to pry up sand geckos. If you're lost in the desert you can eat them live and their blood quenches your thirst while their body meat gives you protein. The travellers store drinking water in ostrich eggs buried in the sand with acacia root straws. Also, I discovered that the best thing to do when you're lost in the dunes, is to hike to the top of the dune, sit on the shady side and be completely still until someone finds you. Because of the metallic nature of the sand (iron filaments) the temperature can go up to 80 degrees. A woman was lost there a couple of days ago, and Fran said that if it hadn't been a windy day she would have died of dehydration.
In Swakupmond, Sandra (my tent mate) and I went sandboarding on the dunes. It was so much fun. She's been snowboarding since she was 15, so she got it, but I've only sandboarded once and surfed once (and we know how that went down) so it was a new experience, but I was starting to get how to do the slalom turns by the end, and when you do a faceplant (my position for the day) the sand was super soft to fall into, not like snow! We also got to do lie-down sandboarding, which was an incredible rush, seeing the dunes sail past your cheeks as you lie pressed against the sandboard. They clocked our speeds and I was able to reach 71 km an hour. We also had the same instructors as Brad Pitt. They said he struggled a bit but his bodyguard was amazing.
Water
I got nothing. Sand dunes (See above story on fire. Then refer back to story on surfing.)
Air
No wind. Desert. Daytime hot. Nighttime bloody cold.
There have been so many amazing things happening on this trip, I feel like I'm in a whirlwind. Bernhard always talks about making every day a Saturday and that's exactly what we're doing. We've been to the games park in Etosha and spotted lions, rhinos, giraffes, elephants, zebras, springboks, ornyx, steenboks, rock dassies, wildebeasts, jackals and a million other animals. At night, we went to the backlit watering hole and just watched the elephants lumber up to the watering hole to fill their trunks while the other animals skittered away in packs and herds and tribes, out of respect.
We've hiked to remote desert areas with mountains, and slept under the stars or in caves. We've horseback ridden through the desert, hiked canyons, and yesterday we did a nature hike with the San bushmen (if you've seen the movie 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' that was the San bushmen) and watched them hunt and set traps and make fire (I bought some fire making sticks!). They are so slender and smooth but they have the most perfectly plump butts, like smooth river stones. We asked the guide how old these bushmen were but when Johannes asked them, they didn't know their age, only the season they were born (winter.) I've played with village children, giving them swipes of toffee lip gloss, sunblock and apples, singing the Waku Waku Shakira song with them, and eaten fried caterpillars and Windhoek beer in the Shebeen with the locals.
In the evenings, we usually jump in the swimming pool and then prepare dinner together and have campfires. Africa has a notoriously quiet nightlife and last night, our neighboring camper screamed at us: "Jesus Christ! Shut up! It's ten to ten at night!" Yup. So Shiundu has hooked us up with earphones connected to his Ipod so we can at least party in the bus. Oh, and last night I was hanging out with Shiundu and a huge Wildebeast and eland rushed by us. I could feel the hairs on my arm stand up as they rushed by.
We are now heading to the Delta in Botswana where we'll be spending the next few days in dug out canoes with mosquitos.
Must go drink water.
Cheers,
Jenn
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