Part I. Off to Zambia
In classic Peace Corps fashion, we planned our vacation about 6 days in advance. Ashley, Megan, Danielle and Julia joined me in our hitchhiking adventure. Julia, Ashley, Megan and I left from Windhoek on Saturday. We were conned into taking a taxi, since we left late from Windhoek, so we agreed to pay up to Otjiwarongo. From there, we got a free hike to Grootfontein with a German family. Ashley and I met up with Danielle at the gas station in Groot and went out to the highway to hike to Rundu. After an hour or so of waiting, we scored a hike to Rundu with a couple. The man was from the Congo and the woman was from Zambia.
In classic Peace Corps fashion, we planned our vacation about 6 days in advance. Ashley, Megan, Danielle and Julia joined me in our hitchhiking adventure. Julia, Ashley, Megan and I left from Windhoek on Saturday. We were conned into taking a taxi, since we left late from Windhoek, so we agreed to pay up to Otjiwarongo. From there, we got a free hike to Grootfontein with a German family. Ashley and I met up with Danielle at the gas station in Groot and went out to the highway to hike to Rundu. After an hour or so of waiting, we scored a hike to Rundu with a couple. The man was from the Congo and the woman was from Zambia.
They dropped us off at a strangely unnamed gas station out in the middle of nowhere. We walked to town a couple of kilometers and managed to stay at a hotel owned by a former PCV who married a Namibian. He gave us a great deal for the night and we enjoyed hot showers (one very nice thing about vacations!). In the morning we headed out bright and early to the hike point. Julia, Danielle, and I piled back into the Congo couple’s van and headed off to Katima. The drive was long, but neat because we saw elephants along the road.
Namibia is divided into two sections: the North which is above the “red line” and consists of northern Kunene, Ovamboland, Kavango and Caprivi. Basically, white people claimed the fertile southern grasslands for themselves and put most of the black population above the red line. From what I understand there were virtually no white people above the red line before apartheid was abolished. Therefore, people in the north felt the effects of apartheid less than in the South. The north is far more populated than the south, and it shows. As soon as you cross the red line you see houses along the side of the road, a rarity in the south. Most of the houses are mud huts, as opposed to the tin shacks of the south. People walk along the side of the road all the time, while in the south you can drive for hours without seeing another person.
In Katima we stayed at Kaitlin’s new house. She has two cats which are cute but to which I am allergic to unfortunately. We decided to chill in Katima for the next day because we were tired from so much travel. The next day we went to the craft fair where I got a basket. Then we went to Thea’s town about 20km from Katima. It was really interesting to see her village. She lives in a mud hut with thatch roof and cement floor. She fetches water from a pipe about 20 ft from her house and she has two light bulbs. Really besides the lack of water, the only differences between her hut and mine are the sink and the bugs. Thea also lives with a family and loves it. It’s cute her relationship between her and the village. It makes me think that things would have been better if I lived with a family or in the north. Physically it would be more demanding, but maybe I would feel less distant from the people. There seems to be gulf between me and my villagers composed of language, class, race, background, education, culture, and sometimes gender and age. I still don’t know how to bridge that gap or even if it is possible.
The next day we left some things at Kaitlin’s house and took a taxi to the border with Zambia. The border crossing was the fastest border crossing I’ve ever been through. No lines, just a stamp and we were on our way. The Zambian custom office was a bit difficult to find considering it was off the road, but we got our stamps (having paid our expensive! visas while in Windhoek). We took a taxi to Sesheke and an extremely long combi ride to Livingstone. We learned later that we could’ve taken a higher class bus and cut about 3 hours off our trip.
The next day we left some things at Kaitlin’s house and took a taxi to the border with Zambia. The border crossing was the fastest border crossing I’ve ever been through. No lines, just a stamp and we were on our way. The Zambian custom office was a bit difficult to find considering it was off the road, but we got our stamps (having paid our expensive! visas while in Windhoek). We took a taxi to Sesheke and an extremely long combi ride to Livingstone. We learned later that we could’ve taken a higher class bus and cut about 3 hours off our trip.
Once we arrived, we checked in at Jolly Boys and walked to Subway to eat. Just like the US. It was amazing, but no cookies unfortunately. That afternoon we chilled at the hostel and set up the tents we borrowed from other PCVs. Ours were identified as the ones that looked like they would fall over at any moment. Actually Ashley and my tent fell over on us the last night.
The next day we decided to go white water rafting. Considering the other options (abseiling, bungee jumping, skydiving etc) rafting seemed like the less scary option all 5 of us could do together. We were given a nice breakfast, but since I was nervous having never been rafting before, I didn’t eat that much. Of course they have these videos of professional kayakers going over waterfalls as you eat which kind of freaked me out. I visualized myself speeding down the rapids and over waterfalls at frightening speeds. After that, we hiked down into the canyon at the base of Victoria Falls. The rapids did not look bad at all, so I was less concerned. Then we had to jump into a rapid and find our raft, scary but I made it. Some kayak guys joined a caravan of about 8 rafts and they helped people reach their appropriate boat.
Our guide instructed us how to paddle and “get down” which means face the outside of the raft, hunker down, and hold on for your life. We went over the first two rapids with no problems except I lost my paddle. Then we came to the third rapid and our guide told us we had 50/50 chance of having the raft tip over. There was also a three meter drop. I was so glad I had left my glasses onshore at that point. We “got down” and went through the rapid. But you can’t really see what’s going on. It feels like a car wreck in the sense that your being tossed and turned all over the place and you are trying to hold on to the rope, but you can’t assess what is happening around you. Then you reach calm waters, get up and realize half of your rafters are in the river! Ok, well that time, I did get tossed into the river, but I held onto that raft for dear life, and the guide hauled me back in pretty much immediately. At that point I was glad I left my jeans on land.
We continued to go over a series of class 4 and 5 rapids for most of the trip. On one particularly bad rapid, our boat flipped and we were all in the rapid. I was proud of myself because I managed to hold on to the boat. It took about 10 minutes or so to get through the rapid and even though we had on life jackets, it was really difficult to breathe. You were trying to hold onto the raft, which was difficult because you were being sucked down into the water. So the exercise made you breathe harder, but you could never get a big breath because the water sucked you down before you could. None of us were too excited to keep rafting after that. One girl in front of me was thrilled to raft the Zambezi before that rapid because it was supposedly one of the highest rated rivers you could go on as an amateur. After that, she was finished. The water is very deep so you do not hit any rocks or get stuck like in some other rivers. It took quite a while for the boat to get flipped and for all of us to get in it again. One guy from another raft went into shock and refused to paddle any more for the rest of the trip.
We finally reached the last rapid, and I was exhausted. Paddling was hard work as was holding on for your life. I popped out of the boat on that rapid just because I was too tired to hold on. I couldn’t reach the boat because the current swept me away, so a kayak guy came and saved me. He took me to shore, and we climbed out, thankful to be on land again. Then we climbed back out of the canyon which was basically straight up. Ashley, Megan, and I were some of the last to arrive at the top. The guides carried up the deflated rafts on their shoulders, then came back down to give us water before we made it to the top. Shows how not in shape we were. I couldn’t have done the full day trip if I had wanted to. On the way back to the camp we saw elephants on the side of the road. Days like that I remember I'm in Africa!
The guides gave us some lunch and then we saw the pictures which were very good and freaking hilarious. There was one where I’m being popped out of the boat like popcorn and another where our face expressions were funny. The one that cracked me up the most was a picture of foam with Ashley’s head sticking out gasping for air. There’s another picture of our raft, but all that turned out was foam. You couldn’t even see the raft at all. Then we watched the video of our rafting expedition. It looked pretty intense on the video. I was proud of myself that I did that, but never again!
That afternoon, we went to the museum where we saw the history of the falls, and at night we went to an African restaurant with nice décor, ok food, and crappy service. My arms were sore for the next week!
The next day we watched Danielle and Ashley zip slide, bungee jump and do the swing. I took photos from afar and chatted with the border police person and the official videographer. Then, we went to the Victoria Falls Park so we could actually see the falls. There were large baboons everywhere and they would take your bag if you had one. We walked along the falls and took lots of pictures. Really is impressive, even in dry season when there was not much water. Then we walked on top of the falls to see some children playing in the water meters from the falls edge. Oh, Africa.
We turned back and took a combi back to Livingstone. That night Danielle, Megan and I went on a booze cruise. Drinks were strong, and we saw hippo, elephants, crocodiles, and kudu. The elephants even crossed the river in front of us. It was fun and totally worth 35$ US. The next day we hung around the hostel for the morning then headed out to the border on the bus. We crossed on foot and made our way back to Kaitlin’s for the night. It was great to get back to Namdollars because Kwatcha are so hard to deal with. It is 3300 Kwatcha for one american dollar and the Kwatcha bills all look the same, so you end up trying to pay US$ .05 or 50$US for one drink. We had problems the whole time with the currency, but most people seemed honest.
From Katima, we headed to Divundu and stayed two nights with Chris and Paul. It was great to watch movies and chill for a day. They also scored an awesome house complete with washing machine, hot water, and river right by it. No swimming tho, too many crocs!
Megan hiked out to go back to her site from Divundu. Ashley managed to get us the best possible hike ever which leads to:
Megan hiked out to go back to her site from Divundu. Ashley managed to get us the best possible hike ever which leads to:
PART II Etosha
Ashley asked a white couple if they could take us to Grootfontein and they agreed. We all piled into their safari truck and were excited to get all the way to Groot and possibly farther in one day. Our plans had been to get up to Ondangwa and from there to Opuwo. That all changed within the first 5 minutes of our trip. Once the couple found out that we were volunteers they invited us to stay at their lodge in Etosha for free. Of course we eagerly agreed. Turns out the lodge was quoted as one of the most exclusive luxury lodges in the Etosha area.
Ashley asked a white couple if they could take us to Grootfontein and they agreed. We all piled into their safari truck and were excited to get all the way to Groot and possibly farther in one day. Our plans had been to get up to Ondangwa and from there to Opuwo. That all changed within the first 5 minutes of our trip. Once the couple found out that we were volunteers they invited us to stay at their lodge in Etosha for free. Of course we eagerly agreed. Turns out the lodge was quoted as one of the most exclusive luxury lodges in the Etosha area.
It was amazing.
We stayed in luxury tents, basically cabins with tent material on the outside. We had solar electricity and fire-heated water. The bed was so comfy. The dinner area overlooked a water hole that was no more than 30 feet from the small fence. You were really in the wild. But, the food was great! It was buffet style and we had food we hadn’t had since America: cold cuts, eggs and bacon, roast potatoes, argula salads. The schedule was, we woke up in the morning at 6, then ate breakfast. At 7 we went on a game drive or nature walk through the concession or in the Etosha park. That lasted till lunch and then we ate a great buffet lunch. After that we had an hour or so to chill, watch the water hole, or shower. Then, we went on another game drive or walk in the afternoon, or just chilled at the lodge. Dinner followed those drives; I think we gained five pounds! We got to hobnob with all sorts of rich Americans, Swiss, Italians, and Brits. It was normally great fun. I got lots of great pictures of the animals. The only animals we did not see were cheetahs, leopards, meercats, and moongeese, but it’s hard to see them anyways. I can’t believe the couple was so nice. We calculated that the 5 nights we stayed there would’ve cost nearly our entire year’s salary in the Peace Corps! It was US 500$ a night all inclusive. There will be no hike that will beat that!
We stayed in luxury tents, basically cabins with tent material on the outside. We had solar electricity and fire-heated water. The bed was so comfy. The dinner area overlooked a water hole that was no more than 30 feet from the small fence. You were really in the wild. But, the food was great! It was buffet style and we had food we hadn’t had since America: cold cuts, eggs and bacon, roast potatoes, argula salads. The schedule was, we woke up in the morning at 6, then ate breakfast. At 7 we went on a game drive or nature walk through the concession or in the Etosha park. That lasted till lunch and then we ate a great buffet lunch. After that we had an hour or so to chill, watch the water hole, or shower. Then, we went on another game drive or walk in the afternoon, or just chilled at the lodge. Dinner followed those drives; I think we gained five pounds! We got to hobnob with all sorts of rich Americans, Swiss, Italians, and Brits. It was normally great fun. I got lots of great pictures of the animals. The only animals we did not see were cheetahs, leopards, meercats, and moongeese, but it’s hard to see them anyways. I can’t believe the couple was so nice. We calculated that the 5 nights we stayed there would’ve cost nearly our entire year’s salary in the Peace Corps! It was US 500$ a night all inclusive. There will be no hike that will beat that!
ANIMALS SEEN ON VACATION & NUMBER SEEN:
Crocodile (6)
Hippo (2)
Elephant (20ish)
White Rhino (5)
Black Rhino (1)
Steenbok (1)
Klipspringer (1)
Kudu (tons)
Eland (3)
Oryx / Gemsbok (tons)
Springbok (tons)
Giraffe (tons)
Water buck (tons)
Black-faced Impala (30-40)
Red Hartebeest (20ish)
Hartman’s Mountain Zebra (10ish)
Burchells Plain Zebra (tons)
Wildebeest (tons)
Warthogs (30ish)
Grey jackal (2)
Black-backed jackal (2-3)
Guinea Fowl (tons)
Red-eyed bulbul (tons)
Hornbills of all kinds
Lilac-breasted ? one of the prettiest birds ever
Corrie Buster (sp?) (10)
Ostrich (10)
Vulture (10)
Rabbit (5)
Ground Squirrel (5)
Tree Squirrel (1)
Porcupine (1)
Rock Dassie / Hyrax (1)
Baboon (tons)
Monkeys (5)
Lion (8-10) Heard a lot more!
Spotted Hyena (1)
After 5 days at the lodge, I got a hike with Wendy back to site and got another hike to D-town. I’m going to try to hike in and back the same day for grocery shopping from now on. If I need to get out of town I’ll go to Mariental, since Ruth in Okahandja was sent home. If I need to do errands in Windhoek, I’ll stay with colleagues or with the nice couple in Windhoek (still haven’t contacted them) or in a backpackers. I really hate Windhoek so I’m going to minimize my time there. But sometimes I really need to go out and get a dinner I didn’t cook.
Now, I’m back at site for the first day of school. Hard to believe my first year in Namibia will be over in 2 months, and my mom comes to visit in just 3 months! I can’t wait for this year to be over and go on vacation. Current plans are to hit up Etosha, Caprivi and Botswana with Mom and Uncle Tom, then go to Cape Town and across South Africa to Mozambique with Megan and Danielle. Should be awesome.
My garden is still alive, surprise of surprises!
Also, my keyboard isn’t working. I think the dust got in. So I’m borrowing the school computer’s keyboard until I can buy one in Windhoek. Namibia enjoys destroying electronic devices. So far, I already had to get my camera repaired and it is still not doing well. Now my keyboard went berserk and my cd rom drive only works if I’m persistent. I just hope they last the next year!
Crocodile (6)
Hippo (2)
Elephant (20ish)
White Rhino (5)
Black Rhino (1)
Steenbok (1)
Klipspringer (1)
Kudu (tons)
Eland (3)
Oryx / Gemsbok (tons)
Springbok (tons)
Giraffe (tons)
Water buck (tons)
Black-faced Impala (30-40)
Red Hartebeest (20ish)
Hartman’s Mountain Zebra (10ish)
Burchells Plain Zebra (tons)
Wildebeest (tons)
Warthogs (30ish)
Grey jackal (2)
Black-backed jackal (2-3)
Guinea Fowl (tons)
Red-eyed bulbul (tons)
Hornbills of all kinds
Lilac-breasted ? one of the prettiest birds ever
Corrie Buster (sp?) (10)
Ostrich (10)
Vulture (10)
Rabbit (5)
Ground Squirrel (5)
Tree Squirrel (1)
Porcupine (1)
Rock Dassie / Hyrax (1)
Baboon (tons)
Monkeys (5)
Lion (8-10) Heard a lot more!
Spotted Hyena (1)
After 5 days at the lodge, I got a hike with Wendy back to site and got another hike to D-town. I’m going to try to hike in and back the same day for grocery shopping from now on. If I need to get out of town I’ll go to Mariental, since Ruth in Okahandja was sent home. If I need to do errands in Windhoek, I’ll stay with colleagues or with the nice couple in Windhoek (still haven’t contacted them) or in a backpackers. I really hate Windhoek so I’m going to minimize my time there. But sometimes I really need to go out and get a dinner I didn’t cook.
Now, I’m back at site for the first day of school. Hard to believe my first year in Namibia will be over in 2 months, and my mom comes to visit in just 3 months! I can’t wait for this year to be over and go on vacation. Current plans are to hit up Etosha, Caprivi and Botswana with Mom and Uncle Tom, then go to Cape Town and across South Africa to Mozambique with Megan and Danielle. Should be awesome.
My garden is still alive, surprise of surprises!
Also, my keyboard isn’t working. I think the dust got in. So I’m borrowing the school computer’s keyboard until I can buy one in Windhoek. Namibia enjoys destroying electronic devices. So far, I already had to get my camera repaired and it is still not doing well. Now my keyboard went berserk and my cd rom drive only works if I’m persistent. I just hope they last the next year!
