Alice in the land of the Hominidae

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  Namibia, Namibia
Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A 10 hour flight, followed by a ten hour sleep in Johannesburg led me to land in Namibia. I've been here a week now and most of it has been so surreal I don't know how I'm going to put it into words. Like drinking in Joe's Bar in Windhoek with an old guy with a mullet escaping his tax payments in South Africa and a young guy from Botswana who had the 'smartest' English accent I've heard. Then I went on tour with 5 others (Leslie (American), Uta (Germ), Shane and Sarah (Aus) and Peter (also a Germ), plus our guides Bennie and Stephen who were brilliant. We jumped in the Etosha National Park salt pan and toasted marshmellows at our campfire (proper retro) before sleeping in our tents through a gale force storm. We got excited about seeing one Giraffe at a waterhole and then 10 others came and joined it (I nearly had a fit). The first animal I saw was a Leapoard (a tame one, this means that they have had to look after it so it has enclosure and they feed it, tame means it will definitely attack you unlike the wild ones which are so shy you won't see one). We sat in this room with gap to see through a shutter to pull down in case the Leopard jumped at us. When the Leaopard was let into this feeding pen it suddenly appeared in front of us, padding towards the meat in front of our viewing gap and on the trees. The presence of the Leapoard suddenly there so powerful and beautiful literally took my breath and I jumped back. It was proper scarey. But amazing. We saw Lions 10 feet from our open van windows and I got butted by a Springbok at our campsite this morning when I came out my tent.

Etosha

We met Himba people in their 'traditional' village and saw rock engravings and paintings thousands of years old. And we laughed, laughed at me getting butted by a Springbok, laughed at Peter and his idiosyncratic way of telling you what the guides were trying to tell you, laughed at Bennies laugh. It was a magic week and I'm off for our final dinner now. This is the 7 day North tour I did.
http://www.wilddog-safaris.com/safari_tours/northern_adventure/

I'll be in Swakopmund for the weekend, some kayakking and dune surfing aree on the cards and then I'm gonna head South. Hope you're enjoying the snow!

xx

The bars here are great. It's so bizarre drinking a caipirinha in a bar called Cubana in Namibia. Another surreal moment. Sandboarding was wicked, I'm thinking of doing standing up on Saturday, which you use proper snowboards for. A much gentler-on-your-arse way of learning to board. Hoping to Kayak tomorrow. And book up a tour to see Fish River Canyon down South.

xx

Swakopmund seems to be a completely unique place. Well, overall the brief time that the Germans controlled Namibia seems to have a dramatic effect on the country, according to those who have travelled more widely (like the lovely Anne and Dave who travel EVERY winter from their shack (yes, I think it is the original Love Shack) on Lake Tahoe) Namibia's infrastructure is advanced and they way the operate is much more efficient. Surprise surprise. But, Swakopmund could really be mistaken for a town in Germany , there are loads of Germans, as well as Afrikaans living here and you can buy great German bread and go to some places without seeing a black face.

Etosha

This is one of the contradictions in Africa I'm beginning to realise. What is Africa ? Who is Africa n? But the locals are all used to tourists here, it's safe and it's a good base to explore from.
 
Yesterday, in the information place, I met a Swiss Frenchie called Barbara and we have hired a car together and we're off South tomorrow to Soussevlei   to see the sand dunes and watch the sunrise. We even bought a little tent. Hope it doesn't rain to much.We may head to Spitzkop afterwards which is also supposed to be fascinating with more rock paintings to see.
 
This morning we left before 7am to get down to Walvis Bay for Kayaking. Our guide was Leon who was supremely knowledgeable about all the birds and animals. He was also a legend for making the lunatic German woman I was sharing a kayak with put her cigarette out (which she threw in the sea - what?!). Apart from not seeing any Dolphins as seems to be my fortune, the sea was beautiful, the cormorants flew in huge flocks above us and the seals were all playing around us teaching their pups to swim so it was great.
 
We're off to the cinema tonight, nothing like some bright flickering lights to sooth a weary traveller.
 
xx

Didn't make it to the cinema in Namibia, the restaurants and bars in Swakopmund kept calling our names instead. I met such great people all over Namibia and I was so lucky all the time iwth everything falling into place. That is the real theme of Africa so far I think. The drive down to the desert dunes with Barbara was great. Turns out she has exactly the same birthday as me, although also turns out she's not Swiss, only French. Oh and Annie (above) her name is Andy but I kept calling her Annie. I need an apologies sectionin here like in the paper. So, anyway, 2 Capricorns jumping around on the Tropic of Capricorn. It was brilliant. We had tyre traumas with our little golf which had rubbish tyres on already and we were driving along rocky roads and a man in the garage really helped us. We goit stuck in wet sand in Spitzkoppe and a couple in a 4x4 who just happend to be behind us on this deserted road pulled us out and also across a river. We stayed in the middle of a range of granite peaks completely on our own and got blown around by the wind. We ate breakfast together at the top of the biggest dune with not another soul around. Just beetles and lizards and the rising sun.

xx

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Leopard at AfriCat	Leopard at AfriCat	Leopard at AfriCat	Cheetahs at AfriCat
Cheetahs at AfriCat	Cheetahs at AfriCat	Slurp	Love
Drinking pleasure	Zebras	Etosha	Going South
Himba people	Himba goats	Himba community far north Kaokoland	All boys like to be swung
Campsite next to the Himba villages	Campsite	Climbing up the rocks	viewtastic
Leslie	Sunset from the rocks	Locals dancing and singing	Brandenburg Moutains
Brandenburg beauty	It's a beetle	200 THOUSAND seals	200'000, Im not kidding
They STUNK	Snadboarding with Ute	Going back up for the jump	Sand Dude
Don't look down	Yeeeeeaaaahhh...faaaaassster	Swakopmund	Swakop
Swakop	Swaop at play	Alice at play	Ian (my room mate) on the rocks
Swaop beach	Desert Sky Hostel	BBQ time (Annie & Dave)	All looks a bit fishy
Meat for the meaties	Beauty at the Desert Sky	Andy the Surfer	Smelly feet
Post BBQ chill	Flamingos on way to Walvis Bay	Salt works	Salt at Walvis Bay
Coffee before Kayaking	Lighthouse	Leon prepares	Dave
Seal greeting	Annie and Dave set off	I spy	Cormorants
Leon our BRILLIANT guide	PELICAN !!!	Lighthouse	Putting my oar in for a change
vast beauty	bird life	sand flats	Homeward bound
Walvis Bay Salt Pans	Walvis Bay Salt Pans	for David	My fantastic but crazy travel companion
driving adventure	burning up the gravel roads	desert roads	Kuiseb Canyon
natural quartz	Tropic of Alice and Barbara	Campsite	sunset
beautiful fields of sun	in da wild	sunset girls messing 1	sunset girls messing 2
sunset girls messing 3	Campsite Mountains	Solitare garage and lodge	Solitare has been used in the movies
Solitare	Solitare	Sunrise at Soususvlei	Soususvlei
Soususvlei	Soususvlei	Soususvlei	Soususvlei
Dead Vlei	Two Capricorns

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