December and January were both absolutely crazy for Lindsey and I. Crazy fun, but also crazy busy. Both sets of our parents, plus Lindsey’s brother and sister, came to Namibia for an all out Namibian excursion. Then, before our parents were even out of the country, Lindsey and I hopped on a bus for a 21 hour drive down to Cape Town to meet my brother and his wife. When we finally arrived back in our village, we realized that we never slept in the same place for more than two nights in nearly 35 days! Even right now as I am writing this I am thinking - should I really be typing right now? Or should I go take a nap? Well, to put your suspense to rest, I decided to take a nap. Now, here are the highlights.
Arrive the parents:
Both of our families flew into Namibia on the same flight and we met them at a hotel in downtown Windhoek. We hadn’t seen each other in a year and a half, so it was certainly good to be able to talk face to face.
Sossusvlei
The first leg of our journey was to Sossusvlei - the home of the biggest sand dunes in the world. Lindsey and I went there in December of 2012 as well, but it was definitely worth visiting again. In my opinion, Sossusvlei is the coolest place in all of Namibia. Our first morning we woke up at 4:00 AM (and hence begun a pattern of erratic sleep that continued for the entire break) to try to catch the sunrise on top of Big Daddy. Big Daddy is the tallest sand dune in the world, coming in at about 1065 feet. Also, Big Daddy is the actual name of the dune, so don’t think I am just being weird and calling it that ha!
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| The view of some dunes as the sun was coming up. |
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| Lindsey and I at the top of Big Daddy |
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| The rest of the group making their way up. |
The temperature in Sossusvlei is always really cool in the morning, but by around 10 AM, you better be near your car. Within about 30 minutes, the temperature went from being refreshingly cool to scorching hot. We spent the rest of our day by the pool in our lodge as we watched the heat rise off the sizzling red dunes in the distance.
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| Some dead trees on Dead Vlei at the base of Bid Daddy. |
Swakopmund
I have talked about Swakopmund several times in this blog before, so hopefully you are at least a little familiar with the name. Swakopmund is an incredibly nice, little German town that is wedged in between the dessert and the coast, and almost the entire population is white. What makes this town so weird/unique/awesome is that it is in Namibia - a third world/developing country in Africa. It doesn’t really “fit in” with the typical African town you know?
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| Just trying to get some solid head shots. I call this one magnum. It is far superior to blue steel. |
Myself, Jim, John, and Kaitlyn all went four wheeling in the sand dunes just outside the city for a full 3 hour excursion. It was honestly one of the most fun “extreme” activities I have ever done. I knew it was going to be fun, but I never thought it would be that fun. It was like being on a roller coaster that you are completely in charge of - both delightful and terrifying at the same time. Afterwards, we all went out to eat at a German restaurant and enjoyed some good ‘ole wiener schnitzels and boots of beer.
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| Jim enjoying a boot. Look how happy he is. |
Cape Cross Seal Reserve
The Cape Cross Seal Reserve is a giant seal colony about 2 hours north of Swakopmund. It also happens to be calving season here, so there were tons of baby seals waddling around. This seal colony was something really cool to see once, but I would never want to go again. Why is that you ask? Thousands and thousands of seals living in a pretty concentrated area makes up for one awful smell. No joke, it was the worst smell I have ever been around in my life. We were there for maybe 10 minutes before we all jumped back in the car to get away from the nasty stench. So as I said, it was worth seeing once, but not again.
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| A wrecked ship off the coast that we saw on the way to the seal reserve. |
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| Some of the many smelly seals. |
Desert Elephants
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| The rare desert elephant. |
For our first safari of the whole trip, we headed out in search of the “rare and illusive” desert elephants, as our guide put it. We drove out into this mountainous desert area around Khorixas (if any of you care to look up where the town is) and found several groups of elephants near a small, lush riverbed floor. Desert elephants are classified as their own species because they have several small adaptions to help them better survive in areas with such little rain. They look exactly the same as a normal African elephant, however, they don’t become quite as big when they are fully grown. We got within about 10 feet of a handful of elephants, which was the closest I had ever been by far. So for our first safari as a group, I would say it was a really nice one.
Etosha
Etosha is Namibia’s largest game park and boasts to be one of the best game viewing venues in the world. Lindsey and I also went there in August towards the end of the dry season, where all of the animals were forced to drink at the few remaining waterholes. Now, our family came in December, which is the peak of the rainy season. They say rainy season is a bad time to come since it usually causes animals to scatter as they can find water anywhere. They don’t come to the waterholes and it is hard to see through all the dense bush next to the road.
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| A lion crossing the dirt road right behind us in Etosha. |
When we went on our first safari, Lindsey and I kept saying, “Now guys, don’t be disappointed if we don’t see a lot. Just don’t get your hopes up.” I was expecting to hardly see anything. And what happens? Within five minutes of being in the park - bam, a lion drinking from a puddle in the middle of the road. Then, like 20 minutes later, more lions. Then several herds of giraffes, zebras, and everything else you can imagine. Then, as we were leaving the park, yet again more lions laying down in the road trying to soak up the remaining heat of the sun as it went down. The rain certainly didn’t stop our game viewing adventures, but it sure did make the temperature outside amazing.
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| The entire group out on the Etosha Pan. |
Up to the Kavango
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| Christmas night, right after dinner. |
After a lot of driving, we finally made it up north to the Kavango Region (where Lindsey and I live) on Christmas Day. We stayed in an awesome lodge that has a giant deck overlooking the Kavango River, where it is impossible to go 15 minutes without hearing a hippo grunt rumbling somewhere in the distance. That evening, we went on a sunset cruise across the river searching for hippos and crocs. I bet our family never expected to be so close to the most dangerous animal in Africa on Christmas. The terribly annoying song I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas now has a new meaning.
The Village Invasion
The next day, our entire family came to visit our village. I am not sure about this so don’t quote me, but I bet there have never been so many white people in Mayara at the same time. We got to show them our huts, our school, and gave them a tour of our village. So finally, after a year and a half, our parents were able to actually see how we live. Lindsey and I taught them the basic greetings in Thimbukushu - things like hello and how are you?, which they got to put into action when we were walking around. We also taught Jim to say “Hello, where is the beer?” - which is, “Moro, kupi bira?” That made a lot of people laugh.
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| Lindsey and Kaitlyn smiling for a picture in our sleeping hut. |
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| Lindsey drawing pictures in the dirt with our host mom's daughter. |
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| My family standing in the doorway to our homestead. |
All the villagers were really happy to see and meet our family, and everything went surprisingly smooth. I was afraid that we might get bombarded by people asking for money if a big group of 8 white people were walking around with a few big cameras around their necks. However, not a single person asked for anything. Everyone was so excited to meet our family, shake their hands, and have a picture taken with them.
Africat
Africat is a huge private game reserve that specializes in big cat conservation - mainly cheetahs and leopards. I had never seen a wild leopard before, and it was the last of The Big Five that I still hadn’t seen. (The Big Five includes elephants, rhinos, water buffalo, lions, and leopards) Our first morning there we woke up before the sunrise so our guide could take us leopard tracking before it got too hot. Within about an hour we found a leopard with a cub that was around 8 months old (I think) and watched as the cub continually pounced on its mom. It was actually pretty funny, and they seemed to have the same mannerisms as a house cat. Of course, leopards are no house cats. We also saw some cheetahs, a pack of wild dogs (wild dogs are endangered, and also REALLY ugly), and a couple of lions from a distance.
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| A full grown male leopard eating his breakfast. |
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| A lazy group of wild dogs that we found soon after they ate. |
This one is for you Maria (Lindsey’s mom): So our guide told us about an interesting tradition in Namibia and then demonstrated for us as follows. He picked up a handful of dried gemsbock poo, put one small, scrumptious pellet in his mouth, swished it around a little bit for lubrication, and then spit it as far as he could. He said it is common to do at weddings and big events - kind of like a watermelon seed spitting contest is for us, except in this contest you spit poo. At first I thought he was trying to play a prank on us, but then he threw the sucker in his mouth and spit. We dove in as well and competed for the gold. Maria won. She is officially the best poo spitter. Now the whole world knows. Congratulations!
Interesting Cat Facts for those interested in interesting facts: According to our guide, if a cheetah charges you, all you have to do is stand your ground and you will be fine 100% of the time - it is always a mock charge as humans are too big of prey for cheetahs, so they don’t attack us. With lions, you can also stand your ground and you will “most likely” be ok. Lions will charge you in an act of aggression but hardly ever attack you unless you turn and run. So the key thing to remember is - whatever you do, don’t run. Now, with a leopard, if it charges you.... you’re dead. They don’t back down against other animals and are extremely aggressive. They are also the most powerful cat when you compare its strength relative to its size. It is significantly stronger than even a lion (although a lion would easily kill a leopard because they are 2-3 times bigger). A leopard can carry prey up to three times its own weight up a tree to eat it, which is nearly 600 pounds for a full grown male. That is one powerful cat.
The Last Supper - KFC
Surprisingly enough, the last meal with our parents was KFC. They flew out on a Sunday, so KFC was literally our only option (everything in Namibia is closed on Sundays except KFC apparently). Anyway, to our families - Thanks SO much for coming to visit and treating Lindsey and I to some of the best lodges in Namibia and all eight safaris. We had such a blast and I don’t think I have ever eaten better food. We both love you all and don’t worry, we will come home.... eventually :)
And then....
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