*Disclaimer- I know I promised to post more frequently and avoid long blogs. It appears that I lied. This one is long, but totally worth it- I swear! The connectivity in Namibia and an “issue” with my phone prevented intermittent posts during the trip. So you have it all in one! I’m sharing this for pacing purposes only.
So, back in December during my tour of Vietnam and Cambodia, one of my tour mates (Jacques from Belgium) mentioned he’d planned a trip to Namibia with some of his friends for the following year. That was the first time the country was on my radar, mostly because I sensed that Jacques and I had similar travel tastes and he seemed like the kinda guy who really did his research when it came to his travel. So far the strategy I’d inadvertently adopted had been fail-safe: blindly trusting the recommendations of like-minded friends who do extensive due diligence when planning trips. Otherwise it just seems too daunting… so many places to look into and where would I even start?!? Having become quite fond of Southern Africa, I wasn’t in any hurry to leave after the camping trip and I perused the interwebs for trips that departed out of Cape Town. Up popped a 12 day tour to Namibia! It was super last minute at this point and the trip was even discounted by 25%, so this all seemed like a sign. Since it was so last minute I couldn’t book the trip directly and had to wait for 2-3 days while the company checked if they could add another person. A few days later I got the verdict- the trip was clearly meant to be! Whatever was going on in Namibia (I only skimmed the itinerary) it would be cool, I was SURE of it!
Here’s a sneak preview of the verdict:
Now, as you know I recently completed my NINTH tour with my favorite tour company, Flash Pack, and am a very loyal and happy customer. I like that the tour groups consist of like minded people in their 30’s and 40’s and everyone is a solo traveler. However, Flash Pack didn’t have any trips in Africa that fit my last minute schedule so I was (horror of horrors) going to doing a tour with another company, G Adventures. I emailed the Flash Pack owners, Lee and Radha, and let them know. I wanted to be upfront as it felt like I was cheating on them! Monogamy is hard, though, and I was kind of curious to see what another company would be like- as well as different group dynamics (this tour was open to all ages and people traveling together). I assured Lee and Radha this was just a fling and I did not envision a long-term affair.
I met my tour group in Cape Town at the Lady Hamilton hotel… the nicest thing about this establishment is its name. By far. Score one for Flash Pack- they would never have chosen this hotel. To be fair the price point of this trip was more in the bargain basement arena (especially with the 25% procrastination discount) so what did I expect? And I always pride myself on not being a hotel snob, so I’ll shut up about it now.
So, I then met my roommate (the lovely Evelyn from Switzerland) and the rest of the group that hailed from Australia, England, Germany and one fellow ‘merican. The ages of the group members ranged from 30-67 and we had one married couple, one about-to-be married couple, a sister/mother/daughter/aunt five-some, and four of us solo travelers. I liked everyone right away and our first dinner together included a lot of laughs. My favorite part about this group is that despite our different nationalities and ages everyone has a fantastic sense of humor and has no problem laughing at themselves (as well as each other.) Here we are!
The next day we got started on our first of many bus adventures (we covered a lot of ground on this trip). Our guide, Jeff from Zimbabwe, kept us informed of various sites and landmarks along the way. Here’s Jeff!
That night we stayed at a guest house in the waterfront town of Lambert’s Bay. Jeff had mentioned a “seafood buffet” for dinner that evening and a few of us were a bit wary. Is seafood best in the buffet format? At least Red Lobster has to abide by food safety regulations… Africa seems more willy-nilly with such things. It turns out that our concerns were unfounded (how dare we doubt Jeff?) and the “buffet” was really more of a braai, with an assortment of freshly caught and grilled seafood at a casual outdoor venue. It felt like we were at somebody’s house and the experience was far preferable to a sterile restaurant.
The next day it was up and at ’em… land exit time!
We continued up the coast to the Namibia border, where I was pleased they consolidated the passport stamp overlapping it with the one they’d given me while leaving South Africa. You see, there aren’t many pages in my temporary, emergency passport so space is at a premium. As an aside, Jeff said he has been through 11 passports and has a few currently in circulation as he knows some borders will “squeeze in” the stamps and others require blank pages (ahem, South Africa.)
Onward to the next day and the breathtaking Fish River Canyon, which is the second biggest canyon in the world (runner-up to the Grand.) I’ve been dying to see the Grand Canyon and haven’t made it yet, but am glad I started with the second biggest as the reverse order may have been anticlimactic (although I kind of doubt it as this was pretty spectacular.)
Our bus driver, the hilarious Barry, had commented that our accommodations that evening were like the house from the Adams Family. Yup, Barry nailed it.
The place is just odd in so many ways, not the least of which is random displays like this.
It’s a small place (probably 20 rooms) and is totally in the middle of nowhere, yet when I asked the woman at the front desk about the location of my room she said she didn’t know. By way of explanation, she’d never been to the upper level….where half the rooms are located. I think she took offense when I asked why not… I mean, wasn’t she at least curious?? She explained it was always too busy for her to leave the front desk. I didn’t want to be rude and point out we were the only ones there! Here’s Barry, btw, guarding our chariot (I feel like you need a visual):
Anyways, we weren’t too sad that our stay with the Adams family was only for one night and we headed out early the next morning. Our destination was Sossuvlei (which is in the Namib desert) where we would be “participation camping” (whatever that is) for three days. The views from the campsite were unbelievable as Sossuvlei is a clay pan surrounded by ginormous, stunning red sand dunes. The dunes are actually the biggest in the world and are up to 984 ft high! With this backdrop the sunsets and sunrises are especially breathtaking.
It turns out that participation camping means that you aren’t “glamping”… you have to do stuff. Good thing I’d had that camping refresher trip in South Africa last week! Don’t I look like a camping pro?
Evelyn and I were pretty proud of our tent set-up skills and we all dutifully chipped in to help with cooking, cleaning, following Jeff’s assignments, etc. And sometimes we just chilled out, too. The next morning was an early bell and we headed to Dune 45 (the many magnificent dunes are numbered) which is an especially spectacular dune that you can climb up, on the softest sand imaginable.
On the way up we passed many people coming back down the footpath. I kept wondering why nobody was running down the side of the dune, as that seemed like a waaaay more fun descent. Finally when we got to the top we saw few tourists flirting with the running- down-the-dune approach and once we saw it was possible- we were off!!
We were all exhilarated and covered with sand as we made our way back to the bus. Our next stop was another dune, this one overlooking a dried up lake bed filled with gnarley “dead trees” from hundreds of years ago. There was another dune climbing opportunity here… up a behemoth known as “Big Daddy.” Some folks we met at the campsite had attempted the climb the day before and forewarned us that it was not an endeavor for the faint of heart. Undeterred, seven of us took off on the mile-long (and steep!) jaunt to the summit, taking in the views along the way. It almost looked fake, like a film studio backdrop.
We all made it, though, and agreed that Big Daddy is absolutely an appropriate name for the dune.
Here’s Evelyn and I at the summit:
As a reward we enjoyed the run down the side, which made Dune 45 seem like an ant hill.
According to Trevor, who timed my descent from below, it took me 3.5 minutes top to bottom (and I was running as fast as I could.) What a rush! My legs were just a liiiiiiittle bit tired (aka shaking) afterwards but it was so worth it! And at the bottom we got to enjoy the views of the dead trees up close and personal.
We were happy to relax around the campfire that evening, worn out from the excitement of the day. We asked about wildlife in the area and Jeff and Barry said wildlife (especially those pesky jackals) have been known to take things from campsites, so we should keep everything in our tents or an animal might steal it. It should be noted that Jeff and Barry (mostly Barry) like to pull our legs and we’d fallen for more than one of their fables (Barry had also said he was a 65 year old ex-con with 23 children and that he spoke 13 languages- none of this is true). I woke up early the next morning to the voice of Dan, from the neighboring tent that he was sharing with his fiancé, Gina. “Um, Barry, one of Gina’s shoes is gone. She left them outside the tent.” Barry’s response was his high-pitched, infectious giggle followed by, “I warned you about those jackals.” Go figure! Gina left the remaining shoe, as a peace offering to the jackals.
We took off on another long bus ride on another extremely bumpy road. Throughout the trip we’d been on some of the bumpiest dirt roads I’d ever been on and I was frequently bounced 1-2 feet in the air from my last row seat. I kept referring to my row as “first class,” and really talked it up in hopes someone else would want to sit there…but no dice. Next, we landed in the waterfront town of Swakomund where we had a free day to engage in thrill-seeking activities (or I guess just chilling was an option too but what fun is that?) I chose sandboarding, as it was the only one I hadn’t done before and it was a blast. It was also hard! I don’t see myself switching from skiing to snowboarding anytime soon but the sand version is great fun, and falling didn’t hurt at all (and I would know). Afterwards we got to zoom down the dunes on our stomachs, using particle board sleds. We were FLYING!
Evelyn (aka Swiss Miss) is of course an experienced snowboarder and she caught right on, even nailing a jump! She was, thankfully, not annoyed when our shower looked like Dune 45 following me using it later that day.
We were excited the next day to be heading to Etosha National Park, which is a featured attraction in Namibia. Here there was more participation camping, which we were old pros at by this point. This campsite had a bonus feature, though, of a watering hole that attracted an array of wildlife. There were chairs and benches lined up behind a (small) fence for viewing and it was like watching a scenic improv.
Here’s how the performance would work: there would be a “dazzle” of zebras (yes, that’s the term!) cooling off in the water and then some warthogs would enter stage left and butt horns with each other in the background for a while… then the zebras would meander off, the warthogs would chase each other away, and it would be silent for a few minutes. This is when many spectators would think the show was over and meander back to their campsite to refill their gin and tonics and show each other their pictures (that all looked the same). Amateur move, people. Cue the elephants to enter stage right and make their way to the foreground. And while I was busy being enamored by the elephants (no matter how many I see I’m equally awestruck every time)…how did that hippo get on center stage? The best was a late night viewing session, when I joined the tour guide of a group in a neighboring campsite, Rowan, for a walk to the watering hole (he had a hot tip)… and there we found pretty much every animal imaginable, all at once. Including some breed of rhino that is apparently an extremely rare sighting. It was one of those surreal-world experiences… there were two elephants literally feet from us and they were engaging in some type of elephant introduction ritual (according to Rowan) that involved interlocking their trunks. Totes adorbs!
So, I have to back up for a second to explain the travesty that preceded this viewing, just hours before. I’d hurried from the watering hole to use the campsite bathroom while trying not miss any of the performance and in my haste forgot that I’d popped my phone into the back pocket of my jeans. Ker-plop. UGGGG. Into the rice it went… I’m not sure why I still try this rice thing as it NEVER works. Anyways, due to the lack of a phone I had ZERO evidence of my midnight viewing of nature’s circus and I think my tour mates were only half kidding when they said they didn’t believe me. Thankfully we saw some neat-o sites on our game drive the next day, including a zebra crossing of HUNDREDS of zebras (dazzle upon dazzle) headed to a watering hole. 
And my tour group crew stuck around for the late night showing that evening, to be rewarded with the elephant act.
When we left the next morning the only animal we hadn’t seen at Etosha was the lions, who (being the teases that they are) had made their presence known with some seeeeerious, and slightly disconcerting, roaring throughout the night. Jeff and Barry worked their magic, though, and as our bus rolled out we saw some safari vehicles pulled over to the side of the road…. sure enough Mr. Lion was out for a morning stroll in the woods walking exactly parallel to road. We followed along for a good 10 minutes and he didn’t seem to notice or care about our rumbling coach bus. It was the perfect end to our Etosha experience!
We made our way to our last stop on the tour, Windhoek, which is the capitol city of Namibia. Originally I’d been thinking maybe I’d hang in Windhoek for an extra day after the trip but I quickly revised my plan as I discovered that Windhoek isn’t the kind of city you want to dawdle in. I quickly booked my flight… or as quickly as I could using Namibia’s version of WiFi (v .001) and my first generation iPad that I’m sadly now reliant on for any and all communication. Friends, if you haven’t heard from me this is why. I miss you terribly! And I miss my phone too.
I was very gel-ass of much of our group who was continuing on with Jeff and Barry to Botswana and Zimbabwe (okay, I was mostly jealous of Botswana and their company… I’m good with Zimbabwe for a bit). The second leg of the tour was booked, though, and I tried to be a big girl and be nice to the interlopers who were replacing the four of us deserters. We had a beyond solid crew and I miss them already! 
And, I’m sure they’ll all have a grand time on the second leg… I just don’t want to hear about it! (#earmuffs) Where I’m headed next is still a smidge of a mystery, even to me, so there’s a lot to stay tuned for!