Purros, Namibia

November 16 & 17

Purros, Namibia

Located in the least populated, northwest corner of Namibia, Kakaoland is home to desert tribes and special breeds of desert elephants, rhino and lions. Five hours of rough roads had us pretty wiped by the time we reached the campground run by the Purros Conservancy. We had hailed one of the few cars down on the trip in and the couple and given us a tip to get site 3 if possible as it’s located under a gigantic Camel Thorn Tree. The site is larger than most suburban yards, totally private with showers, toilets and a sink for dishes, what more could a woman ask for. Other than the sign nailed to the tree warning us not to leave food where elephants can see or smell it, it could not have been more perfect. We ended our evening with sundowners on the deck of the neighboring lodge, the air was perfect, a light warm breeze, no bugs and quiet with the exception of the chicadas and occasional howl of coyotes.

Dan carefully strung the nylon line positioned so I would catch the mid day sun to dry our laundry. We’ve been moving daily with no time to do wash, now on my last pair of clean underwear and a free morning I began to boil water on the gas cooker.

Thank goodness for a proper sink, in his effort to kill a spider crawling across my dishpan, Dan stabbed a hole in it rendering the plastic pan less than adequate to do wash. I took great care to shut the spigot off quickly and to only use minimal water which is so scarce in the desert. I heard a faint rustling in the bushes just across the clearing. A very large family of Baboons were attempting to be stealth as they moved in closer. I felt like Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark when he said “Does it have to be snakes”, “Does it have to be Baboons”? Chacma Baboons are omnivorous, meaning they hunt prey, they have large canines and travel in groups of up to 100, think furry LA street gang up to no good. The camp caretaker Max arrived to chase them off, they returned of course lurking from the surrounding bush as I guarded my precious laundry drying on the line, no way I want to see my underwear on the head of a Baboon.

Mid day we had a visit from two very naughty, young bull elephants. We stood helpless and paralyzed as they ripped the water hose to our showers out to quench their thirst. It saved us a trip to see the desert elephants having had this very close, personal interaction.

Marangu, Caprivi Strip, Namibia

November 20,21,22 &23


Marangu, Namibia

I had a fantasy that I expressed to Dan and it came true, no not that. I wanted to find a beautiful campground on a river, with a pool, restaurant and unlimited wireless internet, voila Marangu Lodge on the banks of a hippo laden river bordering Botswana.

The air is pleasant, just cool enough for a sweatshirt. The birds are announcing the sun which is slowly rising above the trees here on the Kavango River. Ripples on the water from the family of hippos in for their morning ablutions reflect the bright pink glow of the horizon. Tall reeds of papyrus edge the banks, home to hundreds of birds, frogs and insects creating a chorus of less visible worlds that make themselves known through song. One of the helpers here at the camp, 29 year old Kay shares with us his joy at becoming a new father last night and his prayers for a long life and bright future for his son. He also expresses resignation that he cannot see his wife and new baby until he gets paid at the end of the month and can travel the 200 km to he village. He shares with sadness that their first child, a daughter named Jennifer died at 10 months old. She woke up one morning not able to eat and began to vomit, the clinic could do nothing for her. In the US this child would have received expert medical care and be alive today most likely. Both of Kay’s parents have already passed away, the average life expectancy in Namibia is 42 years. There is a sharp contrast between the natural beauty and the sad reality for those living in Africa.

Robbery in broad daylight, Grootfontein, Namibia

November 19, 2010


Grootfontein, Namibia

I’m sitting in front of the local police station of this small town in Namibia as Dan files a report regarding our vandalized jeep. Broad daylight at about noon while we briefly used the internet, parked one street off the main drag a thief busted out our rear window. Seeing my toiletry bag behind the passenger seat on top of the water they must have thought it was a purse with money. Sadly $500 with of anti malarial medication not available here was in the bag. Lesson learned as so much else could have been stolen that would have been much worse. We spent the rest of the day having a piece of plexi glass installed before we could move on. We would later take landscape fabric and cover all of the jeep windows to keep it cooler and to eliminate visibility into the vehicle. We will not ever park the car where it is not guarded or one of us stays with it.

Himba Tribe-Epupa Falls, Opuwo and Purros, Namibia

 Epupa Falls, Opuwo and Purros, Namibia

Like the bar scene in Star Wars, market day in Opuwo was bizarre and other worldly, different local tribes in various stages of dress or not. The Herero woman are clothed from head to toe with up to six layers of petticoats to appear even larger than life, sort of like Mrs. Butterworth on the syrup bottle. On their heads they wear a wrap that has two large protrusions in the front to emulate cow horns, yep this is not the “You can never be too rich or to thin crowd” here. The bigger the bustle and the brighter the fabrics the better. Himba woman are the opposite wearing as little as possible amounting to little more than a leather apron in the front a couple of leather layers covering the rear, that’s it, and no shoes. They never bathe with water and use a combination of butterfat from cows and ochre powder with a tree bark for perfume twice a day. This coating which is also used on their elaborate hairstyles as well protects from the sun, rain and insects. Both tribes allow for 5 wives per man and use cows as a dowry with 5 cows as the generally accepted payment per wife. So how much is a cow you ask? Well if you bargain hard you can buy a cow for about $250 usd equivalent in Namibian dollars. All 5 wives will run you about $1000 usd.  

The diet of the Himba consists of Milk, Meat and Maize, all eaten from a large, black pot which is set over the open fire. No silverware or messy dishes to wash saving both time and water here in the desert where all of the water is hauled on their shoulders in cans from the river a good distance away. There is no refrigeration so all of the milk is kept in gourds and lasts up to two days. A Kraal is the fenced area where the huts for the wives, chief, his brothers and their wives and all of the children live. At night the animals are brought into a smaller fenced area within the Kraal. No one is to leave the Kraal unless they have a specific reason and permission to do so which explains why the day we visited there were only woman and children with one older uncle present.

Boys often leave the Kraal to attend school several hours away, sleeping at a hostile and returning home for holidays. Their education has made it possible for them to open campsites and lodges catering to tourists. The woman do not attend school and cannot read or write including being able to sign their name on Dan’s photo release form. Men and boys are allowed to wear western clothing because of their work. The woman can make crafts to sell; however, the money goes to their husband or father. The men make all of the decisions, including whether they might have flour instead of maize for a little variety in their meals. When I asked 27 year old Edison, our guide and member of the Kraal we visited why he wasn’t married yet, he said his father had not yet chosen a wife for him. He will have no decision over this and must take the woman chosen. The woman does have the right to turn down proposals, but I would imagine not for too long or too many. On the subject of equality, which I couldn’t help to bring up, he responded, “well we tried that, but it was confusing and much better and easier for the man to make the decisions”.

Etosha Pan National Park, Namibia

November 11&12


Etosha Pan, National Park, Namibia

Our day begins at Sunrise 6:15, as the gate opens and we are allowed out of our secured camping area within one of Africa’s largest game parks. Perhaps we are the ones in this zoo wandering from water hole to water hole to see who or what might show up desperate for the little water remaining. The rains are overdue and the days are long and hot. The pool at each campsite has been a mid day blessing as we chase the shade around the deck, dunking every so often, reading and drinking cold drinks No Americans camping, mostly Europeans.

A large family of elephants with 2 babies and a teen in tow made their way across the road about the time Dan accidently hit the horn and the jeep alarm sounded. A guide driving a safari truck gave us a lecture, but it didn’t compare with the head swaying and glare from Papa Elephant as he brought up the rear of the herd. It was a great day for lions and a cheetah with 2 young cubs, we felt so lucky to spot them when no one else was around. Loads of giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, impala and a pair of blue cranes. It’s addictive and mesmerizing to watch them interact, and oddly voyeuristic.

A young bull elephant chased two lone, bachelor elephants from the water hold tonight. Sunset was fantastic and gave an immediate respite from the heat. The thorn bushes appeared to be frosted in violet against a peach border of sun setting higher and then higher up in the sky every shade of blue from the brightest royal to deep gray with swirls of white cloud formations.

This morning I awoke to a sky filled with clouds that had gold linings a good sign perhaps as we leave Etosha today by the north east gate near Andoni and head for Opuwo. From there it’s on to Eupapa Falls north along the Kuene river.
Photos: Holly Hunter

Namib Naukluft National Park-Sessriem and the Dunes at Sossusvlei

November 5 &6, 2010


Sessriem within the Namib Naukluft National Park provides camping for the dunes at Sossusvlei.

Late start from Windhoek as we needed to stop at Symot, the camping store chain for odds and ends we could not get last night as all of the shops close promptly at 5pm. We chose a less traveled route, C26 south out of the congested city taking us through Spreetshoogte Pass. Downshifting on the curving, gravel road we glided through a small opening in the canyon where we were gifted with a panoramic vista of the Namib Dessert, similar to the American southwest, if you could put it on steroids. Ochre red sand dunes, golden grasses and clumps of sage stood against the brightest of blue skies.

After several hours we stopped in the Village of Solitaire, well, the gas station, general store and bakery actually. The store is quintessential Africa including various large game stuffed and mounted on the walls, sufficient support for my status as a vegetarian. The grounds are landscaped with vintage vehicles in various stages of deterioration in the desert sand, sort of a warning that this could be your final resting place if you don’t top off with petrol on your way out.

Deadline for check in is 6pm at Sessriem’s outer gate, the campground is closed after that and we made it with half hour to spare. The campsites are fantastic, scattered under the Camel Thorn trees, plenty of shade, a pool and large clean bath house. Site 10 is my favorite, followed by 19, with views across the savannah to the setting sun over the dunes.

We pitched the ground tent instead of the one on the roof, so we could get to the inner gate to the park by 5:50am the next morning for the one hour drive to the Big Daddy Dune and Sossusvlei Dune. We nearly fell back to sleep waiting at the gate and when the guard finally opened it Dan tore off forgetting that he had left both back doors on the jeep open when he went for coffee. Racing the sun, we watched as it began to silhouette the smaller dunes to our left, after nearly an hour we hit the patch that requires 4 wheel drive and our first opportunity to see what the Landcruiser could do. The remaining 4k was deep sand, but we made good time and arrived just in time to see a Springbok on the very edge of the Sossusvlei dune watching the dawn of a new day in the Namibian Desert. The massive mounds of burnt orange, super fine sand are very sensuous and most definitely feminine, so much so that I found myself prone against a particularly fine dune attempting a very sandy hug.

Had we realized the distance to the dunes and back would be 2 hours round trip we may have spent mid day stretched out in the shade to await the sunset at Dead Vlei, but we opted to drive back and take a dip in the pool. November is hot and dry during the day, to the extent that my rubber sandals nearly melted in minutes on the sand. Nights are cool in the desert however and we needed the comfort of our sleeping bags to ward off the chill.

Sunset over the dancing trees at Dead Vlei offered long shadows that beckoned us to join them on the dry, white pan. It would not have been a surprise to see the trees come to life like a scene from the Wizard of Oz.

http://www.namibian.org/travel/lodging/sesriem.html
All of the great photos below are taken by Dan Gair, the others are mine.
Enjoy!

Holly

Windhoek, Namibia

Finally a week after our arrival we have a fantastic Toyota Landcruiser 2010, fully equipped for camping.  This will be our home and transport for the next 2 1/2 months. The jeep has slide out drawers with bins for everything.  The fridge is 12v and ample for our needs.  There are 2 tents, one actually on top of the jeep that looks super comfortable and the other which is a ground tent. Lots of cookware and of course safety equipment.
 We made a big push, 12 hours of driving from Uppington, South Africa to Windhoek.  The rains began as we left and offered an amazing lightening show as we crossed the red desserts toward Namibia.  The colors early in the morning on the golden grasses are really spectacular and other than the mining trucks there is very little traffic, good thing as we reaquaint ourselves with left hand driving.
Safely tucked into the Rivendell Guest House, complete with pool, we hardly feel we are roughing it just yet.  It was great fun provisioning for our trek which begins today to Sessriem and the dunes, the most famous dunes in the world.  It's early here in bustling Windhoek and we head out shortly.  Seems as far as the jeep situation it has worked out for the best as this vehicle is much better and we are much more rested.

Garuele, Northern Cape, South Africa, Hillary's Village

A fantastic trip to Hillary's village took the edge off of our first 2 days here.  She lives in a tiny, but very neat and clean room attached to her host family's house.  The walls are of concrete and the roof is tin.  The toilet is across the yard shared with the chickens, horses and cows, it's clean and user friendly.

We followed Hillary's normal routine of walking to her school to meet the 120 children through grade 9.  Thanks to a US organization that sends hand made bears for children in Africa, we were able to participate in giving them out to the kids.  We supplemented the bears with soccor balls, bats, frisbees and other athletic equipment. The children were so very polite and appreciative it was heart warming.  They were very curious to meet us as many had not seen a white person before Hillary and now her parents. 

Hillary has been working hard teaching the children about AIDS Prevention and writing for grants to create a community center and a girls' club.  Of all continents Africa is hit the hardest by the pandemic.  According to a UNICEF report if the situation is to continue this way, by 2010 there will be almost 16 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa who have lost one or both parents to AIDS. 

Our room at Klifwerth was booked out for the rest of the week so we had a bit of a challenge finding somewhere to stay as we should have been off to Namibia by now.  Another day of frustrating communications with the car rental folks at Just Done It, who as it turns out may not have been honest in their dealings with us, refer to the as Just Don't Do It.  Tomorrow we set off one way or the other for Windhoek, Namibia.

Sunday Oct 31st- Happy Halloween-Scary Already!

Our African adventure began on Thursday, October 28 leaving our warm, cozy beds in Eliot, Maine at 5am for the airport in Boston, thanks to Aja (our youngest daughter) for dropping us and our 3 oversized duffle bags and cooler. First hurdle cleared with everything weighing in just at the acceptable 50 pounds.  Our first flight on Jet Blue was to JFK for our 15 hour non stop flight to Johannesburg. After a 3 hour layover our next flight took us to the diamond capital of the world Kimberley, South Africa. This area is famous for mining of a variety of minerals and is a major employer for the Northern Cape.  Our goal was to pick up our 4x4 jeep at the airport and make it to the small town of Kuruman, about a 3 hour drive before dark.  The plan was to meet up with Hillary our daughter who is serving in the Peace Corp and we were anxious having not seen her in 16 months.
First challenge was seeing the busted duffle bag limping along the conveyor belt with my contents precariously exposed, most of which were gifts for the children in the village.  Seeing the driver with our name on a little sign gave hope that at least the car was here.  George introduced himself with an apology for the leaking brake fluid which he assured us had not begun until the minute he arrived at the airport.  Hmmm... we decided to check the promised 2008 Land rover prior to signing off on the contract. Not only were the brakes leaking a puddle, but the transmission and differential as well.  Not a great way to begin a 2 1/2 month expedition through the bush in 5 countries. We agreed to head to a mechanic to see what could be done and as we climbed in I noticed the expired permit dated  June of 2000.  The jeep was ancient, maybe ten years old, but no where could we find the age, including on the vin or registration.  To make matters worse, George informed us the owner of the rental company Mike Rider had been killed in a car crash on Monday.  His wife Travis was trying her best to manage under the horrible circumstances.  George went on to inform us that another vehicle had been rolled on Tuesday, which pretty much explained why we were not riding in a 2008, but also made it tough to get angry.  Andrew was employed by the small, rental business and was trying to help, but had no records as to when another jeep would be available or what they even had left, he promised to call over the weekend.  We sent George off with the leaking Landrover and there we stood back at the airport in Kimberely with more luggage than I've traveled with in my life.  Friday afternoon and out of 5 agencies only one had a car left, our little Aveo.  By now the sun is setting and with warnings from the rental agent to take care with the Kudos that run out into the road we finally left for Kuruman.
Hillary was frantically trying to reach us and was glad to hear that we were at least in route and would arrive around 9pm.  Having traveled over 45 hours, we were happy to pull up to a band of cheering Peace Corp Volunteers who welcomed us to our guest house for the weekend.  After hugs and introductions we headed to the restaurant across the street for food.  As the last beer arrived to the table the electricity went out, not to return for the rest of the evening.  The only item they could prepare was pasta, and so it shall be. One of the volunteers, Jennifer stepped out for a minute with Ryan to get something from her room. Shortly after Ryan came in to say Jennifer had fallen somehow in the dark and was laying in the parking lot unable to move or walk and was in alot of pain.  Dan sprang into action and got the car and brought it close enough that they could lift Jennifer into it and bring her back to the guest house.  We packed up the now cold pasta and carried it over to the guest house.  We bandaged Jennifer up and dosed her with pain meds until we could get her to the clinic in the morning.  End of Day 1, Africa 1-Dan and Holly 0.
XRays at the clinic showed a severe fracture of the tibia which would require surgery in Pretoria, an 8-10 hour drive away.  Peace Corp would send a driver but not for another day.  We made the best of it hanging at the guest house pool, keeping Jennifer drugged and shopping for a barbecue at the local grocery.  There are about a dozen volunteers who serve the Northern Cape meeting up in Kuruman when they are able to get transport from their villages,for some it takes a day to get here and another to return. It was fun to be part of their community even under the stressful circumstances.  We managed to reach Andrew of the famed "Just Done It" rental agency only to find that his wife was now in the emergency room with a medical emergency.
Sunday, Oct 31 and I did not sleep very well.  Not that I can really do anything at the moment about our jeep rental or pretty much anything else, I'm just used to being in limbo after 5 months of working toward toward this one goal.  Thank You Africa for being my teacher, once again when I think I'm in control or have everything figured out, arranged, managed, well think again.  The Adventure Has Begun!

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