Namibia

9/27/02 - Johannesburg, South Africa  We were delayed several hours yesterday in Athens due to an air traffic controllers' strike.  We arrived in Barcelona only 20 minutes before our flight to Johannesburg, and just barely made our connection (we wondered about our bags).  The Iberia flight to Africa was comfortable and uneventful.  We skipped the movies, slept as best we could and arrived on the 27th on time at about 10:30.  Our bags did not.  We went to the baggage service counter and the helpful staff assured us that our bags would arrive the next morning on South African flight blah-blah arriving at blah.  Sounds fine, we had brought extra clothes, toiletries, etc. on board for just such a dilemma.  Given the dangers of Johannesburg we took the shuttle straight to the airport Holiday Inn and hung out there for the rest of the day.  The bad TV was thrilling as it was in English and dinner in the pub was fine.

9/28/02 - Windhoek, Namibia  Two bags enter, one bag leaves (Mad Max).  My backpack arrived as promised, Leanne's, not so much.  Our new friend Gudrun was very disappointed and assured us that it would arrive tomorrow on flight blah-blah and that she would forward it to Namibia.  That sounds likely, doesn't it?  We boarded our British Air 737 to Windhoek and arrived 2 hours later.  A $20 cab took us the 40 km to the Cardboard Box hostel.  It could be cleaner and 5 dogs struck me as excessive, fourteen bucks just doesn't buy what it used to.  We head off to the Pick 'n Pay to get some groceries and other stuff for the bag-less Leanne.  She whipped up a spaghetti with broccoli dinner.  I did something important, but I don't remember what.   

9/29/02 - Windhoek  Well flight blah-blah wasn't even scheduled to fly today, but Gudrun is sure the bag will come tomorrow.  I'm spending a couple hours a day on the phone now, both looking for the bag and trying to extend our Namibian stay a few days.  American, Iberia and Cathay Pacific agents in Dallas, London, Madrid and Johannesburg cannot escape my wrath.  They can, it turns out, evade a solution.  I went for a run through town and we then took an afternoon tour to a private facility 30 minutes outside of Windhoek.  We drove around their land as they tossed raw meat to the cheetahs and leopards.  We viewed lion through a stone wall.  It was all very canned, but it was nice to see the animals and not worry about the airlines.  The tour ended at a swank lodge where we drank beer as the sun set and at least a hundred kudu, heartebeast & antelope came in to graze on the lawn.  It was very nice.  Luckily for us,  the Cardboard Box was full for the next 2 nights and we moved a couple of blocks to the cleaner Puccini B & B.

9/30/02 - Windhoek  Claire now expects the bag to come tomorrow on flight blah-blah.  It was Gudrun's day off, but she called in from home.  Leanne gave up and went shopping.  I went for a run and  worked the phones.  We took an afternoon trip to a small national park 20 minutes outside of Windhoek.  We were the only 2 clients.  Leanne, still recuperating, rode in the van while I mountain biked with the other guide.  It was beautiful country, it truly looked like Africa.  We walked to a waterhole hoping to see some giraffe, but got kudu instead.  Later we saw baboon, wacky birds and both zebra and warthog ran across the rode in front of the bikes.  There was a nice plateau from which you could see the city.  Before heading back we stopped at a reservoir for an excellent picnic dinner.

10/1/02 - Windhoek & Waterburg Plateau  We were picked up at Puccini by Patrick and Lorna in their VW minivan (called a "combi" here).  We sure would have preferred a tough looking 4 x 4 like our Botswanan trip, but it doesn't seem to be what they use here.  We met Jo, Martin and Robyn and headed off to the Waterburg Plateau.  A nice area that actually looks a lot like Utah. The others hit the pool, I hit the phones.  Blah, blah, blah - no bag, no flight changes.  We set up camp nearby and I went for a run on the gravel road.  I saw a family of warthogs and lots of interesting footprints from who knows what. 

10/2/02 - Etosha  We drove a lot today and arrived at Namutoni camp in Etosha National Park.  Etosha is one of Africa's finest game reserves, about the size of Massachusetts.  Aside from being provided certain water, the animals are on their own.  They live and survive as they always have.  Unlike our past trip the camp sites are disappointingly developed, with a lodge, pool, restaurant and small shop.  The area is enclosed by an electric fence that I'm just dying to touch.  We set up camp and stride over to the viewing area for the waterhole just outside the fence.  To our surprise it's busy with giraffe and zebra.  Later the normal people went to the pool, I hit the phones.  Apparently Leanne's bag is in Malpensa.  Apparently, Malpensa is in Italy.   At 4:30 we went for our first game drive.  It didn't take long to see lion, zebra, wildebeest, kudu and springbok.  We stopped where some other vehicles had stopped, and before long two lionesses emerged, with two tiny cubs following them!  We heard a third cub calling from the brush.  They drank for a short while and then mom picked up one of the cubs in her mouth and they returned to the scrub.  Pretty rare, and amazing.

10/3/02 - Etosha  We stayed in the same campground tonight, so there was no need to break camp.  On our early morning game drive we first stopped to see a lioness we saw the day before sleeping under a tree.  She was still there.  We came upon an elephant near four palm trees.  We watched him bang his head against the tree, causing some fruit to fall.  We then drove around part of the salt pan (amazingly flat, dry inland sea with no vegetation).  After the pan we saw lots more zebra, giraffe and cat food (kudu, gazelle, antelope... all cat food in the end) before breakfast.  We ate in a small fenced in area in the middle of nowhere.  We headed back to camp for lunch and most of our group went for a swim.  I ran in circles within the confines of the camp/lodge fence, 3 laps was 45 minutes.  It was very hot and sunny so I jumped in the pool when I was done.  During our afternoon game drive we again encountered elephant and giraffe and stopped to enjoy a mother elephant and tiny baby crossing the road.  Our last stop was back where we started, the lioness under the tree.  We didn't find her at the tree, but there was a headless kudu (cat food), nothing beats kudu head for lunch.  We did find the lioness nearby having a snooze.  

10/4/02 - Etosha  We packed up camp and headed off for a morning drive.  We're now seeing huge amounts of cat food, zebra and giraffe.  We hardly bother to notice them.  We saw several vehicles stopped at a waterhole and we too stopped for a look.  Wow, 2 lionesses having a drink.  It was fascinating to see all of the other animals congregated a safe distance from the water.  Only one brave jackal dared to drink while the lions were present.  Finally, when they were good and ready, they slowly walked off into the brush.  The countryside is very dry and brown this time of year, so the waterholes were absolutely teeming with life: giraffe, elephant, zebra, ostrich, warthog, jackal, 1/2 dozen different types of cat food, etc.  For lunch we stopped at Halali camp.  The waterhole here had 35 elephants of all description.  There were children following their parents around and playing in the water, babies learning how to use their rubbery trunks and youths mock fighting in the distance.  A group of 5-10 sought shelter under some trees in the distance.  The elephants held all the other animals at bay and were very vigilant due to the presence of the young.  Occasionally a small herd of zebra would begin to drink and an elephant would storm towards them trumpeting loudly.  The zebra would scatter in a hurry.  On one occasion they got shot with water.  The eldest male lorded over the mouth of the waterhole, occasionally pushing someone with his head, trumpeting, or otherwise making his presence known.  For about an hour we watched them drink, splash and play.  We were so close that we could hear the water gurgling in their trunks.  It was my favorite spot.  During our afternoon drive we came upon another waterhole with 40 more elephants!  We were farther away this time, maybe 150 ft.  When it was time for some of the herd to cross the road a large female came right over to our van to make it clear that we were to stay put.  We had our combi door open for some great photos.  Patrick had his hand on the ignition key and his foot on the pedal.  At one point it was necessary to slam our door shut and drive clear of the protective mother.  That afternoon we arrived at Okaukuejo camp.  Leanne and a friend headed to the lighted waterhole, I went for a run.  At dinner Leanne told us of the incredible wildlife they saw: several giraffe, 1 rhino, 2 lion, zebra, kudu, an elephant and at one point an owl flew overhead.  I raced over to the waterhole after dinner and this time there were 5 giraffe, 3 rhino, zebra, kudu, jackals and what's that slowly moving in the distance... the 2 two lion sauntered back down for a drink!  Would you believe the owl flew overhead for me as well?  It was magical.  We visited the waterhole again late at night, before going to bed and saw 4 elephant having a long, leisurely drink.  Unfortunately for us, they kept everybody else away.  We could see 1/2 dozen giraffe heads in the dark distance waiting for their turn.

10/5/02 - Etosha, Damaraland & Uis  Of course, we took one more look at the waterhole before we said goodbye to the game.  This morning was less exciting, with zebra, giraffe, kudu and other cat food.  We left the park and began heading west.  We made a stop at an ancient petrified forest and were sung some African songs (including the new Namibian national anthem) by local folks during our picnic lunch.  They also gave us a demonstration of their language, the one with the clicks (4 different kinds, actually).  Our next stop was Twyfelfontein in the Damaraland region.  It looked virtually identical to red rock country in Utah.  We very much enjoyed the feeling of home.  We went for a 30 min. hike to observe some rock paintings and carvings.  We spent the night in Uis, a small town that exists only for the tin mine.  Unfortunately the mine closed in 1990, so Uis is halfway to ghost town status.  It is surrounded by the defunct mine and nondescript desert.  I went for a run through the boring little town as it began to get dark.  To my surprise and pleasure they had enough street lights to keep me going.  That night we all got a drink at the White Lady Restaurant.

10/6/02 - Skeleton Coast & Swakopmund  Good g-d, another rooster!  How I hate them... shouldn't somebody in this half dead town have eaten it by now!  After scrambled eggs (to spite the rooster) we drove off to the Skeleton Coast.  At Cape Cross  there were countless cape fur seal swimming and sleeping.  We walked along the beach for about 1/2 hour, until the guano stench became too much.  Next was Swakopmund, a Germanic seaside town.  At 3:30 that afternoon we went quad biking through the Namib desert dunes.  The dunes were extremely beautiful and towards the end of our ride the sea was visible.  It was a great way to get into the desert and see the dunes up close.  That night we had a group dinner at the lighthouse restaurant.  We did our laundry at the nearby laundromat and went to bed around 12:30. Oh yeah, Leanne's bag: it's coming tomorrow on flight blah-blah.

10/7/02 - Swakopmund  We never did succeed in changing our flights, so we decided that we would not leave with the group tomorrow for Sossusvlei ("sauce-soos-flay").  Instead we arranged a 2 hour scenic flight in a Cessna.  It left at 2:30 and the flight was quite beautiful, perhaps better than making the 5 hour drive to visit the dunes by foot.  From the air we saw vast swaths of desert, including the dunes we had quad biked on.  As we approached Sossusvlei the dunes became denser, redder and higher.  We returned hugging the shoreline and saw numerous fur seal colonies, 2 shipwrecks and the pink dots of flamingo flocks.  At times we were only 100-200 feet above the ground or sea.  We had another group dinner that night.

10/8/02 - Swakopmund  The group left early this morning.  Lorna gave us a very nice card as we said goodbye.  We moved out of our 6 person chalet and into a 2 person "fisherman's hut".  Nothing but the best for my Leannie.  Her bag was apparently still enjoying Italy, so Leanne went shopping.  I used the Internet.  Later we went running along the seaside.  It was Leanne's first run since her surgery, she did very well.  That evening we went to the movies to see "The Mothman Prophecies" in the car we had rented earlier in the day.

10/9/02 - Swakopmund, Windhoek & Johannesburg  We got up early and began our drive in our 1.3 liter Corolla to Windhoek.  Air conditioning is for wimps.  The drive was about 3 1/2 hours and was largely uneventful.  With the exception of 3-4 small towns there was nothing but desert and scrub.  It was my first experience driving on the wrong side of the road (with the exception of Tortola, where at least the steering wheel was on the correct side).  The highway was quite narrow with no divider, so I tended to drift of the road as trucks shot by on the right (they shouldn't be on the right!).  Once in Windhoek we gassed up, quickly bought some DVDs at a store connected to one we had visited in Swakopmund and drove the additional 40km to the airport.  Once in Johannesburg we began our hard target search of the airport and its various lost luggage rooms.  Nothing.  Understandably cranky Leanne took the shuttle to our Holiday Inn for a bath.  I hit the Internet to finalize our Cambodia/Vietnam travel plans.  We ended our day with a room service dinner.

10/10/02 - Johannesburg  Our flight to Hong Kong was not until noon, so we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and then did some Internetting at the fancier Holiday Inn on the airport grounds.  We had planned to look for Leanne's bag some more, but we couldn't seem to muster the energy (it's been more than 10 days).  We stopped by the baggage desk to say hello to everybody I had spoken to on the phone and to give Gudrun the chocolates we had bought for her.  She smiled broadly and said that she had something for us.  It couldn't be...  can it be...  how could it be... she had the bag!  It arrived that morning on flight blah-blah.  I hopped over the counter like I just won Wimbledon and gave her a hug.  Leanne was ecstatic.  She had her bike clothes for Vietnam, her zip-off pants, the backpack itself.  It was very exciting.  She plopped down on the floor of the terminal and began repacking.

Namibia Summary  Even with our travel and luggage difficulties we had a wonderful time in Namibia.  It was a part of Africa we very much wanted to see, and now we have.  It was a disappointment that the country was as westernized as it is, but given it was formerly part of South Africa it makes perfect sense.  The game viewing was exceptional and it was the closest we have been to animals as they go about their day.  Three rhino and two lion at the same waterhole was well beyond expectation.  The weather ranged from pretty darn hot (but very dry) in Etosha to cool in Swakopmund.  We were never uncomfortable.  Currency: $1 = 10 Namibian dollars and/or R.S.A. Rand.