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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
Dec 11, 2002 07:00 PM Namibia - Klein Aus
From the Naukluft National Park, the safari ride carried on towards Luederitz located between the two restricted diamond areas. The trip was actually taking us along the restricted diamond area and along the Namib Desert. It was a very nice ride because on the right hand side, there were the desert sand dunes and on the left hand side, there were mountains. Nice contrast and many different shades of yellow, red and brown, like from a surrealistic painting.
The diamond areas are a serious thing and as they are restricted to public, both the government and the public take this restriction very seriously. There are numerous signs on the border of each of the areas stating that trespassing is severely penalised. Almost everyone found within the restricted area without a permit, is put to jail for two years and fined GBP 1,000. No questions asked. The authorities are merciless and tourists are treated with the same rigour like common criminals, bandits and thieves. Absolutely no exceptions.
Interestingly, these areas are very large. Their size compares to few English counties combined. Although they contain mostly hostile desert environment, it still surprises that people could be restricted from such a vast territory.
It all becomes clear however after a simple explanation: in the past, some one hundred years ago, the diamonds were actually lying there on the desert and didn't really have to be dug from the underground. Later, they moved to do some mining as well, but only because they were after the big diamonds. It is believed therefore the small ones could still be lying on the surface of the desert and the government or rather the Namdeb, the diamond mining company, want these for themselves.
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Dec 10, 2002 07:00 PM Namibia - the Namib Desert
The plan was to get to the desert for the sunrise to see all the colours of the Namib miracle. That meant that again I had to get up in the middle of the night, way before the sun actually gets up. Nevertheless, it was all worth it.
The colourfulness of the desert was utterly surprising and the other unexpecting thing was to see that there is so much life on the desert that brings all the shades of yellow, brown and green to the picture.
Later, as the day began to wake up, the scenery was getting even nicer and desertier, however the harsh sunrays of the mid-day spoiled almost every photograph. When I got closer to the places that called Deadvlei and Sossoussvlei, I only began to understand what it means to be on the desert made of dunes that are more than 300 meters (985 feet) high. Not only is it so hot, but also having to climb these beautiful monsters makes it so more difficult to survive.
I was so fortunate that day because it was not that hot at all. The temperature was reaching only 42 degrees in Celsius (107.6 in Fahrenheit) and it was not very difficult to breath or to climb the dunes. It could have been facilitated by the fact that the mist from the Atlantic stayed on the desert more than an hour after the sunrise and therefore the air did not manage to get too hot yet.
The two places: Deadvlei and Sossousvlei are the most visited by the tourists within the Namib Desert but only perhaps because these are the two that are allowed for visiting anyway. They are nevertheless amazingly and breathtakingly picturesque. They are also very empty and could be quite sad.
Deadvlei is a place where the water never reaches. Uh, oh... I forgot to say that there is a river Tschaub that sometimes flows through the desert but it never gets to the ocean. The desert stops it. The dunes form some sort of dam and the river cannot continue.
Then, it takes many, many years, the dunes close the delta and the river is cut off, trapped in a lake that does not get any more water from the river. The flow is diverted elsewhere. The place where the river used to flow is called Deadvlei or dead water. This is the place where there has been no water for centuries. Apart from little bugs like beetles and spiders but also lizards, occasional meerkats, springbok, gemsbok there is absolutely no life there. The place is full of dead trees, very dead trees.
Sossousvlei is the place, where absolutely massive dune stops the river, and 'sossous vlei' in the local language it means 'waters end'. Perhaps once in a decade, there is a very good rain and the river gets really big. This is albeit not enough to get through over the 150 meter-high dune, and the water forms a lake that stimulates a lot of life there. The lake may stay there for months and months and it brings even more colour to the landscape.
Most of the species of grass and flowers are actually endemic there and this makes the place so special. Even during the driest season, this place looks great. Although there is definitely no water there, it is possible to see where it stops. It is the light, almost white shade of brown - this is the colour of very dry soil. It is all cracked and dead, but it unquestionably makes everyone pretty certain that they are on the desert and that the National Geographic programmes may actually be showing the real thing sometimes.
In most of the publications about Namib Desert one can find quite a nice photograph of the Dune 45. It is not the nicest dune over there and no-one can really explain why this dune receives so much attention. After seeing all the gorgeous places and massive dunes at the Deadvlei, Dune 45 looks like a joke. Someone said that this particular dune is so often photographed because it is the closest to the tarred road. Well, I can understand that, but not having seen the real desert some 20-30 kilometres farther is a bummer and a big, huge mistake.
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Dec 09, 2002 07:00 PM Namibia - Out for the Southern Swing Safari
I definitely had difficulty myself to get up in the morning for my safari trip. I was not even sure what time I was supposed to get to the assembly point or where it was exactly. The good thing was that I was not hang over, as I was not drinking much the night before. The problem was not having enough of sleep.
Fortunately, the Wild Dog Safaris, with whom I was actually travelling, were based two houses away from the Box. I was only five minutes late. Can you imagine how pissed off I was to see that we were not leaving yet, and that the actual departure was delayed by more than 45 minutes! I was not impressed at all. I had to skip breakfast that morning in order to try not being too late and I wanted one quite badly.
The safari trip comprised of a group of ten people who in majority were German. How unfortunate!! Two girls were however quite nice, sitting with me at the back of the converted Toyota Landcruiser 4.5.
The car was robust and it was tuned for safari trips so the windows were big and made in a way to slide open easily and one could pop up the roof for standing and taking pictures.
The whole trip to the desert was very thrilling because for the entire day, I did not see anything that would resemble or look like a desert, not a single dune! I just could not wait this long. I wanted to go and explore what was there. And although the Sesriem camp was very civilised with decent bar and cool swimming pool, I thought it was a waste of time to sit down at the pool by the bar. I wanted to go and see the oldest desert on this planet, the highest dunes on this planet, one of the most beautiful scenery on this planet. My head was spinning full with pictures of sun setting behind the dunes.
The evening was quite nice already. The temperature did not drop massively but the sky was fantastically clear and it was possible to see every single star. Amazing.
That was also my first night in a tent in the southern hemisphere. I did camp before in Africa and indeed on the desert in Morocco in 1996. I have to admit that although the Sahara desert is less impressive, it got a lot colder than here in Namibia.
However, what most important, that night in Sesriem was the first time that I tried real Bushman meal cooked on the open fire. I was truly impressed what actually can be cooked in the middle of the desert. So much variety, so many different dishes - I was glad there was variety as wanted to stick to being vegetarian. Others had chicken.
Later in the evening, some cheeky coyote stole the rest of the allegedly fantastic chicken.
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Dec 07, 2002 07:00 PM Namibia - Windhoek, back again - mountain biking!
Back at the Box, I was not even aware that Kriss in my Swakopmund package included mountain biking around the Windhoek area. That definitely was a game ride. A bike ride in a game park is one of the best ideas ever. This is because such a ride offers excellent views and since bicycles are to date one of the quietest forms of transportation, the animals are not distracted by the noise and get close to you as they are not expecting anyone over there.
I was so exited to see blue wildebeests (gnu), zebra, gemsboks (oryx) and baboons so close and yet in their natural wild environment. The scenery was also cool; plenty of bushes, acacia trees, dried out riverbeds and surrounding hills.
This particular ride I went on however, requires some skills of mountain biking and more than average fitness. The terrain is located a lot higher than Windhoek and the air is thinner there. It is therefore more difficult to breath. I have to confess right here and right now that I had to catch my breath several times over there.
It must have been the altitude. It definitely was the altitude. There were two hills that I actually could not make it to the top and had to dismount and bush the bike for two, three minutes. This was definitely because of too much beer before the ride and too much sun tanning by the pool – also before the ride.
After that second hill, I simply refused to go uphill anymore. I was on holiday, was I not? So, why would I have to get this tired?! I eventually got tired because the worst rides uphill of the entire tour I actually could make but lost all my energy there. Fortunately, after that second impossible climb, it was all downhill. There was an excellent braai (grill in Afrikaans) and picnic area at the bottom in a great park.
After the exhausting ride, snacks with cold lager and unforgettable sunset and very long lasting rainbows all made it up for me big time. There I was, sitting on the hill with a lager sundowner facing the view of Windhoek above with two rainbows hung for about fifteen or twenty minutes. I have never seen rainbows last this long. That was extraordinary.
Later that night, I had a great honour talking to the Chief of the Sesfontein area!
Sesfontein is part of the Damaraland and that was the Great Chief. It is some sort of king of an autonomous territory. Really a great honour!
The Chief had a drink at the Box’s bar before his meeting with the president Hujoma next morning. I had a couple of drinks with him as well sitting by the swimming pool with half of the Box’s population, dipping our feet in the water. When I asked whether it would be possible to take a girl home from the Sesfontein area, the Chief answered that it would be very possible but I, above all, would have to understand that it was a big responsibility. Even if time came that I did not want to be with that girl anymore, I would still have to take care of her because that is the man’s responsibility. And this responsibility would be to the rest of her or mine life. The Chief was very specific and really serious about it.
I later realised that the Chief actually stayed in the Box in one the dormitories. That may look and sound strange because he could have stayed in a hotel, close to the conference centre or to the president’s residence, wherever that meeting was supposed to take place. But no, he chose to stay at the backpackers’ Box.
At the other hand, no-one from the locals or frequent visitors to the Box was overly surprised, yet the Box has one of the best bars with greatest atmosphere in the capital.
I was only getting concerned that he may have difficulty to get up in the morning as the wee hours were getting larger and our glasses did not want to get empty at all.
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Dec 06, 2002 07:00 PM Namibia - Swakopmund, skydiving
This is the day, when I decided to jump from the sky! It was more than exhilarating!
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Dec 05, 2002 07:00 PM Namibia - Swakopmund, sandboarding
Alternative Space has only outside showers, which are very refreshing and cool and hot water is always available. There are no roofs and one showers under the sun, or in the majority of mornings and evenings, under a think cloud of fog.
There are numerous paintings and drawings (excellent by the way) by a local artist (Mitchison), who is very well known to the owners, as well as photographs of Sybille, mainly naked acts.
At first, I thought that they were German nudists, who run the place (the space) but obviously I was wrong. They are very nice couple if a bit weird and excessively liberated. They are very relaxed like the Hippies from the early seventies.
For example, the way they were bringing up their sun Rafael was way too relaxed.
That little devil was allowed to do almost anything and several times he would terrorise the entire Space. He would play on his own for a long time and pretend he was actually playing with his baby brother, however he was so vicious that he would deliberately hurt him. I saw him put his brother's tiny hand between the chain and the rotor wheel of a bicycle.
That does not appear normal, but I cannot criticise anyone about how they are bringing up their children. This is their business, but I just pity the children.
In Namibia, there is no law for running backpackers or B&B's and therefore the Space has no licence. Normally, this does not cause any problems elsewhere but the horrible and jealous neighbours (mind you, the majority of them are Southwest Germans) challenge the existence of the Space and a few times a year an inspector plays a visit.
To have him go, Frenus introduced a policy that only friends stay at the Space and therefore officially no-one has to pay. The money officially goes to charity, but the couple take some of the funds to cover their electricity bills. Of course, everyone, who stays at the Space, pays the agreed fee and people who do not consider themselves friends have to leave immediately before actually coming through the door.
Frenus and Sybille are friendly and staying at their place is an excellent experience. Not only do they prepare fantastic blackened fish on Friday evenings for everyone, but they also chat to people and tell amazing true stories. Some of them are actually very funny and some quite shocking.
One of the stories was exactly from the time when I stayed there. One of the American guys was funny about the nude pictures and photographs hanging on the walls. Frenus seeing his initial reaction actually told him that he did not have stay there and could look for something else in the town. No, it was fine he said and wanted to stay at the Space. Later, it turned out that he turned all the pictures and photographs in the room, in which he was staying, face down to the wall. When he was leaving, he forgot to turn them back the right way.
I found it very funny knowing the American way of life quite well, but Frenus reacted very sensitively and was very upset. He could not understand why he would do such a thing when he was specifically and openly asked whether it was ok with the room including the pictures. He did not have to stay there, so why did he have to turn the pictures? I would call it weird, very weird and bizarre, for lack of any better words.
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Dec 04, 2002 07:00 PM Namibia - Windhoek, back in the capital and out to Swakopmund
Coming back south to the capital was even worse than travelling up north. It was the same bus or coach but the seat I had was terrible. It would not recline and the vehicle was even hotter. Somehow, the trip felt a lot longer and unpleasant. The coach was not full but the drivers would not let anyone sit over there at the back.
Again, I was sitting with the German guy, Mario, whom I met on the way up. We had a chat along the way and he told me some horrible and frightening things. For example, his relatives in Namibia, the so called Southwest Germans, call black people Niggers! And that is in the normal conversation without the obvious derogatory connotations. Of course he was, albeit German, shocked to find about that at least as much as I was.
There are still very nasty people living in Namibia and southern Africa, they are unfortunately only white people who are called white trash Afrikaners. They are extremely rude, obnoxious and condescending. No-one really wants to talk to them anyway. Not the normal people for sure. The Afrikaners when talking to others do not maintain eye contact and use nonpersonal tone. Terrible. Plus there are those Southwest Germans, too.
The bus stopped in Rundu by a bar whose name I did not get. The bar was serving a variety of different definitely nonvegetarian meals and looked like a venue from early eighties in Democratic Deutsche Republic (DDR). There were a number of different dishes served by a very cheerful and fat lady. The fellow passengers thought she was from Germany. I was not convinced – she was much too cheerful. However, on a second thought, she could be German as there was only meat available in her bar and absolutely no options for vegetarians or even seafoodarians. Wait a minute – actually, they served semi raw potato chips, which, I guess, could be considered vegetarian. I apologise for the number of stereotypes mentioned above, but believe me, it was rather surreal over there.
When the bus got to Rundu, it was already dark. No wonder, the departure from Katima Mulilo was at 2:45 pm and Rundu is 505 kilometres (314 miles) away. That is a considerable distance. The Lonely Planet actually suggests that the distance should only be considered as a one-day trip, but this is a total exaggeration. The road is in excellent condition and can be driven through in five hours easily; the only problem is the animals that unpredictably step on the road. Most of them are the cattle so one must be very careful. A collision with a half a tonne bull or a cow is not to be taken lightly. Not only is it dangerous, but also lethal to a credit card if one has the vehicle rented.
The arrangements were that soon after my arrival from the north to Windhoek there supposed to be a transport waiting for me to take me to the West Coast. To Swakopmund, to be exact. Well, the transport was not there. Fortunately, Rene from the Cardboard Box is always meeting the buses and took me to the backpackers where I had some coffee, breakfast and a shower.
The transport came a bit later and I was again travelling. This time the destination was a German coastal town of Swakopmund and I had a full programme scheduled for this place. Mario from the bus came along as well.
My programme was to do sand boarding (similar to snowboarding, but this time instead of snow there was a sand dune that served for the same purpose); quad biking; and skydiving. Tandem skydiving, because for solo jump, I would have to go through a formal parachute training for which I did not have time or money.
Kriss from the Cardboard Box, who looks exactly like Ernesto Che Guevara, booked me a space at the backpackers called the Alternative Space. It is run by a couple; he, Frenus, is from South Africa and she, Sybille, is German, a good example of a German. Actually both were good people.
However, I know that it was Frenus and Kriss who started the Alternative Space.
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Dec 03, 2002 07:00 PM Namibia - The total eclipse of the sun!
The lady owner of the Zambezi Lodge, prompted by her sun, organised an escapade to Chinchimane for the Eclipse Breakfast Extravaganza. She was so excited about the event that she decided to set out already at 4:30 am. It did not help explaining that the actual eclipse would culminate only at 8 o'clock local time, she stubbornly stood by the 4:30 am.
The lady's son did have all the printouts from the NASA websites. These websites however all and always list times in GMT and therefore this could be confusing. This is particularly applicable for countries that do not use the winter's daylight saving time. It was not immediately obvious therefore, that Namibian time would be two hours ahead of the standard GMT or UMT.
So, there I was in the shower at 4 o'clock in the morning (or in the middle of the night really), together with a gecko trapped there! I wanted to help it out but it was difficult to let it go without hurting it or scaring it to death. It already shitted itself enormously when I tried to push it up the slippery basin. Well, I was losing time so I decided to shower together with it. I just hope it was a female gecko. I have nothing against public showers or, if someone might have thought I was referring to something else, I also have nothing against gays. Yet, I would like to believe it was a female, it sounds better for the story.
The car took us from Mukusi Cabins to a small village of Chinchimane, an hour southwest from Katima Mulilo. The lady led us all to a 'palace' built by a local with her help. It actually looked very impressive, compared with the small huts around in the village. It was large, like two round huts put together and linked with a corridor. The interior was very nice and the lady claimed that she helped the guy finishing the house and designing the rest, picking up the curtains, etc. There was also a swimming pool but no water in it.
Soon, after we arrived the eclipse commenced and the Moon came obscuring the Sun. It was so exciting for everyone, and particularly for the lady that she decided that the breakfast would actually be served after the totality. I therefore sneaked out to visit the village.
It is a very small village built on sand and the people live on keeping the cattle, goats and chickens. Quiet and cute.
After wandering around a bit, I finally approached a group of kids and adults who were sitting in a form of assembly. I thought it was a school so I called it Chinchimane 'school' (there is a picture on the previous pages). Before I snapped a photo, I asked permission of course.
It appeared to me that an oldish lady (or rather a lady at a wise age) must have been the headmistress. She was always answering 'yes!' very loudly and confidently. When I turned to some of the children to show them the effect of the picture on the reverse of my digital camera (shocked, unbelieving faces of kids!), she eventually said aloud 'but I haven't seen it!' I had to walk almost on the kids to get close to her and show her the photograph. She was very pleased.
Africa is truly great. I have to admit that seeing the round huts in the Caprivi Strip was really making me breathless and feeling incredibly in the middle of African life. The nature is always very close and people always build homes of very natural elements. The houses are usually only slightly taller than an average person so they do not stand out in the landscape.
It made me feel that I visited the most of Africa after I saw pictures of similar villages in Togo, Ghana, and Burkina Faso on the Internet. I just arrogantly felt that I had seen all of Africa. That is possibly true for architecture and the majority of the urbane vistas but it is so wrong about the people. I could not believe that I almost decided not to go to other African countries because I saw similar huts in the other countries. That would be totally unfair because of the local communities and especially children.
I am very sure, after visiting an insignificant number of African countries, that people in all other countries would like to be visited and talked to. Meeting with travellers and talking to them is television, theatre, cinema, MTV and similar things to them. They are so excited to meet people from other places and races. It makes a white person more exotic to black African people than a black person living normally in his/her village to a white person. The majority of white people on this planet have seen a black person, at least on television. That is why.
It is impossible to describe the feeling of being grabbed by a child of a remote African village and followed around all day long and being looked straight in the eye full of affection and respect! It is amazing how soft the legs in them knees can become because of that.
It takes a lot of travel experience not to get emotionally involved in situations like that. It is impossible to help every child in the village financially but it all makes a difference to full around with them, to pull a funny face, to drag them around in a funny undefined dance and get them a soda at the end of the day just like anyone would need one anyway, in this hot climate after fooling around. This all made me want to learn about Africa and its people except South America that put me off so much recently. Well, never mind – let us concentrate on the Namibian holiday.
That was a perfect, albeit early but ultimately exciting morning. The anticipation was very exciting too. As I saw one eclipse before, and no-one else at the scene did, I was considered an expert. It was very funny and I kind of liked the entire tension between the people and anticipation of something to happen, something that people have not yet seen, so actually not knowing what to expect.
They were asking me all sorts of questions like I was a professor of astronomy or astrophysics or something. It was very exciting, and they actually did not even realise that when I did not know the answer I very happily lied to them. Fortunately, I did not have to lie too much. The questions were not that difficult after all, and I did know a few things about the eclipses.
The questions I actually liked and was more than happy to answer and show off included those regarding how to take a good picture of the eclipse. I did all the lecturing and then still had to set their cameras myself. Some of them had more and some of them less sophisticated equipment.
The eclipse was not late and happened as predicted by the guys in NASA, at least I was almost certain that my watch was working OK. It was very spooky because the sky was not clear and clouds were right in the Sun. Everyone was shaking and they were asking even more questions whether it will clear out. How was I supposed to know that?
I however did not fail to demonstrate full optimism and said that it would clear and everything was going to be alright. And when they asked me how I knew that, I used the line from the 'Shakespeare In Love - "I don't know, it's a mystery".
There was a medium sized grey cloud right in the middle of the Sun, and it was hanging there when the eclipse was in 97-99%. It was very scary. And a minute, or even less, before the totality, the cloud went away. Therefore the eclipse was fully visible, photographable and fascinatingly great. A mystery.
The eclipse was a lot shorter that the one in Madagascar on the 21 June 2001, and the sky appeared a lot lighter this time round. Maybe it is because that in Madagascar the Sun was about to set so it was lower. This time round in Namibia at 06.08 am GMT (08.08 am local time) the Sun was higher.
The eclipse magnitude was different as well; the eclipse in Madagascar was 1.050 in magnitude and the Namibian only 1.024. The magnitude indicates the proportion of the Moon's size to the Sun's. In other words, it is a fraction of the Sun's diameter obscured by the Moon. For total eclipses, the magnitude is always grater than or equal 1.000. Otherwise, the eclipse is annular.
The magnitude of 1.024 still offered marvellous eclipse and the sunset twilight colours low, very low above the horizon. All stages of the solar eclipse took place as in the astronomy book and the only pity was the duration. Too short! Way too short!
After the event, we had breakfast: eggs, tomatoes, cereal, yoghurt, a lot of fruit juice and fruit, including fantastic watermelon. Some people had bacon and sausages as well. We would have stayed longer but we had to check out from our lodge.
The rest of the morning I spent in chilling out again in the floating bar. Uh, oh and showing off with my picture of the eclipse at anybody who was if only just slightly interested.
Then, it appeared that there were some people who came to Caprivi Strip especially for the eclipse and they made a mistake that I nearly did. They travelled back west on the tar road towards the main part of the country. Unfortunately, the sky was obscured with clouds over there and they could not appreciate or even photograph the eclipse. They were not happy at all. It was a lot darker there, I heard, however. This must have been facilitated by the clouds that blocked the remains of the sunlight.
Had I not found the Zambezi Lodge Eclipse Breakfast trip, I would have hired a taxi and gone on watching the eclipse on the main asphalt road, like the majority of the people. And then, I would have been unhappy, very unhappy. It makes a hell of a difference to be standing on the asphalt road rather than to be seating on a chair by a swimming pool, drinking coffee or fruit juice, eating watermelon in a small, picturesque African village. I therefore would like to consider myself lucky, very lucky.
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Dec 02, 2002 07:00 PM Namibia - Caprivi Strip, Katima Mulilo
The remote town of Katima Mulilo, almost at the end of the Caprivi Strip was truly African. It was dusty, uninspiring and hot. Bloody good job Zambezi River is only a short walk away that offers cooler breeze.
It was quite a small place and the descriptions in the guidebooks made me expect a bit more. I have to admit that I did not see the entire town so my judgement could be flawed. Still the exaggeration of the travel guides spoiled the entire impression.
Examples:
1/ the guides say that the town is located beautifully at the river Zambezi which is actually not easily accessible from the town and there is a horribly hot half an hour hike to get to the banks;
2/ the book descriptions of the town emphasise the presence of huge, massive trees – I somehow missed to notice these trees, even at the very shore of Zambezi the trees were not massive at all.
Good supermarket, located almost in the middle of nowhere, made an impression like it was from another planet. It was so good to see a piece of civilisation amongst the dusty, sandy plains. It was possible to buy almost anything over there and pay with a credit card. I think this could actually be said about any supermarket in Namibia. Apart from a flea-market, a supermarket is the heart of any provincial town in Africa, not necessarily only in Namibia.
This particular supermarket saved my life as I was dying for a sip of water.
Soon after I realised that I did not have very much to eat for the entire trip and even long before. Last time I had something to eat was on Sunday night after the Cats trip; it was a pizza ordered by telephone to the Cardboard Box (the Box) as all other venues were already closed.
Then, for the entire Monday, I did not have anything to eat, as I was busy organising my new itinerary and then drinking on the brewery tour did not come with consumption of any solid material.
I was simply getting very hungry and taking the malaria pills was making my stomach even more pissed off. I guess it must have affected other parts of my body, particularly the top upper parts. I was getting annoyed with anything very quickly and the beautiful hot African climate was pissing me off the most, I think.
Although I might not have been in the best moods or psychological states, I still believe that the Caprivi Art Centre is a tourist trap. The centre contains lousy examples of the Namibian art whose quality was well below of those plentiful examples in the streets of any larger town.
On the hindsight however, I recall Katima Mulilo very sentimentally. This is definitely because of the picturesque river Zambezi, so African and unusual for Namibia. Or this affection could be facilitated by the floating bar and nothing-doing, lazing and relaxing plus sipping the excellent Tafel beer (lager) while looking out for a hippopotamus.
The service at the Zambezi Lodge was good and the staff was amazingly polite and friendly and, although it was not an official meal time, I was easily able to order couple of cheese and tomato sandwiches that I happily shoved up down my throat and washed down with beautifully cold Windhoek lager – all sitting in the floating bar on the massive and calm river of Zambezi. Zambia was at the other side, calm and mysterious.
I am not sure what exactly pushed me to go away from the floating bar to another lodge at the river in the full heat of the early afternoon. However, there I was on the road marching towards, I guess Zambian border, sweating like Guinea pig not realising how far I had to go. It was truly hot and I actually do not remember when last time, if ever, I was exposed to such heat. That was a beginning of my trip so I realise that I might have still been in the middle of the acclimatisation process thus feeling very hot.
Yeah, yeah I know, I have always said that I preferred being hot to being cold, so what am I moaning about it? Well, I just want to be honest here. It was nice but maybe a bit too nice.
Although I was complaining to myself then on this hot road, I still enjoyed it and would definitely like to feel it again!
Well, the story continues... walking increasingly like a zombie with every kilometre, I decided to take my chance and try to get a lift. The first car to stop was a police vehicle. What a relief.
I travelled at the back of the police pick-up, sitting between some police tools and a spare wheel. I was trying to imagine in which country travelling like that would actually be considered legal. There were no seats at the back of the pick-up and it was hard to hold on to the sides of the car. I did not worry however, because I was getting to a hotel or a lodge that definitely had a bar and a river view.
The lodge was modern and equipped with everything necessary for a good holiday, but definitely too isolated. It took me approximately couple of hours to decide to actually go back to the floating bar at the Zambezi Lodge.
It was a very good decision and a just it time move because all over sudden, a guy with a riverboat moored at the floating bar and offered a Zambezi sunset boat trip with hippo watching. That was just perfect. I did not have to think very long at all, just grabbed my camera and hopped on the boat. Four other people decided to do the same and I fully understood them.
The trip was very pleasant. Apart from a great fun, it offered close views of the mighty and super dangerous hippos.
Hippos are the most dangerous animals in Africa. They kill the largest, by far, number of people than any other African animal, apart from a mosquito. They are vegetarians and therefore should not be a threat, but their aggressiveness originates from fear and stupidity.
Apparently, there are two main rules that should always be applied towards hippopotamuses: never, ever step between a hippo and shallower water or between a hippo and a shore. Plus, of course, care must be taken in the summertime when hippopotamuses have babies – exactly when I went to see them.
The problem with these cute animals is that they have difficulty swimming. They walk on the bottom of a lake or on the riverbed. So, when one subconsciously cuts them off from a shore or shallower water they panic that they will not be able to come back to the shore or that they will drown. Therefore they attack fiercely, and usually kill.
Due to strange cost constraints applied by one of the guys I met on the bus, we decided not to eat at the Zambezi Lodge but rather go to the town and look for something cheaper. There was however one condition: it had to be vegetarian, not only because of me but also because of the smug (absolutely wrongly) American.
That was not easy because in Africa there is no space for non-meat eaters. Also, it has to be emphasised that Africa has extremely good meats and the taste of game should be experienced in both ways: alive, out in the open, and grilled on a plate.
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Dec 01, 2002 07:00 PM Namibia - Windhoek, new itinerary for the rest of the trip done!
This morning everything was to be revealed, what exactly I was going to do in Namibia.
Then, it turned out that I was not going on a single safari tour but two separate safaris, covering more or less the same places (and almost the same places) I wanted to see by self driving a car and even slightly more.
The places I wanted to see, but could not visit included Waterberg Plateau and Rucana Falls. I regretted Rucana Falls especially because I was so close to the site, approximately 150 kilometres, while I was visiting something else in the vicinity. How disappointing! A bit more about that later on...
Well, the story so far: the space for the 21 days safari was taken by the person who booked it provisionally, all other trips were fully booked and the last minute booking trick was not going to work at all.
Well, almost – since the very patient and never giving up travel shop personnel finally booked me the two 7 day trips with Wild Dog Safaris.
I was there all the time and saw quite clearly how difficult it actually was to get anything confirmed at such a short notice. In addition, within a few hours, I was leaving to the northern part of the country to see the total eclipse, which was definitely not adding to the overall plan's flexibility.
Oh, before I forget, the itinerary that I eventually ended up with, comprised of the following places (see also the map attached):
Safari number one called the Southern Swing – the Namib Desert, Kolmanskop, Luederitz, Orange River Valley, Fish River Canyon, Kalahari Desert and Bushmen walk;
Safari number two called the Northern Adventure – Etosha National Park, Kaokoveld and Ova-Himba, Skeleton Coast, Twyfelfontein, Brandberg, Cape Cross and Swakopmund.
In addition, although I did not necessarily realise it then, I was going for a local brewery tour – the Windhoek Lager Breweries. That was rather unexpected and just before I had to leave for my bus to the Caprivi Strip.
The tour was excellent only at the very end when they served unlimited pints of beer, the self-production samples. The tour itself was extremely boring for me, as I must have toured a dozen of breweries in my country as part of my job.
Yet, there were a few of interesting pieces of information that were shared, like: the breweries are the sole producer of Pepsi for entire southern Africa, but cans and crowns are imported from Republic of South Africa (RSA). So, if you buy a can of Pepsi in Cape Town or Maputo, then you should know that the liquid was produced from high quality Namibian water in the capital of Namibia, but the can or the crown was manufactured in RSA.
Well, the breweries are not ideal and there are things that should definitely, and rather urgently, improve. They include: horrible Guinness and weak lager. Apparently, they produce a stronger bitter-like beer but it is not available in the summer!! I should not complain, as the free beer at the end of the tour was unlimited! The bar was nice and big and located in the cellar, which is cosy and cool (cool for pleasant temperature, and not atmosphere).
I again did not realise right then, how much I needed this bar activity. Not even an hour later, I commenced a 14 hour long torture.
That's right, the bus trip to the eclipse site seemed never-ending, too hot and much too noisy. There was no chance for landscape viewing, apart from the Caprivi Strip, because travel either way happens during the hours of darkness.
Although the seats can recline a bit this only creates stupid illusion that one can take a nap. Wicked illusion. Wicked as you try to kip a bit and it makes you ever more tired.
It was raining a bit just outside Windhoek on the way up. So it happens that when it rains the termites leave their sky scraping houses and fly (just once in their lifetime) to set up a new colony. When hundreds of these termites smashed on the windscreen of the bus, the driver did not even attempt using screen wipers. The insects were so fat (pure protein) that they would only smudge the windscreen making it worse.
The bus service from Intercape (who offer services in Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho, and possibly Swaziland) came with a bar service. On board the bus, there was a steward who was serving hot drinks; tea or coffee. The guy on the bus I took (both direction) was called Guenter.
I am sure I will never be able to describe sufficiently ecstatically how skilled he was to carry a tray full of paper cups filled with hot liquids. The bus was bumping on the very few imperfections of the road's surface that make all the normal people grab a rail or a handle in order to avoid falling on the floor.
Not only did he never trip but also never spitted a drop! That was simply astonishing. It not only requires certain balancing skills but also responsibility not to piss off the passengers by pouring hot liquids on them...
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