Namibia!

Namibia began with little African girls singing to us all. They were wearing little dresses that all matched, and some had bright green shoes. We watched them dance from the seventh deck, and once the ship was cleared (meaning we were allowed to leave), we rushed down and were greeted by them with hugs and huge toothy smiles. After two minutes of being outside, the heat really hit us all pretty hard. We were glad to have water with us, as well as sunscreen. It’s difficult to explain the extremes of going from northern Africa to southern. They are very different, not only climate-wise but also culture, people, language, currency, and acceptance of westernized civilization (like clothing styles and such). Namibians are made up of approximately 90% blacks, 6% whites, and the leftover 4% is a mixture. The country is very literate, women included, reaching up to 85% of the population that can read and write. The main spoken language is English, but people also use German and Afrikaans (pronounced Africons). Windhoek is the capital city, and they brew a nice lager there. People only live to an average of 50 years old, and just under 20% of the population has AIDS, which is the first place I’ve been to in the world that is that high. Its one thing to hear the number, and another to walk and talk with the locals and have it in your mind that one out of the five people standing in front of you has the disease, including the dancing and singing girls. You just really can’t say you know and understand the African AIDS epidemic until you come here and truly wrap your mind around that fact. The country was freed from South African hold in 1990 – so the country is vey very young, including its people. And like I mentioned, everyone dresses pretty much like Americans and it was nice to not have to worry about how I was dressed as to not offend, which gave me a possibly false sense of comfort.



After finding an ATM and receiving Namibian dollars ($9.90 Namibian = $1 US), we caught a cab and soon found ourselves in the sleepy German town of Swakopmund (correctly pronounced schwa-kop-mundt). After walking around the hot town, we started hearing drums and found ourselves heading towards it. Luckily, it was a café right outside of the tourism centre, and we obtained a map and directions to the best local restaurant on the beach. There we had some drinks and food – most of which was American-like. (Unfortunately, they did not serve zebra there, and I was disappointed that I could not find it during my entire stay. I’m hoping to get some in South Africa though!) We walked around and found the Crystal Gallery museum and decided to go inside. In there, we walked through a man-made cave with quartz specimens that grew on the rocks and then at the end, were able to touch (as well as get a photo with) the largest quartz sample in the world. And let me tell you, it was HUGE! Namibia harvests several unique stones which is why the gallery was so interesting. That, and I’m a geek when it comes to rocks! We shopped around in the store there, and bought some very cool souvenirs.

We then all went to a park where there was maybe fifty vendors trying to sell us traditional African things like wooden bowls, carved animals, bracelets and rings made out of horn, necklaces made from ostrich eggs, carved plaques, and so many other things. Everything there was something that I was interested in, and it was completely overwhelming to have the vendors pick up things and tell you how much you wanted it for, even if you didn’t want it at all! I ended up getting quite a bit there, and was very satisfied with how much I paid for it all. All the vendors (who were very dark black) would yell out “Sister, sister!” to get our attention. It was pretty funny. Around the area there were also people from the Ovahimba Tribe who were in traditional dress. They paint their skin a burnt red color and the women don’t wear any tops. It is the customary dress of people from thousands of years ago when people first inhabited Namibia, and there are still hundreds that follow the tribal customs to this day. Talk about dedication to your history! We weren’t allowed to take pictures without giving them money, so I’ll need to steal some from my roommate.



Soon after, we wandered down the beach and got some photos of locals flipping off old docks and spent some time at the end of the bay. It was a beautiful area with the waves splashing up on the rocks. Then we went to a bar called Rafters Action where there was a rugby game just starting! We got some drinks and met a few locals who were incredibly fun to chat with. They were just like Americans – but they spoke German. We spent a good hour or so there and then decided to catch a cab back to the ship.



That night, we got directions from a security guard outside of our pier telling us directions to the nearest bar. When we got there, we saw that it had three rooms all decorated in Valentines Day attire and in the back was a beer garden. After more locals showed up, everyone was dancing and we joined in with them, and it was so much fun! The DJ gave a shout-out to all of us saying that we are the best American customers they have had in a long time. It is always great to hear that, especially with how much of a bad reputation Americans have.

The next morning, I walked around with my new friend Megan Veloz and we saw more of Walvis Bay and got some soda from a grocery store. The cans of coke were larger than regular, and called Afri-cans. Vey clever! Then we went back to the ship for some lunch, and that’s when I met up with my camping and stargazing group. We got together in the Union and waited for directions before getting in 4x4 vehicles and driving out past Dune 7 (a huge sand dune in the Namib Desert, but by far not the largest), and then into an area called The Moonlands. They are strange rock structures that look so strange that the only way to describe them is that everyone kept saying, “Now I know where they filmed Star Wars.” The Moonlands changed so suddenly from a dry and rocky area to a green tropical-like setting with water flowing, and then back into rocky desert. It’s strange how fast it went from one to the other. We finally got to camp and were let loose to discover the area. We climbed up tall mountains with tons of fracture shale which made it hard to climb because when you step on it, it breaks off and slides right out from under you. But of course, that didn’t deter any of us from climbing as high as we possibly could and seeing incredible sights! Throughout the hike, I kept thinking “I could possibly be the only person to ever step foot right here.” The desert is so vast, just like the oceans. Its curious how such opposite things (ocean and desert) could be so eerily similar. After climbing back down the mountains, we walked along the driest riverbed I have ever seen. The clay was cracked and curled like dried rose petals and when you walked on them, you could feel them fracturing below your shoes. It was just as pleasing as popping packaging bubbles! We went a little further and saw a few beetles that we had learned about in global studies. To get water, they climb to the highest point they can find on the desert floor and stick their butts high up in the air and sit like that all night. And when the fog comes down at night, the moisture collects on their bodies and drips to their mouths. Pretty clever buggers if you ask me.




A Namibian band came and played music for us at camp before and while we were eating. For dinner they provided us with slow cooked lamb (still on the bone), beans, rice, bread, and Namibian tea. It was all really good, and of course I had seconds. For dessert, they made us African Pudding which really isn’t pudding at all. It’s more of a soggy brownie-like cake that tastes like cinnamon and you pour warm buttermilk over the top of it. That was really tasty as well.



During dinner though, it rained. And it rained hard. Everyone made a mad dash to close up the tent windows and while they were doing that, I stopped and let myself get soaked in African rain. It was so refreshing after such a hot day full of exercise and 90+ temperatures. Within five minutes, the rain had stopped and I was soaked, as well as my bed. But, the good news was that the clouds had moved, and were given a good twenty minutes of star-gazing. Our guide walked us out away from the campfires so we could see the night sky properly. With some strange green laser, she pointed out Saturn and Venus, the Southern Cross, Orion and Betelgeuse, and Sirius and its Canus Major constellation. The Milky Way Galaxy wasn’t easy to spot with the patchy cloud cover, but the sky was still really beautiful. We headed back when no more stars were visible, and sat around the fire enjoying Savanna Dry’s (a South African cider beer) and deep conversation before going to bed.



The next morning we awoke around 6am (yes, I easily get up early now!) and had tea with fruit and granola. I started playing with the white embers from the fire from last night and was challenged to make it into a new one. So, I took it upon myself to find kindling and paper, and was able to birth new flames to the campsite. A lot of people were pretty impressed with me, as was I. :) Upon hearing that we weren’t going to be picked up until 11am, a few of us head out for another walk in the desert. But this time, it was different. We walked back to the dry river bed, and saw that it was a little damper than the day before. We walked across it and noticed a small trickle of water beginning as we were walking but thought nothing of it. After crossing more of the desert, we found a rushing river that we hung out by for ten minutes or so. It was chocolate brown and going very, very fast. Then walking back, we noticed that the river bed that we crossed was now moving faster than the one we had just been at, and we were literally trapped between two rivers and in order to get back, we had to wade across which was a lot more difficult than it sounds. Since the water moved so fast into this river bed, it didn’t have enough time to really soak into the ground so it just made the clay on top of it extremely slick, and sticky. We had to take baby steps to get anywhere, and had to fight the strong current. We all made it across and back to camp with our legs covered with mud. After talking to the guide, we discovered that the riverbed hasn’t had water in it since 1989! And I got to walk through it. Very exciting stuff!

I attempted washing my legs off and climbed into the 4x4 to go back to the ship. Our vehicle was forced to go through the rushing water, which was very fun and very muddy. At one point we were nervous that we wouldn’t make it across because the car started to turn, but we did and made it to the ship safely. I showered and slept until the ship disembarked, and spent the next day catching up on sleep and writing the blog.