Etosha National Park

Etosha is one of the best national parks in Africa (it was my personal favorite). Unlike other national parks, people are able to drive themselves through the park and to stay in the park at designated camping areas. Each campsite has a waterhole that is separated from the campsite by a large natural materials fence. From the seating area, you can watch the animals come to quench their thirst.

We made it to Etosha National Park about an hour before sunset, when the gates close. Our campsite was at Halasi, the second campsite. We made it to the waterhole, wine in hand, just in time to watch the sunset and some black rhinos sipping.
We took a short break from the waterhole to make dinner and, when we came back to the waterhole, there were six lions lounging. They were tired—in the dark, it was easy to confuse them with rocks—and apparently satiated. They were completely uninterested in the other small animals that came up to the waterhole to drink.



The next day, we spent a whole day driving around the park, with a short break lounging near the pool at the third campsite. Before we came to Etosha, I thought that we would not be able to see as many animals without a guide. Instead, we saw a beautiful family of lions with the smallest cub we've seen yet,





a leopard, and tons of elephants, giraffes, antelope, zebra, etc. Almost as amazing as the big cats was the number of animals that were hanging out together at the waterhole. At one waterhole, there were zebra, giraffe, several breeds of antelope, a hyena, a jackal, and warthogs all drinking at the same time.

On the way back to camp, we stopped for a few pictures on the very dry Etosha Pan.

I guess this explains why the waterholes are so popular.

That night, the waterhole was less lively. We did see some more rhinos and a leopard, but that was about it. The next day we drove around the western part of Etosha, again stopping at one of the campsites for a swim. There were not as many big animals that day, but there were lots of other animals and interesting birds. We also observed a lot of interesting animal behavior such as giraffes engaging in foreplay and zebra fighting.

Sunrise

The Himba People

The morning after Swapokmund, we stopped in a Himba village located between Uis and Etosha National Park. The Himba are a traditional people that cover their skin and hair with reddish mud to protect from sun and as ornamentation. Their clothing is very minimal, but their appearance speaks volumes about their life situation. The pre-pubescent children wear their hair braided forwards until they hit puberty, when their hair is braided backwards. Their jewelry is also indicative of how many kids they have, whether they are married, and whether their mother/father is alive. It was an interesting, if not an entirely authentic, cultural experience.

Namibia: Windhoek (pronounced Vin-hook)

After hearing horror stories about how difficult it was to travel around Namibia without your own transportation, we decided that we would rent a car for that portion of the trip. So when we headed off from Maun we were thrilled that it would be our last bus of the trip. The bus itself sounded a bit tricky, though, and the proprietor of Old Bridge recommended that we try to hitch instead. This was a very strange process. First you catch a cab at 6:30 a.m. and ask it to take you to the hitching spot. The cab driver then drops you off at a totally random place on the side of the road where a group of people are already gathered. Then all of the crowd stands by the road at one time beckoning passing cars by waving down and inward (rather than by sticking up a thumb). Eventually, one car stops and then everyone rushes towards the car saying the name of the place they are headed. The driver indicates how many people he can take, that many people climb in the car, and everyone else goes back to waving over cars.
Eventually, we were picked up by a guy in an SUV. He was nice enough, but it was a bit awkward after he told us that he wanted to marry a white woman and started asking us for tips. He dropped us off about three hours later an hour shy of the Namibia border. While we were waiting for our next ride, we watched a car accident take place right in front of the hitching/bus stop. It was caused by a confused driver responding to the waving crowd and turning into an oncoming vehicle. No one was hurt. We ended up getting a hitch in another SUV with two really fun guys, Promise and Fungi, who (this is the best part) took us all the way to Windhoek (pronounced Vin-hook).

The transformation from Botswana and Namibia was dramatic. In Botswana, there was a constant danger of cows, goats, and other livestock running out in front of your car. In Namibia, fences parallel the highway, keeping out most of the animals (except the warthogs). Strangely, the warthogs, which had been very shy and difficult to see in the rest of Africa, were everywhere.

Windhoek itself, and most of the rest of Namibia, looks much more German/European than the rest of Africa. We stayed at the Cardboard Box the first night. It was better than an actual cardboard box, but still just okay. Due to a communication problem with the car rental agency, our car was not ready that day and Cardboard Box was fully booked so we had to move. We stayed at the Chameleon, which was one of our favorite hostels on the trip. It had a bathroom in the dorm room and under the bed lockers. It was a bit of a cursed move, though. I had a slo' mo' fall at the gate of the dorm while carrying my daypack and Regina's lap top. My flip flop got stuck in a hole in the sidewalk and I knew I was going down so I tried to fall sideways and hold our stuff up to protect it.

Later that night, Kaitlin got stuck trying to climb into bed. The dorm beds were two back-to-back bunkbeds. So that she didn't wake up the hot guy sleeping in the bed below hers, she stepped up on my bed, which was kitty corner to hers, and attempted to climb diagonally over onto her bed. I was reading in bed and looked up to see her legs dangling over the side of the bed. Then she whispered, "Help me." I got up to push her over the bed at about the same time as Regina walked out of the bathroom. The hot guy woke up and started laughing and Regina and I fell to the floor laughing until we cried.

While in Windhoek, we killed time by eating at chain restaurants, shopping, and hanging out at the mall. Sadly, we spend enough time at the mall to make friends with a taxi driver that was stationed there. We probably rode with him at least five times.

Once we got the car (a very cool truck with an enclosed bed and two tents that are located on TOP of the truck), we headed to Swapokmund to pick up Alex, the very nice French guy that agreed to rent the truck with us to share costs.

While in Swapokmund, I went sandboarding. It was surprisingly similar to snowboarding. It was really a lot of fun, but I was finding sand everywhere for a week. Also, I hurt my back by jumping off a ramp at high speeds and not even coming close to landing. I was once again reminded that just because the guide lets you do it, you should not assume that it is safe. :)