Changing Tires in Namibia

Hi all,

It's hard being out of the country over Thanksgiving.  We missed being home with our families, eating leftover pumpkin pie at breakfast, avoiding raking leaves.  Plus, by the end of November here, it's heading straight into summer, which just feels odd.  But going home wasn't in the cards, so we decided to check out a new country in southern Africa, Namibia.  Our friends, Dave and Roopal, work at the CDC office in the capital, Windhoek, so we flew up to hang out with them over the holiday.   

Here's a map for some context. (It was about a 3 hour flight.)

Namibia, somewhat to my surprise, only gained its independence from South Africa in March 1990.  Earlier in its history, it was a German colony and there was massive genocide of local populations after the turn of the last century.  Some see the brutal way native populations were treated as a precursor to both the Holocaust (See this interesting article), and later, Apartheid.  Not good stuff.  We did feel a German influence when visiting and the country makes the best beer in southern African (Windhoek Lager).

After a day in Windhoek, we took off by car to head to the famous sand dunes of Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert.  Here was stopped by the side of the road for lunch.   What's amazing is that while it's a sizable country, it has only 2.1 million people. (Atlanta has 6, if not 10+ million, depending on how you measure it.) 

Like in South Africa, acacia trees are prominent. Check out the thorn on this one.  (They say to avoid driving over elephant dung when doing safaris because while elephant stomachs can handle the thorns, Michelin tires can't.)


After a long days drive, we made it to a lodge about an hour from the dunes.  It was desolate and beautiful.  (Everything is so remote that the place, like most here, provides all your meals. You'd be driving a long way to pick up a loaf of bread.)


By the way, you can click on a photo to see a larger version. (No pressure. Just sayin'.)

Noah was happy to be out of the car.

 The kids got along great.   Dave and Roopal have two boys, Kai (5) and Jorin (2).

 The kids really enjoyed watching the baboons swing by a watering hole just outside our lodge.

The next morning, we headed out to go find these dunes.  Everything in Namibia is far away from everything else, and rarely did we see any people on route.

 Finally, we made it. They recommend visiting the dunes in the morning before the sand gets too hot. But of course we didn't get there until about 11.  Adam tried going barefoot...for about 30 seconds.

We headed up the sand to find a special spot called Deadvlei.

Deadvlei ("dead marsh") was a defunct oasis among the dunes. According to Wikipedia, it's surrounded by some of the highest sand dunes in the world.

 The kids thought it was awesome (if hot).

In a previous lifetime, a river flooded somewhere nearby, providing water for trees. Then the climate changed, drought hit and the trees died.  It's so dry the wood doesn't decompose.  Supposedly some of these tree "skeletons" are 900 years old.  (Makes me feel OK at 40 something.)

 Noah thought we landed on the moon, not that he knows what the moon is.

Lucy - "This ground could use a good moisturizer."
(OK, I made this quote up.)

We decided it was a great spot for the family holiday card.

 Happy Dune Day

 Why walk when you can spin?

 Lucy and Pops

Some of us decided to walk down the ridge line of one of the dunes to get back to the cars. The wind quickly erased your foot prints.

I dumped about a gallon of sand out of my shoes.

After a long, hot walk, we were excited to sit down to eat.   The lodge had packed us a picnic lunch and we asked for a few kid-friend sandwiches for the younger set. We opened the cooler bin to discover a plate of cheese & strawberry jelly sandwiches.  Interesting.... German?  Needless to say none of the kids would finish them so the grownups shared their baloney.  When we got back, I thought maybe they had misunderstood our request, but they said, "Oh, no. The kids here love cheese and jam!"   (I guess some people do put cheese and jam on scones, but still.)

 We drove by a lone ostrich on the way back to the lodge.

Pool time.  The lodge only had showers, so we borrowed a bucket to bath Noah. The big kids decided it would make a great boat.

 Soaking sandy feet.

 Warming up from the cold water.
(It got cold at night, so the water didn't warm up much. Tough life, I know.)

 Noah was very fond of the lodge's plaster zebra.  (He was sure it seemed tame enough to ride.)

The next day, we headed out to go south, to a beach town called Swakopmund. 
All the roads were dirt and our friends' car soon got a flat tire.  It was foreshadowing for many more to come over the course of the day.

On the way, we passed the Tropic of Capricorn. I had to remember my middle school geography.  According to Wikipedia, it's most southerly latitude on the Earth at which the sun can be directly overhead.   (Read more.)

We were not having much luck on the roads that day.  The dirt roads were brutal and poor Dave and Roopal's car ended up getting three or four flat tires.  At one point, they got two at the same time.  (This, of course, is not good when you only have one spare.)  But luck was upon us, and we happened to be only a short drive away from a tire repair shop.  As you might guess, tire repair is a big business here.

 Roopal and Joren wait for the rest of us to come back with a new tire.

 The kids were very patient and had a good time pretending the car was a rocket or a bus while the grownups fixed the other car's tire.

 Noah didn't seem to mind and even volunteered to drive the next leg.

 Adam refined his tire-changing skills.

It was a kind of desolate terrain I had never seen before.  

(I kept thinking a Starbucks would be around the bend to welcome me with a $5 latte and a clean bathroom.  Not quite.  But we manage to find bathrooms and food when needed.)

Better late than never.  We finally made it to the coast and headed quickly to the beach as darkness descended.

 Sandpipers

 Shower time!

 Noah showed off his disco moves.

 The next morning, we found a playground with equipment they wouldn't allow in the States.

 Our last day... we relaxed by the beach before we headed back up to Windhoek to fly home. (We were happy to hear the roads going that direction would be much smoother.)

 Noah fully approved of the after-breakfast vanilla ice cream scoop.

 Lucy was not ready to leave the water.

 The Not So Little Anymore Mermaid

 Noah was very busy on the beach.  

Boarding the plane with a new monkey (and an existing one).  

Homeward bound.  

While it wasn't the same as eating too much turkey and I never lost my craving for cranberry relish, the Safari had a great time in Namibia.  (Next time, we'll rent a few extra spare tires.)

xo,
Glenn

Camping, South African Style

Hi all,

In mid November (yes, I'm still behind, but catching up), we headed north-west to a campground outside  the gates of Pilanesburg, our closest big game reserve.  We went with our friend, Peter Vranken (also works at CDC with Ad) and his daughter, Amie, who is the same age as Lucy.  We'd been there once before, but stayed in "safari tents" (free-standing structures with tent flaps but also a mini fridge, electric tea kettle and cups & saucers for tea. I loved it.).

 Eek... I forgot my ball gown!

The campground is very popular and they pack the tents in.  We'd prefer a bit more space, but you can't beat the experience of having a zebra wander into your camp site, which happened the last time we were there. (See my earlier post.)

Breakfast of champions

Girl time
(Lucy and Amie)

 On Saturday afternoon, we packed into Peter's big car to go on a short game drive.

It was a beautiful day and we soon spotted a giraffe. They never cease to amaze me.

 Who you lookin' at?!

 A weaver bird nest

The male weaver bird produces the nest -- total DIY, not from Lowe's -- only to have his potential female partner inspect and possibly reject it, forcing him to start all over again.  Sometimes you'll see a tree littered with nests and you think, "Damn, is she picky!" (To be fair, he might be incompetent.)  See "Ultimate Animal Dad's: Weaver Birds" on YouTube.

 Lunch back at camp. 
(Note my Peachtree Road Race 2011 t-shirt, which I got [yes, for running it] last summer
when we were home, thanks to my friend Brandon.)

South Africans are serious campers.  Serious in a way that calls for an on-site pool
and restaurant with bar.  (Is it so bad to ask for a G&T after a night sleeping on the ground?)

"I love camping!" -Noah

"I'm getting cold but I refuse to get out."

 

The campground even had private bathtubs. (I love this country.)

 Chef Adam was on dinner duty that night.

 Dinner in the bush (price fixed with wine pairing)

 Of course we had to show Peter and Amie how to roast marshmallows. 

(Peter's originally from Belgium and was dubious.  Amie was a quick convert.)

 The next morning we were up at 5:45 for an early morning game drive.  Lucy dreamed of elephants.

Lo and behold, we spotted one pretty early on (making his way to the pancake breakfast at the lake)

 Once at the water (a good place to go on a hot summer morning -- it was mid November),
we spotted a group of impala

Hi guys!

We were rewarded for waking up so early with two young lion cubs. The mom apparently had walked by earlier, but we missed her.  (We still haven't seen any big cats.  I know... tough life.)

 We also encountered a rare group of four male kudu, with their awesome twisted horns.

 But the best thing of all was coming upon a herd of elephants playing in the water.

We often only spot a few elephants (if any), so this was awesome.  I'm a terrible film maker, but I caught some of it on video. You can hear Noah humming at the beginning and then Adam talking about something or other. (Click to watch directly in YouTube.)
 

 Elephants, eleshmints. Noah caught up on his Spanish with Dora the Explorer.

To think the guy got bored!  (He doesn't know that one day this will all be over and we'll have to go to the zoo.  Well, for the record, the Pretoria Zoo is very good, but still.)

Lucy enforces the no shoes in the tent rule with Noah.  Future Girl Scout! (Do we like the Girl Scouts these days?  Mmm.. makes me want some Thin Mints. Please post, STAT.)

A few turns of the swing set and the Safari broke down camp, packed up a dusty car, and headed home.

xo,

Glenn