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