Rainbow Camp to Etosha National Park, Namibia

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Rainbow Camp to Etosha National Park, Namibia

Our guide, Allan comes from Zimbabwe, but he has an good understanding of many African tribes, communities and countries. He has worked for Gecko our tour company for many years and on each trip through Namibia he finds a school in need of support where his clients can visit and provide a small contribution. 

We stopped at Rundu after the Namibia border crossing from Botswana and bought some things we thought the school could use: football, air pump and needle for pumping up the ball, pencil, pens, paper. We gave these to the head master and then he took us to two classes. Grade 6 class had 60 students in a class smaller that a normal Canadian class room. Some students simply stood at the back of the room. The Grade 5 class had no desks and the students sat on the floor. A few worn out broken desks were pushed against the wall. 

Lunch for the students was prepared by volunteer mothers outside at the back of the school yard. They made a big pot of maize meal and each student got a bowl which they ate with their hands. The school yard was dusty sand. Students had uniforms and all had sandals, which was a good thing because there was a lot of broken glass in this sand. 

Our visit included pictures and we had to show the crowd each group shot. Kayla and Richard gave a financial contribution to the head master. He told Richard that his most pressing need was student desks and a photo copier but requests to the government were not answered.

After the school we passed the veterinarian gate, used to control foot and mouth in domestic cattle. Actually the gate separated white society of large farms from black society of small holdings. We were sad to leave behind the 'real Africa' sprinkled with traditional little villages and communities, entering modern western society with cars, tv antennas, modern homes with windows and grass and water sprinklers. Culture shock! Apartheid affected many people in Namibia, which only became a country separate from South Africa ten years ago, and the contrast is stark.

We entered Etosha National Park late afternoon and had a game drive to our camp seeing giraffe, springbok, impala and of course elephants. The national park provided water holes for wildlife and at three camping areas a lighted viewing area with benches for tourists. After our supper we took our cameras and tripod to the viewing area and over a few hours we saw many elephants silently approach, drink and silently retreat into the bush. An oryx came to drink, only to be chased away by a lion. 

In spite of all this excitement, the viewing area was quiet; visitors are asked for silence. We were seeing the African night as the wildlife experience it - quiet, dark, full of animal calls. Richard heard lion roars during the night. Kayla heard nothing - a disadvantage of sleeping like the dead.

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