An amazing journey into the wild: Namibia mon amour !

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Before going to Namibia, I had no idea what to expect exactly; it was not even my choice to go there at first. Maybe, that’s the reason why I got even more amazed by this country. This country is just a nature paradise. In my whole life, I have already visited 24 countries, but I can for sure say that Namibia is the most beautiful country I visited so far!! Let me explain why now.

Firstly, this country is not densely populated at all, so most of the country will only be natural landscapes. For such a nature lover as I am while I am travelling, it was just perfect! Secondly, you have to imagine that you will see wild animals wandering freely everywhere. Seeing such wild animals amazed me every time I was seeing them. Thirdly, Namibian people are really friendly, hospitable and helpful. 99% of the time here, I felt really safe, even though I was always careful.

My trip in Namibia was a bit shorter than forecasted -2 weeks instead of 3 weeks as I spent longer in Lesotho-, I could however tour several places in the country and see very different places.

Arriving from Cape Town, South Africa, I began my journey in the south of the country. The first place I visited was Fish River Canyon. Out of my quick research on what to see in Namibia, Fish River Canyon was the place I wanted to visit the most and I wasn’t disappointed at all!!

To go there was however a bit more adventurous that I expected. In Namibia, there isn’t indeed public transportation everywhere. So, when on my 1^st morning in Namibia, I asked at the petrol station when the minibus to the North would arrive, I got told that there was no public transportation going there and that my only solution was to hitch-hike. So, please mum and dad accept my apologies but I had to do it, no other choice. In Namibia, it’s in fact not that dangerous to do it as it is a very common practice. Locals, who want to go from one place to the other and don’t have a car have to use this way as well. For sure, I had to be patient sometimes as there are some places, where you would see 1 car per hour go in the right direction. That’s in fact what happened to me on my way to the Fish River Canyon. I got quickly a lift from the border to Grünau with nice South African people but I had to wait for 2 hours under a very strong sun –even at 8am!!- for a car to stop and take me to the Fish River Canyon campsite. There were indeed only 3 cars, which went in that direction during this time interval!! The 1^st two cars waved hello at me but didn’t stop, which kind of pissed me off thinking “why are you waving hello and not even stop for me?!”. The 3^rd car however stopped and I was lucky as he was going exactly to the campsite, as he was a construction worker there. That’s in fact an advantage in Namibia when you wanna hitch-hike: as the distance between 2 towns are bigger than usual, then there is a bigger chance that your ride will take you far and not only a few km away for your departure point.

I was even luckier than expected with that guy as he offered to give me a ride to the canyon -10 km away from the campsite- at sunset and then again at sunrise!! Sometimes you are lucky in life!! I have been lucky in fact all the time in Namibia :D So, with that guy, we went to the Fish River Canyon for sunset and he took me to 3 viewpoints there. It was just AMAZING!!! This canyon is indeed the 2^nd biggest canyon in the world –after Grand Canyon in the US-. So you can imagine how big it was. Looking down, I could see two levels of canyon and the river downwards. I couldn’t stop smiling, I was so happy to be able to see such a magical place! This will in fact be the case almost in every place I visited in Namibia J And in addition to a great scenery, you got an amazing clear sky full of stars at night. One day, I will come back there and do the 5-day hike down the canyon from Hobas to Ai-Ais –it’s only possible from May to September when it’s not too hot and rainy-.

From the Fish River Canyon, I went to Ketmanshoop, where the Quiver Tree Forest was. The Quiver Trees are very special trees, which are growing on dry lands and where there are big rocks to hold their roots. You can see it around some places in Namibia, but near Ketmanshoop, there is a whole area full of them. To go to that place, I had to get a lift again. From Hobas, it was easy as I spent the previous afternoon talking with the campsite’s employees and some of them where going to Ketmanshoop early morning. I thus went with them at the back of a pick-up. It was a great journey: from there, I got to see so many wild animals wandering around (Oryx, ostriches, zebras, baboons)!! I had already seen some zebras and an ostrich on the day before, but that morning, I really saw a lot of them and It was such a good morning start :D By the way, the ostrich I saw on my way to the canyon made me laugh: the way it was moving quickly across the road, it was looking as if it was dancing ballet 😉

From the city center, it was then a bit more difficult to get to the forest, but as it was only 15 km away, I managed to get a lift after some time waiting with local people. The hardest thing, while hitch-hiking in Southern Namibia is the extremely hot weather. While waiting for a lift, you have to be careful not to finish your water to be sure to have enough for the rest of the time.

The Quiver Tree Forest was nice but after looking around for a while, I didn’t know what to do there longer, as in fact it’s just a forest with the same quiver trees all around. So, I came back for the rest of the day to Ketmans. On my way back, I got a lift at the back of a pick-up with …. A SHEEP :p Yes, everything happens in Namibia. Every day will surprise you 😉

After spending my 2^nd night camping in Namibia, I went on the road again with the goal of reaching Sesriem before sunset or in the next morning. For the 1^st part of the trip, I could take a minibus, so it was no problem. However, from Mariental, I had to go West to Sesriem and I had to hitch-hike to get there, so it could be more difficult. However, I got yet very lucky, as after waiting 5 minutes at the petrol station, a vehicle asked me where I wanted to go. First, I just said that I wanted to go in the direction of another city, which was way before Sesriem, just to be sure not to afraid them with a too far destination. But, when I said that I was going in that direction they answered “that’s good, it’s on our way, we are going to Sesriem” 😉 So I told them that in fact Sesriem was my final destination. I didn’t know it at that time but this lucky moment will change my Namibian trip completely and make it 10 times better than it would have been, if I hadn’t met those people!! They were all working at the medical center at the campsite.

When we arrived in Sesriem at the campsite, they offered me to stay at their house instead of spending too much money to camp and to sleep in a real bed. It was so nice of them! After unpacking, one of the paramedic there offered to take me around Sesriem. We went with his friend to Elim Dune. I was so thrilled to go there! It was the 1^st time I was seeing a red sand dune like that and I loved it. We climbed it and from there, we could have a great view over the land and the mountains. We stayed there until sunset chatting. Afterwards, as it was Saturday evening, we went to meet their friends to have some drinks together. Don’t imagine that we went to a bar for that: in Sesriem, there is no such thing 😉 So, we went to buy drinks at the kiosk and sat outside there putting music from one of the girls’ mobile phone and chatting all together. Well, when I say all together in Namibia, it means more all girls together and all guys together. Genders don’t mix apparently for such evenings.

The next morning, as Nelvin –the paramedic who was with me at Elim Dune the day before- couldn’t find a vehicle to take me to Sossussvlei dunes, we went there with the emergency vehicle. It was funny to go around the dunes with that vehicle: people were thinking “oh, there is someone, who needs medical help”. But in fact I was just getting a private tour there 😉 We arrived at the 1^st dune –Dune 45- for the sunrise. It was just mind-blowing! We were supposed to climb up the whole dune but I decided to just stop at half of the ascension and sit there to enjoy the sunrise. It was so nice! I loved that moment there. I love Namibia for this: you can just stay quiet, sit down and enjoy the surrounding without talking. After going down the dune on the side, we went to the other dunes and saw the Dead Vlei. A vlei is a place filled up with water, where the animals will go to drink when early morning or in the evening. This one is called Dead Vlei as there is no water there anymore and instead there is just a dry clay soil with dead trees. I loved that place as well with the dry soil and the dunes –called “Big Mamma Dune”- around. Like before, I just sat there and enjoyed the place.

After checking up around the other dunes and on our way to go back to Sesriem, we got a small issue: the emergency vehicle got stuck in the sand and we couldn’t move anymore. At first, I thought Nelvin was just joking as he already did such kind of jokes before, but it wasn’t a joke that time. We tried to remove with our hands the sand blocking the tires but there were too deep stuck, so we couldn’t do anything ourselves. I thus went to look for some help. I was not scared at all at that time, as I knew that many people were coming around that place and we would find a way to get off. We were not in the middle of the desert, km away from any other people. At first, some tourist guides came but couldn’t help us get off as they didn’t have a rope and our vehicle was really too heavy to move like that. One of their vehicle even got stuck as well but we managed to help them get out. A “funny” thing when we were stuck is that the tourists in those cars were not helping us to remove the sand or to push the vehicle, there were just taking pictures of our stuck vehicle instead!! So ridiculous. Even when their vehicle got stuck, they didn’t move and I was one of the people helping… What can you do in such case?! I just decided to joke about it and told Nelvin that we should maybe wave hi looking at the cameras 😉 Anyway, after a while 2 other vehicles came with a rope and took us out of there. So, we spent in total two hours there stuck in the dunes. But this was more another adventure to tell than as a scary moment. On our way back after that event, we saw other car stuck and we helped them get out. It’s really difficult to drive there and even when you are used to it, you can get stuck pretty quickly…

In the evening, we went with the girls from the night before to Sesriem Canyon. It was really nice there. Especially, because in opposition to Fish River Canyon, we could go down and walk in the canyon 😉 We even climbed the rocks in some places. I liked that, it was my little adventure of the evening! The 1^st time, I went to Sesriem, I couldn’t climbed one of the cliff there and was paralyzed by my fear. However, the 2^nd time I was in Sesriem, we went back there again and I could control my fear and climbed up that part,so I was really happy after the 2^nd time. On the first time at the canyon, we then hung out for the evening near the canyon top. Like the day before, girls together and guys together. When the girls got to know that I was not believing in God, they made their mission of the evening to make me change my mind. At the end, even though they didn’t succeed, they told me that they see how I care for other people and because of that, they are sure that I don’t know it but in fact I believe in God. It was a cute conclusion 😉

On the next day, we went around the campsite to find a car going to my next destination: Swakopmund. We quickly found a car, who was going to the city nearby –Walvis Bay- and accepted to take me with them. The scenery on the road there was really nice with some other canyons, dry lands and rocky hills. When I said that meeting those people in Mariental will change the rest of my trip in Namibia, I realized it at that time mostly. Nelvin has in fact a very good network of friends all around the country and he asked the people, living in the places I was going to, to host me at their place or to help me get a ride from one city to the other. So, when I arrived in Walvis Bay, a guy came to fetch me up and took me to the taxi rank to Swakopmund. He introduced me of how the taxis are working in Namibia. It’s very funny! They are like normal taxis in Europe but they will leave only once they have 4 passengers going to the same city. To do so and get passengers, as quickly as possible and before the other taxis, they will fill up their taxi with some of their men to make customers believe that the taxi is almost full and ready to leave. They will also run to each car coming, grapping the luggage to be sure that this customer goes with them and not the other taxi. It’s really like the jungle here, no rules, the stronger wins… Moreover, they will drive around with 2 customers inside to try to find the missing customers. But at the same time, another taxi could also have 2 customers inside his vehicle. They would however prefer driving around, using their fuel for nothing instead of giving up their customers to the other taxi… For me, it lacks some logic: it would be better for both customers and taxi drivers to just make a taxi line, so that customers go directly to the 1^st vehicle in line and the taxi can be filled up sooner and thus leave quicker. Anyway, I got a taxi quickly to Swakopmund thanks to this guy’s help and I arrived at Charlothe’s place. Charlothe and her husband, who are from the same Church as Nelvin, accepted to host me for a few days at their place. There, there were 3 little girls playing and a young woman taking care of the youngest girl. I quickly got very comfortable with the girls and spent the rest of the afternoon with them.

In Swakopmund, I rested more than I visited, as it was difficult to go to the natural places I wanted to go without a car and this town is not very big. However, with Charlothe’s husband, I could see the city center, the locations and the squatter camps there. Driving around the squatter camp was interesting for me, as it is part of the reality in Africa. However, at the same time, I was feeling uncomfortable in the car, looking at those people and their “houses”, I didn’t want them to think that I was at the “zoo”. Moreover, facing poverty and such bad living conditions that way is not easy to handle. For your information and so that you can get an idea of what a squatter camp is: those people have no running water, no electricity, are going by foot to the city center km away, don’t have easy access to any proper shop and can only buy what they need at the small kiosk near their home.

On another hand, the city center was nice: it looks pretty German and there are German pubs everywhere. There is also beach at seaside but the weather wasn’t good enough to enjoy it.

The rest of my time there, I spent it with the girls. In 2 days, I learnt quickly how to be a mum of young children -2 and 5 years old- 😉 I indeed had sometimes to take care of the girls by myself. Even though, I was not used to take care of such young children alone, I had a really good time with them and with the whole family. They are really nice and loving people. Another thing I experienced, when I was there is driving a car on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the right + driving with a 2-year old girl on my laps –only way for her to stop crying…-.

After my time in Swakopmund, I went to Etosha National Park, where Nelvin’s family accepted to host me. I was not planning to go there as I thought it was too far north. However, when Nelvin told me about this possibility, I thought, “ok, I cannot miss such an opportunity to see other wild animals” as this national park is the biggest and most famous one in Namibia for game driving.

To go to Okaukuejo (base camp in Etosha) was not an easy thing! Well, I had known worse, but once again that trip made me become a bit more patient 😉 I arrived at the taxi rank at 8am but my taxi didn’t leave that place before 10am. When we left that place I thought “finally we are going”. But, no, we weren’t… You have to be used to it in Africa, time is never an important issue. So, from the taxi rank we just went to the petrol station 500m away… And even though, you could think it’s normal, the taxi driver has to get some fuel before leaving, it wasn’t that normal, as we stayed at the petrol station for an hour!! I have no idea exactly why but again it’s Africa. Then, when at 11am we finally left the petrol station and were on our way a girl talked to the driver, who thus turned around to go back to the taxi rank where we were 2 hours ago… Why? Because, this girl had realized that she had left her luggage in the other minibus. Anyway, we could finally leave to my next stopover –Otjiwarongo- at 11.30am. From Otjiwarongo, I got a quick lift by taxi to Outjo: the guy jumped on us, when we got off the minibus and was missing 2 people so this was quick at least. However, arriving in Outjo, getting a lift to Okaukuejo was much more difficult… I had to wait in a not really safe place (from my own point of view looking around) for apparently a truck, which was on its way. Well, the other issue was that I wasn’t the only one waiting for that truck: at least 10 other people were waiting as well… It then started to rain. However, at a moment, 2 cars parked near our place and a woman, who was also waiting, told me to come with her and that I had to ask a driver for a lift. This woman was really nice, she did that only as friendliness, because she saw that I was a traveler and thought that I couldn’t stay for the night in such a small place without anywhere to sleep! I will always be amazed by such people! I thus talked to the driver and he was ok to give me a lift 😉 I was happy to leave that place, as I was getting annoyed by some guys trying to sell me things I didn’t need and smelling strongly alcohol…

So after a whole day on the road, I finally arrived in Okaukuejo, where I met with Nelvin’s family. His mum was still working at the shop, so I spent some time with the children. They were really nice children. They showed me around the village. They showed me the waterhole, where the animals are coming when the sun is not high in the sky to drink and we went up a tower, where I could get a view over the village and a part of the park. This place is just amazing!

Oh, and one thing I forgot –how could I have even forgotten that??!!-: after entering the park, our car stopped because a giraffe was standing in front of us on the road. I was so happy to see a wild giraffe like that! It was a family, as two other giraffes were on both sides of the road. The giraffe on the road was just huge: from its feet to the bottom of her neck, it was already higher than our car, so imagine with the neck! I couldn’t stop smiling after that moment!

That night, I had dinner with the oldest girl of the house at the hotel’s restaurant. It was quite expensive as it is for tourists but I was happy to offer this meal to this girl. It was buffet, so we could just go and pick up whatever we wanted. There, I ate for the first time some Eland meat. It was really good: even though, it’s red meat, it was as tender as chicken 😉 A good culinary discovery. During dinner, a group of choir came to sing and dance for the restaurant’s guests. The girl, I was with, told me that it was kids from her school, that were coming every Tuesday and Thursday night there to perform. She told me that they like doing that because they were getting tips from tourists for it. She was still too young to do it but she loves singing and she could do it later. I indeed heard her sing the next day and this girl is really talented!! She can even write good songs in some minutes! As her teacher was accompanying the choir, I went to ask her, whether I could go to the school the next day and she accepted 😊

So, I spent the next day with her and other grade 7 pupils at the school. I loved my time there. It was first really interesting to see how is school in Namibia and second, it was good because I love teaching! I could thus see the assembly before class, when children will pray and sing a religious song and when a teacher would do a speech about good manners. I could also see that some subjects are taught here and not in France: there are taught different interactive skills like active listening. On that day, there was also Maths class and as I love Maths, I offered to help the teacher grading the papers and I also helped him during the Maths exercices going around to help children understand. It reminded me of my time teaching in Burkina Faso. Doing this has always been my best life experience! During school breaks, I could spend some time with children. I taught them a part of a song that they sang in French and in English. Then, they invented a song for me and sang it all together. We also did some funny games. You can look at the videos of it. It’s quite funny I think. I had a blast on that day teaching and playing with the kids.

Now, I would like to talk about something that I noticed while I was at school and that I noticed then for my whole stay in Etosha with the family: some kids but in fact also adults are really not eating enough food to be able to be totally efficient… I was shocked and didn’t know how to react to that. I mean we know this issue because of the media but being confronted to it directly made a huge impression on me. Kids here will go to school without having breakfast and some of them won’t take any food with them to school. They will thus be at school with nothing in their stomach from 7am to 2pm!!! How can you fully concentrate on learning, while you are starving?! Brain needs food to function well… Then, their main and most of the time only dish per day will be some porridge. This will indeed fill up their stomach for some time but will not give them the nutrients they need… I am telling you this because it really made a huge impact on me and even writing this is difficult for me. I never wasted food because I know that some people don’t have enough but I am now wondering what to do to improve such situation 😞

To come back on a lighter topic, I have to say that I had an amazing time in Etosha National Park because of 2 things. Firstly, I had a great time with the kids there, taking them to the swimming pool, teaching them how to swim, going to school, walking around with them or taking pictures of them. Secondly, I had so much fun looking at the animals at the waterhole! I could see a lot of different species there. It was like a theater performance to look at it. Each specie will indeed come one by one to the waterhole and drink. So one day it would be first the zebras, then the springboks, then the black impala, then the rhinoceros. Another day, I would arrive and see a herd of giraffes. Seeing the animals there and enjoying the sunset and sunrise in the background was just AMAZING!! Only one thing was missing for it to be even more perfect: I didn’t see the elephants… They came twice to the waterhole, when I was staying at Etosha but unfortunately, it was always too late in the night and I would be asleep at that time… Anyway, it was awesome, with or without this animal!!

As I said in the beginning of this post, I had a great time in Namibia. I am now in Brazil, but I am still missing this country and Africa in general. I advise anyone to visit this place!

I would like now to thank all the nice and helpful people, who hosted me during this trip: out of 15 days in Namibia, I spent only 2 nights at a camping place, the other 13 nights, I have been hosted by local people without even using Couchsurfing!! A special thank you to Nelvin, who introduced me to his friends and family all over Namibia and asked them to host me! Being immersed with the very local inhabitants was a wonderful experience!

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