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Published: July 22nd 2006
Since our last entry, we have begun our 26 day Overland Adventure Tour. We left Cape Town Sunday morning when we joined our 19 other traveling companions. It is quite the diversification of people: 2 from Italy, 2 from England, 4 from Holland, 4 from Korea, 2 from Germany, 2 from New Zealand, 2 from Switzerland, and 1 from Japan. Most people speak English, but the Koreans and the Germans don't speak any English. A good majority of the people are young, but there are several older couples as well. Everyone is very nice and we are having a great time getting to know them and learn their cultures.
An overland adventure tour is basically like one big camping road trip. Imagine driving across the US and camping everywhere you stay, but then remember we're in Africa so it's a bit different. Our means of transportation is Frankie. Frankie is a huge rugged truck (almost a bus- but our tour guide will kill us if we ever call it a bus) that doesn't go very fast, but has a ton of power. We haven't seen many paved roads, most of them are dirt roads full of rocks. So you can
imagine what bumpy rides we take. But it's kinda fun that way. Our meals are as following: breakfast can't be eaten until our tents are broken down and consists of bread and tasteless cereal, lunch is usually on the side of the road and consists of processed meat sandwhiches (like bologne), and dinner isn't eaten until are tents are up and is usually the best meal of the day. We have had lamb, chicken, pasta, beef, sausage and all of the unique African vegetables to go with it.
Our first day we drove up the western coast of South Africa. It appeared to be similar to the coast of California, pretty green and mountainous. That night we arrived at our campsite at around 5pm. It was located on a Citrus Vineyard and was beautiful. We learned how to pitch our old school tents. After successfully getting our tents up, we all sat around the campfire and started to get to know one another as Cassidy, our Zimbabwean cook, prepared our dinner over the fire. Dinner, to our pleasure, was unexpectedly good. It was almost like a beef stew served over rice. We were all pretty tired after dinner and
Tropic of Capricorn
Kinda a lame sign in the middle of nowherewent to bed shortly after dinner.
We woke up early (6am) the next morning and broke down our campsite. We had a quick breakfast and then jumped back into Frankie for a long days worth of driving. We arrived at our next campsite later in the afternoon. It was right on the South Africa/Namibia border, and right on the Orange River (which is the largest river in Africa). We watched a beautiful sunset over the river and sat around the campfire and drank our new favorite beers (Windhoek for Mike and Savannah Dry for Meghan).
Day Three was quite nice. We woke up at around 8am and went canoeing down the Orange River for three hours. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The Orange River is home to hundreds of species of birds: including the snake bird (which has a long snake-like neck and has to sunbathe after getting wet to dry off it's wings), the African Heron, and the African Eagle. This little adventure was very enjoyable and it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. When we finished canoeing, we ate a quick lunch and then got back on the truck and crossed the border
Quiver Tree
Bushman use branches of this tree to make quiver's for their arrows, hence the name and entered Namibia. Upon arrival, we were informed of a worsening polio outbreak and were advised to go to the local clinic and receive immunizations. So we all went and got two little droplets of medicine on our tongues. No hassel at all or a big deal for those worrying parents. Just a little a background info on Namibia that we have recently acquired: it was originally a tribal ruled country with 7 different types of Bushman languages (all which are different by the clicks they make before every word). Around the time of European expansion, Germans colonized Namibia, so today German is still one of it's primary languages (along with Africaans). It wasn't until the 1970's that Namibia was returned to the Bushman. After receiving immunizations, we drove to Fish River Canyon and watched the sunset. On this drive, we found out what the roads of Namibia are really like- dirt and rocks. Fish River Canyon is the 2nd largest canyon in the world (second only to the Grand Canyon). However, Fish River Canyon is the oldest canyon in the world. It was a beautiful scenery. Our campsite that night was named Hobas, meaning "place with little water."
Day four was pretty uneventful. It was spent driving through the desert of Namibia. We did have a little excitement though when we got a flat tire. We all had to get off the truck and help repair the massive tire on Frankie (actually Mike helped).
Day Five we were awaken at 4am in order to catch sunrise on Dune 45. Dune 45 was quite the hike, and like the smart tourists we were, we tried to run up the massive dune. That lasted about a minute and then we felt as if we would die. After about a thirty minute climb, we reached the top of the dune and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise. Dune 45 is the best dune to catch sunrise and sunset and is also the only dune that people are allowed to walk on without a guide (the rest are part of a national preservation). We made our way back down Dune 45 and met a Bushman named Franz. Franz was born in Namibia and has lived as a hunter and gatherer most of his life. He knows the desert like it's his backyard. Bushman acquired the name from Europeans who would search the desert
dunes for diamonds, and in doing so the Bushman would follow their tracks and kill them. The Europeans always thought they were coming out of the bush (or what little bush there was). Franz took us on a three hour hike through the desert. He showed us which plants to get water from (drinkable water), which plants to get poison from to make poisonous arrows. He also introduced us to the vast desert wildlife: spiders that make caccoons out of their webs and hide them in the sand, mice, beattles, flamingos, birds, etc... The desert has only seen rain once in Franz's 25 years of living in this area. Usually, once every ten years, flash floods of water come down from the mountains and water becomes trapped in the desert, forming little lakes. Believe it or not, the 63 dunes that inhabit this region, are formed by a plant (can't pronounce or write the name- think click). What happens is sand builds up over the plant, and once the plant is covered by sand, it begins to grow. Over time the sands covers, the plant grows, and the dunes thus are formed. Therefore, in this area the dunes do not
move. However, there is an even distribution between the eastern and western winds. The curve of the dunes is affected by these winds and changes in the season in which the wind blows. This is nature's compass which Bushman use to get around the desert without getting lost. Franz told us how to track footprints and how to distinguish ages of people from the impressions they leave when sitting in the sand. He told us how they make "water bottles" out of Ostrich eggs and plant them throughout the desert. He told us so much and we learned a grip of cool things from him. It was a great experience and now we know we can survive in Tucson without a problem.
Day Five we drove out of the desert and into civilization. We stopped at Walvis Bay (Namibia's biggest port) and viewed the flamingos that live there. Then we drove into Swakopmund, the adventure capital of Namibia/ where Brad and Angelina lived. We checked into our rooms with bunkbeds and warm showers... a.k.a. our version of a 5 star. We all went out to dinner that night at an Italian restaurant (somewhat Italian). Mike, of course, ordered the
full rack of ribs and Meghan had some yummy pasta. We went out for a little bit after dinner, but were stuffed and due to the fact that we have watched the sun rise every morning since we've been here, were a bit tired.
Day Six, today, began with a walk around Swakopmund. It is a very cute beachside town that reminds us of a European coastal town (imagine Germany on water). We watched kids playing tribal music on the streets and browsed through the shops. We will soon be celebrating Christmas in Africa (Christmas in July since it's their winter) and we are having a present exchange. Everyone on our trip had to buy a tiny little gift, and then on the 25th we exchange them! We also went down to the water and walked along the beach. It was a bit chilly, but pretty. At two, we got a little adventurous and went quad biking and sand sledding. We went all through the sand dunes and saw beautiful scenery along the ocean. The contrast of the sun shining from the dunes and onto the ocean was spectacular.
Tomorrow we leave Swakopmund for the rest of our
adventure...and to see some animals!! Will write again soon (probably not again until Victoria Falls- in about 12 days).
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Barbara
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so excited to hear from you
I loved the narrative - like I said - you've found your calling - and the pictures are fabulous - can't wait to hear more! Love you both, Mom.