African Adventure VIII

Friday, 20 February 2009

The morning was unhurried. We met Venessa and the girls at a favorite coffee shop at the mall for a coffee date, while Tim had a meeting at the Polytechnic. (Yes, this was a working trip for him.)

At noon we headed to the train station to start another adventure. We went on the Desert Express to Swapokmund on the coast. It does cross the desert, but it's not much of an express, taking almost 24 hours to make the trip. The journey is as important as the destination. 

After checking in and parking the cars on the platform, we wandered around the station and visited the museum. When it was time to board, Tim and I first had to drive our cars onto a flatbed train car for the trip to Swapok. We had decided that one way on the train was enough adventure and we would drive back. There was one other car on the train. After watching the crew securely tie the cars to the flatbed, we found our way to our car and overnight compartments. We had never had a bed on a train before.

We joined the other passengers, about 35 of them, for a welcome reception in the Bar Car. And we were off! Heading north from Windhoek toward Okahandja, we saw some wildlife that was new to us, dik dik or duiker and hartebeest. It's a bit hard to tell for sure sometimes from a moving train. The rivers we were by or crossed had water in them from all the rain. They are usually dry. 

The train turned west at Okahandja, heading for the coast. We were still in green bush with some interesting mountains breaking the horizon. We stopped at a siding out in the middle of nowhere and disembarked the train. Waiting were two very large safari style trucks to take us on a game drive. We drove many kilometers into the bush, across several fence lines, to a game reserve lodge, Orapoko. The lodge is at the peak of one of the hills with impressive views all around. 

After a welcome iced tea, we once again took off in the trucks for a game viewing drive. There were more giraffe, springbok, wildebeest, and warthog. Also we added to the sightings list, waterbok, white rhinoceros, damara dik dik and rock dassie. Tim & Venessa said they had not seen waterbok on previous trips. This antelope looks like it sat on a toilet seat with wet paint because of the marking on its rear. And the dassie made up for no elephants—its DNA is nearly identical, but it's a small furry animal about the size of large cat. Go figure!

Back at the lodge, we had sundowners and starters (drinks at sunset and appetizers). Then it was back to the train and off on the next leg of the express. At the next siding we stopped for dinner.

Dinner was elegant in the dining car, with crystal and china. And with the train not moving, was no challenge. The menu was what you would expect for a first class dining car, and the food was very good. (Namibians really know how to cook.) After dinner, we thought we were able to take a walk off the train, but not at this siding. We misunderstood the schedule at that point. So we went to bed, and found out later only Tim & Venessa got off for a little walk when the train made its overnight stop on the siding in Karibib. Early in the morning the train starting moving again on the final leg to the coast.

But I'm already at the next day.

African Adventure VII

Thursday, 19 February 2009

On the way back to Windhoek, we again stopped in Okahandja after getting gas in Otjiwarongo. Karen had bought a carved elephant, but when we looked at it in Otavi, there were no tusks. The guy in the stall had removed them for travel, but had not put them in the package. He didn't argue, and in fact produced a couple better tusks to complete the deal. 

At the gas station across from the wood carvers' market, a couple workers recognized the Etosha Pan mud all over the cars and offered to wash them. After negotiating a price (we paid 5USD for a complete hand wash), we had both cars well washed. We had lost our front license plate, which now was obvious once the mud was gone. It was nice to have a clean car again.

BTW, most of the tar (paved) roads in Namibia are two lane and the speed limit is 120 km/h. And there are many long straight stretches. The longest I measured was 25 km. So unless you got stuck behind a slow truck, . . . 

After returning to Windhoek, we again visited the Namibia Craft Centre. Here we finished our major gift and souvenir shopping for Namibia. And had a coffee date. 

African Adventure VI

Wednesday, 18 February 2009

Karen & I were up early to take another try at Moringa water hole at sunrise. Still no animals, but many birds. We saw some really close as they came near us to feed, mostly on last night's moths. Guinea fowl, shrikes, hornbills, owls, starlings (not little black birds), doves, and numerous others I couldn't identify. 

After breakfast, in the dark because there was no power, we headed out. Fortunately, we had filled the cars with gas the evening before during the time the power was on. Our immediate destination was the Etosha Pan Overlook. It is another place you can get out of your car and look at the 5000 sq km pan, or dry lakebed, from which the park gets its name. Only we couldn't go all the way out to the usual overlook (the road was blocked) because of the real danger of its being under water in a heavy rain. It is still an impressive sight. 

We returned back to Namutoni, seeing many more giraffe, zebra, springbok, wildebeest and the like. Including several young ones of each kind, some wildebeests nursing. Several giraffe were very close and walked right in front of the car. They are so graceful when they move.

At Namutoni we saw a colony of banded mongeese playing on the lawn of the reception center. One more animal not previously noted. 

As we were loading back into the cars to head out and back to Otavi, by chance we met a lady from Norway with her daughter. She has been a visiting prof at PLU, and works with the consortium of colleges that includes the University of Namibia, PLU, and her school in Norway. So we agreed to meet her for a coffee date in Tsumeb, outside the park. 

When we got to the gate to leave, we discovered we had overstayed our daily permit by about three hours, and the guard would not let us out until we went back to Namutoni and paid for another day. (What happened to Africa Time??) That set us back almost an hour. But our new friends were still waiting for us at the agreed caffé shop in Tsumeb. We had a very nice visit in a lovely biergarten. 

We returned to the Palmenecke Guest House in Otavi for the night. Dinner that night was kudu steak! Two nights in a row. Fixed entirely differently, but still very good. 

African Adventure V

Tuesday, 17 February 2009

We drove west from Otavi to Etosha National Park's east entrance at Von Lindequist Gate. You get your daily permit at the gate, but pay later at the first rest camp you come to. So we drove in to Namutoni. On the way we saw zebra and giraffe and some antelope. It was a good beginning to our game "hunt." 

Namutoni looks like a fort, and indeed started life as a military outpost. It was leveled by the natives a year or so after it was built, then rebuilt a couple of times, most recently in the 1980s as a resort. After paying our fees and checking the shops and getting oriented, we headed off into the park to see the animals. Our destination was the Halali Rest Camp, our overnight stay.

Summer is the rainy, wet season, so the books all warn that animals may be less easily found since they don't have to come to the water holes for water. But we saw many giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, springbok, gemsbok, impala, kudu, warthogs, and others grazing placidly in the bush along the way. OK, the warthogs were almost always running away, but the others seemed unperturbed by the presence of a couple of cars. 

The roads in Etosha are gravel, usually well graded. However, the daily occurrence of heavy thunderstorm rains created some interesting passages through very large puddles (or very small lakes) in the road. We stopped for a sort of picnic at a designated spot where you were allowed to get out of the car. It has a fence around it, a couple of concrete tables, and a dilapidated concrete outhouse. But there was no gate. Not that it would keep elephants out anyway. So we kept one eye on the road in and the car doors open in case we needed to make a hasty retreat. But no one showed up. We enjoyed our lunch of biltong, cheese, bread, and juice.

After lunch the trek continued through the bush. We stopped at a couple of water holes where there had been sightings in the last week, but came up blank. In fact, we never did see any animals at a water hole. But we did continue to see many grazing.

At Halali we had a very nice house. It looked like one of the newest buildings at the rest camp. Dinner, which we tried to eat out on the patio, was moved inside when the downpour of the thunderstorm invaded our area. Once again, the food was very good. I had  steak of what may now be my favorite meat, kudu. Flavorful, tender, low fat. And unavailable in the states. After dinner we went out to Moringa water hole at the camp, but alas, no animals.

Electricity is somewhat sporadic in this area. And there are planned times of no power. It just makes life more interesting. Remember, as much as possible, travel as a local.

 

African Adventure IV

Monday, 16 February 2009

Today we headed north towards Etosha National Park in northern Namibia.  It is a very large park around the Etosha Pan, a dry lake bed and the surrounding water holes, that is home to many African game animals. 

Our first stop was in Okahandja, a town about 70 kilometers north of Windhoek. This is the site of a very large wood carvers market. We also were introduced to a local delicacy, biltong, at Closwa Biltong. It is much better than jerky, and comes in a number of flavors. 

The wood carvers market is a series of many stalls, each filled with carved animals and other artifacts, mostly from the Kavongo region of NE Namibia. We had seen some at the Craft Center in Windhoek, but this is closer to the source. I don't think all the sellers were also carvers, but it at least seems more direct with the carvers. The variety is tremendous. We came away with a collection of animals: giraffe, zebra, lion, hippo, rhino, and elephant. I hope we got good bargains, since it is expected that you bargain and don't simply pay the first asking price, which is usually fairly high. Tim & Venessa did some of the bargaining with barter, trading t-shirts and other items for goods along with some cash. We were the only customers at the time, so we got lots of attention, even though we didn't walk through the whole market. 

As we left town after the biltong stop, we saw another wood carvers market, not quite as big. You can find all these carvings at shops in the cities and towns as well. 

We stopped for the night in Otavi at the Palmenecke Guesthouse. Hotels and meals are very inexpensive by US standards. And the dinner was excellent, done by the lady of the house as chef. We even got one of her recipes. The husband is bartender and host. The rooms were also very nice, and breakfast was included. 

When we arrived at Otavi, Tim took us out to Laurent's winery while Abigael and Lillian enjoyed the very small swimming pool at the guesthouse. Laurent is a friend who works at the Polytechnic in Windhoek, grew up on a chateau in France, and wants to make wine. So he and a friend have started a winery near Otavi (about five hours north of Windhoek). They are now working on their third harvest. It was very interesting to see a start up winery and meet the resident crew. And the puppy, Gifty.

African Adventure III

Sunday, 15 February 2009

This was a day for getting oriented and acquainted with Windhoek. We went to a nearby shopping mall to buy a cell phone for use in Africa. (I had brought a global phone from home, this one was cheap and better for someone to call from Namibia and South Africa.) We got introduced to some local shops and food items. All very good. Of course, to some extent at least, a shopping mall is a shopping mall. At least there are no Starbucks, very few McDonald's, and only one KFC. Local is better!

Tim, Abigael, and we visited the National Museum of History. Unfortunately, not much time, so we only saw part of it. It is located very close to "the most famous building in Namibia," Christ Church, a big German Lutheran church in the center of the city. It is a very prominent building.

Summer is the wet season in Namibia (except in the deserts along the coast), so it rained a lot, everyday. Mostly passing storms, but very strong storms. Lots of lightning and thunder, and heavy rains. Sometimes more extended.

We took Tim (and the family) out to Joe's Bierhaus for dinner for his birthday (a couple weeks late). The rain was heavy enough to cause us trouble getting there. At least twice, we had to turn around and find another route because of flooded streets. It looked like a river running across the streets, flash flood like.

We decided to eat inside, rather than on the patio, in deference to more rain possibly coming. It's a very interesting place with the usual sort of collection of miscellaneous junk on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. The food was very good. We tried things one can't get in the states, mostly African game (although my skewer did have a piece of chicken on it, amongst the gemsbok, springbok, crocodile, and the like).

This was also our first encounter with southern African style of paying for parking. You don't put money in a meter, but in the hands of a "car guard." Both on the street and in most parking lots. They "guarantee" your car will be safe and there when you return. In return you give them N$2-4. That's their livelihood. We found them almost everywhere in both Namibia and South Africa.

The return home was easier since the rains had mostly stopped, and the floods had somewhat subsided. Altogether a very interesting and fun first full day in Namibia.

African Adventure II

Saturday, 14 February 2009

We were picked up fairly early by Trevor (Glenn's main driver) for the ride back to the airport. He had been told he was picking up the Wryes, but was surprised that it wasn't Tim and family. So now he met more Wryes.

We had a South African Express flight from Cape Town to Windhoek. It reminded me of Horizon Air: small plane (CRJ), good service including wine, short flight. At least it seemed short after the previous couple of days.

The flight to Windhoek was interesting, watching the desert landscape go by. We saw the Orange River (the Namibia-South Africa border), Fish River Canyon (like the Grand Canyon), and other interesting formations. 

When we landed at the Windhoek airport, Hosea Kutako International Airport, we couldn't see the city. It's about 35 kilometers out of town in the bush. After going through immigration (a minor hassle) and customs (no hassle—just don't declare anything), we were met by Tim & Venessa and Abigael & Lillian. It was great to see them. We got our hired car (they drive on the left) and followed them into town to the house where we all stayed. The Polytechnic of Namibia furnished Tim with a four-bedroom house, so we were able to stay with them. It was very nice, though in a locked compound with 24-hour security guards. (Refer to Tim's "plethora of keys" on Flickr.)

It was a quiet, relaxing evening at home; at least as quiet and relaxing as possible with a five and a two year old. Our second night in Africa, and first in Namibia.

African Adventure I

Thursday-Friday, 12-13 February 2009

I have never been on an airplane for 18 hours before. And that was after the 6 hour flight from Portland to New York. So after more than 24 hours in airplanes and airports, we were in Cape Town, South Africa! As we approached Cape Town, the pilot announced that since it was the one-year anniversary of Delta's flying in to Cape Town, the control tower had given us permission to circle the city on a bright, clear day. And we were on the right side of the plane to see the beautiful city surrounding Table Mountain, which is right in the middle of town. We learned it really was a special landing approach from people around us who flew in to Cape Town somewhat regularly and said that had never happened before (and may not happen again). 

We were met at the airport by Glenn, who owns a shuttle service, and who drove us in his Mercedes to St James on False Bay, where we stayed the night in the guesthouse of Seamus & Carol. (Glenn at one time was the South African Ambassador to Italy. We got winery recommendations from him.) Seamus has been to our house on a visit to the states, and has worked with Tim through Highline. He cooked us dinner in his Potjie, a traditional South African pot for cooking over an open or charcoal fire. It was wonderful! (BTW, that's pronounced "poi-khie"). 

After several glasses of very good South African wine, we retired to the guesthouse, a 19th (I think) century house, one of the first in St James.