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.
No comments:
Post a Comment