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 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.