Sunday, February 15, 2015

gNarly Namibia.

Preface: The hardest part about writing blogs, in my opinion, is the title.  I have to say, I'm a little disappointed in myself on this one.  I've been thinking about it since I arrived in Namibia on Tuesday and it was between gnarly or neat-o Namibia, obviously neither is a knock out of the park.  Namibia deserves so much better, but I guess my creative juices just aren't flowing - or they are damned up by all the dust/sand I've inhaled. Anyways, my sincerest apologies. 

As I mentioned I landed in Windhoek (vind-hook) on Tuesday afternoon. To say the flight was rough is an understatement, people were screaming, babies crying, my hands were pouring sweat, and the entire cabin literally applauded the captains after landing.  (I'm so excited to get on a plane again tomorrow!)

I got to my room, walked to the market, which was closing, got some Indian food (Windhoek is weird) and went to bed excited for the spa day I had booked for the next morning!  Much to my surprise, I woke up to the return of my vertigo that reared it's ugly head last May. Luckily I had my trusty Benedryl with me, which I never leave home without only because I've been terrified that these dizzy spells would return.  The bad news is my relaxing day was not so relaxing, the good news is that thanks to downing Benedryl every 4 hours, I think I've got my vertigo under control (I'm knocking on wood right now...)
view from the spa at Gocheganas 
The next morning I met a German girl, Christina, and we started our trip to Swakopmund (svah-cup-mooned).  Victor was our driver, a Namibian transplant from South Africa, and he helped me confirm that a South African is my favorite accent.  Anyways, en route we stopped at a little mine stand that had every gemstone you could imagine where I learned that basically everything is mined in Namibia.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any diamonds...boo.  As we got closer to the coast, we drove south of Swakopmund to Walvis (Val-fis) Bay where I scaled my first of many Namibian dunes, Dune 7. We then made a quick stop in Walvis Bay to take a look at the flamingos and a gigantic salt flat..



Swakopmund reminds me so much of some of the central coast towns in California (mostly Cayucous), and it does not feel like you're in Africa at all.  It's a beautiful little German beach town with so much charm.  In Swakopmund we met up with the rest of the group that we would be traveling with for the next 3 days.  There were 4 French Canadians (including 1 Brazilian transplant), 2 Swiss girls, 1 Italian living in Switzerland, 1 Denmark girl, 2 Zimbabwean sisters (1 living in Australia and the other in the UK), 1 German (Christina), our 2 Namibian guides, and me. We all went to dinner to get acquainted and enjoy some Namibian cuisine. I ordered something called springbok mostly because it's description said wrapped in bacon. Turns out springbok is a cute little deer that are all over Namibia (which one of the guys pointed out that I ate when we saw them the next day) but they are pretty delicious.  After dinner one of the sisters, the one living in Australia, told me I had a "lovely accent." After that compliment, I knew this was a great group.

At dinner I talked with the Canadians, and we all agreed to get up the next morning to go sand boarding. When I got up early to catch the shuttle, I was the only one...lazy Canadians ;)  On my trip to the dunes, I met some folks from the UK that were living in Nigeria, and they were sand boarding with no prior experience.  I mean I didn't either, but I've at least got snowboarding down and it should be the same thing, right?  Yes, the going down the dune part is the same, but the going up is not. They should advertise sand boarding as Dune Climbing.  Lifts don't exist in the dunes, so every time you board down you have to hike back up the dune...in snowboarding boots...carrying your board.  Talk about a work out!  After about 2 hours (which was only 5 or 6 trips down the dune) I was done.  The bus load of my group pulled up right as I was walking back to the base...clearly, I'm pooped.




After a quick change (still covered in sand) I boarded the bus, and we were off to Sossusvlei (so-sus-flay).  I haven't mentioned how I found this group trip, but basically I googled "cheap safari Namibia" and Chameleon Safaris came up.  They had a 3-day Sossusvlei trip that fit perfectly into the window that I had reserved for Namibia, so I booked it. I still didn't really know where I was going exactly, but it was super cheap and I didn't have to plan anything so I was onboard.  Since it was self-advertised as a "budget safari" tour I was expecting pretty rough accommodations...picturing sleeping in tents in the desert that may or may not have running water. Luckily, I was completely wrong (first time in my life..) and the accommodations were amazing (more on that later). However, the traveling was rough. If you look at a map of Namibia, they have tons of highways and what looks to be great infrastructure. Not the case. Most of the roads are what we would call county roads...a very bumpy gravel road.  So now picture a 12 person vehicle on said road, without air conditioner.  I was "that girl" that said she had to sit in the front row or else she would get car sick, but in my defense I am battling vertigo so it's legit, really! 

So we made a few stops on the 6ish hour ride to Sossusvlei...photo op at the Tropic of Capricorn, and sampling the famous apple pie in Solitare (which was more of a cobbler, but delicious nonetheless).


Solitare...population: ??
crossing the Tropic of Capricorn
So back to my false assumption of crappy accommodations...everyone kept talking about staying at the Desert Camp hence the reason I assumed that we would be camping. Much to my delight, the Desert Camp is part of a company called Taleni Africa that have several lodges all over Namibia.  The group had stayed at one in Etosha Natuonal Park and they kept bragging about how they got to shower under the stars in the outdoor luxury showers, whatever...(I'm not jealous at all).  The Desert Camp did not disappoint. We had these beautiful "tents", a swimming pool, a bar, and our own kitchen with personal chef (who was one of our guides).  No showering under the stars, which turned out to be a good thing because we would be covered in sand anyway...


1 of 20 "tents"
There were Oryx all over the place...this one's for you Daddy!
The next morning we got up before sunrise to head to the Namib Naukluft Park.  The gates are open from sunrise to sunset and our guides wanted us to see the sunrise and get to the furthest climb-able dune (and highest in the area at 370m), called Big Daddy, before it got too hot to climb.  I thought it was called Big Dirty for the entire time, until they asked if anyone wanted to climb Big Momma...accents are hard.

On way to Big Daddy, we stopped at Dune 40 and 45 (the most climbed dune) for a quick photo op, and continued on. We had to get out of our truck and get into a 4x4 to be able to reach Big Daddy. When we finally got to the bottom both of our guides talked extensively about how we need to make a decision on if we are going to climb because once you start there's no turning back.  Big Daddy is the highest point in a big bowl of dunes so if you decide you can't make it, you still have to go up and down a few dunes to make it out alive ;)  Our group was a mixture of fit and borderline unfit folks but all of the younguns decided to go for it...the Zimbabwe sisters and the Italian lady took the shorter route to Deadvlei.  So as predicted, about halfway up the German and 2 of the Canadians wanted to turn back. As a group, we basically said that's not happening, suck it up and do it!  At that time the top seemed much closer than it actually was. The climb seriously kicked everyone's butt. We only had one puker, but the guide didn't seem worried so no one else did either.


Here is our home for the weekend on our way into the park
not even halfway...
sweaty selfie!





After we sat at the top and pondered life for a while our guide told us to take off our shoes and feel the sand before it started getting hot.  At that point we all kind of started wondering how we were supposed to get down from this ridiculously high point, and the answer was run, no bound, down the side of the dune. We did as we were told and it was sooo fun.  The whole group was running, jumping, screaming, giggling like a bunch of 12 year old girls. It was perfect.





Deadvlei is a dried up lake bed with some dead trees at the bottom of Big Daddy, which sounds really boring, but it's really unbelievable beautiful.  It's the epitome of what I always picture Africa looking like.
Deadvlei


Valentine's Day surprise :)
After our hike (no one realized we had to walk a mile back to the car after the hike), our guides fed us brunch under the trees. And we loaded up to go back to the camp.  The night before our hike the guides had prepped us for the day saying that we would get to the park for sunrise, climb Big Daddy, walk across Deadvlei, have brunch, go back and climb Dune 45, and then come back and swim.  When the bus stopped at Dune 45 on the way back, no one made a move to get out of the truck. Needless to say, there was no climbing Dune 45...it was only 140m anyway...psshhhh.

We got back and were instructed that we had free time until 5:30 when we would go see Sesreim Canyon. Everyone napped by the pool for the afternoon and grudgingly got back on the bus to go to the canyon. We were all pretty pooped, but it's on he itinerary so we've got to do it. It was only a 15 minute drive or so to the canyon, and when we got out I was under-impressed. It was just a little crack in the ground. But thennnn we walked down into the canyon and it was pretty amazing.  I mean it's no Grand Canyon, but it was really neat to walk down through the river bed and see what time has done to the ground.  Nature is awesome. 

When we were going back to camp everyone was asking me if I had been to the Grand Canyon, and wanted to know all about it.  I was surprised that I was the only one on the trip that had been, but they all assured me that it was on their list of places to go.  So I got my moment to brag on America and how to the best place on Earth :)

After another amazing meal and stargazing (the stars were absolutely breathtaking) we all turned in pretty early. I think the guides wear is out on purpose to have some quiet time to themselves without all the annoying tourists asking a million questions (which they know every answer to).


Last sunset in "camp"
The next morning we headed out early to go to a cheetah refuge in hope of seeing some cats.  The refuge it outside of Solitare and is home to "troublesome" cheetahs.  There are 6 cheetahs the area that will never be released to the wild again.  They are considered troublesome for a few reasons. Either they have been raised by humans and turned too aggressive for the owners to handle, or they began to stalk farmers heards rather than wild animals.  So rather than killing the cheetahs, people call this lady who will come pick them up and raise them in the refuge.  She's pretty amazing in the effort she puts into making the environment as close their to natural habitat as possible

pretty thing!
It's safe to say that Namibia exceeded every expectation I had coming here.  The people are so friendly, they speak English and everything is priced sooo reasonably (I'd say cheap, but that makes it sound like it's not high quality and it IS!)  Bottom line is, if you're planning a trip to Africa, make sure Namibia is on your itinerary!

Im heading to Cape Town early tomorrow morning and will be there for the next 10 days.  Everyone on the group trip had been or was going to Cape Town, so I've got lots of recommendations on places to go, things to see, and most importantly where to eat! 

Until next week! xoxo....

So long Namibia!

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