NAMIBIA - Palmwag & The Himba

Our next stop on our tour of Namibia was Palmwag.  We drove and drove and the landscape changed to mountains and red rocks.  The rocks were interesting...they have rounded edges like they have been worn by moving water.  A gentleman at the lodge told us that all of the sand between the rocks had blown west across the Atlantic.  ; )

On the road to Palmwag

 The towns we passed through along the way were actually on the map but they were very small in reality.  Generally a group of less than 10 houses with lots of goats and a few cows grazing around. 

Invariably there would be 1 or 2 old cars that had been left to rust.  Frequently they would take the back half of the truck off to be pulled by a donkey and leave the front to slowly rust.

Then we arrived at our oasis literally in the middle of nowhere.  And the sunsets were lovely!

The Palmwag Lodge

We spent 2 nights here and weren't quite sure what we would do with ourselves during the day so we signed up for a trip to visit a Himba tribe. The Himba are a semi-nomadic people who have kept with their traditional customs although with Namibia becoming a increasingly popular tourist spot that may change in a generation or two.  Most are happy to have their photograph taken in exchange for money however it is recommended that you offer food instead.  Our tour guide brought things like corn meal, tea, and sugar in exchange for our visit to the village.  This exchange is more in line with their values of community cooperation instead of using money.  They also quite enjoyed, even demanded, to see their photo on the camera screen.  We really need to find a camera like the old Polaroids so a photo can be offered to them to keep.

The Himba are farmers/ranchers.  They breed and care for herds of cows, goats and sheep.  The cows are extremely important and revered.  They do grow some crops as well, like maize, but the climate is very hot and dry making farming and life in general difficult.  We were there during the rainy season and it was very dry even then.  Men can have several wives.  The husband had died in the village we visited so the head wife was in charge of the village.  The men take care of the herds and the women farm and take care of the children.  The women and small children still dress traditionally in cow hide skirts and lots of metal and beaded jewelry.  Every few days they apply a fragrant mixture of ocher, butter and herbs to their bodies and hair.  It gives them a burnt orange coloring and is a natural sunscreen and insect repellent.  They do this instead of bathing, which seems quite practical in a region where water is scarce.  The teenage boys at the village were dressed in western clothing.  When they turn about 14 part of the right of passage involves getting you bottom 2 teeth knocked out, everyone had the same smile.


It was a bit awkward visiting the village.  Kind of like showing up at a strangers house not able to speak their language and asking to be shown around.  But along with our guide came a man whose tribal language was close enough to Himba that he could communicate with them.  So before we exited the car he went to ask permission for us to visit the village.  He also was able to translate our questions and their answers for us.  It was truly an honor to visit the village and a very unique experience!

In addition to being a cultural experience this part of the trip also helped with another objective.  Steve was here in search of his bachelor party.  We are happy to say that yes he did get to see topless girls.

The women were all very proud and took a lot of care with their appearance.
I'm not sure what they thought of me, dressed like a man in trousers, boots, and a hat.

This lady could not wear traditional dress because she had attended 2 years of primary school.

A Himba House

One of the teenage boys in the village.

The ladies had jewelry for sale for a little "going to town money".

After visiting the Himba village we drove north to Sesfontein.  It was established as a military outpost in 1896 to control the spread of cattle disease, arms smuggling and poaching.  Later it was turned over to the local police.  But now it has been restored to a beautiful lodge...with toilets!  (A welcome site for me after being on the road all morning!)

Our lunch spot before heading back to Palmwag.

A Herero woman going to do her washing in the river.  The Herero dress like Victorian-era German missionaries, complete with petticoats.  They look lovely but must be boiling in the heat!  (It was well above 90F when we were there.)

Other sites we saw on our way to the Himba village...

Kudu (Tastes yummy too)

Hartmann's mountain zebra

Baboons in the river bed...we saw them along the highway quite often too.

Kudu having some breakfast.

NAMIBIA - Getting there & Etosha National Park

I was quite nervous about going on our first holiday in Africa.  It didn't matter how many people told me how much they enjoyed traveling in Namibia, I am from the Show Me State, and therefore generally have to see for myself before I truly believe it will all be ok.  But of course it was all ok, more than ok, it was a fabulous holiday!  

The adventure started even before we got to Namibia.  We flew on not one but two different airlines to get there, via Kenya and South Africa.  I will say that Kenya Airways and Air Namibia were great, top notch...so check that off the "see it to believe it" list.  Because we had to change airlines we only took carry on luggage, which these days seems to get smaller and smaller.  But we did it, 14 days with only carry on luggage!  (I did do some washing along the way.)  This is travel with my dear husband.  :)

I can't be too upset with him though because he planned everything and it turned out great!  I had to veto the tent on top of the car camping idea because I thought it would be a step too far for me.  However, we saw lots of travelers with the tents on top of the 4x4 they had rented.  Maybe next time I will be more adventurous in that regard.  But for now just getting there was enough adventure for me.

We rented a 4x4 truck and drove ourselves.  Or rather Joe and his friend Steve who joined us on the trip, drove me around Namibia.  Namibia drives according to the UK system...steering wheel on the right and drive on the left side of the road.  Once we were out of Windhoek, the capital city, it was mostly open road with little traffic.  Some roads were paved, most were gravel but all well maintained.  Our first day in Windhoek we stocked up on water and lunch supplies for the road.

Lunch on the roadside

We headed north to Etosha National Park.  The photos at the park tell the story.  The animals were fantastic!  And we could do our own driving safari around the park which was really nice.  We did go on a night safari which was interesting.  We were not allowed to drive around the park after dark so this was a way to see the wildlife at night.  Our guide was amazing!  He drove the vehicle and used a red spotlight to look for animals.  Another great thing about Etosha is the watering hole at the Okaukuejo Camp.  The watering hole has been there for many years and the animals are quite comfortable with it even though people are close by watching.  One night we saw 2 black rhinos around 10pm.  Joe went back at midnight and saw 4 more of them.  

Giraffe! - I took loads of photos of these guys...one of my favorites.

Joe & Steve at the Okaukueji Camp watering hole

Black rhino at night

Burchell's Zebra

Spotted hyena - on our night safari we saw one of these guys eating a baby springbok...:(

African Elephant & Warthogs

Jackals at dusk

Elephant near Dolomite Camp

Blue Cranes - Etosha is the only place outside of South Africa where the blue cranes are known to breed.

Springbok

Damara dik-dik...the littlest antelope

These zebras like most animals in the park weren't too fussed about vehicles driving around.

Steve & Joe at the Etosha Pan

The prettiest watering hole we saw.

I love the giraffe sitting under the tree.

Blue Wildebeest

Ostriches aka Camel Birds

Oryx!  Another one of my favorite animals!

After two nights at Okaukuejo Camp we drove west across the park to Dolomite Camp.  The number of animals were less as we drove west but it was in the western part that we saw our first elephant!  Dolomite Camp was fantastic!  Built into the hills  lovely with lovely tent-like accommodation with a view for miles.

Our room with a view!

The pool was great after a long day of driving...

 

 

 

Cocktails before dinner at sunset

At Dolomite Camp

Time

They say Lagos has a beat and rhythm of its own.  Time here in Nigeria is a funny thing.  It seems to go by faster than anywhere else we have lived, almost like it just disappears.  You see we have several clocks in our flat.  Some run only on batteries others are plugged in but have a battery backup, without the backup you would be resetting your clock 4 - 5 times a day.  The clocks plugged into the wall sockets gain time.  Sometimes it is just a few minutes a day, sometimes it is 15 minutes or more...so after a few days the clock is over an hour ahead.  So you find yourself never quite trusting a clock.  You have to get a 2^nd opinion just to be sure.  On the plus side there have been a few times that Joe has woken up in a rush thinking he was running late only to find that really he has plenty of time for a relaxing morning.

 

A soggy start to the day...

So this morning I got out of bed and Joe was just leaving for work...a bit late but I thought oh well, between the clocks not keeping time for some reason and Joe staying up late to fix a computer, early to work just hasn't been in the cards this week.  He said to me, "since you are up I have something to show you."  We walk into the room he uses as his office and I about wipe out and fall on the floor, because the floor was covered in water!  Great, my relaxing day at home was not to be.

The rainy season is upon us here in Lagos and up until last night we had not had any trouble with water getting into the apartment...people always seemed surprised that we hadn't had any trouble.  And now I understand their confusion!  Three rooms had water on the floor this morning.  One room was pretty much "flooded" with about a 1/4" covering the room.  Luckily we didn't lose anything other than cardboard boxes we had been saving from the move. 

I set about removing items from the waterlogged areas so I could start mopping up the water.  A Shopvac would have been really handy this morning!  Our driver called around 9am to say that he was stuck in a lot of traffic and wouldn't make it back to the apartment until 10:30, fine I said, not a problem.

I continue my clean up process and Godwin arrives back from taking Joe to the office.  He laughs at me because I am wearing my Wellies inside.  I smile and show him all of the water in the next room.  He then realizes what I am dealing with and springs into action!  He asks if I have contacted the Building Manager, I haven't.  So he goes off to take away some soggy cardboard and tell the Building Manager what is going on in our flat.

The next thing I know there are 5 people here to help.  One is evaluating the source of the water infiltration, 2 are mopping up the water...or pushing it into the floor drain in the bathroom, and 2 more are caulking around the windows suspected of leaking.  Godwin appears to be supervising all of them.  So what would have taken me another 2 hours to clean up is done in about 30 minutes.  It's almost like they have done this before. ;)  The floors are all dry now and the walls and curtains affected are drying out too.

I haven't put things back into the worst of the rooms just yet...I'll wait and see what happens the next time it rains.  I shouldn't have to wait very long...and I have a feeling this is not our last "flood".

So I wasn't so happy this morning to wake up to the mess we had with the water.  However, a little perspective is always in order.  Joe told me that Godwin's house was mostly flooded the last couple of days.  There has been a lot more rain to the north of here where his family lives.  And he doesn't have a proper roof on his house.  He has been saving money to pay to have it installed and the local fees associated with it.  But his house is another story for another day.

Banana Island: Nature Photos

Earlier this week Yogi and I had a nice morning to go to our favorite place for a walk, Banana Island. It is an area that is just being developed with big exclusive homes, condos, etc.  It is gated and we have a permit to go there as part of the "Exercise Club".  People who like to run, walk, bike can pay a yearly fee to use this area and the wide roads without much traffic to exercise and relax.  There are occasionally big chunks of sidewalk missing so you have to watch out for that but otherwise it is a nice, peaceful place near the water for a walk.  If you are out there after a rain storm you hear a chorus of frogs croaking at different pitches depending their size.  The large toads/frogs are the basses or baritones and the smaller frogs are a bit higher like a tenor.  It's amazing how much noise they make!

The rainy season has started and with it I have noticed more "wild" flowers blooming on the undeveloped land and loads of butterflies and dragon flies.  Here are some nature photos from our last walk.  It's a rainy morning here today, complete with lightning and booming thunder, not such a bad morning to wait for the air conditioning repair person!