Etosha, Namibia - Wild Dog Safari

Africa is BEAUTIFUL. Namibia is a relatively new country. I think it was in 1990 when they finally had independence completely from European nations. There is a lot of German influence left in the country and some primitive tribes wear traditional Victorian German dress, that was really interesting to see. Namibia is the size of Texas but only has around 25,000 people. One in four has AIDS and being a 21 year old I am one of the oldest in the population. Namibia is home to Dune 7, the tallest dune in the world. They have deserts that disappear into the horizon and savannahs that leave you with the belief they could hold every animal on the planet. It is a very popular vacation spot for Europeans and I think an undiscovered treasure. There are many mansions still owned by westerners on the water and slums that make New Orleans look flashy. The gap between middle class and upper is astounding, but everyone is smiling. This is where you start to think that measuring happiness with money is shameful. Townships in Namibia live on a dollar a day, yet they spend every one of them with their entire family and participate in community events on the regular. When I asked my tour guide where he learned to cook so well, he said his grandmother. How cool is that? I can't even make lasagna because I didn't know you had to boil the noodles before you bake them. "Baked Lasagna," I felt like I needed a map for that one. Putting things in perspective can really get your brain going. We got into the port of Walvis Bay around 8am. I had breakfast out on the deck and watched the seals playing in the water. Immediately after I got my backpack and headed down the gangway to meet our tour guides for the Namibian Safari!! At the bottom of the steps was an all girls choir; they were adorable and singing traditional African songs and dancing for all the students. After watching for a while a friend and I decided to go to the bus. He convinced me knew where he was going so we started a, what I didn't know then was, a cross-country adventure. In the sweltering African mid-day sun heat we walked about two miles before I asked, "Are you sure?" His reply: "No." Awesome. We turned around and I made him carry my bag as punishment for having me complete one of the five Islamic pillars and hajj-ing, without signing up for it. We got back to the ship and there were nine safari cars waiting for us. They were so close to the ship I could have stood between the two and touched both. Really though, I totally wanted to drop 10% of my body weight in water before cramming onto a bus with 15 other people. I was wearing a white t-shirt and single handedly made my own wet t-shirt contest with sweat. I know what you're thinking, and yes it is an acquired talent and should not be tried at home. The bus looked like something out of Jurassic Park and we had an eight-hour car ride north to the remote location of the last living Tyrannosaurus Rex. No, just kidding, eight hours north to Etosha! I had my sleeping mask compliments of my Aunt Susan (Thanks!) and slept for a bit in the beginning. Then, the safari bus turned into the party bus. We stopped at a gas station and all picked up some wine and played music over the loud speaker. By the end of the trip we were slightly inebriated and all really close with each other. Bus #1 was the best bus, I already had made so many new friends and we didn't even get to our destination yet. A bus we kept passing along the way and stopping with was bus #2. They were trying to compete with our partying level but I think it's safe to say we won. I created the nicknames bus #fun and bus #poo, for one and two respectively. It stuck. We got to the camp around 9pm and it immediately started pouring rain. Our guide, Big E, told us to unload our stuff and get ready to pitch the tents….WHAT!? I really need to start reading the fine print before signing on the dotted line. I went to the bathroom first to brush my teeth, for a very long time, and by the time I was positive I had a thorough clean the tents were up. I was really disappointed no one waited for me to help……… Big E got a fire started and we all sat around and waiting for dinner to be ready. We had pasta, bread and a traditional Namibian sauce. It was delicious! I ate so much I slipped into a food coma and was ready for bed. The tents were not happening. It was wet outside, they were drenched and I don't know if you know this, but there are bugs in the reserve. I slept in the bus laid out on the big back seat. It was the Ritz Carlton of Etosha Wildlife Reserve. In the morning everyone saw I was in there and they were pretty jealous to say the least. All the sleeping bags were sopping wet and it looked like they had a rough one, I looked good. ;) The wake up call was at 6am. Big E got breakfast started and we all got ready for our full day Safari. I had yogurt and the BEST granola I have ever had for breakfast. We all loaded in the car and got on the way. Within 5 minutes of the drive we saw wild zebra! I honestly though I was in Animal Kingdom and was waiting for Mickey Mouse to pop our from behind the tree of life, it never happened. We drove for about 3 hours and along the way we saw tons of giraffe, warthogs, impala, muskrats, wildebeests, zebra and hyena. No lions! We stopped for lunch and took a look at the local artistry. They are very good at woodwork and I bought something nice to bring to Canada. We did about 4 more hours back to camp and sang Lion King songs the whole way; it was only appropriate. I was really looking forward to the elephant graveyard, but that never happened. On the way back we finally saw the king of the jungle, a lion! He was so cool. Just hanging out by a tree in the shade staring at all the little creatures that probably looked like T-bone steaks. No rush, he'll have them all. He had a mane and everything; we were all REALLY excited. When we got back to the camp we were all starving! Big E made us a traditional Namibian meal over the fire. I had the special vegetarian meal, because I am "that" girl, of a mouth-watering fish with coconut. He made sausages, garlic bread, grits and salad with fresh cheese. It was one of the best meals of this entire trip so far. After dinner people started to drink again but I was not in the mood; a couple of the girls and I sat with the guides and asked questions about Namibia. We asked about health care and politics and many other hot topics, they were really open with us. I am going to use the information to write a paper in my Biomedical Ethics class. It is so interesting to see how other countries policies differ from my own and I need to constantly remind myself that our way is not the only way. When I was abroad in Costa Rica this summer I remember in a reflection session we were asked something we have been thinking about. I said that before going there I had all these preemptive stereotypes and when I got there I realized that they may do things different, but they have it all figured out. I am trying to rid myself of these thoughts before every country and go in with no expectations and planned notions. I slept in the bus again that night because I am a priss from Long Island. This time, there were about four others joining me, I still got the long back seat while the others had to sit straight up…finder's keepers. The next morning we packed up camp, ate delicious granola and hit the road. The people in Namibia are so friendly, whenever we drove through towns we got waves from everyone. My guide was amazing and gave us so much information. I really loved Namibia and wish I could have had a bit more time there. Cape Town, South Africa tomorrow! -Jac P.s. Something interesting I learned in class. Zimbabwe around 1980 had currency that was on a 1:1 with the U.S. dollar. The President, who's house puts the White House to shame, became corrupt and sold all the farm land to his cronies and inflation started to occur. Around 1992 one US$ was equal to a million Zimbabwe dollar (Z$.) As the 90's continued so did the inflation. At present day one US$ is equal to one billion Z$. There are poor children who cannot buy a loaf of bread yet they are walking around with "billions of dollars." Everyone in Zimbabwe is a millionaire yet they cannot buy a thing. The inflation got so bad that people stopped counting, the last estimate was at 8.79 sextillion percent. That's 21 zeros. The president lost the last election but refuses to step down. Crazy.