I left for Africa with three of my friends on October 5. We arrived at 10:30 in the morning (local time) on the sixth in Johannesburg, South Africa, where we met with the fifth member of our party, and took a two-hour flight to Windhoek, Namibia. We arrived in Namibia around 4:00 in the afternoon, and after a hard time getting through customs we found that 3 of our bags were lost. We met the people we would be staying with, and climbed into their VW bus and headed for Windhoek proper where we would spend the next week. Since they are 6 hours ahead of us, it was hard for us to get to bed before midnight local time, and we found that it was equally hard to get up before 10:00 in the morning. But somehow we managed.The next day, Saturday the 7th, our missing luggage was delivered, and we spent most of the day visiting with the people we had come to see. On Sunday, besides having a little tour of Windhoek, we did the same. It was great; the people there are very nice. I noticed also that the social classes are much more marked over there, mostly along racial lines, but the racial tension is much less there than it is here in America. I also should mention two other ways in which it differed from what I have seen in America. For one thing, since Namibia was once a British colony, they drive on the wrong, I mean, left side of the road. Another thing is because of the high crime rates, every house has walls around it, and many houses have bars on the windows. Some houses even have electrical fences atop the walls. Still criminals manage to break into the houses to steal stuff. Because of the clear income distinction between the black and white populations, most thefts are either mafia or perpetrated by the lower income blacks. This is not a racial statement or typecast, it is just regrettably the way things are there. Apartheid only ended eleven years ago for the people of Namibia.
On Monday, we all packed into the VW bus, and headed off for Midgard, a privately owned recreation & game park about two hours north of Windhoek. The ride there was one of the most unique experiences I had had up to that point. Everything was brown, except for a few trees near the empty riverbeds, because the rain season had not come yet. However, along the way, we saw wildlife galore, just doing their thing near the roads seemingly oblivious to the almost nonexistent traffic. (The entire country of Namibia has less than 3 million people in it, and is, if I remember right, larger than Texas.) Baboons would sit on rocks, or climb trees, gazelles raced us down the dirt-paved highways, and a couple of warthogs went merrily about their business.
When we got to Midgard, we were in for a big surprise. There, out in the middle of the semi-desert of central Namibia, was a tropical paradise, with green grass and palm trees, two swimming pools, and well-tended gardens. There were many houses with the unique and very African grass roofs. We had a delectable and filling buffet lunch, which cost us less than ป American each (oh yeah, the dollar can be stretched a great deal over there). When we asked, all the game drives were booked for that day, but this gave rise to another adventure. We decided to stay overnight, and take a morning game drive. This left us with the question of what to do that night. Fortunately, we found plenty to keep us busy, from German bowling to exploring the game park on bicycles in the twilight. That was an experience; on the way, two of us were almost accosted by baboons, and we had to turn back at dusk before the big cats started climbing the trees – or so we were told. We then sat and chatted in the stillness of the night, something I have not had a chance to do since we moved to the bustle and sirens of Philadelphia two years ago.
That night, none of us slept a wink. We stayed in a train car that had been converted into a hotel, but half an hour after we lay down, the novelty of the situation was lost to the discomforts it brought. The beds were leather cushions that were horribly uncomfortable, and ridiculously narrow, and despite screens in the windows, the mosquitoes made their way in to annoy us all night long with their high-pitched buzzing and irritating bites. I could have sworn that they had little megaphones they were buzzing in, I was afraid to open my eyes, half expecting to see something the size of a brontosaurus coming at me to suck my blood.
The next morning, I got out of my cell shortly before six to find that one of the others was awake. We decided to take an early morning stroll and watch the sunrise. As we were walking along, we saw a gate in a fence that should have been locked, but was not, so we decided to investigate. We found the entrance to a trail that lead to the top of a large rocky hill, and started up, stopping every few minutes and wondering if we should go back and tell the others. We got about a third of the way up before deciding to go back and tell the others, but by the time they stopped pretending to sleep and crawled out of their cells, it was time for a quick bite to eat and a game drive. We never did find out what was at the top of the trail.
The game drive was excellent. We saw many kudus and hartebeests, wildebeests and warthogs, antelope of various kinds, baboons, lilac-breasted rollers (one of the most beautiful birds you could imagine, decorated in teal, lilac, light blue, and white; truly a feast for the eyes), and even four graceful and tall giraffes. I hope my pictures turn out.
After another splendid buffet lunch, we left to go back to Windhoek. After the richness we had experienced in Midgard, it was humbling to see the roof-metal shacks that some of the poorer natives lived in near the road on the way back. We also saw something else very African – termite mounds as high as twelve feet in the air. Another interesting and somewhat humbling site was areas where wildfires had swept the ground clean of the dry brown grass. Apparently, in the season before the rain season, wildfires are common due to electrical storms. Just the week before we had come, several tens of thousands of acres of the wild had burned just outside of Windhoek, leaving large black charred areas of land, and a smoky haze in the air.
We got back at 3:00 in the afternoon, in time to have a nap before enjoying a good home cooked supper. That night we met with a few of the friends of the people we were staying with, and had in general a good time.
The next day, we went to the center of town, where they have street vendors selling all kinds of carved and handmade trinkets, from little carved animals two inches long to tall carved giraffes as tall as a man, and little soapstone and jade carvings. I spent about โ American there, for trinkets that would have cost me close to 跌 here in America. It was somewhat interesting, because the prices are marked in N$, so it looks like it costs a lot, but when you figure the exchange rate, it is in reality very cheap. Nำ is only ŭ American. I also got myself a pair of leather sandals for ฤ American that would have cost over ์ here in the states. They are the most comfortable footwear I have ever owned.
That evening we had a delicious barbeque of mutton and sausage, the likes of which I have never had in America. All the food we had in Africa was excellent I might add, but this took the cake there in Namibia; the only thing close to it was the buffet dinner at Midgard. After supper, we all hung out together and chatted, and got out a couple of guitars for some impromptu music.
Thursday, the five of us went into Windhoek again to get some more trinkets, I spent another ฤ American then. We also visited a very nice local art store, where we saw some unique and beautiful things. For lunch, we stopped at an Italian restaurant, and had pizza, which was excellent, but not like any you get in America. In the evening, we again chatted and had fun. In addition, that evening, an electrical storm started a huge wildfire we saw out the back of the house. Apparently, it burned through one of the richest neighborhoods in Windhoek, before it was brought under control by controlled burn. Friday morning, we packed up in the VW bus again and went to the Airport to go to Johannesburg.
Thus ends part one of the record of my Africa trip. I’ll be writing about the second part soon. I'll also be writing a longer version with more details in it, but for now you'll have to be satisfied with this.
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Just your generic meaningless signature. Mix with 2 quarts water and stir till evenly coated.
