Welcome to Nam.

Namibia, Namibia, Namibia, oh how I love Namibia! On our first day here, once again, I bolted from the port city to elsewhere in the country. This time it was on a 3-day safari in the northern part of Namibia. It's still weird for me to think that I'm actually in Africa, AFRICA! I like the way it sounds. We left Thursday, on a 5 hour bus ride to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. I’d say after 10 or so minutes on the bus the scenery as complete desolation. Sand surrounded us for the next 5 hours and I was entranced watching it pass by the window. You would see people walking through the hills, literally out of nowhere and I couldn’t help but wonder where they were coming from and where they were headed.


Once in Windhoek we were brought to our hostel for the night, the ‘Box’ as it’s referred to by locals. We asked the woman working the hostel where was the best place to eat and she said hands down, we had to go to Joe’s Beer house. I got the ‘Bushman's Kabob’ which included, zebra, crocodile, ostrich, chicken, kudu, springbok, and orryx. Go big or go home right? To my surprise it was really, really good. My favorite was the zebra. I didn't even know you were allowed to eat zebra! For some reason I was convinced it was an endangered species, that just shows how much I know! They say zebras are just like horses in Namibia though, they’re all over. And man are they tasty! I’d compare it to a big, juicy steak. Mmmm. At dinner we ran into a group of Americans studying abroad in Namibia and I sat with them for the rest of the night. They told of their experiences here and gave more background on the country. Namibia as a country is actually younger than I am and still struggling to put all the pieces together. Apartheid is still prevalent which is crazy to consider. I’ve never seen blatant racism before, rather just read about it in text books. Honestly back in the states I’m not sure if I would have even believed that there were places in the world stuck on this issue. It’s a sad reality. (I’m not quite sure how to jump from a serious topic like that to describing the safari I went on, it seems so unimportant. So goes the life of a student on Semester at Sea I suppose.)


The morning after our night's stay at the hostel we got picked up in huge 16 seater safari buses and headed to Etosha National Park. It was another probably 6-7 hour drive but it was an amazing ride. We seriously almost drove across the entire country of Namibia! This place is beautiful though. In comparison to other African countries they say Namibia is very clean. It's not very populated either. The same amount of people that live in Salvador, Brazil live in the entire country of Namibia. There are also a lot of European tourists here, especially Germans since Namibia was one of the only German colonies they still have ties to it. Back to the safari, we drove through the country and parts of it reminded me of Arizona. Going through all the dry desert brush was kind of like driving out to Queen Creek. I guess minus the gigantic sand dunes we passed. Definitely don’t have those in AZ! My eyes were glued out the window the whole time just trying to soak it all in. Once we got the park we set up our tents and then went for a game drive. Throughout the whole thing we saw wild giraffes, elephants, hyenas, lions, cheetahs (just one, barely!), black rhinos, zebras, orryx, springbok, kudu, ostrich and I think I'm forgetting some other little guys.. oh warthogs! These two warthogs came and walked through our campsite. Everyone was running up to them and taking pictures and I was just waiting for one of them to charge!


Back at the tents there was a "watering hole" you could walk to that they set up with lights and benches and you could sit out there all night waiting for something to come get a drink. That's where we saw the rhinos. In the morning we did another game drive, then breakfast, then packed up camp and drove to a new campsite, doing a game drive along the way. The second camp was awesome too with more watering holes around. At each "camp" there were also like little chateau rooms to stay in. There was even a pool! There were lots of European tourists as well. (I’m assuming they were European since the men all wore those little speedo swimsuits at the pool!) The second night my friend and I decided to sleep on top of the bus vs. in our tent. You had to climb on top of the bus, a good 14-15 feet high, but there was a cage up there at you could throw a mattress in and sleep. I've never seen so many stars in my life. In the morning it was more game drives and packing up camp. Then we left for the long trek home. I know these few sentences give little justice to the actual experience. I'm so glad I decided to do the safari. I won't lie, it's one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. Driving throughout the safari I kept looking at my friends and saying “You guys.. we’re in Africa. AFRICA!” It’s surreal.
When we got back to the ship I talked to my roommate about her time in Namibia and it sounded like a lot of the people that stayed in Walvis Bay ended up going to Swakomund the whole time. Most people went sand boarding, quad riding or sky diving. I’m glad I got to have my time driving through the country and getting to see more of the people living here. As we drove there were so many people we passed living in little tin shacks, even tents, in the middle of no where. Or just walking through the desert with seemingly no destination in sight. Many are extremely poor, I think they said unemployment rate in Namibia is like 40%. Pretty high. We did pass through one of the largest wood markets and again, it was heart breaking to see the conditions people live in. I just wanted to give them all they money I had. A friend of mine, Mason, had one someone ask him for his shoes. He ended up trading him a shirt for some of his wood carvings. What a nice guy, huh?

We got back earlier than expected from the safari and still had one day to roam around Walvis Bay. I went running in the morning and there were guys that would yell at me, "Hey sistah, you wait for me, I'll come, I'll run with you" or "Hey sistah from California, don’t run, don’t run away!" It was crazy. I’m not sure what gave them the impression that I’m from California, must be the blonde hair! I ran outside of town and along the beach for an hour or so. The further down I went the more and more it looked like California. There would be these super nice, super big houses and condos and whatnot facing the ocean. Then a small patch of grass and a pathway that followed along the shoreline. Oh and I ran past flamingos too! Who knew big, pink flamingos hung out in Namibia? Well then again, who knows very much about Namibia? Honestly when I heard we were going to Namibia I had no idea what to expect; no image of what the place would be like and no idea what the customs and culture would entail. I’m so glad I was able to see this place though. The beauty of the land as well as the people is something I won’t soon forget.