Zebras, Elephants and Giraffes

 Hello all:

The amazing adventure continues.  Our bus with us 15 stalwart photographers, our resourceful guide, and superb driver, continues to rattle and rumble and roll Northwards as we travel great distances across the vast Namibian desert with roads that are simply compacted sand.  First great plains, then great mountain passes, have all been traversed, with an enormous variety of interesting sights along the way.  We have seen the Skeleton Coast, so called because of the many ships that are blown onto the hundreds of miles of beaches, and are left to rot gradually in the sand, rather than be broken up on rocks as in other parts of the world.  We saw an 80 - 300 thousand strong seal colony, and now have gradually reached the tropical area of the country where at last we have seen zebras, giraffes, and elephants and many other exotic animals.  We are now near the Angolan border, and tomorrow we enter Etosha Game Park where there will be animals, animals, animals to feast our eyes, and our cameras, upon.  I have passed the fitness test!  I went on a 5k hike into the bush in the searing desert heat, scambling over sand and rocks, to reach some 2,000 year old cave carvings. It was 38 degrees, they said, in full sun, and it took a full gallon of water to rehydrate.  But I did it!  Another great adventure was going on an elephant-hunt in a special open top vehicle, equipped with huge wheels to traverse deep sand and boggy marshes alike.  There was much excitement as we came across a family of about 20 elephants making their lumbering way down a valley, breaking off branches to eat as they went.  Helping a local group get their broken down vehicle moving again was part of the adventure, and it was all finished off with the sighting of masses of  baboons scrambling over vertical rock faces.

Giraffes came, and zebras came, as on we travelled onwards.  There is so much to tell, and it is impossible to do more than just glaze over the highlights.  A special activity yesterday was a visit to a local school, which is oh so poor, and oh so lacking in the basics.  We gave them pens and footballs and all sorts of school supplies, but they need so much more.  We will have to do something on a continuous basis.  It is a harsh, dry land, and the people are very poor.  Many of them live as they have done for hundreds of years, and I will try to tell you more about that in my next blog.  For the time being, here are a few photos.

A 2008 wreck on the Skeleton Coast.  Many others are much older and more skeleton like

A cute Cape fur seal on the skeleton coast

The harsh terrain of the 5k hike - on and on, up and down

2,000 year old rock carvings, that I trudged to see

Desert elephants - a thrilling encounter for us

Some of our group managed, eventually, to help get this vehicle going again

The view from the (rather glamorous) tent we stayed in at one lodge

I had my photo taken with a Herrero woman.  They wear these clothes every day!

A typical little Namibian hut, with the livestock close by

A Namibian boy and his horse - we had fun with him and his friends for a while

One of a splendid herd of zebras we came across

An oryx grazing

A giraffe - I've been waiting all these days to be able to catch sight of these magnificent animals

Some of the cheerful children at the school we visited

Some of the mothers.  They were visiting to pay the school fees for the coming term - less than $10, which is all they can afford.  The football is one of the new ones we brought for the kids.  They wear these costumes every day!