Camping- traversing the Kalahari into Namibia

Hugh: Growing up there were names of places that always seemed to have magic associated with them. The Serengeti and Zanzibar were clearly two of them and I made sure that our Africa trip was going to include them. Betsy planned this Botswana-Namibia portion and when I looked at the map I was excited that another magical name place was going to be included: the Kalahari. I took as much pleasure being "in the Kalahari" as actually physically being here. After the delta, we went on a drive that took us to the Ghanzi village area, where we went on a walk with a local indigenous tribe and a translator. This was a classic National Geographic moment. The Bushmen people were hardly dressed and made lots of awesome clicking sounds when they spoke. They walked us around, dug up several roots, and explained their medicinal properties, many of which had to do with with causing or preventing pregnancy. They pretended they were going to give us a lesson on making the click sound, and had each of us put in our mouths a seed that they had just pulled off a bush. About 20 seconds later the seed popped in our mouths, scaring each of us and giving them a great laugh. They then built a fire using the two sticks rubbing together method.





That cold night at the campsite we had our best stargazing yet. A fellow traveler, Neil, the British army medic, had his iPad with the star map on it and helped us identify several constellations including Scorpio, Sagittarius and the Southern Cross. The Milky Way was also more visible than I remember having ever seen it. The next day we drove across the border into Namibia and Hugh posed with Nicholas our Kenyan guide at the border sign, only because it says "Kalahari".


We had an overnight stay in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, which long ago had been a colony of Germany. It is weird being in an African city where the street names are all "....strasse". We thought it was going to be good to sleep in a bed but our hostel room window was right next to the bar, and the bright lights and noise were not a good substitute for the jungle sounds of the previous few nights. We had dinner in a restaurant called Joe's which is an upscale place with an immense amount of decoration, a sort of African/tropical Rainforest Cafe. However, Joe's is known for their menu which includes many types of game. We took the opportunity and ordered the sampler plate- a large kebab with pieces of kudu (antelope), zebra, ostrich and giraffe. Next time we might skip the giraffe- we were feeling a little guilty eating it and it wasn't as tasty as the others. And despite Betsy's enthusiasm for the variety of local beers previously mentioned in this blog, Hugh has found them to be unremarkable, similar to his view on Singha, Star, and most of the other "national" beers of the other non-US, non-European countries he's visited. But, at Joe's, we were able to drink beer from Camelthorn, a Windhoek microbrewery, and it was tasty. Photography: We readily admit that we are not truly photography hobbyists. Previously, we would often forget to bring our camera important places or we'd bring it and not use it. When we went to India, we somehow set the camera on the lowest resolution possible, and so we can't even print a 4x6 photo from that trip. However, some of our friends bought us a cool new camera as a wedding present and we have been dedicated to trying how to use it. Each day we get a little bit better. We used the Intelligent mode for the first few weeks but as we have been unable to get some shots we wanted, we have been forced to read more of the manual to figure out how to use it. Plus, Paul and John, two Aussies on the trip with seriously huge lenses on their cameras, have been offering tutorials, guidance and encouragement. We are now occasionally changing things like the white balance, using the manual focus, etc. We even figured out how to change the format for videos so that we an upload and watch on the iPad. And, we check every few days to make sure that we are taking high resolution photos. Speaking of India, memories of that trip still affect us. Water quality in Africa has been fine everywhere we've been. However, I (Hugh) was often still using the Steripen to sterilize the water, even in our upscale Cape Town B&B. After a few days in each place, I relax and we drink from the tap and eat salads, vegetables, etc. All of the others in this camping group seem to be less worried than we are. However, we expect to not be so cavalier in Kenya and Tanzania.

Location:Botswana