Spring Break Adventures!

This past week I was free from the trials and tribulations of school (I know, I know, life in Cape Town is so tough) and was able to take a 10-day trip to Namibia! Two of my housemates, Mary and Katie, and I went on a driving tour through the country with a group called Acacia. The three of us really lucked out with our group members. They were all in their mid-20s and some of the most interesting and welcoming people I have ever met. Definitely want to try and keep in contact. Obviously since we were only there for 10 days, we had a TON to see. That being said, we didn’t stay in one place very long and did a lot of activities in each area. Needless to say, it was a jack-packed vacation. To make it easy on you guys, I’ve written an outline of what we did:

Day 1-2: Etosha National Park

Highlights – driving by a giraffe about 8 feet from our truck; watching two lions mate; sitting out next to the nighttime watering hole; seeing one elephant fall over into a watering hole and watching his peers help him—elephants use touch to communicate.

Day 3: Spitzkoppe

Highlights – sleeping on a rock under the best stars (one thing I didn’t think about that I noticed on this trip was that while I’m here I’m seeing a completely different sky. There is no big dipper, no nothing! It puts how far away I am from home into perspective); sleeping next to 100 million year old mountains; seeing 2,000-4,000 year old Bushmen (native Namibian people) paintings; hiking the mountains and seeing nothing for miles and miles and miles.

Mary and I on the Bushmen hike.

Day 4-5: Swakopmund

Highlights – getting locked out of our room and having to climb through the bathroom window to go to sleep; sandboarding (I went the fastest—72 kilometers per hour!); watching Twilight – Eclipse…for the second time…; sleeping in a comfy, hostel bed, fully equipped with pillow and down comforter (as opposed to sleeping on the ground).

Ready to go sandboarding!

On the dune!

Day 6: Seisreim

Highlights – hiking Dune 45 (a popular dune to climb) for sunrise; going on a desert walk with tour guide Frans who showed us the Baboon Spider and trees that have been dead for 900 years!

Dead trees.

Dune 45.

Day 7: Fish River Canyon

Highlights – eating lunch next to the second biggest canyon in the world—second only to our Grand Canyon; exploring the thermal hot springs at our campsite (and the pools that the hot springs heated, of course—pure heaven); night swimming in the indoor spas.

Day 8: Orange River

Highlights – relaxing and swimming in the river…all day; seeing green again (Namibia is all around pretty brown)!

Day 9: Trawal

Highlights – wine tasting—this was my first time wine tasting so it was nice to learn all the basics (sight, smell, and especially taste); our camp site was situated right above the vineyards so we had a beautiful view to wake up to on our last morning.

Day 10: Cape Town

Highlights – Township tour of Langa, our guide took us into one of the homes (called a Shabine) and showed us their traditional beer—a type of wood beer that they let ferment for only 3 days, so it is only about 3% alcohol, and is traditionally used only for special occasions—it was probably one of the weirder beers I’ve ever tasted, but good in its own right; eating at Mzolis (a restaurant [otherwise known as food, music, party, booze, chaos] in the township Gugulethu) and experiencing the most delectable, tasty chicken in the entire world. Told you I was gonna come back 50 pounds heavier…yikes!

The whole gang at Mzolis.

Tasting the mysterious beer!

On a random note, I had an embarrassing experience in class today. I walked in a couple minutes late—whoops!—and took my seat in our usual fold-up, movie-theatre-style chairs. After I situated my bad and notebook, I went to lean back and relax for a moment. Little did I know that someone truly spastic had removed the back of the chair and failed to notify me, causing the bottom of my seat to flip up and me to fall backwards on to the ground. As you can imagine, I landed in quite the compromising position with my legs in the air; but luckily, with the help from the stranger next to me, I scurried back up into the upright position as silently (and as embarrassed) as humanly possible. Hopefully no one saw, although I’m not sure how that would be possible…oh well, at least I’m giving us Americans a good name?

On another random note, this weekend I get to participate in a township homestay! I can truly say this is a once in a lifetime experience. I will get to live with a family in the Oceanview township from Friday to Sunday of this coming week and witness the continuing repercussions of apartheid. I’m definitely looking forward to this opportunity and going to take full advantage of it!

Until next time,

Erin