Back from 3 weeks in Namibia (bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13890726). It is a magnificent country with landscape that is breathtaking. We rented a car and traveled over 2400 miles up the coast and to the northeast corner of the country. Namibia earned its freedom in 1990. It is a country with the lowest density population and the greatest gap between the rich and poor.The major cities, Windhoek (capital ), Swakopmund and Warvis Bay (on the Atlantic) are very wealthy, with Swakopmund being the wealthiest. The country is mostly dessert with magnificent mesas and buttes. It has the highest sand dunes in the world in Sossusvlei(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sossusvlei). It has a buried forest. We climbed through a cavern (Sesriem: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesriem). We climbed the dunes. Roger skied the dunes! The people are amazing, most still living in grass huts, but the culture and family values are very strong. The languages are English, Afrikan and tribal. They hate to speak Afrikan because it is associated with Apartheid. The President values education so there is free education for K-8. HS cost $30/semester. Most children walk over 6 miles to go to school each day round trip. There is little or not crime in this country. Marriage is between 18-42. Divorce is rare, refereed by family members. Brides are chosen from other villages. The animal life is extraordinarily rich. Besides the wildlife we saw in game preserves, they were everywhere. The baboons were like squirrels. We counted over 16 varieties of antelope that you had to avoid hitting while driving on the gravel roads! We came close to hitting a kudu. Elephants and giraffes can be seen from the roads. We saw the results of a pride of elephants taking down a giraffe at Etosha National Park. It was literally gutted. The pride sat by the kill all day with jackals parading around waiting their turn. Watering holes is where you see tons of animals. There is a pecking order there. Lions first, then elephants and then everyone else. The giraffes are the most skittish. Roger and I almost hit one leaving Etosha preserve. Zebras were ad infinitum! The last four days of our travel was on Impalila Island on the Zambesi River. Zimbabwe, Zambia and Bwana all border this river, which changes name to Chobe River inside the Chobe National Paark. The island was a highlight of our trip. We were the only guests. Everywhere we stayed was in a bush camp setting. Our hut was on a rapids of the river. We went fishing and a game boat drive. The elephants swim across the river. The guide joked, they don’t need passports. There were lots of hippos and crocs. We can hear the hippos in the morning. Roger caught a 25-pound tiger fish. I caught a bream, which they served for dinner. Tiger fish must be returned to the river. Another highlight of our trip was tracking rhinos. The black rhino is endangered. We did this on foot walking in two miles. We had to stay downwind since rhinos have a good sense of smell, but poor vision. We found a new rhino with its calf. I asked if we could name it since they name all the rhinos they find. They said yes so we named it after Roger’s mom, Magda who died last year. Her calf was named Elissa for the other couple with us. The bird population was extraordinary. The social weavers build these huge nest holding a few hundred nesting birds! Termites build huge nests. Local people use the mud for mortar to build huts. The age of the termites nests is determined by its size. We hiked to the oldest baobab tree on Impalila. They are in a severe drought so burn the dried up grass to allow for new growth. The country has the most amazing sunrises, moonrises and sunsets! To show you what a small world we live in, the 2nd place we were at I met up with a student of mine from Burnt Hills, whom I had over 25 years ago! We took a picture. He was on his honeymoon and they will settle in Amsterdam, Holland. She is Dutch. He played semi-pro basketball in Europe. He is 68. I look like a dwarf next to him.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 19:01:42 +0000
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