It’s getting more
and more difficult to find a place that is off the beaten track that
I haven’t already visited and is not overrun with crazy fanatics
out to do harm to anyone who don’t believe the same thing they
believe.
I’ve decided on
returning to Africa. This time I’m heading to Namibia for twelve
days and then to Cape Town, South Africa for a week. I am leaving the USA on November 2nd and returning on Thanksgiving day,
November 24th. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite
holiday and I fully expected to be home eating myself into a food
coma when I made the air reservation, only to find that leaving
Johannesburg on the 23rd would not put me into Seattle the
same day, unlike flying from Asia. So I suppose the best I can hope
for is a cold turkey sandwich somewhere over Nebraska.
Namibia is located
on Africa’s west coast. Kind of where Chile is located in South
America. Like Chile, Namibia is mostly seacoast and desert. Billed as
one of the earth’s oldest deserts the Namib borders the aptly named
Skeleton Coast. Lions and elephants have adapted to this harsh
environment as well as Hyenas and Rhinos.
The county is large,
about twice the size of California. It is also very sparsely
populated. Namibia’s 2.2 Million person population is about the
same as Seattle’s, King County. Having three people per square
mile, the only state in the US is Alaska that has fewer people per
square mile.
My initial plan was
to arrive in Namibia and rent a 4X4 with a camper on top. I had
expected to drive from camp to camp staying under a roof two out of
three nights. The reviews I read by people who had rented from these
companies raved about it. The only place I couldn’t access would
have been the upper Skeleton Coast. My last trip to Africa was
handled by Bert with Fish Eagle Safaris and I saw that company that
he represents had a Fly in – Fly out lodge there. I called him and
asked about availability for that lodge. He said it was full through
the end of the year, but there was a planned ten day safari that did
include that lodge. He then went on to explain to me that driving
alone in Namibia is risky. He said the roads are generally unpaved
and flat tires are frequent occurrences. Yeah, yeah – I hear you
Bert. Scare me off so I’ll book your safari. Heck I’ve driven a
4X4 through kilometers hub deep mud in Macedonia. I’ve heard
Macedonian men tell other men “Don’t worry, Theresa is a good
driver”. Thanks, but no thanks, Bert.
A few days later a
couple I seldom see enough of met me while on a walk in the marina.
In the course of the catching up they said that the pervoius night
they had been with friends who had recently returned from Namibia.
Talk about a fortuitous meeting. They went on to say that their
friends rented a 4X4, but instead of driving they had a local man do
the driving for them. OMG ! Tell me more ! Turns out they got lost,
had two flat tires and had to wait several hours for the next vehicle
to drive by and get them back on the road.
The next day, I
called Bert Back.
So it’s all set.
November 2nd a four and a half hour flight from Seattle to
Atlanta. A plane change at the airport I hate the most of any airport
I’ve ever been to. Then another flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg
of only sixteen and a half hours. The third longest commercial
flight, behind Dallas to Sydney (17 hours) and Dubai to Panama (17.5
hours). When I fly it is generally an eight to ten hour flight, but
over sixteen hours? It is amazing that a plane can stay in the air
that long without refueling.
I paid an additional fee for the seats with the extra leg room on the ATL-JNB leg of the
trip.
Spend the night in a
semi high security lodging in Johannesburg and catch a mid morning
flight to Windhoek Namibia. A couple days in Namibia’s capital
seeing the sights and adjusting to the ten hour time difference.
Ten days on the
safari through Namibia, then fly down to Cape Town, South Africa for
a week. Finally a day of planes, planes and more planes getting from
Cape Town to Seattle on Thanksgiving day. Since the ATL–SEA leg
will be on Thanksgiving, maybe the load will be light and I’ll get
an empty seat next to me.
Of course, I’ll
try and write something every day, but don’t expect a post every
day. I’m going with a company called Wilderness Safaris and it’s
called that for a reason. Some of the properties are only accessible
by air and only about half of the places we are staying have internet
or cell phone coverage. Yes, it is a true wilderness. No cell service
and no Internet, how’s one to survive?
What you should
expect though is bad spelling, poor grammar, some travelogue, some accommodation information, and
lots of bitching about my fellow Safari-ists (travelers?). I fully
expect find interesting and like at least two of them. I also expect
to find at least two that drive me nuts and will be the bulk of any
blog entry for that particular day. Of course, none of them will have
any complaints about me in any way.
