North Namibia 15.12.11

After some time in Omaruru we are all becoming somewhat agitated and what to begin our travels, so we formulate a plan to go north and potentially cross into Zambia. We leave one hot afternoon, after many arguments with each other over forgetting things and not locking doors etc, something Tyche is prone to doing! And we get our first hitchhike to Otjiwarongo. After only minutes of waiting, our next hitchhike takes us to Tsumeb where we spend the night at pleasant backpackers in our 4 man tent. Tsumeb is a cosy town, not much bigger than Omaruru but it has many more shops, not to mention a Wimpy (the best fast food ever!) which we all enjoyed visiting.
The locals were somewhat a pain though, harassing us every 5 minutes because we were clearly tourists and we MUST give them money. I however concocted a nice little story to tell them in the end, of how I am Namibian and I have been studying in the UK since I was 11 because my Father is English and now I’m back in Namibia and everyone now thinks I’m English. But with the very little Afrikaans I know, I was able to translate this and it fooled everyone! Good times.
Onward we then hiked up to Rundu and spent a cosy night in the tent along the Kavango River and played some pool at a friendly local bar. We didn’t stay long due to the long hike ahead of us that we had planned to Katima Mulilo the next day; but, hitchhiking was a problem, and after many hours stood at the side of the road trying to get a free lift, we decided to give in to getting a combi there instead. The driver originally wanted to charge us N$200 for the 600km trip, but after some serious negotiations, he finally let us board for N$150.
The journey was extremely long and cramped. The driver had managed to get 19 people into a 15 person combi and the 4 of us were cramped at the back on 3 seats, barely able to breathe and with flies buzzing all over our faces (not pleasant).
After many hours of driving past mud/wooden huts, catching glimpses of various Caprivian tribes and almost crashing into the back of a lorry, we finally made it. Alive.

Katima was lovely alongside the Zambezi River. It was exactly how I imagined an African town to be. It was grimy; the streets were littered with rubbish, water polluted and not suitable to drink. Everywhere we went there was someone either missing some of their clothes, or begging for money/food, there were flies everywhere. My face could not escape them! But it was truly beautiful, and it made me feel for the first time since being here, that I am in Africa.

During our time in Katima (about 4 days) there was a lot to do like visiting the many craft shops containing woodcarvings and weavings and many other wonderful handcrafted souvenirs. We took a boat trip along the Zambezi River, spotting some Crocodiles and Hippos and enjoying the delightful raining season that was taking place there. Throughout the 4 days we camped directly next to the river in the grounds of the luxurious Protea Hotel. The views were beautiful, there was a nice swimming pool and we also got a discount 3 course meal because we were volunteers. Result!
Halfway through the week we made a short attempt to cross the boarder into Zambia and finally visit Victoria Falls, however after crossing out of Namibia, there were problems going into Zambia; the visa was N$500 and 2 of us weren’t prepared to pay that because of lack of money. Therefore, we had no choice but to turn back.
Crossing back over, we were questioned about our over stay in Namibia and the officers were not prepared to let us back in. But finally, after long discussion we were told to re-enter, keep our heads down and not leave again. Not exactly something I would have thought I would experience during my gap year.
On the day of departure from Katima to travel back down south and home, we managed to get a hike with a couple who were travelling all of the way to Otavi and we spent a harrowing 12 hours in the back of their bakkie and finally laid down to sleep at a small bed and breakfast around 11pm. That night was the best night’s sleep I have ever got in my life!
Onwards the next day, we moved on to Otjiwarongo where we stayed in a 4 bedroom chalet in aid of Simone’s (Luderitz volunteer) birthday and cooked ourselves a nice meal and went for some drinks. We also had the pleasure of visiting a crocodile ranch.

The holidays begin 11.12.11

With school closed, finally mine and Tyche’s Christmas holidays begin. We leave late afternoon to hitchhike to Windhoek and meet up with the volunteers from Luderitz who are already waiting for us. The plan is that we are to get onto the intercape bus and travel to Zambia the next day and visit Victoria Falls for 3 days. Everything is booked and we are all extremely excited; but there is just one problem. We don’t have our passports.
We had handed them over to Robert (our rep) in October in order for them to be stamped for our work visas, but hadn’t received them back. We receive information that he has left them with a work colleague whilst he is on holiday in Cape Town so we go to pick them up from her, however, they are not stamped! She tells us that we must either stay in the country or go home, we cannot leave and come back, we won’t be allowed in. So all four of us girls start panicking and trying to contact project trust and Robert, who aren’t answering the phone. Finally we decide to cancel our bus to Zambia, only for Project Trust to contact us minutes later and tell us to go. Except this isn’t an option and neither is going to home affairs to see what the problem is as we were already 10 days over our holiday visa and would instantly be deported. We end up travelling back to Omaruru very distressed and upset, hoping that everything will be sorted by the time we need to go to Cape Town for Christmas. We at least were able to spend some time in Omaruru visiting the wine farm, chocolate factory, drinking delicious milkshakes at our favourite café Kashana and spending time with local friends partying.

Brandberg camping 18.11.11

In Omaruru, we have been blessed to meet some very nice people. And after many weeks of getting to know new friends, we were invited to join some of them on a camping trip to Brandberg.
They arranged food, tents and transport for the weekend and we set off on the Friday and returned on the Sunday afternoon, exhausted.
During the weekend we let our hair down, had some drinks, braai’ed an awful lot, went hiking up the mountainsides, did some shooting, 4x4 driving and played some camp fire games.

Erindi Private Game Park 05.11.11

After moving around town and getting to know everybody, we finally meet a gentleman, De Vries, who works at the local Game reserve Erindi, and offers to take us there for free for a weekend.

He planned an eventful weekend for us where we slept out in the bush in tents and heard Hyenas and Rhino outside whilst we were sleeping. Scary.
We went on a number of different game drives and saw a wide range of different animals; and enjoyed some traditional outdoor Afrikaans food in the form of a braai. All in all it was a good weekend and we didn’t have to pay a penny.

Omaruru Library colouring competition 18.11.11

We were lucky enough to assist the Grade 1 and 2 children to the community library for a day long colouring competition where they competed with other schools and got some sweet prizes.

Luderitz Project 28.10.11

For the weekend we were allowed an extra few days off in order to travel down south and meet the other 2 volunteers in Luderitz along the coast. So after a 24 hour hitchhike, we finally arrived there and was greeted in the form of a Halloween party, held by a large number of different volunteers from Peace core, world teach, project Trust etc. After an enjoyable weekend of meeting the locals and getting used to the new surroundings (was very cold), on Monday morning we had a chance to visit the other PT volunteers project, at a pre-primary school and producing a local newspaper. I think that after this I am very satisfied with my own project, as theirs is in the middle of nowhere.

School prize giving 27.10.11

An evening of celebrating the schools success with certificates and prizes for the academic achievements of children from grades 1-7. Dozens of parents showed up to watch and assist in the praise of the children. A professional photographer was present; we held a cake sale with Riette (Principal and our host) and there was a lot of dancing and singing in the 20 minute interval, to entertain the audience.
Money from the cake sale has gone towards new equipment for the school for sports. Everyone who attended commented on how much of a success it was.