NAMIBIA

SATURDAY - February 14, 2009

Namibiaaaaaaaaaa, fuck yaaaaaaa, we are finally here! We just went through the longest stretch of sailing and today seemed like it would never come. After breakfast, I ran down and packed my bags and headed for the gangway. Our ship was greeted by an all girls african choir, and it was an amazing way to start Namibia. I watched them sing and dance for a good 30 minutes.. some of them were really working it. It was almost like they were hyphy. I was actually quite surprised in the similarities of there dance to ours. after that, Alec and I went to our bus. It was safari time baby!!!!! We met our two guides for the trip, Lucinda and Jason. As we disembarked the port, the beauty of this country started to hit me. We drove out of Walvis (WALL-FISH) Bay and were instantly surrounded by dunes. They were just incredible... soooo beautiful!!! We arrived in Swakamund for our first stop before the long drive ahead of us. As we pulled into the town, our guides played a little prank on us about not being able to drink at all the whole way. Once we realized they were joking, I went and exchanged some money and ran into the supermarket. We grabbed several different bottles of South African whine, some champagne, local rum, and a bunch of local beers. I mean we had a 7 hour drive ahead of us so we needed to stay entertained somehow right?? We departed the main city (Swakamund) and headed north to Etosha National Park. The whole ride was like a train of 10 safari busses with everyone screaming at each other, blaring music and getting wasted. It was a complete shitshow and alooooooott of fun. It was pretty crazy how the scenery changed the farther we drove. As the time went by we went from a complete sand dune dessert to a plush green african savanna. After 9 hours of driving and stopping we reached the gate and by this time it was pouring rain. Lucinda explained that this was not a good time to go on a safari because it was rainy season and it would allot more difficult to find animals. However, I remained optimistic. I just told her, show me a lion and my safari is complete. She said she would try her best. I later realized that I was with the leader of the safari, the only girl, and the only white leader. So i had no doubt in my mind that it would happen tomorrow. We strolled into the park and parked. I was really really pouring rain now, hilo style. We all didn't bring rain gear thinking that we would be in a total dessert, boy were we wrong. It was quite intense setting up 10 tents in the rain, not too mention incapacitated. But my Alaskan instincts took over and Alec and me were the first ones done. We then helped everyone else. After we were all set up and ready to go, we sat down and had amazing meal our guides prepared for us. Best camping meal I have ever had, hands down. The night got a little intense after that. We had a huge tent party, with Alec, me and several girls. Eventually we ended up at the pool (yes this campground as a pool, it was ridiculous) popping bottles of champagne like we won a championship game. This was followed by streaking through the campground waking up all of the queers in our safari group of a 150. Fucking ridiculous how only 50 kids in our safari know how to have fun. Whatever, me made the party which eventually turned into a hugggeee shower party. After the shower Alec and me went drunken jackal hunting and found some really cool creatures along the way, and some jackals :)I think we ended up going to bed at around 4... crazy night. crazy, crazy, crazy.

SUNDAY - February 15, 2009

The painful wake up happened at six. We through some music on and continued the party. Our guides laughed at us right when they saw us, and told us that we were crazy. I think we lucked out with our guides, they are sooooo cool. Over breakfast I talked to Lucinda for quite a long time about her life in Namibia. And I was surprised to find out that she in fact African. Like fully. Her first language is Afrikan and her family roots go back several generations in Namibia. It was really quite interesting learning about her life. Because of her skin color I would never have affiliated her as African. After an amazing breakfast we started our safari through the park. It was an amazing experience! I saw lions, giraffes, zebra's, onyx, ostrich, wildebeest, gazelles and so many more animals. The only disappointment was not being able to see african elephants or rhinos, but for my first safari experience I had an amazing time overall. After a great day in the park we headed back to camp where we chilled poolside with drinks while our dinner was being made. For dinner we had enormous bbq of various african meats. It was one of the best meals I have ever eaten. just incredible, and all made on a camping stove! After stuffing our faces, we started drinking and wow. What a night. We had a huge rager on one end of the campground and all of the safari guides joined us. There were drinking games and plenty of celebration. An amazing way to end our safari experience and a night I will never forget.

MONDAY - February 16, 2009

Waking up this morning was even more painful then the previous. We were awoken at 5 and with barely two hours of sleep we were complete zombies. We packed up camp, ate a quick breakfast and loaded up the bus. This time around there was no crazy parties on the way back to Walvis bay, instead everyone passed out and I nearly slept the entire way back. We got back to Swakamund a little early and I convinced my bus to do something I had been craving to do the entire time in Namibia. Sand dune quad-biking!! We quickly went to the quad place and jumped on some quads. Alec and I grabbed some manuals and the 6 girls we were with, jumped on semi's and auto's. After following the group in a line for a while, Alec and I went off the main path with our newly acquired friend. It was one of the best experiences of my life and easily one of the highlights of the trip. I have been quading before, but it is just not the same on these world class dunes that stretch for miles upon miles. The sand is carved into extensive hills that roll and peak under the most beautiful blue sky. It was too much fun ripping the sand apart as I rollercoastered from the top to bottom of these huge dunes. Namibia is one the most beautiful places I have ever been in the world next to Bali, Hawaii and Alaska. The difference in environments from one end of the country to the other is just incredible. After getting my wheelies and airs in, we headed back to base-camp, then back to the ship. Namibia was just amazing. I never expected so much from a country I knew so little about. I really hope I will have an opportunity to return someday. I love Namibia, Africa.