A Namibian Preview

It didn't take long for NRS to send me back out on the road once arriving in Sydney. After one long, restful week I was on a 13 hour plane ride for Namibia. First stop, Johannesburg, South Africa - unfortunately just for the night. I had heard some horror stories about getting through customs, agents looking for bribes, luggage being dug through etc - but I didn't run into any of that. Phew! I did get the stamp though! Yay! The next day we were back to the airport again to catch a short 2 hour flight to Windhoek, Namibia.

Namibia is HOT right now! We were picked up from the airport by one of the station guys, Franko. Nicest guy ever. I totally love the accent here - very unique. We stayed right in the heart of the city - which takes about 20-25 minutes to drive across (without traffic). It's a pretty quaint town. The tallest buildings around were pretty much hotels. The town as a strong German influence as was reflected by the architecture and restaurants. I did manage to pick up a cool souvenir from the vendors outside our hotel. A large carved giraffe (about a meter high - yes, trying to get into the conversions) - the wood carvings here are amazing. It should look pretty cool in my new place - whenever I get that!

The landscape is pretty intense. I asked Franko and he described it as "semi-arid". It's all low-lying trees and brush - with a red sand/clay base. It's extremely flat for miles and miles until these sudden, dramatic hills/mountains spring out of the horizon.

The station is basically made up of two houses next door to each other. The team was so incredibly friendly and accommodating. It was amazing. Franko drove us to and from the office everyday and even took us out to the most famous restaurant in Southern Africa - perhaps all of Africa (according to Franko). It's called Joe's and serves a large selection of game. I had the Gembok which was SO tasty! The restaurant itself almost reminded me of a Joe's Crab Shack only much nicer. It had all these antiques and random items hanging from the ceiling along with dozens of animal heads and horns. It also featured large fire pits outside and traditional thatched roofs. Overwhelming. I sampled some of Namibia's best beers - it was a great evening.

Now for the most horrendous trip back of all time. In fact, I'm writing this in the middle of my fiasco b/c I won't even get on a flight for about 12 more hours. So, we flight back to Jo-berg from Namibia only to realize the travel agency didn't give me nearly enough time to make my flight. My colleague wasn't actually going to Sydney with me - he was heading to Perth on a different flight. We then spent 50 minutes running back and forth all over the airport trying to get someone to help Michael make his flight - it was already way too late for me and the next flight didn't leave until the same time the following day. Ugh. So by some miracle, Michael made his flight. That left me by myself in the middle of Jo-berg airport with no flight for 24 hours. No worries - surely British Airways will book a hotel room for me for the night?? Um, that would be a big, fat no. My flight wasn't late - so I am out of luck. The desk takes pity on me and helps me book my own stinkin' room. And I'm not kidding - the only room left is this smoking room at a dinky little hotel airport by the city. Nice. So that is where I am now. Not typing this is my room mind you - the wireless won't reach that far. I am sitting in the lobby. Nice - Oh yeah, and I have no luggage. It was completely out of reach - in the depths of the airport and would have taken hours to retrieve so I am in my same stinky clothes - that I will get to live in for the next 24 hours. Lovely!!!

Ok - that was a big rant but had to get it off my chest! There is good news! Michael (my AD) has proposed that we make a big trip out of our Namibia program. So, we will be heading over there early to check out some game parks along the coast. We'll also get the weekend in between our first and second week so see the desert. After the program, we have decided to head to Botswana for a week to explore the delta and surrounding game parks. I am SOOOOO excited!

So, that was my first experience. All of it, except for today, has been great so I call the trip a success! It's just thickening my skin for the many trips to come.