Africa - The First Night

Tue, August 9, 2011

After arriving to JNB and meeting up with my sister, the girls and I walked around the airport to find something to eat before flying to Windhoek, Namibia. Guess where we ended up? KFC. Yep - KFC is so big everywhere in the world. I can't tell you how many times I ate KFC in countries like Malaysia and Thailand and now, KFC in Africa. However, I didn't partake in Colonel Sander's chicken because I was going to do anything I could to avoid lower-digestive issues, if you know what I mean.

We killed more time at the JNB airport and finally it was time to board the plane to Windhoek. That flight was easy because I slept through the whole thing. It was fantastic!! After we got through the passport checkpoint, picked up our backpacks and got through customs, we found our tour guide waiting for us with our names on a sign. That was so exciting as I've never had anyone waiting for me at the airport with a sign! Anyway, my financial woes began in Namibia as I found that my PLUS ATM card did not work. Apparently a Visa debit card is the way to go. Actually I don't even know what card worked - everyone else's cards worked, just not mine. But, on we went...

I wasn't sure what we'd be driving in for our 8-day safari and was imagining anything from an unmarked white van to a jeep wrangler...But, what we got was AWESOME. Here's the truck we got for our tour. Pretty great huh? It's meant for 12 people, but since our tour didn't fill up, the four of us got to spread out and utilize all the space we wanted aboard the Mabaruli truck.

Our tour guide, Ewald, loaded our stuff and we were on our way. We stopped into a local town after an hour or so of driving and we loaded up on groceries, used the "facilities", exchanged US dollars into Namibian dollars, etc. Then we climbed back on board and rode for several more hours to get to the gates of Etosha. Along the way, we all nodded off and stared at the new landscape before us. One thing we didn't anticipate was how cold it'd get inside the truck - no heat and no tight seals (it's really meant to be an open-air vehicle.) By the time the sun went down we were bundled in our hats, scarves, gloves and coats. Good thing my sister gave us a heads up about how cold it would get at night. It was crazy because it was about upper 70's/lower 80's when we arrived in the afternoon and by nightfall it was about mid-to-upper 30's. We had to camp outside the gates of Etosha because we arrived at 10pm and the gates were already closed. Luckily they had camp sites available for us. Ewald got to cooking our dinner, teaching us how to set up our tents and then we headed for the showers that promised hot water. (Side Note: This was literally the THIRD TIME I had slept in a tent and the FIRST time I learned to set one up. The only other time I had "camped" was at Gooseberry Falls for a couple of nights.)

Unfortunately, I was one step too slow. After the three girls took their showers, all the hot water was gone. I think they felt bad. They should have! So, I had to decide whether to go three days without showering, get up extra early to shower and fight the other campers, or suck it up and take a cold shower. I decided on showering that night. It was SO COLD. Having a tiny, compact, quick-dry towel didn't help either. I took the fastest shower ever and bundled up. It was great having my wet hair turn "crispy" from the cold. Boy did I miss the luxury of a long, hot shower.

Here's Ewald hard at work making our dinner. Nothing but a wood-fire grill and a few pots. He did this for all our meals. It was amazing!

I wish I had taken a photo of the big pot with all the chicken he had made. It was so good. I ended up having 3 drumsticks! We asked, "Ewald. What is this dish called? It's so good." He told us it's called "nameless chicken" meaning everyone makes it differently. So we never did learn how to  make it, but I know it was delicious. We told him he should call it "Ewald's Delicious Chicken".

After our hot and yummy meal, we retired to our tents for the night at around 12am Namibian time. We had to get a good night of sleep because breakfast was going to be served at 6am and we had to have our tents broken down, our backpacks back on the truck and be ready to go immediately after breakfast. And, that's how our African Safari officially began...