Africa Interrupted - Daddy's 60th Birthday Party

Worthy of interrupting my post-blogging from Africa is a quick shout out to my Dad. We pulled off a surprise 60th birthday party for my dad yesterday evening. It was held at one of our favorite restaurants, Shuang Cheng in Dinkytown, that our family loves gathering at for dinners, special occasions, etc. We drove my dad and cousin to the dinner just as we always have so no suspicions there. However, we arrived about 15 minutes earlier than we should have. We needed to stall. So, we said our reservations weren't until 6:15 and got my dad to agree to showing our cousin the U of M campus because we'd just have to sit around and wait for everyone else if we got there too early. We drove around for awhile pointing out the various sights and hot spots to see. Finally it was time to get to the party so we headed over to the restaurant.

As luck would have it, as we parked the car, one of my dad's late-arrival friends walks through the lot on his way to the restaurant. I think my dad was puzzled by his presence, but didn't really put two and two together. I also tried to throw my dad off by greeting my dad's friend and asking where he was eating dinner. When he answered, "Shuang," I shot back with ,"Wow - what a coincidence!" Fortunately with having to get Keira out of the car we were a few steps behind his friend who managed to hurry and get to the restaurant and take his place.

We entered the restaurant and headed to the back room where we could only see my family through the doors...I think he started hearing some of the noise though because he slowed his steps down. Anyway, as he entered the room, his family and friends (about 50 of us) yelled, "Surprise!" and broke out into the "Happy Birthday" song. I think he was truly surprised and most importantly, was happy. I haven't seen him smile the way he did in a long time. It was great to see.

Anyway, the evening went on with great food (a lot of it), fun conversation, yummy cake, surprising gifts and cards (wow - I didn't realize old"er" people could be so dirty) and we just had an overall fun time. Everyone headed out after dinner, but my dad and some of this cronies were going to continue the party elsewhere. Go dad! 

So, Happy Birthday pops! Thanks for being such a great dad and we can't wait to celebrate the next milestone with you. We love you.

Dad and his awesome kids

Delicious tiramisu cake compliments of my aunt and uncle

The guest of honor, my dad

Dad and some of his "old" cronies

Going through cards and gifts

Africa - Our First Game Drive

Wed, August 10, 2011

The alarm went off at 5:15am and we were up. Well, Mai and I got up rather quickly. I think Anne and Heather took a little longer to adjust to the early morning starts. By 6am we broke camp and were eating breakfast in the cold, crisp air - excited for our first game drive on our way into Etosha National Park.

Within the first 10 minutes of our drive we spotted Zebras. It was very exciting to see them roaming around. One of my favorite shots is of the three zebra butts - see below. Along the way to Etosha we saw ostriches, spring bok (I think it's the national animal of Namibia), etc. But, little did we know that our animal sightings were just starting!

                                   

We finally got to Okaukuejo camp inside Etosha, got set up, had some lunch and headed out on an afternoon game drive. Boy, oh boy! We saw everything!! There were times I was worried about getting a little too close to the animals, but my concerns were totally unfounded.

                                   

  

After our game drive, Ewald took us back to camp and we climbed up the tower there to watch a gorgeous sunset. I found it hard to shoot into the sun, but managed to get a couple of decent shots like this one.

The rest of the evening we spent sitting by the watering hole near camp watching for all kinds of animals as well as watching over our shoulders for wild animals running amuck inside the camp - mainly jackals. Heather got really brave and started making crazy noises to keep the jackals away. I'm sure she saved my life from them at least once. That night while sleeping we kept hearing these really weird, low-groaning noises...We found out later they were hippo noises. Definitely something we don't hear in MN.

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...