Not quite in Namibia, we spent a night at Ghanzi on the Botswana border so we could do a tour with the Bushman (tribe of short nomadic people who make clicking noises when they communicate – aka the tribe in The Gods Must Be Crazy). It was a fantastic tour – only an hour and a half, but they were so relaxed, informative and chatting to each other in their unique way – all of us were captivated by these remarkable people.
That night we camped with the window flaps completely open, falling asleep gazing at the stars. After a long travel day we arrived at Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, and were blown away by being back in the west and suddenly becoming invisible. For the first time in seven weeks I was no longer a Mzungu, but one of the many white people shopping in town. I observed a 40:60 white/black split, and I can't quite convey how it feels to suddenly be surrounded by western shops and westerners. We went out to Joe's Beer House and ate Gemsbock (Oryx), Zebra, Kudu, Ostrich and Crocodile. My tummy rebelled from having so much red meat and despite a lovely night out, I spent most of the night and next few days as my body tried to find its equilibrium.
The next day we travelled to Etosha National Park. It was the dry season and very hot - though our game spotting wasn't fantastic, we did see lions up close and black rhino. The highlight was the camp site's very own lookout onto a water hole. During the day some of the larger animals like elephant visited the waterhole, but at night you could see a vast number of rhino, springbok, gemsbok, and jackal. And the sound of lions communicating to each other when they are close to camp can be quite unnerving. During the day when it was exceptionally hot we relaxed like kings beside the pool enjoying an Callipo, cold drink and pints and pints of water.
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