Starting with the thumb

If you bend your wrist downwards so your palm is turned towards you and the thumb extends to a 90 degree angle, you have the shape of Namibia. We started out our Namibian journey by entering at the tip of the thumb at Katima Mulilo on Thursday? (I am having trouble keeping track of days), and will eventually make it all the way to the wee end of the pinkie which is Luderitz. So far, we haven’t made it much past the thumb; although we plan on driving more than 3000 kilometres over the next six weeks, we are still unsure where we will go.

We spent the last few days on the Okavango River in Divundu in the western end of the Caprivi Strip. Once again we found a small luxury lodge that also offers what I consider luxury camping, so it’s a great way to go. Beautiful pool and garden, grassy campsite, wonderful bathroom facilities. It is one of a few places still open in the area due to the high floodwaters. In fact, four of their campsites, the bar area and wine cellar are under water. Come to find out, most of northern Namibia is under water, and then it rained some more all of yesterday and the night before. But it is also wonderfully green and lush, not something often seen here.

There are a few things we are quick to notice now that we are back in Namibia. One is that the tourism industry has boomed extraordinarily. Obviously Namibia is no longer the hidden treasure we left, but we wonder if this growth will be sustainable. Another thing (as we looked through the tourism brochures) is that most accommodation has moved to the high end; fortunately these same places offer camping which is what I think we will be doing for most of our time when not staying with friends. We have gotten pretty efficient at setting up camp. Getting out of the tent in the morning is the hard part as our bodies remind us that it was fifteen years ago since we last camped on the ground like this. We gave up our air mattress to save space since we were not planning on doing too much camping. In fact, we went sixty-one days before christening the tent on this trip. Now we are wondering where we can get a sleeping pad.

Russ came down with a slight cold as we left Kasane, so we decided to take it easy for a few days. No early morning game drives. No planned activities. We napped, braai’ed, sat in the pool, read and studied maps. Not that we were on a hectic pace to begin, and with rest he felt better, so we moved south. We had hoped to visit a friend of Russ’ in Rundu – Patrick Ferrell – but he was on a visit in the US.

Northern Namibia’s rural life is much like we have seen in other parts of Africa – cattle, goats and people freely roam about the interspersed homesteads. There are colorfully named cuca (homebrew) shops such as Peace Garden, Nightrider, and The Love Stop. This all ended when we crossed The Red Line, the agricultural checkpoint separating communal from commercial farms, 130 kilometers south of the Okavango River and Angolan border.

We are glad to be back in Namibia! Much is familiar and we feel very much at home.