Since Swakupmund, we’ve camped out in the bush and in a game
park in Nambibia. We spent one night in
Spitzkopf at a bushcamp (meaning no facilities, just us and nature) and 2
nights at the Etosha National Park.
Spitzkopf was absolutely amazing, the closest scenery I’ve seen that is similar
was in Sedona, AZ. Red rocks,
amazing sunset, and desert all around. Our tour leader Becs, my Aussie mo
Warren, our deutsche freund Toby, Michelle and I all decided to shun our tents
and sleep out on the rocks under the stars. It was gorgeous, amazing, brilliant…but hard to actually
fall and stay asleep. But a rough
night was well worth the experience.
We left Spitzkopf early the next day and drove to Etosha, one of Africa's best game reserves. Lots
and lots of wildlife! We went on
game drives yesterday and the day before, and saw lots of cool animals. But the best part of the park was
camping outside next to the fence where elephants and jackals and lions were
passing by during the night, and the amazing floodlit watering hole right by
our camp site. Sitting on a bench
watching a herd of elephants less than 20 feet away from me was one of the most
surreal experiences of my life; it was a Discovery Channel program happening
right before my eyes. I’ll try to
upload some of the video I took at the watering hole, but video just can’t do
it justice. We were extremely
lucky the first night, there were over 20 elephants, 3 rhinos, 7 giraffes, lots
of jackals, and 2 lions in the distance.
There was also a bit of tragedy, for some unknown reason one of the
younger elephants had died right by the watering hole and the other elephants
were trying to rouse it. By the
time I witnessed this I had already drunk a Sierra Dry (South African cider, mmmm so good), so I was in a particularly
emotional state. When I watched
one of the larger elephants trying to get the dead one up on its feet while a
baby elephant played around on it trying likewise to awaken it, I started
crying (and Michelle started laughing at me). With the aid of a little alcohol in me, I really felt like I
was watching a human drama being played out by elephants. Or maybe just an elephant drama…is it
really necessary to anthropomorphize something in order to feel empathy for it?
But despite the sad scene, it was yet another amazing
experience in Africa. Tonight we
are staying in a dorm in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia (hence the internet), before crossing the
border tomorrow into Botswana. May I highly recommend that everyone come to Africa at some point in their life?
