Email Letter Number 5
Email Number 5
March 30, 2005
Windhoek, Namibia
Hello to all of you!!!!
Here is number 5 of our emails. This one will tell you of our travels in the last 10 days. We took a trip to the south of Namibia and spent a full week in the desert. It was wonderful. Most of this country is made up of desert but there are many different faces to the desert here, from the tall red dunes of the Namib, the desert that looks like the moon, to the rounded red dunes of the Kalahari. All very different but all very beautiful. The Kalahari (also red sand) is more a savannah with lots of grass – the dunes are stationary as compared to the Namib where they are constantly moving.
Before we tell you about the desert we need to just tell you of a couple of experiences we had on weekend excursions close to Windhoek. On both of these we went on what is known as a “game drive”. This is where you get into a large open 4 wheel drive vehicle with 8 or 9 other people and drive around “guest farms”. These are farms that sit on several thousand acres and have wild game running around on them. On the first one we saw lots of game; giraffe, wildebeest, springbok, etc, but the hit of the day was the 4 white rhinos that came within 3 feet of the vehicle. We were so close we could have touched them, if we had the nerve. Peter’s photos will have to suffice. There were three adults and a baby. All babies are cute even white rhinos. On the second drive we saw many wild animals again but the highlight of this drive was the leopards that came up to the vehicle to be fed. They are really beautiful animals and to be so close to them is breathtaking.
Not only do you see game on the farms but as you drive along the roads you see many giraffe and antelope. So many that you begin to expect it and grow complacent about the sight.
Now for the desert. First, we drove about 6 hours on a gravel road (here the gravel roads are wide and compact, so you can drive 75 miles an hour with no problem) arriving in the Namib Desert. This desert has the highest, oldest and most beautiful dunes in the world. It is noted that if you ever see a tall red dune in a movie or advertisement it was photographed in the Namib. We had to cross a couple of rivers to get there, which meant driving our 4 wheel drive truck up to its hubcaps. It had rained for a couple of days before we arrived in the desert and caused major flooding. It also caused the river to flow across the desert at a fast pace almost reaching a dry pan that only gets water in it every couple of years.
This desert is hot, 112 degrees during the day and down to 70 at night. We stayed in what is known as luxury tents, these are canvas in front and stucco in the back. Has king size bed and lots of luxurious space. Meals were buffet style and for dinner, not only did they serve the normal beef, chicken and fish but also all the wild animals we had seen during the day, including Kudu, Oryx, Springbok, Ostrich, Hartebeest, Impala and crocodile. We stuck to the boring stuff since the thought of eating one of those beautiful wild animals is difficult to take. Different culture, I guess.
From there we went to a town on the Atlantic Ocean called Luderitz. On the way we passed through an area that has many wild horses. They live along the road and you need to be careful not to hit them as you drive by. We stayed in a delightful bed and breakfast where they brought breakfast right into the room. It’s an old German town that has lots of unemployment and decay but it is just outside one of the largest diamond mining operations in the world. Between 1910 and 1931 over 600 million karats. Living conditions were and continue to be very harsh. The wind blows all the time, everything is covered with sand, very hot during the day and cold at night. The owners of the mines are all white, mostly German, and the workers are all black. Living conditions for the blacks is worse, of course, than for the whites. In the early 1900’s they worked all day and at night slept in places that looked like small boxes, just enough room for a cot and not much else. They are still mining taking out some 4 million karats a month. Since you can’t visit the working mines we visited some of the ghost towns where mines have been closed. It was interesting to see the desert taking over the houses, photos aplenty at this spot.
From there we traveled another 4-5 hours on gravel roads to a place called the Fish River Canyon. This is the second largest canyon in the world, second only to our Grand Canyon. It is very beautiful and the place we stayed was amazing. It was cottage built into the rocks. Huge red rocks and the cottage fits right between rocks. We felt like the Flintstones. It was a truly delightful place that we will remember always.
And to top it off we spent the last two days on the Kalahari with the San people formally referred to as Kalahari Bushmen. “Bushmen” is now considered a derogatory term. Their language is one of the “click” – Khoisan” languages and is very interesting to listen to. Most non San people cannot speak it including us of course. Yes, they really do exist and we learned a lot from them about medicines and hunting. As we were walking on a guided walk with them, one of them saw a scorpion. As you know, scorpions are pretty poisonous. He rubbed his hand in his armpit and them put his hand near the scorpion that promptly fell asleep and he was then able to pick it up. In order to continue to hold it, he once again rubbed his hand under his arm. Interestingly we stayed in a very fancy air-conditioned cabin and they live in the desert. We had trouble getting the air to work and the water didn’t work all the time. Power was shut off from 10pm to 7am. We have stress and heart attacks. They live in the desert with no water, no houses, no air conditioning, no stress and no heart attacks. Who has it better?
All in all it was a wonderful trip and we will have good memories for a long time. Namibia is a beautiful country. We will be seeing more of it both as a part of our work and also on our own.
Lot of love and kisses, Hinda and Peter
March 30, 2005
Windhoek, Namibia
Hello to all of you!!!!
Here is number 5 of our emails. This one will tell you of our travels in the last 10 days. We took a trip to the south of Namibia and spent a full week in the desert. It was wonderful. Most of this country is made up of desert but there are many different faces to the desert here, from the tall red dunes of the Namib, the desert that looks like the moon, to the rounded red dunes of the Kalahari. All very different but all very beautiful. The Kalahari (also red sand) is more a savannah with lots of grass – the dunes are stationary as compared to the Namib where they are constantly moving.
Before we tell you about the desert we need to just tell you of a couple of experiences we had on weekend excursions close to Windhoek. On both of these we went on what is known as a “game drive”. This is where you get into a large open 4 wheel drive vehicle with 8 or 9 other people and drive around “guest farms”. These are farms that sit on several thousand acres and have wild game running around on them. On the first one we saw lots of game; giraffe, wildebeest, springbok, etc, but the hit of the day was the 4 white rhinos that came within 3 feet of the vehicle. We were so close we could have touched them, if we had the nerve. Peter’s photos will have to suffice. There were three adults and a baby. All babies are cute even white rhinos. On the second drive we saw many wild animals again but the highlight of this drive was the leopards that came up to the vehicle to be fed. They are really beautiful animals and to be so close to them is breathtaking.
Not only do you see game on the farms but as you drive along the roads you see many giraffe and antelope. So many that you begin to expect it and grow complacent about the sight.
Now for the desert. First, we drove about 6 hours on a gravel road (here the gravel roads are wide and compact, so you can drive 75 miles an hour with no problem) arriving in the Namib Desert. This desert has the highest, oldest and most beautiful dunes in the world. It is noted that if you ever see a tall red dune in a movie or advertisement it was photographed in the Namib. We had to cross a couple of rivers to get there, which meant driving our 4 wheel drive truck up to its hubcaps. It had rained for a couple of days before we arrived in the desert and caused major flooding. It also caused the river to flow across the desert at a fast pace almost reaching a dry pan that only gets water in it every couple of years.
This desert is hot, 112 degrees during the day and down to 70 at night. We stayed in what is known as luxury tents, these are canvas in front and stucco in the back. Has king size bed and lots of luxurious space. Meals were buffet style and for dinner, not only did they serve the normal beef, chicken and fish but also all the wild animals we had seen during the day, including Kudu, Oryx, Springbok, Ostrich, Hartebeest, Impala and crocodile. We stuck to the boring stuff since the thought of eating one of those beautiful wild animals is difficult to take. Different culture, I guess.
From there we went to a town on the Atlantic Ocean called Luderitz. On the way we passed through an area that has many wild horses. They live along the road and you need to be careful not to hit them as you drive by. We stayed in a delightful bed and breakfast where they brought breakfast right into the room. It’s an old German town that has lots of unemployment and decay but it is just outside one of the largest diamond mining operations in the world. Between 1910 and 1931 over 600 million karats. Living conditions were and continue to be very harsh. The wind blows all the time, everything is covered with sand, very hot during the day and cold at night. The owners of the mines are all white, mostly German, and the workers are all black. Living conditions for the blacks is worse, of course, than for the whites. In the early 1900’s they worked all day and at night slept in places that looked like small boxes, just enough room for a cot and not much else. They are still mining taking out some 4 million karats a month. Since you can’t visit the working mines we visited some of the ghost towns where mines have been closed. It was interesting to see the desert taking over the houses, photos aplenty at this spot.
From there we traveled another 4-5 hours on gravel roads to a place called the Fish River Canyon. This is the second largest canyon in the world, second only to our Grand Canyon. It is very beautiful and the place we stayed was amazing. It was cottage built into the rocks. Huge red rocks and the cottage fits right between rocks. We felt like the Flintstones. It was a truly delightful place that we will remember always.
And to top it off we spent the last two days on the Kalahari with the San people formally referred to as Kalahari Bushmen. “Bushmen” is now considered a derogatory term. Their language is one of the “click” – Khoisan” languages and is very interesting to listen to. Most non San people cannot speak it including us of course. Yes, they really do exist and we learned a lot from them about medicines and hunting. As we were walking on a guided walk with them, one of them saw a scorpion. As you know, scorpions are pretty poisonous. He rubbed his hand in his armpit and them put his hand near the scorpion that promptly fell asleep and he was then able to pick it up. In order to continue to hold it, he once again rubbed his hand under his arm. Interestingly we stayed in a very fancy air-conditioned cabin and they live in the desert. We had trouble getting the air to work and the water didn’t work all the time. Power was shut off from 10pm to 7am. We have stress and heart attacks. They live in the desert with no water, no houses, no air conditioning, no stress and no heart attacks. Who has it better?
All in all it was a wonderful trip and we will have good memories for a long time. Namibia is a beautiful country. We will be seeing more of it both as a part of our work and also on our own.
Lot of love and kisses, Hinda and Peter
posted by Peter and Hinda Schnurman at 3:08 AM
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