Namibia

The gang and I set out for a 10 day whirlwind tour of Namibia on April 22.  After  little hiccup on the way there, we passed briefly through Windhoek, the capital, and went to our first big stop, Soussevlei.

The road in was a little, uh, notional

The dunes

Climbed on top of them

 

and rolled down, of course.

Namibia is the second least densely populated country in the world, just after Mongolia, so we would rive through miles and miles of beautiful terrain and not see a single person.  These pictures are from our drive from Soussevlei to Swakopmund. 

Just a few of those miles.

Consequently, visiting Namibia necessitates many long hours in the car.

Which is fine when the views are like this.

Some parts of the country are a little more desolate.

Swakopmund

We headed north out of Swakopmund to see the seals. 

There are a lot of them.

They are very loud, smelly, and silly. 

 I have a lot of seal pictures, but I will spare you. 

The skeleton coast lives up to its name.

 We tried to go and see Welwitschias, a plant that is considered a living fossil and found nowhere else in the world, but our efforts were thwarted when the river flooded for the first time since 1974. 

The raging torrent wiped out the road.

After our failed adventure, we turned north and headed to Etosha National Park.  We saw 81 giraffes during our two days in the park.

Just a start.

There are so many zebras living close together in Etosha that they are a hotbed for disease and infection.

 These next few pictures are just a few selected from my upcoming coffee table book, Etosha National Park: Things Standing in the Road, available wherever fine books are sold. 

Hyenas

Mr Elephant.

The most terrifying thing I have ever seen. 

Lions!  A little further away this time. 

After our Etosha adventure, we headed back south and spent a day in Windhoek, which is a really beautiful city. 

Downtown.

The gardens around Parliament, currently hosting a wedding.

After Windhoek we began the long trip back to Gabs.  I then spent three days in Gabs taking care of all of my finals for the semester and then headed to Cape Town for a week before my internship started on the 16th.  Pictures of that to come. 

Lately

Well I’ve certainly dropped off the radar over the past several weeks.  My internship only started last week but so far it has been very interesting.  I will be working here until July 8, and then my plan is to travel around some more for a few weeks and leave for the Land of the Free on July 21. 

The past several weeks have been busy.  I finished with classes on 21 April and then left on the 22 for a 10-day trip to Namibia, which was fantastic.  I was then in Gabs for a few days, doing finals and such.  Then I left for Cape Town for a week, which is the prettiest city I have ever been to.  Now that I am back to Gabs and the one Zimbabwean man who runs the internet company has found the time to set it up at my house, I should be able to update about those adventures within a few days.