Adventures in Namibia: Driving to Opuwo

We have now returned from our 5 day journey through Namibia. Since our trip did not include internet access at any point, it left us to journal about our daily events and then transfer them to our blogs on our return back home--Casa Blanca, Windhoek. Now that we are back, we are faced with the daunting task of summarizing the events of this last week. As we all sit here blogging as a group, I am hoping that I can convey how amazing the last 5 days were. And so I begin...

We embarked on our journey North at 6:30 am. As we all piled into the 13 passenger van, we all tried to get comfortable for the 10 hour trip ahead of us. Our first city would be Opuwo, a town in the indigenous region of the Himba tribe. With Uanee as our tour guide, we learned a lot of history about Namibia, spotted a lot of wildlife and received facts about each of them, stopped various times for some good photos, and had a lot of laughs. Here are some of the main things we learned from Uanee and the trip:

-There are fences of varying heights--lower fences for a farm and higher fences if they have game (giraffes, springbok, etc). However, if an animal breaks through or jumps over the fence, which is not uncommon since there are always cows and goats along the road, and enters a different person's property, they now belong to the other person. Whoever's property the animal is on is the owner. Period.
-Some animals we saw a ton of, such as cows, goats, donkeys, and birds. However, we also saw some giraffes when we were next to Etosha. At one point, Uanee had stopped so we could take a picture of the Elephant crossing sign, and he returned with his hand closed. Holding out his arm, he looked at Veronica (sitting in the seat right by the door), and said, "Put out your hand". She didn't want to, so I stuck mine out. Uanee half-smiled then dropped a small, brown, round object in my hand...giraffe poop. I made a very interesting face, and probably had some onomatopoeias in there, followed by a mini photo shoot and handing it back to him. We also saw a turtle in the road which a few of us picked up and held (pictured below), and many different bugs. One of these was a blister beetle; a lovely yellow and black or red and black flying bug, a few inches in length, that when frightened releases juices that causes painful blisters. That being said, when we saw some we avoided them at all costs.
-We also saw a plethora of termite hills. And when I say a plethora, I literally mean a plethora. Lining the sides of the road, you would see dozens every kilometer. They were throughout the fields and all around. Often times these hills were taller than bushes, or even as tall as trees. I never knew so many termites existed on the face of this planet, let alone in one area. However, one perk of these termite hills were the mushrooms that grew under and around them. Although I am not the biggest mushroom fan, these were huge mushrooms and were delicious when cooked! They had the same texture as chicken and were delicious when cooked with butter and seasoned.
-Uanee also shared with us the tradition of pulling out teeth in various Namibian tribal cultures. Depending on the tribe, it was custom at the age of 12 or 13 years old for the boys and the girls to have either their four middle bottom teeth removed, or the top two teeth. This tradition began due to a number of cases of lock jaw, in which the people would die of starvation. By removing several teeth, the person could still be nourished and survive. However, lock jaw is no longer prevalent and has a cure, and therefore the pulling of the teeth is no long necessary for survival. But due to the fact that it is now a custom amongst the tribes, many of the children still go through this ceremony.
-When by the park, Uanee also discussed with us the problem of the lions breaking through the fence and attacking the farm animals near by. A few years ago, a pride of lions broke through and went on a killing spree. That being said, the farmers kill the lions when they find them off of Etosha property. Many organizations are against this and are trying to stop this. Our van seemed to be in agreement with saving the lions, but we then continued our discussion about it with Uanee. He pointed out that the farmer's life, and their families' lives, are dependent upon their livestock. Their entire income and survival depends on them. It takes years for a baby calf to be created, born, and grow old enough to have babies of its own. If once it is pregnant, now many years later, it is killed by a lion, there goes years and years of work and patience right down the lion's throat. Although I am still not a fan of lions being killed, and neither was Uanee, it made me realize the perspective of the locals and understand the issue at hand was as simple as I thought it was.

     Overall, the drive was not as bad as we thought it would be. Many people took dramamine and were asleep for a lot of the drive. I kept busy reading, listening to music, chatting (big surprise there), and observing the scenery as we watched the terrain and plant life vary and change. A couple cat naps definitely occurred, but overall the trip was very enjoyable and smooth.

     Although the B-1 road is similar to our I-5, there was very little traffic (hence the fabulous jumping pictures we captured). There were a lot of birds diving across the road at various time, and many, many, MANY cows and goats! They were crossing the road, or were right next to the road, every few kilometers.

     We finally arrived at Opuwo and were excited to get settled in at Ohakane Lodge. As we walked around the town for a bit, stopping at the grocery store for some beverages and snacks, it was clear that this was not like the city of Windhoek that we have become accustomed to. Some of the locals were in traditional attire, while others were in modern clothing. Also, the people were much more forward with us as we wandered the town, and the people selling various jewelries on the street were much more aggressive. Back in Windhoek I had felt very comfortable, yet knew I need to make sure I was aware of my surroundings. Here, I was definitely a little uneasy. That being said, Uanee ended up taking us down to the store a few blocks away then back to the lodge.

     After an amazing dinner, which included some amazing steak, rice, potatoes, carrots and the mushrooms we had purchased earlier on the side of the road (they were AMAZING), we had apple tart with hot custard, which was also delicious. We ended the evening by buying some bracelets from Queen Elizabeth, a local Himba woman whom Paula and Steve have become friends with over the last several years, and played a few rounds of bananagrams before heading to bed.