Rain in the desert; chased by a rabid seal

Returned last week from a six-day safari in northern Namibia, a country that I still have trouble spelling. Due to horrific travel times, I was gone 10 days. Travel from here is really, really rough. Flight times are inconvenient and flights are often changed. I’d actually planned on departing November 9 and arriving the same day but had to leave November 8 to arrive the 9^th. The return flight was supposed to be leave Monday and get back Tuesday but changed and I had to leave on Sunday – the last day of the tour – to still arrive on Tuesday. That way was three flights (two hours, three hours, three hours) two layovers (five hours, sixteen hours) and a one-hour delay.

Quite randomly, killing time in the lounge before the last flight, I wound up sitting next to two people who were traveling together, man and a woman. The man was sitting next to me and was extremely nice. He’d get up and ask if he could get me anything and I told him I’d eaten and gave him my recommendations. Just friendly conversation.

Anyway, eventually I asked them where they were going. They said Tallahassee! There is no destination they could have said that could have surprised me more. Nor could they believe it was my hometown. Turned out they were professors from FAMU who had been at a symposium.

The long layover on the return wasn’t bad, but it was costly! Even though I’d been to Nairobi before, there was no way I was going to hang out in any airport that long (7 a.m. to 11 p.m.) and I arranged for a driver and set up a bespoke tour with Sensational Adventures. I hadn’t been to the park in the city before and took the opportunity, plus went to a glass-making factory and the museum that was the home of the “Out of Africa” lady. I haven’t read the book but have put it in my queue. It was on the list of things to do in the city, so I took the chance. It was nice.

But the Namibia tour – wow, how cool. It was worth the travel hassle. I joined a tour group that had 10 people in it. There was a pair and a trio and the rest were singles, so it was a good group. My roommate was one of the trio (the other two being her married uncles; they were from Mississippi) and she was very nice.

We spent two days in Etosha National Park, where we saw lions, giraffe, elephants and such. In the evenings, we stayed at places that had watering holes – not bars, but animal watering holes. It was like reality TV. When I visited, there were a bunch of rhinos, and I also saw a small herd of elephants headed to it.

In the park itself, there were multiple watering holes – several man-made and powered by solar – and it was fascinating to see the chess game of who and when. We drove up one time to see giraffe and springbok happily drinking in harmony when we caught a glimpse of a male lion approaching from far away. As he got closer, the other animals tensed notably and then hustled out of there. We watched him drink for awhile, then drove to another spot. We could see a herd of zebra patiently waiting on the lion to finish for their turn at the drinking fountain.

Later, we saw a solo lioness – at least that we could tell, although they normally hunt as a group – stalk and catch a springbok. We figured she had cubs somewhere but never saw them. There weren’t a whole lot of babies this time of year, but we did see some really tiny springbok and some young zebra. (Later, at the Nairobi park, I went to the elephant orphanage and saw some cuties, plus a toddler rhino.)

After the national park, we went to Sandwich Bay and did a beach dunes type of trip. We split up in 4Runners and I swear my driver was a bat out of hell. I have no idea why were in such a hurry but we were dodging seals, dead and alive, like no body’s business. At one point, a seal started chasing us. Bat Out of Hell said he was rabid and they’d reported him. I had no idea seals could get rabies, but that thing was Old Yeller crazy. It chased the truck. We did stop to watch some whales jumping as well as to view a dead baby whale carcass – which stunk to high heaven – before hitting the dunes. We stopped and met the other two 4Runners of us and had some snacks and took in the gorgeous view.

As we headed to the desert, the weather turned rainy. It is the rainy season, but it’s still not a normal thing and people were really happy. When we were driving through the little town where we stayed, we could see residents dancing in the street while the rain came down. In the little shops, the proprietors would say they were blessed because it was a little bit wet.

When we hit the dunes themselves, it turned out that we had to climb a giant one – Big Daddy, 325 meters high – in order to get down to a place with these ancient trees. Dear God, I hated that. I’m great walking for distance but incline is not my thing. My balance is awful and I was terrified – absolutely terrified – I would lose my balance and roll down the sand. And we’re talking three football fields high. We were basically walking along the spine of dunes, trying to get to Big Daddy. The view at the top was gorgeous, but I was so scared to stop on the way up and take pictures because I feared I’d lose my balance.

Finally, I got up there and just sat down and thanked God that I made it. I think I took pictures, but then I discovered that the “down,” while quicker, was basically straight down. The guy said “Just walk down normally, heels first.” Except heels first isn’t normal. The only other person going down at that point was slowing picking down sideways, which isn’t normal either. I tried to do the heels first thing and didn’t get it. The rained-upon sand was wet, making it header and all I could think about was losing my balance, tumbling down and tearing an ACL. Finally, I started crab-walking on my butt. While I was making progress, some guy from another group literally ran down, making it about ¾ of the way down before falling. At that point, I was thinking, yep, if that was me, that’d be a knee blowout right there.

So I kept going until a guide came and more or less showed me how to do it. It was harder in the wet sand (apparently) but I eventually got the hang of it, but holy hell, it was miserable. But the payoff was what was essentially a dried-up lake with trees that had been dead for 500 years. They were beautiful.  The whole thing reminded me of a movie; I kept picturing the trees with personalities and coming to life and attacking us.

Apparently Namibian locations have been used in several movies, including the recent Mad Max one and The Mummy. It really was beautiful.

Now I am back and it’s rainy season. At this point in the year, I think it’s rained more than it did all last rainy season. (It’s early in the season; it ends in March.) Since the shutdown is over, work has kicked in. Three projects going on plus a host of fires.

My next break isn’t until early January and I am hoping to make it.