tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89124912708240029802024-03-19T04:23:50.297-07:00Asa and Julia in AfricaJulia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-41955894778421370832013-09-17T01:26:00.004-07:002013-09-17T01:26:54.978-07:00Himba NationOne of the things that was important to us during this trip was making sure we connected with the people of each area we visited. To be honest, this ended up being more challenging than we thought it would be as we were often viewed as tourists (which, of course, we were) and as a source of income. That said, we still had plenty of deep and authentic connections with people all through our travels, and one of the most intimate experiences we had was when we visited a Himba village.<br />
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The Himba people live in northern Namibia and form a very specific tribal group. The Himba are cattle farmers and the men often take more than one wife. In our case, the family we visited had four wives, one husband, and sixteen children.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Himba husband, two wives, and children around the main fire</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julia with the first wife</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Family photo</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
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The Himba people live in northern Namibia and also in Angola, and set up their villages in the desert. The village we visited was just in the process of moving locations, which basically means re-building the round, earthen huts they live in and moving their few belongings.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Himba playground</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Himba toy</td></tr>
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The first wife of the village was very interested in teaching us about her culture, and particularly about what women do to be beautiful. In traditional Himba culture, the women wear almost no clothing except for a small piece of cloth over their lower body. The women are not allowed to touch water, and never bathe. Their form of bathing is to build a small fire each night, burn herbs and incense in the fire, then cover themselves in a cloak over the fire to let the smoke penetrate their skin.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wearing handmade jewelry and rubbing ochre into skin makes this Himba woman beautiful</td></tr>
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A large part of Himba beauty involves rubbing ochre into skin. The women from Himba villages will travel for days by foot, or, if they're lucky, in the back of a truck, to collect ochre from the mountains. They then rub the powder into butter and rub it into their skin and hair.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First wife with ochre rubbed on her hair</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hands dyed red from ochre</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julia has been beautified by getting ochre rubbed on her legs and by wearing the traditional Himba wedding cap</td></tr>
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Before we left, the first wife of the village wanted to sing a song for us.We were able to catch it on video, and showed it to her after she was finished. The look on her face as she watched herself was priceless. <br />
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The first wife asked to walk us to our car as we left, and after many hugs and a few kisses, we climbed into the truck and headed back to our campsite.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Friends</td></tr>
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Though we were with this family for just a few hours, the memory will stay with us for a lifetime. What a gift to be welcomed so openly into their lives, even if it was just for a brief moment in time.Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-51720114913414493152013-09-14T22:54:00.001-07:002013-09-14T22:54:31.716-07:00Double ClickWe knew when we planned this trip that we would meet many different people from varying tribes and cultures. We've really enjoyed learning a few words in other languages, particularly the languages of the local tribes in the areas we traveled through.<br />
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We especially enjoyed our trip to Damaraland in Northern Namibia, where we had the chance to meet and spend time with a lot of Damara people.<br />
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We asked Tony, our guide at Twyfelfontein, to make a video explaining the different click sounds in the Damara language and how to make them. He was happy to help, and incredibly professional considering he's never been filmed before. Watch and see how good he is on camera!<br />
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We loved his enthusiasm - so go visit him already!Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-31250102460052210962013-09-10T03:12:00.000-07:002013-09-10T03:12:42.764-07:00Border Patrol<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The town of Kasane, Botswana sits at the corner of three other countries: Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. As we'd already traveled through Namibia, we decided Kasane was a good place to slow down for a few days as we did some research to determine whether we should head into Zambia or Zimbabwe next.<br />
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We'd heard from other campers that Senyanti Safari Camp was a good spot, so we headed there. It turned out we liked the camp (and the owners - Louw and Lulu) so much we stayed for three days. The big draw? A private watering hole where animals from Zimbabwe crossed over into Botswana (the border here is around 100 meters behind the water hole) for water during the dry season.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elephant and Giraffe having a drink in the hot afternoon</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Young elephant after a mudbath</td></tr>
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Our first afternoon we looked off in the distance and saw something moving near the treeline - and realized it was a herd of buffalo heading our way. As we watched, the buffalo just kept coming - first it was one, then three, then five, then too many coming too fast to count. We looked to our left and saw a family of about 20 elephants moving in as well - and as soon as the buffalo and elephants sensed each other, the race was on to get to the water. The elephants picked up their pace and sprinted toward the watering hole - they have a favorite spot in the center where the fresh water comes out. The buffalo were happy enough to take whichever spot they could find, but they had to watch out as they were quickly knocked out of the way by the large elephants. <span id="goog_1737911964"></span><span id="goog_1737911965"></span> <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elephants and Cape buffalo jockeying for position</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two young elephants</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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By the end of the night, over 300 buffalo had visited the waterhole along with around 100 elephants - that was a view that couldn't be beat!<br />
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We did take one night off from the water hole to do a sunset cruise on the Chobe River. We'd heard rave reviews of the sunset view from there, and had to check it out. Like many tourist attractions, it ended up being a little more crowded than we would have preferred, but we enjoyed our time on the river nonetheless. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAuCQKpGBlWz52WxHQl5h-LrWfXP1MZ245I5Whbay5UCizlcpeECJPRHKWA4bQviKos1XaCqSavkZhwZ2MySU_pF2EgaqxW7xufp_lKDICNxpQK7sH2jkKfi6ibpgmB0CCSbV6K5zL32M/s1600/Kasane+-+chope+river+boat+parade.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAuCQKpGBlWz52WxHQl5h-LrWfXP1MZ245I5Whbay5UCizlcpeECJPRHKWA4bQviKos1XaCqSavkZhwZ2MySU_pF2EgaqxW7xufp_lKDICNxpQK7sH2jkKfi6ibpgmB0CCSbV6K5zL32M/s400/Kasane+-+chope+river+boat+parade.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boat parade on the Chobe River Sunset cruise</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ID6ZqY7wIMXUbSvw0jpEFV_KbASLFw2zxWHZNsK69hPe14KnowQ3rtiEMM_pfKUvFCDkEpI_IXS3mtCZpM242F7B37qFa3csG2Aprmr6kgZR6vdSKM6S-pesr8ixWk4WL276MW8zNYw/s1600/Kasane+elephant+whipping+grass+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ID6ZqY7wIMXUbSvw0jpEFV_KbASLFw2zxWHZNsK69hPe14KnowQ3rtiEMM_pfKUvFCDkEpI_IXS3mtCZpM242F7B37qFa3csG2Aprmr6kgZR6vdSKM6S-pesr8ixWk4WL276MW8zNYw/s400/Kasane+elephant+whipping+grass+2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elephant on the Chobe River - this one is shaking the dirt off the reeds pulled from the river</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA6Il-Tl1K1kQyq7LpJmoG2jc8YeYLybsoyJzliAlqKfszcFTUpQzWb2_dtKDKuR32D95enR6QfFGt7-7toJyVvldzhCm-GgtLbXN4mYeXEwWBkt5o8DMv7B75SzUB80KNz-bwRbtrmFM/s1600/Kasane+-+african+darter.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA6Il-Tl1K1kQyq7LpJmoG2jc8YeYLybsoyJzliAlqKfszcFTUpQzWb2_dtKDKuR32D95enR6QfFGt7-7toJyVvldzhCm-GgtLbXN4mYeXEwWBkt5o8DMv7B75SzUB80KNz-bwRbtrmFM/s400/Kasane+-+african+darter.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">African Darter - these birds swim with their bodies under water so they often just look like snake heads sticking out of the water</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt9tnCV0PRREXu08LcSO4LfW9azo4SLQpCW4oaCxkmk29fiDeGsK_Wcn0GIu8yBt3dCjibfKNhGSYezV3Q9-_3Vxtx7tbqiAcgglzps2BsAJNcvNBoToQziyO8UrKXozbfTmfeQ0VhZ5g/s1600/Kasane+-+open+billed+stork.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt9tnCV0PRREXu08LcSO4LfW9azo4SLQpCW4oaCxkmk29fiDeGsK_Wcn0GIu8yBt3dCjibfKNhGSYezV3Q9-_3Vxtx7tbqiAcgglzps2BsAJNcvNBoToQziyO8UrKXozbfTmfeQ0VhZ5g/s400/Kasane+-+open+billed+stork.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Open-bill stork</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGfRa_wsvdGY2yziRxP_QUnH-SJ9HlWCdUcNVUAr_cwOlGppw_OqW3LXV9L8shzVs-tLJgDWETtvGjQF5bENQ-DgqZLTjAG_BdsIzTL0q_OISlhhYzcWh5ejzlWZlmRk-uh0PzhBzBVYA/s1600/Kasane+-+water+buck+eating.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGfRa_wsvdGY2yziRxP_QUnH-SJ9HlWCdUcNVUAr_cwOlGppw_OqW3LXV9L8shzVs-tLJgDWETtvGjQF5bENQ-DgqZLTjAG_BdsIzTL0q_OISlhhYzcWh5ejzlWZlmRk-uh0PzhBzBVYA/s400/Kasane+-+water+buck+eating.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Male waterbuck with a Cape buffalo in the background</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBt-zv_kn095G4jTlQ5ZIbkWVQJ4js8eKX6DJX6crcN_RoNFTf24IzSxGY8jG2SMcDtzawJ69U8SuIuAhHmPzSAE7nqW3Uo9ZCVd8q_CkWuaFHZ5ppSabUNQX-JM-gsfNVbS6J_g-3VNM/s1600/Kasane+grey+herion.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBt-zv_kn095G4jTlQ5ZIbkWVQJ4js8eKX6DJX6crcN_RoNFTf24IzSxGY8jG2SMcDtzawJ69U8SuIuAhHmPzSAE7nqW3Uo9ZCVd8q_CkWuaFHZ5ppSabUNQX-JM-gsfNVbS6J_g-3VNM/s400/Kasane+grey+herion.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heron</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkc89st6crV3pntlPCGPZtZbgjsxnW_OrIcf0PYuKyceOCXbREsL8W4U5UY4goiwgJFD7XQPozl-XIO0AaRsPjm-VjGeROZViePqVqnvEjekdPnoFKfeKBp7J4Mbohnf9meMk_lzQjZFo/s1600/Kasane+white+fronted+bee+eater+i+think.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkc89st6crV3pntlPCGPZtZbgjsxnW_OrIcf0PYuKyceOCXbREsL8W4U5UY4goiwgJFD7XQPozl-XIO0AaRsPjm-VjGeROZViePqVqnvEjekdPnoFKfeKBp7J4Mbohnf9meMk_lzQjZFo/s400/Kasane+white+fronted+bee+eater+i+think.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White-fronted bee eater</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-mM4ZMfnRnwyieLqN3gBzPht5imBKTcYRpHAPa93S4fSsO6GabKacZhJnavd8UsPkBGfV8jRuGWUrLjkcM2N9eXecvpUkqxc303qMGY3-8Vu8Um-Wlsqkr65X0ywEIzDwnS4A1ir3YM/s1600/Kasane+elephant+sunset+5.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-mM4ZMfnRnwyieLqN3gBzPht5imBKTcYRpHAPa93S4fSsO6GabKacZhJnavd8UsPkBGfV8jRuGWUrLjkcM2N9eXecvpUkqxc303qMGY3-8Vu8Um-Wlsqkr65X0ywEIzDwnS4A1ir3YM/s400/Kasane+elephant+sunset+5.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chobe River Sunset</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQNDa0Ignx4b3mcQNvssaaoxVRhAIoiAYaZrXMBM6WD_7hdc43XopiPK0qLlqOmi54DR87ATCJoIkGIH2D6Kz3Zxu67oSKOnlI4nVhVjc-9he7NNFETHh3QfvvQZLpmADW2GNnZ9XXDU/s1600/kasane+elephant+sunset+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQNDa0Ignx4b3mcQNvssaaoxVRhAIoiAYaZrXMBM6WD_7hdc43XopiPK0qLlqOmi54DR87ATCJoIkGIH2D6Kz3Zxu67oSKOnlI4nVhVjc-9he7NNFETHh3QfvvQZLpmADW2GNnZ9XXDU/s400/kasane+elephant+sunset+2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chobe River Sunset</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Our final evening in Senyanti we were invited by Lulu and Louw to go into the underground bunker they had built just a few meters from the water hole - we were able to see the elephants up close and even had one step on top of the bunker for a few moments:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMUirZT5Voa1aw6Wg4J6rlY0hibHnSuD1cDC8KOfAMVZSjFDXNMOtG9FglLk6a4DGpOH1K93Nm2Vx3ob2DDg1-o3p3HCgkfaXTWSuhrnwMXpHrVYc2celTtMuNHUoSnjgtJJlAhLK9hg0/s1600/Senyanti+Bunk+ele.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMUirZT5Voa1aw6Wg4J6rlY0hibHnSuD1cDC8KOfAMVZSjFDXNMOtG9FglLk6a4DGpOH1K93Nm2Vx3ob2DDg1-o3p3HCgkfaXTWSuhrnwMXpHrVYc2celTtMuNHUoSnjgtJJlAhLK9hg0/s400/Senyanti+Bunk+ele.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching a breeding herd drinking from the underground bunker</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9LCQ6Fq7MlrfbCorkQWOMn5x2BYy7Wp9yxGzZBsEE_FtQbf5JkX0UktFbzH7yKN1nrgfW-lcl0q4XBXGP2gMC84cbfjiiWcv_piDpig_iCOgFAlNudJQ_DFTotzo6ETDmP8p3ASSklDE/s1600/Senyanti+Bunker+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9LCQ6Fq7MlrfbCorkQWOMn5x2BYy7Wp9yxGzZBsEE_FtQbf5JkX0UktFbzH7yKN1nrgfW-lcl0q4XBXGP2gMC84cbfjiiWcv_piDpig_iCOgFAlNudJQ_DFTotzo6ETDmP8p3ASSklDE/s400/Senyanti+Bunker+2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viewing a large bull elephant from the safety of our bunker</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We'd planned to go into Zimbabwe at this point, but as there were presidential elections happening on July 31st, we decided that we'd better avoid Zim for the time being and headed into Zambia instead. (Yes, we know we are quite behind in our posts!)<br />
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We'd been warned of the difficulty of crossing into Zambia by the company we rented our vehicle from, so we left camp early to make sure we'd have plenty of time to get through the border.<br />
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Exiting Botswana was super simple for us, but much less simple for the truckers who drive the routes into Zambia and Zimbabwe. There were transport trucks lined up for over 5 kilometers waiting to get on the ferry to Zambia - some of them told us they'd been waiting in line for three weeks as the ferry is quite small and can't move many vehicles at once. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVKze4IBnvP2XigXX3JhlisJDRSVu4fAMWTn0ng4QX_Jyvm8142HjU9mt9IrzW5I5xxNnGWCOGHl97iO2EFOfwLzl02vnZiLtyyrPxpkXaA1XI4pmc4OhWLiJAQkyeeNZuUg8cdno6yb0/s1600/Kazangula+ferry+truck+line.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVKze4IBnvP2XigXX3JhlisJDRSVu4fAMWTn0ng4QX_Jyvm8142HjU9mt9IrzW5I5xxNnGWCOGHl97iO2EFOfwLzl02vnZiLtyyrPxpkXaA1XI4pmc4OhWLiJAQkyeeNZuUg8cdno6yb0/s400/Kazangula+ferry+truck+line.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trucks waiting in line for 3 weeks to get into Zambia </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Once we'd exited Bostwana, we knew we had to catch a ride with a ferry about 750 meters across the Zambezi river to get into Zambia. Imagine our joy and surprise when this is what pulled up:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3EP3QsOzWHySmNTa2dL4t4TDHclg1Hu9b2ds3p6nzFVUYtS_p67RNgDII4wJhVvmk4Q7O_1Lq8XTCamQWUYSvEep6m17spwGQgBg4-sg68bzJDtX0GId_JNZaU1xGUAQl347ZhdNoRpo/s1600/Kazangula+Ferry+boat.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3EP3QsOzWHySmNTa2dL4t4TDHclg1Hu9b2ds3p6nzFVUYtS_p67RNgDII4wJhVvmk4Q7O_1Lq8XTCamQWUYSvEep6m17spwGQgBg4-sg68bzJDtX0GId_JNZaU1xGUAQl347ZhdNoRpo/s400/Kazangula+Ferry+boat.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kazungula Ferry to Zambia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The ferry fit exactly two cars and one long-haul truck - plus about 20 pedestrians. Once on the ferry, we had to get out of the cars (even though the ride took only about 5 minutes). We tried not to be too nervous even though water from the river was splashing over our feet as we stood on the ferry. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfjyYs0Fg9iEhWmfCHH1AYiasxH_-QXsRdoNdzswPb54yCPKVasHfhg7bXM-Ai3C0umLkOMWtDysRnHaMxiCgjCSV0oC4L8jCJRyv0Egq5DvzOw8xqLQFmfeP57sd8ga_vD0yuiVX0OY8/s1600/Kazangula+Ferry+on+boat.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfjyYs0Fg9iEhWmfCHH1AYiasxH_-QXsRdoNdzswPb54yCPKVasHfhg7bXM-Ai3C0umLkOMWtDysRnHaMxiCgjCSV0oC4L8jCJRyv0Egq5DvzOw8xqLQFmfeP57sd8ga_vD0yuiVX0OY8/s400/Kazangula+Ferry+on+boat.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kazungula Ferry to Zambia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD63TgP9afvMLDQh-tIo7D6x104TQ7P2v4z8g7uD_gerGbIaIRtIoSM0XL1GTSNY8-rvGLjvc4N0liCqS2cRgsqtN7W6MtGt1SIcJN6I1GxE5xw4VqmYJsVDSmOgat91Dz9DkQjYwKkCI/s1600/Kazangula+Ferry+driving+off.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD63TgP9afvMLDQh-tIo7D6x104TQ7P2v4z8g7uD_gerGbIaIRtIoSM0XL1GTSNY8-rvGLjvc4N0liCqS2cRgsqtN7W6MtGt1SIcJN6I1GxE5xw4VqmYJsVDSmOgat91Dz9DkQjYwKkCI/s400/Kazangula+Ferry+driving+off.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Asa driving off the Kazungula Ferry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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When we arrived in Zambia, we were careful to make sure we stopped at all the offices we needed to visit in order to enter the country. Unlike Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa, Zambia requires the payment of several taxes and fees in addition to a visa.<br />
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Our first stop was at immigration where we paid the visa fee of $50 each for a 30 day stay in Zambia. The immigration official was incredibly helpful and even warned us that Zambia had changed it's currency at the beginning of the year and taught us how to tell the difference between the old and new notes.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzIuuEpKYOglyuJrwgr8Ovye1tr6B-6eWrdG-cEaoYsrpWN5d42FAyyni8X-a09xlbFLGdjltmswvJyyspsplMg0lyRbmcIJRKGS-LOzGpPi8hlSGfSZD2le1P3x66CGf-ECuYcto9Kc/s1600/Kazangula++-+Zambia+Money.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzIuuEpKYOglyuJrwgr8Ovye1tr6B-6eWrdG-cEaoYsrpWN5d42FAyyni8X-a09xlbFLGdjltmswvJyyspsplMg0lyRbmcIJRKGS-LOzGpPi8hlSGfSZD2le1P3x66CGf-ECuYcto9Kc/s400/Kazangula++-+Zambia+Money.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New banknotes from 1/1/13 in Zambia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After we went through immigration, we had to head to the customs office, around the corner and past a very bored looking guard holding an AK-47. In the customs office, we had to file a temporary import permit for our car, and pay a fee for bringing the car into Zambia. There began our first problem - the customs office only takes Zambian kwacha, and we only had US dollars, Namibian dollars, and South African rand. The customs official told us to simply go around the corner to the bank located within the immigration office to exchange cash - easy enough. We walked over to the bank and asked to change some USD into kwacha. The two men there told us it wasn't possible to change money as they didn't have the correct stationary - they'd just run out. We asked if they had kwacha, which they did, just not the right paper to write a receipt for us. We asked if they could make a copy of a receipt, to which they turned away from us and discussed for a few moments. No, they could not. But they could direct us to another office to exchange money.<br />
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We followed their directions and headed out of the immigration office, past the officer with the AK-47, and around the corner to an exchange bureau where we quickly were able to pick up the necessary kwacha. We went back to the customs office and tried to pay our fee - unfortunately, the cashier had gone to lunch while we were out getting kwacha. No big deal, we said, we'll just go make our other payments.<br />
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First, we headed back toward the ferry (and past the AK-47) to the police station, where we had to hand over a $20 bill (in US currency). We're still not sure why we had to pay that, perhaps a road tax, perhaps just a quick bribe, but everyone told us to go to the police office to pay $20.<br />
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With that done, we needed to pick up third party insurance, which is required if you are self-driving in Zambia. Funnily enough, the insurance covers almost nothing - we just looked at it as another travel tax. After standing in the road trying to figure out where the third party insurance office was, we went back to the customs office to ask the official there as he had been super helpful to us. He walked us outside (again past the AK-47 wielding guard) and pointed at a white building on the outside of the gate. We walked over, knocked, and were promptly let in. We asked for third party insurance and received blank stares - we were definitely in the wrong office. One of the men there told us to go to the green building across the street.<br />
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We walked across the street (with dozens of 'touts' in tow - men who want you to pay them to help simplify the immigration process) and into the green building, and were sure we had the wrong place again. There were four women sitting inside and dressed to kill - long artificial nails, complicated weaves, and tight vests and shirts that showed off ALL their assets. It looked much more like a beauty salon than an insurance office, but it turned out we were in the right place. Getting the insurance form filled out took much longer than we expected, and the women were looking Julia up and down for about 10 minutes before one of them said,<br />
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"You know, we like your style. Your hair."<br />
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Julia: "Oh, thank you."<br />
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Insurance woman: "We can't have hair like that, we have to have weaves."<br />
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Julia: "I think your hair looks nice, too."<br />
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All the women: "Oooooh, thank you!!"<br />
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Insurance woman: "You know, we think you don't look like a white girl. White girls are always skinny skinny. You aren't skinny skinny. You have curves and boobs. We like it. It's nice."<br />
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Julia: "Um, thank you?"<br />
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Finally the insurance paperwork was finished, and we were able to head back to the customs office (and of course past the guard with the weapon) to see if the cashier was back from lunch. She wasn't, but the customs official liked us and called us over. He wrote a note at the top of our temporary import permit saying we could just pay the fee upon exiting Zambia. With a wave and a smile, we ran out to our truck and jumped in, ready to get out of there.<br />
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At the last minute, we noticed a woman flagging us down - we had inadvertently passed her when we were trying to leave. We had to show her all our papers, and once she was satisfied, she let us drive through the gate.<br />
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Two hours after getting off the ferry we were finally in Zambia! Could have been easy to get frustrated, but we decided to approach everything with a sense of humor, which really helped.That seems to be the best way to handle most things here. We left the border post hoping that our adventures in our fourth African country would be less complicated. <br />
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Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-62345260615780430832013-08-29T12:31:00.001-07:002013-08-29T12:31:34.837-07:00Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIyGwUYybfEPVn8VdlwYcylUqB9AuP2wvdRhG4yKl7gF1XfAi2akGo3WghNYM7pmsS9nMidUpsCtHvlMSjQ3rTeL9o2aZRXOWmXy80ni2s4e4w7VDPvTwMOiejb9_6csUj7cuwVdDRqSw/s1600/IMG_0863.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
Moremi Game Reserve is the only part of the Okavango Delta that is officially set aside as a wildlife preserve, and we'd heard from other travelers that it's an incredible place. Before we left on our trip, the company we rented our vehicle from told us that all the campsites in Moremi had been booked out for the past year, so we'd have to take our chances and see what we could find when we got there. Luckily, after an afternoon of driving to different offices, we were able to book campsites for four nights in Moremi.<br />
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We left Maun early one morning and headed toward the South Gate of Moremi. We got there early enough to be able to do a bit of a game drive on our way to the camp site. (Seriously, the drives here are LONG - we had to go about 2 hours into the game reserve just to get to our campsite - and that doesn't including stopping and looking at animals on the way).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_EndAsAkwCHJ1bIsmgN5kQqUuAaD1L_OHpQgOvGg91aoOntI28z-j9M8hSDrt5fYuFqA68z4oU-coGxWsFkqPnvOyQvKEm_8D0snFwQUUdT_SetWHvq7s3d2pwbzFU65QrkiVUIEW6mk/s1600/Moremi+-+Hippo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_EndAsAkwCHJ1bIsmgN5kQqUuAaD1L_OHpQgOvGg91aoOntI28z-j9M8hSDrt5fYuFqA68z4oU-coGxWsFkqPnvOyQvKEm_8D0snFwQUUdT_SetWHvq7s3d2pwbzFU65QrkiVUIEW6mk/s400/Moremi+-+Hippo.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yawning Hippo at Black Pools</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIyGwUYybfEPVn8VdlwYcylUqB9AuP2wvdRhG4yKl7gF1XfAi2akGo3WghNYM7pmsS9nMidUpsCtHvlMSjQ3rTeL9o2aZRXOWmXy80ni2s4e4w7VDPvTwMOiejb9_6csUj7cuwVdDRqSw/s1600/IMG_0863.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIyGwUYybfEPVn8VdlwYcylUqB9AuP2wvdRhG4yKl7gF1XfAi2akGo3WghNYM7pmsS9nMidUpsCtHvlMSjQ3rTeL9o2aZRXOWmXy80ni2s4e4w7VDPvTwMOiejb9_6csUj7cuwVdDRqSw/s400/IMG_0863.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giraffe skeleton</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisFGBBr93Veyq0b_-fu6S_dO0cEw_YntJx4ZncBFRobHtLDkc6KneQUSS56NZ0wz0KgWsr52VJv6208INjVr9XOtms1mTtxpsKVlvNGXZBFTLBxpu8-X6grlIHhfwjr6rUJFKiZfPDCR4/s1600/Moremi+-+Impala+smiling.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisFGBBr93Veyq0b_-fu6S_dO0cEw_YntJx4ZncBFRobHtLDkc6KneQUSS56NZ0wz0KgWsr52VJv6208INjVr9XOtms1mTtxpsKVlvNGXZBFTLBxpu8-X6grlIHhfwjr6rUJFKiZfPDCR4/s400/Moremi+-+Impala+smiling.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Male impala having a little munch</td></tr>
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When we arrived at our camp site at Third Bridge, we had a nice surprise - a handful of elephants were quietly eating on the edge of the camp during the sunset, including this mother and baby. They stayed until the sun went down, and then wandered into the bush.We also had a huge bull elephant just outside the back wall of our outdoor shower - we waited until he walked away to take our showers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9SgO_ww4vI91N7B6Q-7uCdEWqb_9xLbdlvWwTayY4uPn33Z25p78uBmHniiUbg6InC_V02mwBhoZbJ76_PC6RWRyfoZUi9eb1IaRLMewThBKTiNX8n_hifgxQ-afDB0_zKVh8-k5BzIg/s1600/Moremi+-+elephant+in+camp+with+baby.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9SgO_ww4vI91N7B6Q-7uCdEWqb_9xLbdlvWwTayY4uPn33Z25p78uBmHniiUbg6InC_V02mwBhoZbJ76_PC6RWRyfoZUi9eb1IaRLMewThBKTiNX8n_hifgxQ-afDB0_zKVh8-k5BzIg/s320/Moremi+-+elephant+in+camp+with+baby.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mama and baby at sunset</td></tr>
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That evening, we heard all kinds of wildlife around our tent, including lions roaring about 500 yards away, which is one of the most incredible sounds we've ever experienced.<br />
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The next morning, we got up early and went out for a game drive, hoping to find the lions we'd heard the night before. It was a pretty quiet morning (sure, we saw lots of elephant, giraffe, zebra and other plains game, but we were ready for a little excitement!), and we were discussing whether or not to turn around and head back to camp before the sun got too hot. We decided to try just one more loop, and were completely delighted to bump into these big boys:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNSni5EnlZ3jX-wWP29Sq1nSWnYDzsBVv3Gw6Xu9HPXw1lJJpVaX_maugpNcY7GjEf_7Qr8EEa9aIZNWl2GAkSYue-ZHusk_IVXLMUH2OGyNYqOIe9GNrFfAHVWDCkxqpw1w9M1bGfYrs/s1600/Moremi+-+3+male+lions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNSni5EnlZ3jX-wWP29Sq1nSWnYDzsBVv3Gw6Xu9HPXw1lJJpVaX_maugpNcY7GjEf_7Qr8EEa9aIZNWl2GAkSYue-ZHusk_IVXLMUH2OGyNYqOIe9GNrFfAHVWDCkxqpw1w9M1bGfYrs/s400/Moremi+-+3+male+lions.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three male lions in the early morning</td></tr>
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These male lions were lying nearly in the road - in fact, two of them had their paws hanging in the tire tracks. We pulled up next to them (meaning, about 10 feet away) and sat with them for 45 minutes as they cleaned each other, licking and purring like normal house cats, except quite a bit bigger and more vicious. They were sleeping near a waterhole, and when we turned to peek at the waterhole we noticed this honey badger coming in for a drink.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIq0Z1FC0R7eK9h1QBF1ezhzk5BMafeZwLzR8IsRijFnMRDxg1Ja2Sj5rfFrbIkt_y23ogjw8E-h0KaqBQ4uW0t6KNkDvz-VSKC9_YjTiArqPk1ik-wAQDgIlIPfTqZIbHUvPhlbIw_o0/s1600/Moremi+-+honey+badger+gives+a+dam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIq0Z1FC0R7eK9h1QBF1ezhzk5BMafeZwLzR8IsRijFnMRDxg1Ja2Sj5rfFrbIkt_y23ogjw8E-h0KaqBQ4uW0t6KNkDvz-VSKC9_YjTiArqPk1ik-wAQDgIlIPfTqZIbHUvPhlbIw_o0/s400/Moremi+-+honey+badger+gives+a+dam.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honey badger DO give a damn (if you don't get this reference, please go to YouTube and search for "honey badger don't give a damn" for some hilarious videos on honey badgers)</td></tr>
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The honey badger made its way to the water until the wind changed and it caught a whiff of the lions - as soon as it smelled them, it took off in the opposite direction. We managed to catch a quick glimpse of a cheetah as well, and decided that was a pretty successful morning and headed back to camp.<br />
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That evening, we were hopeful that the elephants would come back, but they didn't come by before dark. We did, however, have a huge hyena march right into our camp - she wasn't worried about us at all! She came up to the camp fire to check to see if there was any meat on the grill - when she saw there was nothing for her to steal, she moved off to the next camp site. <br />
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The next morning, it was time for us to move to Khwai Camp Site on the northern edge of Moremi. Khwai is quite wild - it's well known for having a lot of predators visit the camp sites at night, so we wanted to get there in plenty of time to set up camp and make dinner before dark.<br />
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On the way, we stopped to watch a family of monkeys playing in a tree above the road - one of the best things about doing a self-drive is that we can stop and watch whatever we want without having to worry that we are on a set schedule. Vervet monkeys are incredibly entertaining, and their complex social structure makes for interactions between the monkeys you can watch for hours. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUfGXLfUN7k9ymYiFBruDpmlclQ5FqDWcRjfL41jqAznLxgdt2LGj7G7J-hJeeIAoe0HNRTYDAR9Kev9lzYCMzTNYqiKjfY7NCmaQEpM3QELrT5d5sqxMqrClYSxLbiIQg9pqPscDHm50/s1600/Moremi+-+Monkey+in+a+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUfGXLfUN7k9ymYiFBruDpmlclQ5FqDWcRjfL41jqAznLxgdt2LGj7G7J-hJeeIAoe0HNRTYDAR9Kev9lzYCMzTNYqiKjfY7NCmaQEpM3QELrT5d5sqxMqrClYSxLbiIQg9pqPscDHm50/s400/Moremi+-+Monkey+in+a+tree.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Young vervet monkey</td></tr>
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Once in Khwai, we agreed that we should do some prep work to get dinner ready so we could go on an afternoon game drive (we'd heard there was a leopard in the area we really wanted to find!) and still have an early dinner. As we were chopping vegetables, we heard the cracking of branches that can only mean one thing: elephants. We realized a family of elephants was heading straight for our camp, so we threw the pots and pans into the car, and watched as they ate their way around our camp site.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq7CcvJqT6VeHu3weZ6-j7-8wnAP1XpcPyDBkD0ZEj1UDaqG6R694ii75l_VqAwaRhkj88QieSywoFV4lbI4EXvivXF-dtaPqvrRNWiDmeyRvFqfR2w2cz9q361sG0Dgi-dVQQvbThCTE/s1600/Moremi+elephant+in+khwai+camp.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq7CcvJqT6VeHu3weZ6-j7-8wnAP1XpcPyDBkD0ZEj1UDaqG6R694ii75l_VqAwaRhkj88QieSywoFV4lbI4EXvivXF-dtaPqvrRNWiDmeyRvFqfR2w2cz9q361sG0Dgi-dVQQvbThCTE/s400/Moremi+elephant+in+khwai+camp.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This elephant walked past our camp, then managed to pull down an entire tree</td></tr>
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After the elephants left, we finished our prep for dinner and jumped in the car for a quick afternoon game drive. We'd heard that there was a leopard in a leadwood tree with an an impala kill very close to our camp, but we never managed to find it. We did, however, spot this beautiful giant eagle owl with a fresh kill in a tree.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij1oDWDpB64rM2fSk9FjUTSXK5oRHzr2sRMu7cF-KYphCpZJC4zeuYLpw-J_Uf1q7rEKuXdoWHRXDVn8bvwxnsho7RmwkP3cQS_1uUnunOkKD9ah1j6U3h4jBdtaLmrvOSqksNEKVSerU/s1600/Moremi+-+Owl+with+kill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij1oDWDpB64rM2fSk9FjUTSXK5oRHzr2sRMu7cF-KYphCpZJC4zeuYLpw-J_Uf1q7rEKuXdoWHRXDVn8bvwxnsho7RmwkP3cQS_1uUnunOkKD9ah1j6U3h4jBdtaLmrvOSqksNEKVSerU/s400/Moremi+-+Owl+with+kill.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant eagle owl after just capturing dinner</td></tr>
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We drove back to camp just before sunset, and decided we should probably shower before it was dark. As Julia was showering, Asa worked on setting up the tent. He heard a noise, and was blown away to see a herd of impala run sprinting right through the camp site. He knew right away they were being chased by something, and kept his eyes out for what, exactly, was chasing them. As Julia came out of the shower building, Asa saw something moving behind her. At first, he thought it was a pack of hyena, but it turned out to be wild dogs instead:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLv1J041i2-lGnEce4FD1oT1dvMXhn__Gsh5jymnpcpgL_l4zTJ-NjJeBUEDfeiNZYibgjsE3KxkD8_oOvbS5kHVzNIU3OUolG4JQbgTuWbc1DTo9S_2fA2v_sFr6kEPKQlgdLFs2ipQw/s1600/Moremi+wild+dogs+in+capsite.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLv1J041i2-lGnEce4FD1oT1dvMXhn__Gsh5jymnpcpgL_l4zTJ-NjJeBUEDfeiNZYibgjsE3KxkD8_oOvbS5kHVzNIU3OUolG4JQbgTuWbc1DTo9S_2fA2v_sFr6kEPKQlgdLFs2ipQw/s400/Moremi+wild+dogs+in+capsite.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wild dogs on a hunt just next to our camp site</td></tr>
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What you can't see in the photo is that Julia is standing just to the right of the bush in the foreground. The dogs ran right behind her, with one taking a few looks to determine whether or not she was a potential meal. Then they split up and took off, clearly communicating and hunting with a strategy. We fell asleep that night feeling incredibly lucky - people visit Africa for decades and never have the chance to see wild dogs, and we had them right in our camp.<br />
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During the night, we heard the roaring of lions and the howling of jackals and hyena - it's better than any kind of white noise machine you can find. We woke up very early with the goal of going for a game drive (and hopefully finding the wild dogs) before we headed north into Chobe National Park for the next night of camping.<br />
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We drove toward the Khwai River, knowing predators often pop by for a drink in the early morning. We were beyond thrilled to see wild dogs almost right away, and they were clearly on a hunt. We followed the wild dogs on their hunt, along with two safari cars, through an employee camp and watched them as they picked up the scent and then sprinted away, faster than would have been possible to follow. We decided to sit and have a cup of coffee and watch skittish impalas - the two safari cars drove away. Once again, we relied on our instinct to guide us, and as we took a turn around a thick wooded section, we found the wild dogs again on a fresh impala kill.<br />
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There were 7 dogs hunting that morning, but just three dogs took this impala down, and immediately ripped it into pieces.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ESFzSf6_SP_c0_oMTMpKNso1w10YvG6VilTPNKvjeRHLiwQdvgh_3jz_9HXi1fUUzcAPVjx-ykpPBfN_1SeEASqzwdnrFJwYe7IhAukDBbVcwbsVvi-Hsx6Tz1COYzyopvO_bHlJZ3I/s1600/Moremi+-+Wild+dog+kill.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ESFzSf6_SP_c0_oMTMpKNso1w10YvG6VilTPNKvjeRHLiwQdvgh_3jz_9HXi1fUUzcAPVjx-ykpPBfN_1SeEASqzwdnrFJwYe7IhAukDBbVcwbsVvi-Hsx6Tz1COYzyopvO_bHlJZ3I/s400/Moremi+-+Wild+dog+kill.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three wild dogs on an impala kill</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wild dogs usually rip their prey apart alive - just like they did with this impala</td></tr>
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We could tell these three dogs were looking for the rest of the pack, and we soon saw the remaining four come sprinting through the bush from behind - watching them reunite was unbelievable - it was like the dogs were talking to each other and saying, "look what we did, look what we caught for you!" They were yipping and barking and wagging tails - it was incredible.<br />
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About 10 minutes after the dogs had their kill, the vultures and eagles started showing up, looking to see if they could get a bite.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An African fish eagle checking out the scene above the wild dogs</td></tr>
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The impala was gone in less than half an hour, and the dogs headed off after a quick drink to bring food back to their den and their pups, and all the other adults that were either sick, injured or on babysitting duty.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Post-kill drink</td></tr>
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The best part was that we had the dogs all to ourselves for almost half an hour before we saw the professional safari cars slowly making their way to the wild dog kill. We couldn't figure out why they were driving so slowly until they got closer - turns out they were following a lioness who must have smelled the blood and was checking out the scene to see if she could snag any food for herself. She ended up just watching from the bushes for a while and giving up, but it was still an incredible scene. <br />
<br />And if that weren't enough excitement for the morning, we came across a male and female lion on a buffalo kill, just happily ripping the contents of the buffalo's belly out and spreading it across the grass. It was amazing to see how the lions weren't at all bothered by the game cars - we're not sure if that's a good sign or a bad sign when it comes to letting wildlife be wild in these game reserves. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lioness pulling apart a Cape buffalo from the inside out</td></tr>
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As we've been traveling, we keep hearing that we are lucky. We know we're lucky in that we get to be on this adventure, but we're also seeing so much incredible wildlife - much more than others have seen on similar trips, so we are incredibly grateful for our experiences. This trip has been life-changing, and continues to shake us to our core each and every day. We live in a beautiful, vicious, thrilling world, and we're so happy we're getting to experience this. <br />
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<br />Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-7621421864155026942013-08-25T21:49:00.002-07:002013-08-25T21:49:45.344-07:00Into the Wild (Botswana Edition, Part 1)Botswana is considered the absolute mecca when it comes to viewing wildlife. It's often on the top of safari travelers' lists because you're nearly guaranteed to see lions, leopards and other predators along with hundreds of elephants and plains game like antelope, wildebeest and smaller animals.<br />
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In Botswana, the Okavango Delta is considered the best place for experiencing wildlife. The Delta is a unique ecosystem where rains from the mountains of southern Angola move down through Namibia and into the Okavango River, flooding into the desert in Botswana and creating the Okavango Delta. It's the biggest oasis on the planet, and the only place in the world where the floods start in the desert and end in the desert - the water runs out before it reaches the ocean. <br />
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Because of the huge quantities of water in the Okavango Delta, animals from hundreds of miles away migrate to the region during the dry season for easy access to waterholes and abundant foods. Reaching the Okavango Delta has been one of our main goals on this trip, and we were blown away by how many animals we saw in Botswana.<br />
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We entered Botswana from Namibia on the Western side of the Delta and spent a few nights at Guma Lagoon. Getting there proved to be a challenge - we had to drive through deep sand and a small lagoon to arrive at the camp site. It didn't help that our GPS pointed us one way, the signs on the route pointed a different way, and these boys told us an entirely different way. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1mHe61u7yctp8HZqD-3atX2o3WqXsSVgt0cTDgseOMvuMx-7rudHawjrBD_PsIb9fKwKuYzzyL72GN_Vlt_g4lI8poXEknBNplGuK6COK_GwY0bW9b1oiE4u0LQu1j6PXxfo7Xn7hE4/s1600/Guma+Lagoon+road+boys.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1mHe61u7yctp8HZqD-3atX2o3WqXsSVgt0cTDgseOMvuMx-7rudHawjrBD_PsIb9fKwKuYzzyL72GN_Vlt_g4lI8poXEknBNplGuK6COK_GwY0bW9b1oiE4u0LQu1j6PXxfo7Xn7hE4/s400/Guma+Lagoon+road+boys.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Highway robbers - these boys wouldn't tell us the way to our next camp site until we gave them our chips, and even after that, the road they pointed us to was completely flooded over. </td></tr>
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It was great to stay put for a few days in a row and not have to collapse the tent. We enjoyed time going for leisurely walks, reading, lying in the sun and we spent an afternoon (unsuccessfully) fishing on the lagoon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset on Guma Lagoon</td></tr>
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After a few days of R&R at Guma Lagoon, we made our way to Maun, one of Botswana's larger towns and the epicenter of the safari action going into the Okavango Delta. Our first stop was the Toyota Service Center - our LandCruiser kept refusing to turn off, even when we took the keys out of the ignition. We'd gotten good at stalling the car to get the engine to shut down, but thought it should be looked at and needed to have our 10K kilometer service done anyway.<br />
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Once in Maun, we started researching places to visit and potential campsites for Moremi Game Reserve. Before we came to Botswana, we had been told that it was impossible to book a campsite as they had all been pre-booked for months in advance. We had been told that each camp site holds one or two spots for people who show up last minute, so our plan was to simply show up at a campsite at 4 or 5 in the afternoon and ask for a space. At that point, the camp is required to give you a spot as you're not allowed to drive through the national park and wilderness areas at night. We were surprised and delighted to find out that we were able to book a few nights in Moremi Game Reserve and one in Savuti Camp - both very wild places where you're guaranteed to see a lot of game.<br />
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We had a few days before our newly booked camping reservations in Moremi, so we decided to do some true bush camping in the Okavango Delta and signed up for a 2 night canoe camping trip out in the wild.<br />
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The morning we departed we were loaded into a huge military type truck which was, for some unknown reason, named Roberta. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQfgdNQZohOB-ne7zsmhqrAlJOVAgJ74QyUrMAKkMY6eCX3G9GlHXbtXH-ixemG3kSehFw4bArPVz9Ko9ooQgr67CTy8b_Y1FnD-mlw7Agi4uv8uzvvzzScMy2poeDGfhqgBbTchE_ZE/s1600/IMG_2447.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQfgdNQZohOB-ne7zsmhqrAlJOVAgJ74QyUrMAKkMY6eCX3G9GlHXbtXH-ixemG3kSehFw4bArPVz9Ko9ooQgr67CTy8b_Y1FnD-mlw7Agi4uv8uzvvzzScMy2poeDGfhqgBbTchE_ZE/s400/IMG_2447.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roberta, our post-war ride to the mokoro boat launch</td></tr>
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After a 90 minute drive through the mostly sand roads, we arrived at a small village where the mokoro boats (traditional wooden canoes) were waiting. Each mokoro is operated by a professional poler, who has likely been navigating through the Okavango Delta in a small wooden canoe for most of their life. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyuyPzFbrvq7-RdzAS72FKYQzZH1CbDioAEezub_HlN96dEppHxdTWnUj2j9hgPAihAHpKpdmS1UPgHcYgVNL6xa97z5tiPiS65YrbPit1yb_zm8VkQZrba4Pea94VPBqNOzC0LM_9J0/s1600/GOPR0091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyuyPzFbrvq7-RdzAS72FKYQzZH1CbDioAEezub_HlN96dEppHxdTWnUj2j9hgPAihAHpKpdmS1UPgHcYgVNL6xa97z5tiPiS65YrbPit1yb_zm8VkQZrba4Pea94VPBqNOzC0LM_9J0/s400/GOPR0091.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mokoro ride in the Okavango Delta</td></tr>
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After a few hours of poling through the tall grasses of the Okavango (and avoiding hippos, crocs and elephants when we came across them!), we arrived at our campsite. Our guide, Gideon, informed us that the primary activities during our two nights and three days would be relaxing and bush walks. He wasn't kidding. We did a 4 hour bush walk each day, and pretty much spent the rest of the day hanging out, reading, and taking spins out in the delta trying to learn to navigate the mokoro as gracefully as the experienced polers.<br />
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On one of our bush walks, we spotted a huge herd of giraffe - we counted a total of 73 in all. They are seriously impressive when you see them from a vehicle, but it's quite another thing to be on the ground looking up at them. There was also a large group of zebra together with the giraffe - apparently the zebra rely on the giraffe to be their eyes in the thick bush, spotting predators from a distance. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBkNOrUv29xhvAF92wW8hGnpyjwZnDRQUg1SbqevXdHSgF2_g2ikFyQYrFMcnXaotMCIm3wq0xq-XwpiCSIqcHIiaVX3zxU7iDlMq_F4HIH4SUS3F-68tmHGb2RrJx0lhGViUFQDZ7DU/s1600/Okavango+-+Giraffe+fight+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBkNOrUv29xhvAF92wW8hGnpyjwZnDRQUg1SbqevXdHSgF2_g2ikFyQYrFMcnXaotMCIm3wq0xq-XwpiCSIqcHIiaVX3zxU7iDlMq_F4HIH4SUS3F-68tmHGb2RrJx0lhGViUFQDZ7DU/s400/Okavango+-+Giraffe+fight+2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two young male giraffes fighting over access to females</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the 70+ giraffe herd we spotted while on a bush walk</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching the moon on a bush walk</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4BFxO_2ZaTQyE84jq83IRc3qF7KN7KQRSYlAO_FKrfjULVarPzi189ywQve7tXRb_McQMUbMOplD3ogDjKhHrF-hsiQ59fDp935LXCkDwFyqsyA7vXxjC-gHfvDIZq5n2KnhyphenhyphenhjPvGvs/s1600/Okavango+-+Zebra.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4BFxO_2ZaTQyE84jq83IRc3qF7KN7KQRSYlAO_FKrfjULVarPzi189ywQve7tXRb_McQMUbMOplD3ogDjKhHrF-hsiQ59fDp935LXCkDwFyqsyA7vXxjC-gHfvDIZq5n2KnhyphenhyphenhjPvGvs/s400/Okavango+-+Zebra.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Running zebra on our bush walk</td></tr>
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One evening our guide took us out for a sunset ride - not a bad view!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS7Gfs_ABLjGCpjAhf2HU3ZqndrDZIWXks-C4BxDGZ-7P72QD69nTUY5MaH78R86sqCH4pNzNvxO_ciH1lMuNtrCoXBuYAYHUrc48n4LdzbqzHWD_1ji3CUC_Ybyj9JlNcMDxMtnc2RBM/s1600/DSCN0382.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS7Gfs_ABLjGCpjAhf2HU3ZqndrDZIWXks-C4BxDGZ-7P72QD69nTUY5MaH78R86sqCH4pNzNvxO_ciH1lMuNtrCoXBuYAYHUrc48n4LdzbqzHWD_1ji3CUC_Ybyj9JlNcMDxMtnc2RBM/s400/DSCN0382.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okavango Delta sunset</td></tr>
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Please know we are doing our best to keep this blog updated but connections are very slow and hard to find. Plus, we're just trying to enjoy our time in the bush without being on the computer too much! We promise we'll continue to share stories about our adventures as often as we can.<br />
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Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-71227734249232306302013-08-01T00:48:00.002-07:002013-08-01T00:48:44.674-07:00No News Is Good NewsWhen you're traveling through the bush, it's easy to lose contact with what's happening in the rest of the world. We haven't seen any kind of news in the last few weeks, and finally decided that we should buy a newspaper and see what's been happening in the world. <br />
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We bought a copy of the Sunday Standard, which is supposed to be the most 'serious' of all the newspapers available in Botswana as it's published by the BBC. We'll let you judge for yourselves - the photos below are of the most interesting stories we found. <br />
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(Nicki, this post is totally for you - as soon as we started reading, we knew you would love these stories.) <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-UpL9TS9S0Y8r46vrh4BWi_7E4UUP9eLXkluXFmrTNJhnxYsy8q_ymeilq0Mx5VHgqaYS9e2AaqVSJkJ7F4dAvE3YNeG64CVThzUTwiUFpR9meiT811pvBEPh96vpxOHS3ENdU7ifcII/s1600/DSCN0533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-UpL9TS9S0Y8r46vrh4BWi_7E4UUP9eLXkluXFmrTNJhnxYsy8q_ymeilq0Mx5VHgqaYS9e2AaqVSJkJ7F4dAvE3YNeG64CVThzUTwiUFpR9meiT811pvBEPh96vpxOHS3ENdU7ifcII/s400/DSCN0533.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Serious journalism</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeriz53VZNbwjCGWybflIgGR6AXxhSK_otFmcG0USllKANUtnj93okMMxEHxYM9l4MCxtEmUMZtWxP7wzSii40Kk2izsKgFuq6SI_QIzxjFe3Nc5-mutCNCFCk5GFf0-IVRzZx-POBctA/s1600/DSCN0540.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeriz53VZNbwjCGWybflIgGR6AXxhSK_otFmcG0USllKANUtnj93okMMxEHxYM9l4MCxtEmUMZtWxP7wzSii40Kk2izsKgFuq6SI_QIzxjFe3Nc5-mutCNCFCk5GFf0-IVRzZx-POBctA/s400/DSCN0540.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patrons 'exchange positions'</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFsIP1BoJxsBNisnpsYSAdRZ7xP8BjjlONTbaZdgvC-B5LzfvCXQV78GE3EaHhFviHxlD_MdJ8JEG-MhQ-gEfZm4IpDUakfl7cyBC2PFOyhNh0KFZgAXAYc5CDw-dhkjrQIJun_XKST-A/s1600/DSCN0537.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFsIP1BoJxsBNisnpsYSAdRZ7xP8BjjlONTbaZdgvC-B5LzfvCXQV78GE3EaHhFviHxlD_MdJ8JEG-MhQ-gEfZm4IpDUakfl7cyBC2PFOyhNh0KFZgAXAYc5CDw-dhkjrQIJun_XKST-A/s400/DSCN0537.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gender equality</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIB1WLVK3r5McUF5vQXir091bW8Nfu_g-XOuPE8OsvYBZp8qFxS2uhhYHK6H-0hOmJRQMvqZYeoe7j42sLF3tirIcE7zXimqUHVJOOeWRcOxkQtGspoNXUTtS4AYHHhejMnTWXmKzz2dc/s1600/DSCN0535.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIB1WLVK3r5McUF5vQXir091bW8Nfu_g-XOuPE8OsvYBZp8qFxS2uhhYHK6H-0hOmJRQMvqZYeoe7j42sLF3tirIcE7zXimqUHVJOOeWRcOxkQtGspoNXUTtS4AYHHhejMnTWXmKzz2dc/s400/DSCN0535.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No more nice people</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5EJqLVUP33U9ejbiflW7nhaea9TKfdkATEBaugiUzJ-O-lDs_9-OPwEGwgmGUd3snq73EzzBWR_aYyTBG7yIAeiHqFOQhOjN97mKso6oYF2ZnEBS4rzszSEO1hQuDSx4Snh687Qgfl0/s1600/DSCN0538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5EJqLVUP33U9ejbiflW7nhaea9TKfdkATEBaugiUzJ-O-lDs_9-OPwEGwgmGUd3snq73EzzBWR_aYyTBG7yIAeiHqFOQhOjN97mKso6oYF2ZnEBS4rzszSEO1hQuDSx4Snh687Qgfl0/s400/DSCN0538.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one is our favorite</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG1gzHx5H3T6WTUCbylrROd9y1eDieAkgUSXnZUxMLNke9sdcI9LeRZw7LxrBSbYszAp6GQXGtvNgLLFgCFd_n8mqwVq-y_vuHblol8c5OsHwRS94OQu8sFkIG6NfFsG96pf_4LxKDww0/s1600/DSCN0541.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG1gzHx5H3T6WTUCbylrROd9y1eDieAkgUSXnZUxMLNke9sdcI9LeRZw7LxrBSbYszAp6GQXGtvNgLLFgCFd_n8mqwVq-y_vuHblol8c5OsHwRS94OQu8sFkIG6NfFsG96pf_4LxKDww0/s400/DSCN0541.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saints and sinners</td></tr>
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Let's hope that the rest of the world is faring better than what we've learned from these articles. Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-7801001047161809922013-07-31T02:31:00.000-07:002013-07-31T02:31:49.728-07:00Six Weeks in Africa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today marks six weeks since arrived in Southern Africa. We knew we would be having adventures, and
did our best to come prepared, but let’s just say there are some things you can
plan for more than others. </div>
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We started off with a few days in Johannesburg visiting our
friend Gavin and meeting a new friend, Matt, a friend of a friend at home. We
headed into downtown Joburg to visit an open air market and have a few drinks
one Sunday afternoon. We’d been so busy getting ready to leave we almost forgot
what it was like to take a little break.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwWf790VT2AhlMPt-XgeRDWd979RLfOJ9Rgcxt0yguGbhg-qNPSuQA1yq5qnr0M-6ioZHjGKBd7Hjpz04pXIX79reOYVgFyjOx17qPGwc9ff-fs_CYWm01-MUqAascHUQv2JJenrOWS38/s1600/kudu+pate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwWf790VT2AhlMPt-XgeRDWd979RLfOJ9Rgcxt0yguGbhg-qNPSuQA1yq5qnr0M-6ioZHjGKBd7Hjpz04pXIX79reOYVgFyjOx17qPGwc9ff-fs_CYWm01-MUqAascHUQv2JJenrOWS38/s400/kudu+pate.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A slice of this Kudu pate was the perfect lunch</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqDUGMNbdlpxpMYay5fNkULYDeAKynt4wweBzDZmbBzy22N5TZbGb_Jeizl0JBzNWFDDE1O2Dq8MmT3fCW2czwcUm2_KKV-HTx8n8u4DPilWbOi1kNF5Ey4lGRSbKiyzUB-IdlBQFbD6E/s1600/Mozambique+style+prawn+curry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqDUGMNbdlpxpMYay5fNkULYDeAKynt4wweBzDZmbBzy22N5TZbGb_Jeizl0JBzNWFDDE1O2Dq8MmT3fCW2czwcUm2_KKV-HTx8n8u4DPilWbOi1kNF5Ey4lGRSbKiyzUB-IdlBQFbD6E/s400/Mozambique+style+prawn+curry.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lines for this Mozambique style prawn curry were crazy - people were waiting 40 minutes for a bowl!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXIIMaawt3TjT48AwuAnItwlGnG3R7ZcoPAIAEuHL6RDstPCLnQbI9WV2uXi27ftWtWy1CvIMMsWZvMomq8NW_gZgP5k_gHk-zdIk6TQI2Xw9XBDTwse8ExrJygHVRHewyqHDrUWT2Jo/s1600/RIP+diet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXIIMaawt3TjT48AwuAnItwlGnG3R7ZcoPAIAEuHL6RDstPCLnQbI9WV2uXi27ftWtWy1CvIMMsWZvMomq8NW_gZgP5k_gHk-zdIk6TQI2Xw9XBDTwse8ExrJygHVRHewyqHDrUWT2Jo/s400/RIP+diet.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">RIP Diet</td></tr>
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We walked across the street to a funky bar - and ended up getting
involved in parallel parking attempt gone wrong - it was hilarious to
watch several different people, including our friend Matt, try to park
this woman's car. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhi-O_aXze_2pnvOjEPvX9XCtAcSZYsGOfUFLm5QocpQReZLPmqb0hCg3QijvKXJkVnFck1FB3-Y9gv9428XYVA7OiKDuajXgWsbeE7M4iSCg7A6xo-ZLyDrQBgeZ43mVYVdELufGA6K8/s1600/asa+gavin+matt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhi-O_aXze_2pnvOjEPvX9XCtAcSZYsGOfUFLm5QocpQReZLPmqb0hCg3QijvKXJkVnFck1FB3-Y9gv9428XYVA7OiKDuajXgWsbeE7M4iSCg7A6xo-ZLyDrQBgeZ43mVYVdELufGA6K8/s400/asa+gavin+matt.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Asa, Gavin and Matt enjoying a beer</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8OENX4MEQn0os8SRjK0tpP-4R_UmG2GVwiZ85YaYvZKKu8q61vqne9Ah9IDhUkABmCfJ8Dy7AmxTegsjfEoexT3J-F39b_soXHtD_NRHpEag2q22tBmEqzVSCE0Z3N5qxsGCFI-eEsCA/s1600/bar+and+shop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8OENX4MEQn0os8SRjK0tpP-4R_UmG2GVwiZ85YaYvZKKu8q61vqne9Ah9IDhUkABmCfJ8Dy7AmxTegsjfEoexT3J-F39b_soXHtD_NRHpEag2q22tBmEqzVSCE0Z3N5qxsGCFI-eEsCA/s400/bar+and+shop.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bar + retro clothing & jewelry shop in Joburg</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qF7ogWfh9iSCkeq-AueIS3gDvE06Ra0kTNV1y4UX4iRmvHyw_rW4VBqHc9zEoXTDDg1xgIQODBWuO3Y3vSkwhoGw-Pqwo7Gt57YNJrXYIoSUyRhIF4YF8b-GNJ58Qpb5f-7uVIex7cY/s1600/bad+parking+job.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qF7ogWfh9iSCkeq-AueIS3gDvE06Ra0kTNV1y4UX4iRmvHyw_rW4VBqHc9zEoXTDDg1xgIQODBWuO3Y3vSkwhoGw-Pqwo7Gt57YNJrXYIoSUyRhIF4YF8b-GNJ58Qpb5f-7uVIex7cY/s400/bad+parking+job.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We watched several people try to parallel park this car for about an hour - serious roadside entertainment. This was the final result. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs6b_AkUaGDkhdvDm2d-ZqZCUxPBVyI2e5LmGPOgnY5WPw4iQQ_c1jhZgWCAdppF5UcrUSOnQiiz3-UPE73JPsv07hyL9vYDMiqssJPwyGDXETMPd9GSqJFY16rw5V0Cephbb8W4Uy3kw/s1600/Matt+-+bad+driving.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs6b_AkUaGDkhdvDm2d-ZqZCUxPBVyI2e5LmGPOgnY5WPw4iQQ_c1jhZgWCAdppF5UcrUSOnQiiz3-UPE73JPsv07hyL9vYDMiqssJPwyGDXETMPd9GSqJFY16rw5V0Cephbb8W4Uy3kw/s400/Matt+-+bad+driving.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt tried to park the car to help, terrifying this poor woman as he tried to re-park her friend's car. The friend gathered several people around her and said, "Everyone can see the white man is driving right? It's his fault if there's a problem"</td></tr>
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When these two random security guys saw we were taking photos, they wanted to strike a pose, too:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYo19C-EMQvTVbSDu9rvdUBksfa2Cct408JBdpCxwSmcTVLVNGvxk95zYRpl4ZRnYUXHJ5w9HRyE78tYxusMwZSKrthI-aVEt_2urzuJvpC2pNQfzZ_E5fbSaxqDpHQuACcliisOO1ZA/s1600/Security+guards+in+JBG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYo19C-EMQvTVbSDu9rvdUBksfa2Cct408JBdpCxwSmcTVLVNGvxk95zYRpl4ZRnYUXHJ5w9HRyE78tYxusMwZSKrthI-aVEt_2urzuJvpC2pNQfzZ_E5fbSaxqDpHQuACcliisOO1ZA/s400/Security+guards+in+JBG.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two goofy security guys posing</td></tr>
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After Joburg, we headed West toward Namibia, and you can see
photos and our blog post on that part of our trip here: <a href="http://asaandjuliainafrica.blogspot.com/2013/07/welcome-to-namibia.html">http://asaandjuliainafrica.blogspot.com/2013/07/welcome-to-namibia.html</a></div>
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From Fish River Canyon, we drove north through empty and
desolate portions of southern Namibia. We drove hundreds of kilometers on dirt
roads only seeing a few other cars each day. It was intense, and incredible,
and an experience we’ll never forget. </div>
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In Sossuvlei, Namibia’s renowned sand dunes, we made friends
with our neighbors, Boris and Nadja from Germany. We drove to Dune 45 to watch
the sunrise with them one morning, and afterwards went to the Dead Vlei – a salt
pan in the midst of the dunes. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccLSYtJH-uwp_5nsxlSFHt0UB1_K3zrzQN54hRla1NYStPZrrB8mrxs8E-eDqCVO1ZYAie7YPQs9W6bZ3U3i4XGDaC4ZQ_nv-s4A-hucTDCcsz67_n3doLrVGr7GyGddX3q8vNG9KAa4/s1600/Sossuvlei+-+sunrise+-+Asa.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccLSYtJH-uwp_5nsxlSFHt0UB1_K3zrzQN54hRla1NYStPZrrB8mrxs8E-eDqCVO1ZYAie7YPQs9W6bZ3U3i4XGDaC4ZQ_nv-s4A-hucTDCcsz67_n3doLrVGr7GyGddX3q8vNG9KAa4/s400/Sossuvlei+-+sunrise+-+Asa.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunrise on Dune 45 in Sossuvlei</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chilly sunrise in Sossuvlei on Dune 45</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dead tree in the Dead Vlei</td></tr>
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Boris is into geocaching, and found a spot in the middle of
the Dead Vlei.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boris showing us geocaching</td></tr>
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After the Dead Vlei, we chose to drive around the sand dunes, and promptly got stuck:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sand ladders and pushing popped us right out of these sand ruts</td></tr>
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Boris and Nadja told us about the lodge next door to the
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them to have a buffet dinner one night. The options were spectacular, especially the game meats they had available. Our favorites were the zebra and hartebeest steaks. Yes, zebra.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We pretty much skipped everything at the buffet except the game meat grilling station </td></tr>
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On our way North to Walvis Bay and Swakopmund on the coast
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At this point, it was too late to send the 2 1/2 lobsters
back, so we ordered another glass of wine and happily enjoyed our meal, trying not to notice that the price for the lobster was
$450 Namibian (about $45 USD) instead of the $75 Namibian ($7.50 USD) it was supposed to be
for the fish and chips. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Swakopmund is described as more German than Germany – in fact,
we learned that on Adolf Hitler’s birthday the bakeries in Swakopmund celebrate
by baking rolls in the shape of swastikas. (That doesn’t sound anything like
the ‘real’ Germans we know!!) Before we left, we enjoyed a proper German lunch
of pork roast and smoked pork, plus local Namibian beer.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7U9R_rMRKz4buQeUtisDJymyIaX7eDqhBooKP3jfoMXZYrf8rn_V9ONpVc1p1aRjfPtqVaZQaKDmztjAqbPml0pbQn6o67DyEctAlCWWpNVDiCDyK7WVkyZkGNPKHr7emHiEMMeEl-1w/s1600/Swakop+-+Us+with+beer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7U9R_rMRKz4buQeUtisDJymyIaX7eDqhBooKP3jfoMXZYrf8rn_V9ONpVc1p1aRjfPtqVaZQaKDmztjAqbPml0pbQn6o67DyEctAlCWWpNVDiCDyK7WVkyZkGNPKHr7emHiEMMeEl-1w/s400/Swakop+-+Us+with+beer.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prost!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We passed on the beer boot, but lots of tables around us ordered them</td></tr>
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On leaving Swakopmund, we opted to drive along the Skeleton Coast, which got its name because of the many shipwrecks that have happened along the coast. This one was just a few feet off the shoreline.</div>
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We’ve made friends everywhere we’ve gone – including a Namibian man named Oujan who jumped out of his truck to help when we were lowering our tire pressure to get out of the sand. He took over the project and wouldn't let us help at all, then invited us to his home for dinner (he’d
caught fresh fish!) and to visit his farm in the eastern wild lands of Namibia.
We weren’t able to take him up on his offer, but we’re amazed at how friendly
everyone has been and how many invites we’ve had to stay with people we’ve only
just met. </div>
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We would love to update more regularly, and will keep trying
to connect when we can. We're currently in Botswana, and have had an incredible time here - so much wildlife and so many incredible photos to share. Our plan is to go over the border into Zambia today and spend a little time near Victoria Falls, then head east toward Malawi.</div>
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We love reading your comments and posts, so please
share your thoughts with us. We’ll try to post another time this week – hoping to
have more internet in Victoria Falls. </div>
<br />
Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-12540636249098695742013-07-19T10:16:00.001-07:002013-07-19T10:16:21.609-07:00This is What Happens When You Meet A Grouchy ElephantOn one of our game drives in Etosha National Park, we had the (mis)fortune of running into a grumpy bull elephant who was annoyed with the truck in front of us. Here's the video of what happened:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://youtu.be/xDwD8XhkW5c" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/xDwD8XhkW5c</a></span>Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-26008939881243960772013-07-19T02:46:00.000-07:002013-07-19T02:46:08.247-07:00Etosha National Park - NamibiaWe're a bit behind in posting as internet is quite sketchy and inconsistent, but we've found a hotspot at our current campsite near Maun, Botswana that has a super strong signal, so we wanted to share a post with a lot of photos for you.<br />
<br />
One of the highlights of our time in Namibia was visiting the Etosha Pan and Etosha National Park. It's the most wildlife rich place in Namibia, and we had the chance to see huge herds of zebra, impala, and springbok along with many elephants, lions, hyena, and even a few genets. <br />
<br />
Sundowners - enjoying a drink while watching the sunset - are a big tradition in Southern Africa. One of the campsites we stayed at within Etosha National Park was a former German fortress with a great deck for watching a sunset over the camp site water hole.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the top of the fortress. Please note the teeny tiny fence that was all that kept the elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards and hyena out of our campsite. It didn't seem to bother this bull one bit as he reached across the fence to munch on the tree.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying a drink with the elephants (look between our shoulders)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset over Etosha National Park from the Namutoni Fortress</td></tr>
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The main activity in Etosha National Park is to go out for game drives to watch wildlife, which you can do on your own or with a hired guide. We booked an evening game drive when we first arrived as that's the best way to see nocturnal hunters in action.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxFkkdiSo_2kYPKFJyhMzdh-yMAazGE6Z5SCPUJcZjG12-w36v68VbAqCOD2sC-OLeNoOh_XT2m74n9bYOmP3OamzHF4TpBIvMn5MTpByTTvycLnM45dDgsU-dLc4hjc1CST3XPwkauM/s1600/IMG_1691.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxFkkdiSo_2kYPKFJyhMzdh-yMAazGE6Z5SCPUJcZjG12-w36v68VbAqCOD2sC-OLeNoOh_XT2m74n9bYOmP3OamzHF4TpBIvMn5MTpByTTvycLnM45dDgsU-dLc4hjc1CST3XPwkauM/s400/IMG_1691.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of a pride of 8 sleeping lions spotted on our night drive</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Our guide quickly found a pride of 8 young lions that were mostly sleeping next to a waterhole. Our neighbors in the campsite watched the same group kill an impala on their early morning game drive the next morning - needless to say, we think they got the better game drive.<br />
<br />
We also watched a group of hyena along with very young, wobbly legged hyena babies, which were the most interesting creatures to watch of everything we saw that night. They were so cute and vulnerable, and it's incredible to think that they would grow up to be vicious hunters like their parents, so vicious that they usually just chase their prey until it's completely exhausted and collapses, and then the hyena pack starts eating it before it's dead. There's no way to explain the eery feeling you get when you hear a lion roar behind your car or hear the hyenas howling at each other - makes you realize how vulnerable you are out in the wild. <br />
<br />
Our guide drove us to another waterhole where we saw two adult black rhino and one young one. Black rhinos are incredibly threatened in Africa due to poaching, mainly for Chinese demand for aphrodisiacs, and Etosha National Park is considered to have the healthiest population of black rhino in all of Africa.<br />
<br />
It was tough to get photos of what we saw on our night drive, but we had plenty of time to snap pictures and watch the game during our self-guided day drives.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4_EdhxKOa64jFBtdBucgo-v-MeHDkRCwTy5Ali1WZiWn8m2nM-W_lpIx6O0sE7lMMdc1PbMelqNfbHaNhBA5OMqC2YRxOhdwMtEGNf4oCuBzWDpkZf2p28IqgNHwJfn4QQttQ8W9gT2w/s1600/IMG_0718.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4_EdhxKOa64jFBtdBucgo-v-MeHDkRCwTy5Ali1WZiWn8m2nM-W_lpIx6O0sE7lMMdc1PbMelqNfbHaNhBA5OMqC2YRxOhdwMtEGNf4oCuBzWDpkZf2p28IqgNHwJfn4QQttQ8W9gT2w/s400/IMG_0718.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lounging hyena</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_abIe_Sr4gSxFxwiGc89wawahXuoBrC9kFSvIw_3yu4brbiPDJecoUDeRQDtrCBJ_3dpQUidEdOBUpnKlgWNJ_oMyGtfQodGI0yCP9R9tOPxcpRzPw_15st2PCJ1LC37XKwfUS-IsnU/s1600/IMG_0687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_abIe_Sr4gSxFxwiGc89wawahXuoBrC9kFSvIw_3yu4brbiPDJecoUDeRQDtrCBJ_3dpQUidEdOBUpnKlgWNJ_oMyGtfQodGI0yCP9R9tOPxcpRzPw_15st2PCJ1LC37XKwfUS-IsnU/s400/IMG_0687.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stopping to pose for us</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRv3Dm-LJRwxip31SaXI_wtO8hL3TTkRwMkmFaYYVxauUcqJa-aRen9-8C-kMQpoNd7l4xZZlyAq0urLwSGP69XrkPNGfn-eAbp3GG3ZMM1zsn2XUEG_-CaGqDsg7zXQJd2TLGN4amKs/s1600/IMG_1867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRv3Dm-LJRwxip31SaXI_wtO8hL3TTkRwMkmFaYYVxauUcqJa-aRen9-8C-kMQpoNd7l4xZZlyAq0urLwSGP69XrkPNGfn-eAbp3GG3ZMM1zsn2XUEG_-CaGqDsg7zXQJd2TLGN4amKs/s400/IMG_1867.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giraffes in the distance</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRj4mgaV9SivbB8-WPTuEgWknZtoFr28VA8bsvzc23ScRa76YTZkfA85yV3bNU_6SdtrGxFF1MP5QELr6eui0zhSv7__uW8do3hYNCCHSIttFspfUaQKqFSxLfE4eWgbSK_aVDvmFjctg/s1600/IMG_1791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRj4mgaV9SivbB8-WPTuEgWknZtoFr28VA8bsvzc23ScRa76YTZkfA85yV3bNU_6SdtrGxFF1MP5QELr6eui0zhSv7__uW8do3hYNCCHSIttFspfUaQKqFSxLfE4eWgbSK_aVDvmFjctg/s400/IMG_1791.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mudbath</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_QTXZJaimBwtnUYDf-MPfg0nM-5BKTlUgS5z2ImS2k5yGtp_JKIyJFDCNgODts8Ixl4HeyH5g2Ns67CPpICUmeBcLj742GI1MKqaptthBlCfjVVZ_LgS2qcupB7YiCb6AKrzMidQR2Dk/s1600/IMG_1898.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_QTXZJaimBwtnUYDf-MPfg0nM-5BKTlUgS5z2ImS2k5yGtp_JKIyJFDCNgODts8Ixl4HeyH5g2Ns67CPpICUmeBcLj742GI1MKqaptthBlCfjVVZ_LgS2qcupB7YiCb6AKrzMidQR2Dk/s400/IMG_1898.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hartebeest at the edge of Etosha Pan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIbya7ypI6k1PM7kyUYirbVdaVB5mB-7eT_XqsX5-k8nV7_tB7vuyxkqH5POS321XWXjWXemoncfxue_S9ydCfbaMDfn2V5Y93a9X4VIp4mL3CZFgEa6zthyphenhyphenDvkqwyvyK8bEMEGyp4d9o/s1600/IMG_1842.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIbya7ypI6k1PM7kyUYirbVdaVB5mB-7eT_XqsX5-k8nV7_tB7vuyxkqH5POS321XWXjWXemoncfxue_S9ydCfbaMDfn2V5Y93a9X4VIp4mL3CZFgEa6zthyphenhyphenDvkqwyvyK8bEMEGyp4d9o/s400/IMG_1842.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Huge bull in the distance walking near Etosha Pan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_cq-Xd4Njtw66c2_3rYYJcAuvnDXfwgKf57hdz0PoHyPRKqNlxyCklwgSSTbtJUUUS9TIOsIp-wEAtl-NyEoAUvSC234t1ZGJci7EGt1_WuveSaoZsf1FNBqsknfFsreWgcHuWkcd34Y/s1600/IMG_1928.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_cq-Xd4Njtw66c2_3rYYJcAuvnDXfwgKf57hdz0PoHyPRKqNlxyCklwgSSTbtJUUUS9TIOsIp-wEAtl-NyEoAUvSC234t1ZGJci7EGt1_WuveSaoZsf1FNBqsknfFsreWgcHuWkcd34Y/s400/IMG_1928.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Impala bucks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTXpOrHtbTOmQbwVvuVyt8N0UR2itOuH5ohXM2zSGdkR2L9W1FVxtuEcc76aRaZE6PksOgyekN1LTafi6A4gdF1vQjoqpbe5-P59dqMzfqOEd6q8_iyr9L6yhkkrzAAPScTy86DwDjFc/s1600/IMG_0677.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTXpOrHtbTOmQbwVvuVyt8N0UR2itOuH5ohXM2zSGdkR2L9W1FVxtuEcc76aRaZE6PksOgyekN1LTafi6A4gdF1vQjoqpbe5-P59dqMzfqOEd6q8_iyr9L6yhkkrzAAPScTy86DwDjFc/s400/IMG_0677.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Young male lion - part of the group we saw the night before</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
One part of our game drive turned out to be a little more exciting than we had planned. We had been driving among elephants for most of the day, and they had been calm and relaxed. We rounded a corner during one of our drives when we came upon this big bull who was closely inspecting the tour vehicle in front of us:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9V3YycwpCmUGY2EkTExhnC1-pkLJxEDkloO8BhwfCNssVO0O-iMj5uehDqsrMQ2wqj9h0W6Z4nBzEVeYOOi_55_FlHsYGz60p10O3vETYK24wELNG4FKh5mEc75QG5jSOs7LNGea-Ksc/s1600/IMG_1883.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9V3YycwpCmUGY2EkTExhnC1-pkLJxEDkloO8BhwfCNssVO0O-iMj5uehDqsrMQ2wqj9h0W6Z4nBzEVeYOOi_55_FlHsYGz60p10O3vETYK24wELNG4FKh5mEc75QG5jSOs7LNGea-Ksc/s400/IMG_1883.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">His tusk ended up being mere inches from the window of this vehicle full of tourists </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx1Jzax4d-lo4bq69KsUZjy85vBeu8237pdETGj-0oQwsIH5lX-17qXNPm347CtL8iGegShinrqJLqgF6r-RUHNB7nZYydhe9oVeSJmVoQRsurIKa32K1_AsXoRqP9fDNbVsI_fnnL1Us/s1600/IMG_1882.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx1Jzax4d-lo4bq69KsUZjy85vBeu8237pdETGj-0oQwsIH5lX-17qXNPm347CtL8iGegShinrqJLqgF6r-RUHNB7nZYydhe9oVeSJmVoQRsurIKa32K1_AsXoRqP9fDNbVsI_fnnL1Us/s400/IMG_1882.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making sure we know he's the boss</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZB30-OubCn3R5N1oCYmuX2HXx59O2DNM_sHClo6fNSnaqLco84m9lcra5gAZBn0dXb3LTY8bn2SXh2g_ccGy-482iQVMGt1hraVbMHLKC-6VXNUJu7Xk5CreJ2tN7oKpUNkZ98KBFKKc/s1600/IMG_1888.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZB30-OubCn3R5N1oCYmuX2HXx59O2DNM_sHClo6fNSnaqLco84m9lcra5gAZBn0dXb3LTY8bn2SXh2g_ccGy-482iQVMGt1hraVbMHLKC-6VXNUJu7Xk5CreJ2tN7oKpUNkZ98KBFKKc/s400/IMG_1888.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This silver car stupidly pulled up around the safari vehicle and tried to pass, which succeeded in getting the bull even more focused on letting us know he was bigger and in charge. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The bull wasn't happy with the silver car, and stood over it for a few minutes, looking as though he was considering whether to stomp the hell out of it or let them go. He looked around and remembered that he was also mad at the safari car, then came walking toward it, and us. We ended up being neck and neck with the safari car, chatting with the very experienced guide, as we backed up three times to let the bull know we weren't challenging his authority. He eventually let us pass, but it sure did spike our adrenaline for the day.<br />
<br />
We also took a walk out on Etosha Pan, one of the huge, mostly dry salt lakes that make up vast parts of the landscape.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEVRMxy02AIM17pqulBXCjCMdAKVmThUZkBPKjqNt_eWOh3k4ZWVORdEy8E1-mm9agFnBpI-ptJMk9lGOYPqoLf1ypie62VcxXAWFWA8hdT5glNt7SslkPgJ6fD_FOfQTQZaD5HhaC23w/s1600/IMG_1909.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEVRMxy02AIM17pqulBXCjCMdAKVmThUZkBPKjqNt_eWOh3k4ZWVORdEy8E1-mm9agFnBpI-ptJMk9lGOYPqoLf1ypie62VcxXAWFWA8hdT5glNt7SslkPgJ6fD_FOfQTQZaD5HhaC23w/s400/IMG_1909.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Asa on the Etosha Pan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcqK7Pms-vgMDZ0wdgUm0Z06YpV8N0gDOgJCR_q-VMqxkjeeHWT_pvBJAvuvmxkNnSmQBfxBrtHDtnRwz0k1rGJ5hLL-udq2CLaNAhthdPZAEEHOzg_e4fjst9A8qhj367T1u73qrHPZs/s1600/IMG_1915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcqK7Pms-vgMDZ0wdgUm0Z06YpV8N0gDOgJCR_q-VMqxkjeeHWT_pvBJAvuvmxkNnSmQBfxBrtHDtnRwz0k1rGJ5hLL-udq2CLaNAhthdPZAEEHOzg_e4fjst9A8qhj367T1u73qrHPZs/s400/IMG_1915.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julia on the Etosha Pan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We're hoping to drive into Moremi and Chobe National Parks in the next few days. Our vehicle is giving us problems again, and we'd like to get those sorted out before heading into the wild.<br />
<br />
Thanks to everyone who's been posting comments - it means so much to see that you're following our adventures back home and makes us feel connected.<br />
<br />
We'll post again when we can - life is good here in Africa!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-70822061103797098532013-07-17T09:30:00.001-07:002013-07-17T09:30:07.498-07:00The Leopard Has No Name<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the things we absolutely knew we wanted to do on this
trip was true bush camping, meaning that there would be no fences and no
separation between us and the wild animals, save for the canvas of our tent. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, it’s one thing to be sitting safe at home thinking
about what a cool adventure that would be, and quite another to be in the
middle of the bush, keeping your eyes peeled for any number of wild and
potentially dangerous animals trying to make their way into your camp site. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The night the elephants visited us we were nervous at first,
and then felt quite safe as we watched the huge creatures surround our vehicle
and eat the trees and leaves around it without any intent of harming us. Their
movements were so peaceful, in fact, that we both fell asleep to the sounds of ellies
breathing and chewing around us. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few hours after we drifted to sleep, we woke up with the
feeling that something else was in the camp. We knew it was big, but we didn’t
want to shine our flashlights out the doors and attract the attention of
whatever was out there. It sounded big, and as Asa says, quite like a buffalo
that could purr. We felt pretty safe in our tent on top of our LandCruiser, but
we slept a little more lightly after that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning, we walked through the campsite and chatted
with a few other campers, mostly comparing stories of how close the elephants
had come to each tent and how early they had entered the campsite. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the campers said, “Did the leopard stop by your camp?
You do know there’s a resident leopard, right? It likes to live in the campsites.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Asa went and found Eric, the camp host who lived at the
site, to find out whether it was a leopard that had visited our camp the night
before. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Asa: “I understand there’s a leopard in camp.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eric: “Mmm.” (this was the Mmm that means yes, you are
correct!”)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Asa: “I think I heard him last night.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eric: “Those were elephants.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Asa: “No, much later, after the elephants had left.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eric: “Mmm, the leopard was in camp last night, but you don’t
need to worry, he only likes to go drink at camp 2 and then leave the camp.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Asa: “We’re in camp 2.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eric: “Mmmm.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Asa: “Well, now that we’ve met Matthew, I have to ask – does
the leopard have a name?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eric: “No, the leopard has no name.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We both slept in fits and starts that night, and although
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camp!”</div>
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Julia: “Yes, we heard him purring and drinking.”</div>
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Eric: “Mmmm. You must check the ground by your camp for
tracks. Also, there’s a group of lions outside the camp. Just outside. So don’t
walk around.” </div>
<br />
<br />Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-4323921087156200212013-07-15T10:32:00.001-07:002013-07-15T10:43:25.182-07:00Don’t Worry – That’s Just Matthew<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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After spending two nights resting at Ngepi Camp on the banks
of the Kavango River, we decided it was time to try a few nights of real bush
camping. Real bush camping involves camping in parks and wild areas without
having the humans fenced in at night, which means all kinds of predators and
wild animals can be in your camp at any time. </div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbT4GdDSuDx-CZg5RzAkfdC1U7216x5ODT8bwrvVuL2P-kvCxQhoQGr79zKkz0c_AbCZKBu8W55C-D2arARHgo1lMQvwQ9A4D2JK_QItZ3gxvqysZYMyhVg2FZc0wCW5i-EFxqSAuh_NY/s1600/4x4+road+only.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbT4GdDSuDx-CZg5RzAkfdC1U7216x5ODT8bwrvVuL2P-kvCxQhoQGr79zKkz0c_AbCZKBu8W55C-D2arARHgo1lMQvwQ9A4D2JK_QItZ3gxvqysZYMyhVg2FZc0wCW5i-EFxqSAuh_NY/s320/4x4+road+only.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was a true 4x4 road - 2WDs were not allowed, and we drove through deep sand and parts of the lagoon to reach the camp</td></tr>
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We drove northeast into the Caprivi Strip to Nambwa Camp in
Bwabwata National Park, which makes up most of the panhandle of Namibia. First
we had to pick up a permit to enter the Park, which can only be purchased on
the far eastern end of the park. We didn’t have clear instructions to get to
the ranger station, only that we should turn left and head 4 km north near a
small town about 2 hours from our starting point. Amazingly, we found the right
road and drove for awhile until we found a building titled “Office”, which we
correctly assumed was the ranger station. After paying our fees and receiving
strict instructions to show our permit to anyone who asked so we wouldn’t get
arrested, we headed back out the gravel road to find another gravel road and
traveled 14 km south to the actual camp. </div>
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(Really – the woman who sold us the permit told us that we
should avoid getting arrested by showing our permit to everyone – and when she
said ‘arrested’, she crossed her arms in front of her like they were stuck in
handcuffs. We think she was being a little overzealous in her job as so far no
has cared much about anything we’re doing.)</div>
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On our way to the camp, we bumped into a breeding herd of
20+ elephants in the middle of the road, so we sat and watched for about 30
minutes and let everyone move off the road (and made sure all the youngsters
were next to their mothers) before continuing. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixGdQwpnASJ2gZ9aSCzBRa3EXJ0nP8rNoiP9HoHdVjDJgv1-wBPpQ69owV1OCZAXXjm6SxkaJjXTWLC6QBCzdaFjd6BXEYmtfqoVR3PV3QIr4nY163-9SYSsvcvstgwwHlzpHtALWQPxI/s1600/One+of+the+ellies+who+blocked+our+path.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixGdQwpnASJ2gZ9aSCzBRa3EXJ0nP8rNoiP9HoHdVjDJgv1-wBPpQ69owV1OCZAXXjm6SxkaJjXTWLC6QBCzdaFjd6BXEYmtfqoVR3PV3QIr4nY163-9SYSsvcvstgwwHlzpHtALWQPxI/s400/One+of+the+ellies+who+blocked+our+path.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the ellies blocking our way</td></tr>
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The elephants here in the Caprivi are small, and that’s
partly due to the fact that until the Angolan war ended in 2002, this area was
poached to near extinction. The animals are slowly coming back, and based on
what we’ve seen, the elephants are happily repopulating their herds. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we arrived at Nambwa, we spent a few minutes talking
with Eric, the employee who lives on site. We asked him whether we had to worry
about any animals getting into our campsite at night, and he said, quite
seriously, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes. You can have elephants, lion, leopard, cheetah, wild
dog, hyena, hippo, buffalo, crocodile…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
…but not rhino!!” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At that, he smiled widely, as if this was some huge
consolation compared to all the other creatures we might have visiting us that
night. In fact, we knew it was likely that elephants would be in the area, as
different herds had been visiting the campsite for the past few weeks, so we
were prepared for that, but hadn’t expected to contend with lions, leopard,
hyena, or wild dog.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once we set up a few chairs and our table (lesson learned
from Halali campsite in Etosha National Park, where someone stole our campsite
despite our vehicle being parked in it), we decided to head out on a late
afternoon game drive. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We drove around a bit aimlessly until we happened to come
across a professional safari vehicle, and decided to follow them as they were
more likely to know what they were doing than we are. We drove to a huge lagoon
called Horsehoe, and saw a big family of baboons and a herd of 30+ elephants
drinking across the lagoon. We parked near a couple of South African cars for
sundowners (drinks at sundown for you non-South Africans) and made friends with
the other group.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3XNgX5TLzwwa7XqVc_xrjzwRZv67YGE938QN_qPN2FuEVZSj1YmpIsa2LFw2mBz9df5FFp5rD1ilClqMGbmnfc0C2-dNk23r0w1IOrgapslhuC6tggKoMt7PK-P6aH5rBEpO_zfitkB0/s1600/Sundowner+at+Horsehoe+Bend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3XNgX5TLzwwa7XqVc_xrjzwRZv67YGE938QN_qPN2FuEVZSj1YmpIsa2LFw2mBz9df5FFp5rD1ilClqMGbmnfc0C2-dNk23r0w1IOrgapslhuC6tggKoMt7PK-P6aH5rBEpO_zfitkB0/s320/Sundowner+at+Horsehoe+Bend.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sundowner at Horseshoe Bend</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVede0MjlInWqPqBvdz9AIWWZEEWZeUPvJi_ugX32FoHIwZAxh2Lgm2zuvQuhg7a4RcrqdRvU9vjBcOXTUqHNpbP51Vam5p-AvmZojjI6h4wsltIbpt8Tg3DmfXxUnq86alin_xduQgPU/s1600/Ellies+drinking+at+horseshoe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVede0MjlInWqPqBvdz9AIWWZEEWZeUPvJi_ugX32FoHIwZAxh2Lgm2zuvQuhg7a4RcrqdRvU9vjBcOXTUqHNpbP51Vam5p-AvmZojjI6h4wsltIbpt8Tg3DmfXxUnq86alin_xduQgPU/s320/Ellies+drinking+at+horseshoe.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ellies drinking from Horseshoe Lagoon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB-bZSN1b5hdPyb9QOYsOf5WS8j4RWOz-20F06B1yrErLek4ux8eA-0V4SKzmp2GakyVBNvUMcjlJ-CeRvASoB-YvjOBR6J7O7rgYxASxNu3YHxWiZFKUAp_S-npJc9WRS7l-3WEos2N0/s1600/Performing+baboon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB-bZSN1b5hdPyb9QOYsOf5WS8j4RWOz-20F06B1yrErLek4ux8eA-0V4SKzmp2GakyVBNvUMcjlJ-CeRvASoB-YvjOBR6J7O7rgYxASxNu3YHxWiZFKUAp_S-npJc9WRS7l-3WEos2N0/s320/Performing+baboon.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This young baboon was performing for us for awhile</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It turned out that one of the women in the group had just
finished a research project studying elephants, and she knew a lot more about
animals and the bush than we did. We saw a hippo coming through the water to
get on the bank right next to us, but our new friends said that as long as we
kept talking, it would back off – and it did!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We watched the baboons playing for about an hour, and also
saw guinea fowl marching up a tree to get into bed for the night, which was one
of the funniest and most entertaining things we’ve seen on this whole trip. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our new friends shared a lot of their knowledge, including
that the elephants would definitely be in our camp that night, how to know when
elephants are relaxed, and also that a pride of lions had moved into the
campsite right next to ours the week before! Most of the people here are using
ground tents, which we think is just nuts! We haven’t had big animals in our
camp yet, but we know we’d rather be on top of our car than on the ground next
to them if it happens. According to our friends, the most important thing to do
in a campsite at night is to make sure we have lots of lights on and a fire
going, because the animals will stay away as long as there are lights on, but come
in as soon as it’s dark. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All of a sudden, our friends turned to us and said, “It’s
time to get in the cars. Now.” It turns out that the baboons had given out the
“gather round” call, meaning that they had sensed a leopard or lion on the near
vicinity. We happily jumped into our truck and followed our new friends back to
camp. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we returned from our drive, it was around 6:30 and
quite dark, so we hurried to set up our propane lantern and start a fire, all
the while swinging our flashlights around like lunatics to make sure all the
lions, leopards and hyena knew to stay out. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We made a quick dinner of grilled sausage and steamed
broccoli, and as we were just sitting down to eat we started hearing cracking branches
and a few roars and rumblings. They sounded far away, so we kept eating, but
soon realized they were much closer than we first anticipated. We looked down
the road from our camp and could see elephants making their way towards us
quickly. We packed up all of our food (to protect it from monkeys and other
small creatures), brushed our teeth as fast as possible and climbed up to bed.
It was 7:30. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrxlLoxlYLP2-yyjGY3ugoL8mO3imaieGXn2aRgTIOYdeBFw2Ru4TKIvyWp6rTJQXD_fYrQ_jPP5SUNet3yphpJTE5ABnc_4Mn1BlR7ghFD18Hgy__XS1bVDXXo31yuWvzuvKDTaC13M/s1600/elephant+foot+prints.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJrxlLoxlYLP2-yyjGY3ugoL8mO3imaieGXn2aRgTIOYdeBFw2Ru4TKIvyWp6rTJQXD_fYrQ_jPP5SUNet3yphpJTE5ABnc_4Mn1BlR7ghFD18Hgy__XS1bVDXXo31yuWvzuvKDTaC13M/s400/elephant+foot+prints.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julia's foot next to the footprint of our nighttime visitors</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxe0zsy3isE-IgYdXxNI6MWWa87tEWqyo7SpxZL6gH2NpvrhbT5bWtpJwcBV6zRWMkGNY5yRJlhVLxCE544I83hgWtM2p_djqCvK_PsA_dxwrEFDf1RAYpeTNpQ2SsK-0bpAdr_YQaqY/s1600/ellie+damage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxe0zsy3isE-IgYdXxNI6MWWa87tEWqyo7SpxZL6gH2NpvrhbT5bWtpJwcBV6zRWMkGNY5yRJlhVLxCE544I83hgWtM2p_djqCvK_PsA_dxwrEFDf1RAYpeTNpQ2SsK-0bpAdr_YQaqY/s400/ellie+damage.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trees torn down after the elephant visit</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the next five hours, we had elephants surrounding our
car. It was truly incredible. We watched them eating, exploring, and
interacting until we were too tired to keep our eyes open any longer, and then
fell asleep to the sounds of them pulling branches off of trees and hearing
them chew their hard-earned meal. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few hours later, we woke up to the sounds of a small group
of buffalo in our camp, and even later a few bull elephants made their way into
our camp, had a small tussle, and left. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning we woke early and went out for an early
game drive to see if we could spot any leopard, lion, hyena or wild dog. We
drove for four hours, and saw all kinds of antelope, beautiful birds, and lots
of baboons and elephant, but didn’t see any of the big cats or predators.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzfXrIb9YklAalpmLqopLHwfUyUO-PgpxHw9Yt-IltZqXhyydK0RC2JqXqtX_hClEcnVyHZIPjPoRIW2UPAguZtZh9gwbtvkTri61ck2ZutLP4JiHWFBOOURHEKcK_JXASqOdmvuCTFo/s1600/buffalo+bones.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzfXrIb9YklAalpmLqopLHwfUyUO-PgpxHw9Yt-IltZqXhyydK0RC2JqXqtX_hClEcnVyHZIPjPoRIW2UPAguZtZh9gwbtvkTri61ck2ZutLP4JiHWFBOOURHEKcK_JXASqOdmvuCTFo/s400/buffalo+bones.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buffalo bones</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPPMrusEceMmxh2ILnmACS9vhh6NDF39fav9dj2VNWAH-nEEegCoRYMDlQG1tms7KT7ONgm8YLay9Kjlmlindo4a52yI4JhLRYA8ZDhFwFaxoDUo5SCXX6HO3RdIGMeWGiwa1I1bUfvI/s1600/Bright+bird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPPMrusEceMmxh2ILnmACS9vhh6NDF39fav9dj2VNWAH-nEEegCoRYMDlQG1tms7KT7ONgm8YLay9Kjlmlindo4a52yI4JhLRYA8ZDhFwFaxoDUo5SCXX6HO3RdIGMeWGiwa1I1bUfvI/s400/Bright+bird.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gorgeous birds on our game drives</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQjml0mEjLkHSD5ccmod6mGs_vmep8AgoTg6U-OOncba68JlAEzCX3A2aDTKQYxO3DTiNcZgOy31BMolHb8aqeHliyEaxLfRl5vlQWeRqsRxu8oLypWXZRCRde3OtktNFSc9Q-NEkAy8/s1600/Baby+ellie+drinking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQjml0mEjLkHSD5ccmod6mGs_vmep8AgoTg6U-OOncba68JlAEzCX3A2aDTKQYxO3DTiNcZgOy31BMolHb8aqeHliyEaxLfRl5vlQWeRqsRxu8oLypWXZRCRde3OtktNFSc9Q-NEkAy8/s400/Baby+ellie+drinking.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby elephant drinking</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once back in camp, we decided to take a walk to visit our
new friends from the night before and to check out the viewing deck of the
camp, where we saw a family of baboons, a big herd of impala and a breeding
herd of about 10 elephants, with 2 very young and very cute babies. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After relaxing for a few minutes, we agreed to go back to
camp to do the dishes from the night before and to get ready for the night’s game
drive. We had just returned when Asa quietly but firmly said “get in the car.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We climbed in, shut the doors, and then watched as a huge
male hippo searched for food about 15 feet from our campsite, and us. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hippos are considered the most dangerous animal in
Africa as they injure and kill more people than any other animal on the
continent. The biggest danger is when you are between them and their pathway to
the water – which we were – so we knew we had to get out of his way and into
our car as fast as possible. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He continued rooting around for food for about five minutes,
and then, with no warning, curled up and decided to take a nap. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We looked at each other and realized we were trapped – stuck
in the car in our own campsite with a sleeping 1500 kg hippo as our prisoner.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After watching him for a bit, Asa cautiously got out of the
car, and then I did as well. The hippo didn’t seem to notice us, and we talked
about what we should do. At that moment, Eric, the friendly employee, happened
to be walking by, so Asa flagged him down. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We explained that we had a small problem with a sleeping
hippo in our camp. He came in, looking serious, took a look at our visitor,
and said, “No problem. That’s just Matthew.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Us: Oh, does that mean you know this hippo?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eric: Yes. He was in campsite three this morning.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Us: Hmm. Does that mean he’s a friendly hippo?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eric: Mmmm. (This was said in the “definitely not” tone of
Mmmm that we’ve learned to differentiate from the “Yes” tone of Mmmm you often
get as well).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Us: So what should we do?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eric: Just be. It’s okay – no problem – that’s just Matthew.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir6xrD3p8te2icWOMMwcKqM78kOVKTSoZS2ys_QvF9Vp-UTSKqlVtTBaqRxtHLMEMM8SnVnMR5AbsYI2EQo4EFB6AGAskPHUnaB5aEN0NmnCGmlxn7HquFCVXpZbAImwpIpzSHLmwMlic/s1600/matthew+napping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir6xrD3p8te2icWOMMwcKqM78kOVKTSoZS2ys_QvF9Vp-UTSKqlVtTBaqRxtHLMEMM8SnVnMR5AbsYI2EQo4EFB6AGAskPHUnaB5aEN0NmnCGmlxn7HquFCVXpZbAImwpIpzSHLmwMlic/s400/matthew+napping.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matthew napping in our campsite, in all his splendor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eric was right – Matthew was no problem. After sleeping in
our camp for 4 hours, he woke up, wandered around sleepily, and then went back
in the water. We went for a quick afternoon game drive, and got back to camp
early to make sure we had time to make dinner in case the elephants came back
into camp.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we were brushing our teeth and getting ready for bed, we
heard the new campers in campsite 3 start screaming and the sounds of their car
doors slamming. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We called over to ask if they were okay, and they replied, “Yes,
but there’s a hippo in our camp!” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We smiled at each other and shouted, “Don’t worry! That’s
just Matthew!!”</div>
Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-53293014927693136452013-07-07T02:06:00.002-07:002013-07-07T02:06:18.586-07:00Welcome to Namibia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgesIMmK5vWpbNU_kJgiIyo6faUhvdHZJsr9-WXVdxMYflUWaN2CtXHmLmKB7dX0debvMZwdtpmSL6FlZnwdo11U0-WmFNVyQWBiLUU2KuIpmmb75e80pDK8tq8cVkebIN67-ML0pAlaQA/s1600/First+oryx+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
We crossed into the Republic of Namibia on Wednesday, June 26th. The border crossing was really simple once we figured out which lines to get into, which paperwork we had to fill out, and whether we had to go to the customs office or not. The funniest experience there was when the (very casual) customs officer asked us whether we had any wine (um, yes) and I said yes while Asa said no. Then we agreed that we had two bottles of wine (not exactly true) and the customs officer let us go through. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb2AN9TOZVFoAK7I4NmoUjdJlWxa69wlE46AX4fVE3Qds2o1QEgBe7rvCc5gD3TYcEh25PaZYfNuvqMMQdv5zyWn27O-h7SuaFnTmgKFBWCbRWx1KAZwEjT_gDjQ_bxwnYEqX6zUnxnfw/s1600/Welcome+to+Namibia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb2AN9TOZVFoAK7I4NmoUjdJlWxa69wlE46AX4fVE3Qds2o1QEgBe7rvCc5gD3TYcEh25PaZYfNuvqMMQdv5zyWn27O-h7SuaFnTmgKFBWCbRWx1KAZwEjT_gDjQ_bxwnYEqX6zUnxnfw/s400/Welcome+to+Namibia.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First time to Namibia!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Our first camp was at Ai-Ais Hot Springs in Southern Namibia. Driving here has been an adventure for a number of reasons:<br />
<br />
1. The roads are crap. Asa has said that whoevever invented the washboards would be a rich person in Namibia.<br />
2. There are very few road markings, and they are all dirt gravel (even some of the highways), so it's impossible to tell if we are on a minor road or a major road.<br />
3. Our Garmin is crap. It often sends us on excessively long routes (driving 20 km in one direction only to do a u-turn and drive 20 km back) and half the time it thinks we are driving off the road.<br />
4. Namibia's tourism is growing quickly, and the government is working to improve roads, which means there are now roads where there used to be none, and old roads are gone, which essentially renders our maps useless. <br />
<br />
Nonetheless, we are absolutely and completely charmed with Namibia. It's a huge country - about twice the size of Germany - with just over 2 million residents, which means you can drive a long time without seeing anyone or anything.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8E8Col8obhavSSNu3IDCKJSdhBh2CTnB9670KZggZ9BhdEAapPhHYLU_iTBuRU5pm4mhe5yh8uZHgBeU2-Kuujl04UKI1Pe5pBQGESQdDOlA6U-XHNKYP-406SnPTia31HmrBr7auJ60/s1600/Not+much+in+Namibia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8E8Col8obhavSSNu3IDCKJSdhBh2CTnB9670KZggZ9BhdEAapPhHYLU_iTBuRU5pm4mhe5yh8uZHgBeU2-Kuujl04UKI1Pe5pBQGESQdDOlA6U-XHNKYP-406SnPTia31HmrBr7auJ60/s400/Not+much+in+Namibia.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not much in Namibia</td></tr>
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<br />
We've seen a lot of vervet monkeys, baboons, oryx, springbok, and ostriches so far, along with grazing goats, cattle and donkeys, and more birds than we can count. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh1NjvuFjZrCobrk3xT4BWqt0A2hHfqZPEuLJ90ZdTTQh7UsapR56VCiJHg-lCiBQb2_BHLxq4dmJYwRzsJn81YpoGathKNJ51hWAsrhL1Htx11twl_qU3FH0dIaxe2t9JSutEKa9PXTo/s1600/Weaver+birds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh1NjvuFjZrCobrk3xT4BWqt0A2hHfqZPEuLJ90ZdTTQh7UsapR56VCiJHg-lCiBQb2_BHLxq4dmJYwRzsJn81YpoGathKNJ51hWAsrhL1Htx11twl_qU3FH0dIaxe2t9JSutEKa9PXTo/s400/Weaver+birds.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These huge weaver bird nests are everywhere in northern South Africa and southern Namibia</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYcnqDaY2vpnRr_cYeuzlSqpBY3u4QC-_sZA0gvABGJmuGFCAMOZbq8iC7iZEjaog071_n9HiP1UgSCNH4FFqdWANdO_ltwoXxb-1esF9XycksYgecuL1EycunDtaxGqirZKTO3sJ_ibg/s1600/Baboon+Ai+Ais.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYcnqDaY2vpnRr_cYeuzlSqpBY3u4QC-_sZA0gvABGJmuGFCAMOZbq8iC7iZEjaog071_n9HiP1UgSCNH4FFqdWANdO_ltwoXxb-1esF9XycksYgecuL1EycunDtaxGqirZKTO3sJ_ibg/s400/Baboon+Ai+Ais.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This baboon and family came into our campsite in the morning at Ai Ais - and ran right into our neighbor's tent while they were sleeping. </td></tr>
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<br />Namibia is almost all desert, and very dry. They are in a period of drought here - it hasn't rained in two years. The year before was considered a banner year with a 10 mm of rain. We've been trying to explain the amount of rain we get in Portland, but it's almost beyond comprehension for the people living here.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOv-iwKkgEwviE8QClUOto66HEPgaLbR0HKZzC-aMy1ADeuDfdHsxG57AQHPb1u6xsZc2oCHUx92QBDk1UxNZahLTeylj_fARJCAzRKDpIwr9C-f0ZUmIEu9DSCjYanYKZKfMS95l0a9c/s1600/Fish+River+drought.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOv-iwKkgEwviE8QClUOto66HEPgaLbR0HKZzC-aMy1ADeuDfdHsxG57AQHPb1u6xsZc2oCHUx92QBDk1UxNZahLTeylj_fARJCAzRKDpIwr9C-f0ZUmIEu9DSCjYanYKZKfMS95l0a9c/s400/Fish+River+drought.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fish River Canyon drought</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivthVCgZuvntjSD8HmHffarBjF4LkK7nOG5cfyhnqpfbyoIyb-0_xPhxXrzreqdW1TaXS50ofe1BQ48d5X1RY6KwJGFIZkV7KUhu57sR-awh06wqHdumpt741-mvFEEwNMWC6uLhtu5gU/s1600/Fish+River+Canyon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivthVCgZuvntjSD8HmHffarBjF4LkK7nOG5cfyhnqpfbyoIyb-0_xPhxXrzreqdW1TaXS50ofe1BQ48d5X1RY6KwJGFIZkV7KUhu57sR-awh06wqHdumpt741-mvFEEwNMWC6uLhtu5gU/s400/Fish+River+Canyon.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fish River Canyon - Namibia's answer to the Grand Canyon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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We've been trying to conserve water by not showering every day, but the laundry still hast to get done. .<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9HzX6pZJ2z3bWmuyIXMnU21DESrnEtSHcAa4I4REIDJB7sy9mBLJVAC05EBl9BBfe8-Dk-a06YFpdFZE6Y63N93mh_B4BRdqCSYSQJAwzkACBLLbLkWx58Y7w-WcipF2gXYfUEFV8V0/s1600/Ai+Ais+Laundry+Line.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9HzX6pZJ2z3bWmuyIXMnU21DESrnEtSHcAa4I4REIDJB7sy9mBLJVAC05EBl9BBfe8-Dk-a06YFpdFZE6Y63N93mh_B4BRdqCSYSQJAwzkACBLLbLkWx58Y7w-WcipF2gXYfUEFV8V0/s400/Ai+Ais+Laundry+Line.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ai Ais camp laundry line</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After a night at Ai Ais and a few soaks in the hot springs, we headed north toward Sossuvlei, Namibia's red sand dunes.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwNiUv_ivWp2M7AsWZU6bjo6WWTbIbhFuWURqv2cP7JgfG6NEXv2l_YMR2Dd105qPaQ0mLI5x2n2j5MiJGEhSS5GjUu-nr9KNURyLOcMQhAyeZiYM0dw7IwAd5IoAiWzKpDVr9iMjRzMU/s1600/First+oryx+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwNiUv_ivWp2M7AsWZU6bjo6WWTbIbhFuWURqv2cP7JgfG6NEXv2l_YMR2Dd105qPaQ0mLI5x2n2j5MiJGEhSS5GjUu-nr9KNURyLOcMQhAyeZiYM0dw7IwAd5IoAiWzKpDVr9iMjRzMU/s400/First+oryx+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First oryx we spotted in Namibia</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs06-wL3E3QKlG58E968AS0oPsSZHftXNEdO_uhYfHU-GXZeHXQfcuDdSqQdznQWCiSe6eILTDsQs5R9omaoFT_xE6H7bN0sZczdfjSEhYKKz4msmJLk8U5WeRMm3KeuHAGXOeOgPTqyY/s1600/First+oryx+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs06-wL3E3QKlG58E968AS0oPsSZHftXNEdO_uhYfHU-GXZeHXQfcuDdSqQdznQWCiSe6eILTDsQs5R9omaoFT_xE6H7bN0sZczdfjSEhYKKz4msmJLk8U5WeRMm3KeuHAGXOeOgPTqyY/s400/First+oryx+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oryx close up</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpjMpAQPa-nMC4nHf03QZvZmEJCB84c2lAalFPdrzmE2C5IvW7RtfqaryUryJxegs-b_VjfChuqDfTx3Xxqjrd9AGIDqPFmP2364-9hyphenhyphene7tywDLDw9qbVj1wdPXcTkaq3a_1_Wcy29VQE/s1600/Train.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpjMpAQPa-nMC4nHf03QZvZmEJCB84c2lAalFPdrzmE2C5IvW7RtfqaryUryJxegs-b_VjfChuqDfTx3Xxqjrd9AGIDqPFmP2364-9hyphenhyphene7tywDLDw9qbVj1wdPXcTkaq3a_1_Wcy29VQE/s400/Train.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This train was a welcome sight on our long drive from Ai Ais north toward the sand dunes - a wave and a honk were pretty much the only human interaction we had during the day. </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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We'll post and update more later - the internet connections are really rough here, and take a long time loading pictures and blogs. We're having a great time - it's really an unforgettable trip!<br />
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Love to all!<br />
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Julia and AsaJulia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-75917412353255407442013-06-29T13:56:00.000-07:002013-06-29T13:56:18.149-07:00Video Tour of Our Tricked Out LandCruiserWe made a video for you!<br />
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Many of you have asked about the vehicle we'll be traveling in, so we made a quick video of how it's set up and all the cool gadgets that are included.<br />
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Hope you like it!<br />
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<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/w7NC2KSf_AM/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/w7NC2KSf_AM?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/w7NC2KSf_AM?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<br />Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-2000916774448751282013-06-26T00:27:00.003-07:002013-06-26T00:27:47.459-07:00Joburg to NamibiaWe left Johannesburg (and our amazing friend Gavin) on Sunday, with the goal of reaching the town of Kuruman in the early afternoon.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixUZgnKyjNFlYYAk4k7AV3WCvwX4JOCA5XRdvX3yJSIn8DQ9UGCTjtHhUXW7PJLh4imEmD1SllK3mKIAcCuDCHGi-yNeah0B5f0mlT4djidbj89r7ennP2AszEXnrM8hmeqIOEG143PwA/s1600/On+the+road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixUZgnKyjNFlYYAk4k7AV3WCvwX4JOCA5XRdvX3yJSIn8DQ9UGCTjtHhUXW7PJLh4imEmD1SllK3mKIAcCuDCHGi-yNeah0B5f0mlT4djidbj89r7ennP2AszEXnrM8hmeqIOEG143PwA/s320/On+the+road.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the road to Kuruman through the Southern Kalahari</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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One of the biggest challenges we had before we left was not really having a clear understanding of how long it will take to drive from camping spot to camping spot. Yes, we researched the distances but this is Africa - road maps mean nothing! Sometimes you come to a road and it doesn't exist anymore, or you find a brand new road that's much faster. We've been running into a LOT of construction - Asa has been doing an incredible job of maneuvering considering that this is a huge, heavy vehicle, the cars drive on the left, and the driver's seat is on the white. There's been a little bit of white knuckle driving in the dark (because there are people, bicycles and animals walking along the road) but for the most part we've been doing great.<br />
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Asa's been doing most of the driving but I took a turn learning how to drive stick with my left hand.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Nf3jP9iK04RvvnEKmkZT6Q2ivhqWopw_UgxYPpJhOHmWje9P-WPfoDQOm8ZcFzIbw_0zVZ5P3AMNWwszeK-xZYEC-0WI1br_mpi-zTO9dEtNZ9FI1P2I5CTUqcMH4wLuuFKOb27PqtY/s1600/Julia+learning+to+drive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Nf3jP9iK04RvvnEKmkZT6Q2ivhqWopw_UgxYPpJhOHmWje9P-WPfoDQOm8ZcFzIbw_0zVZ5P3AMNWwszeK-xZYEC-0WI1br_mpi-zTO9dEtNZ9FI1P2I5CTUqcMH4wLuuFKOb27PqtY/s320/Julia+learning+to+drive.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me trying to figure out how to drive (it's harder than it looks - I kept drifting to the right side of the road since that's where we drive at home. </td></tr>
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After an overnight stop in Kuruman, we drove to Augrabies Falls National Park - the sixth tallest waterfall in the world.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzqjaLqEhqXFCHu32ANnpsKK2yeOP9_DfdSVWcPya1ezs0zn9KoYbL275cms65STNGEqxhJBLiRAIyOZeP5l9tyPrXOlO-S_edeYYpgZN1UUgXgI9Aj2h10ZxLRA5S28XOw9rXpjVfOAQ/s1600/Welcome+to+Augrabies+Falls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzqjaLqEhqXFCHu32ANnpsKK2yeOP9_DfdSVWcPya1ezs0zn9KoYbL275cms65STNGEqxhJBLiRAIyOZeP5l9tyPrXOlO-S_edeYYpgZN1UUgXgI9Aj2h10ZxLRA5S28XOw9rXpjVfOAQ/s320/Welcome+to+Augrabies+Falls.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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We found a campsite and settled in, then went for a walk along the falls.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1MMnpILS6CyALdMArao6oMYR8kEfmXfSWdgqfv73Q7XVVNXeXtN25Hrx2nlLnBAp5SPd6DElZz5bFD7Tra0vztJyXfzZuceRPdGjsl7LXiyLcVIvawR9S5B2TfR7jjJsLs3uJFsqJ8mw/s1600/Happy+campers+Augrabies+Falls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1MMnpILS6CyALdMArao6oMYR8kEfmXfSWdgqfv73Q7XVVNXeXtN25Hrx2nlLnBAp5SPd6DElZz5bFD7Tra0vztJyXfzZuceRPdGjsl7LXiyLcVIvawR9S5B2TfR7jjJsLs3uJFsqJ8mw/s320/Happy+campers+Augrabies+Falls.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bed was pretty comfy, even if it was a little small. The nights are really cold here - you can see your breath, so we're heading out to get more blankets and fleece jackets today. </td></tr>
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There were at least 6 viewing platforms for Augrabies Falls - it's a pretty fancy campsite with a reservations only restaurant, laundry facilities, and even a bathtub in the bathrooms.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_6OxjzlbuPJPgWuFCNviYlYE9fEkdSlWZk-8L2cvLXs_GWoSNdzhyphenhyphenBSHQSvrag8zD0kD6AKpQpKLSKD8QKO5XWkdrwxhHHbgRheG91rDuKPKg7ozirJXKjdaF3XlcJP0C1dFtx7CRcM/s1600/Augrabies+Falls+with+Kalahari+in+background.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_6OxjzlbuPJPgWuFCNviYlYE9fEkdSlWZk-8L2cvLXs_GWoSNdzhyphenhyphenBSHQSvrag8zD0kD6AKpQpKLSKD8QKO5XWkdrwxhHHbgRheG91rDuKPKg7ozirJXKjdaF3XlcJP0C1dFtx7CRcM/s320/Augrabies+Falls+with+Kalahari+in+background.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Augrabies Falls with Kalahari in background</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<br />It was a full moon night, so we headed back to the falls and the viewing platforms after cooking dinner so Asa could play with his new camera.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUmRc22ow3vH89PDxBJDtZWdrPwLFueE-1ci7xkzsC_BsrIrLIPX2mKF-9U5EbitihBalJAj1ZQoxFWHR2JvHUbTfCHjQDF_l4GaPaq90aNqaaQw4NhV9LajYHLpd47mYWDA4oaAghlQ/s1600/Moonlight+waterfall+Augrabies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUmRc22ow3vH89PDxBJDtZWdrPwLFueE-1ci7xkzsC_BsrIrLIPX2mKF-9U5EbitihBalJAj1ZQoxFWHR2JvHUbTfCHjQDF_l4GaPaq90aNqaaQw4NhV9LajYHLpd47mYWDA4oaAghlQ/s320/Moonlight+waterfall+Augrabies.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moonlit waterfall</td></tr>
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In the morning, we wanted to get up early and hit the road, but ended up sleeping in until 9! It was the first morning we were able to relax a little, and we both really needed the sleep. We got up and made camp quickly because baboons were starting to head into camp (a common problem in this part of South Africa) and we didn't want them messing with our food or stealing our sunglasses.<br />
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Our goal was to reach Namibia by the end of the day, but that plan was derailed when the turn signals in our car stopped working. We called the rental company who told us to stop at the Toyota in Springbok. When they couldn't figure out what was wrong, they escorted us to an electrical specialist. The mechanic looked at the car for about 2 hours, and then said that he couldn't figure out what was wrong. Believe it or not, when we tried the signals again, they all worked! He must have knocked something into place.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr8uYP_J0sFyB3MylIX86_aMcyq62JMPbguQLA6e7OVPKihcaCy8KUsRsA-4hhdFo16Ub23TPZOBy-Tl5mZfEo0IWJWfIjfUYujNcGxgZHPTdtkul9UbD86Qj7T3p6POz5pmeI5E8_cQ/s1600/Landy+at+the+mechanic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr8uYP_J0sFyB3MylIX86_aMcyq62JMPbguQLA6e7OVPKihcaCy8KUsRsA-4hhdFo16Ub23TPZOBy-Tl5mZfEo0IWJWfIjfUYujNcGxgZHPTdtkul9UbD86Qj7T3p6POz5pmeI5E8_cQ/s320/Landy+at+the+mechanic.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our LandCruiser at the mechanic</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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We're heading to Namibia today to check out the Fish River Canyon and to spend an evening at the Ai-Ais Hot Springs - we're ready for a nice, hot soak in the 60 degree celsius springs.<br />
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Internet has been spotty and not very strong signals, so we'll do our best to post when we can. We're having a GREAT time and can't believe we are so lucky to get to do this. Love and miss you!<br />
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Julia and Asa <br />
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<br />Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-5724296359749552112013-06-20T10:47:00.000-07:002013-06-20T10:47:13.116-07:00Johannesburg, Part OneWe arrived in Joburg last night, and were picked up at the airport by our friend Gavin. We met Gavin and Dia when we were <a href="http://asaandjulia.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">on our honeymoon in SE Asia</a> - we happened to be seated at the same table during our resort's Christmas pageant on Koh Samui, and we've been friends ever since. We visited them in June 2010 when we were in South Africa to go on safari, explore Cape Town and the Wine Lands, and see a few World Cup games.<br />
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Gavin took us home and made a great chicken soup for us. It's winter in South Africa, which means it's warm in the daytime (around 70 degrees) and freezing in the evening (seriously freezing - it's going to be below 30 tonight). After a few glasses of wine, whiskey, and a shot of Jaeger, we fell into bed.<br />
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Got up late this morning and did a quick workout in Gavin and Dia's gorgeous backyard. Asa had a quick driving lesson in Gavin and Dia's Porsche. Please note that we are in a convertible in winter. Effing awesome.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big pimpin'</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still big pimpin' in Gavin and Dia's driveway</td></tr>
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We pick up our LandRover tomorrow, which includes a 2-hour orientation on how to work everything. We'll post more later. Love to you all!<br />
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Julia & Asa<br />
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P.S. If you want to see our blog from our honeymoon, go here: http://asaandjulia.wordpress.com/. <br />
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<br />Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-68832126182475439602013-06-12T09:56:00.000-07:002013-06-12T10:07:32.791-07:00Baboon CannonballI seriously hope we get to swim with baboons like these lucky people in Namibia:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Namibia Carnivore Conservation </td></tr>
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<br />Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8912491270824002980.post-72946021205224484152013-05-31T21:55:00.001-07:002013-06-03T14:54:10.758-07:00Why Africa?The question we're most often asked is, "Why Africa?" In reality, there's no one reason. We first visited the African continent when we went to South Africa in 2010. We visited friends in wine country, explored Cape Town and the southern coast, spent a week on safari in Zululand and finished by visiting friends in Johannesburg and going to a few World Cup Games.<br />
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We've traveled a lot, and there's just something about Africa that gets under your skin. We knew that we wanted to go back and see more of the continent before we even left. This idea of doing a camping/off-road safari is one we've talked about and tossed back and forth for years, and we finally decided that now is as good a time as any to do it. We've also realized that there's never a perfect time to take a trip like this, so we had to create the time and space.<br />
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If you know us well, you also know that 2012 was a really rough year. We lost far too many friends, and it provided a reality check for us that life can be much shorter than we think. We decided that this trip was too important to keep putting off, and we started planning.<br />
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We're also getting asked "how can you take so much time off work?!"<br />
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Well, I'm lucky enough <a href="http://www.findyourglow.com/" target="_blank">to own my own business</a>, so that makes it easy. I'm putting clients on hold over the summer and basically shutting down for three months. Easy enough. Asa is lucky enough to have worked for <a href="http://www.kenwrightcellars.com/" target="_blank">Ken Wright Cellars</a> for about 9 years now, and he approached Ken to talk to him about this trip last year. Ken and Karen Wright have generously agreed to give Asa a 3-month sabbatical, which is how we can take this time off. We'll be back in time for Asa to help with harvest in the fall.<br />
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We're still planning the trip, but here's what we do know:<br />
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We're renting a <a href="http://www.bushlore.com/index.asp" target="_blank">4x4 Land Rover </a>with a tent on top - this will be our home for most of June, all of July and August, and most of September:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibtNFTbeGcaPyeNxyWDwjjmKDd97AHrQccLvlML8iN65hVMSyiisZ4pjK_HYQ-KoNWBjRcjpGUGgs_CkaRhyphenhyphen8i4El1k1h2GAyh1dgNLDKyEc_4DHUvgwXxqnBYDRKIS2c5rlzpTZ8dngs/s1600/Landrover+tent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibtNFTbeGcaPyeNxyWDwjjmKDd97AHrQccLvlML8iN65hVMSyiisZ4pjK_HYQ-KoNWBjRcjpGUGgs_CkaRhyphenhyphen8i4El1k1h2GAyh1dgNLDKyEc_4DHUvgwXxqnBYDRKIS2c5rlzpTZ8dngs/s400/Landrover+tent.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sleeping on top keeps us away from insects, snakes and lions.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're hoping for off-road adventures like this.</td></tr>
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We're still working on setting our route, but our plan as of now is to begin in Johannesburg, where we'll visit our friends Gavin and Dia and pick up the Land Rover. For those of you who are curious, here's the first part of our route:<br />
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June 22nd: Leave Johannesburg</div>
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June 23rd: Kuruman, South Africa</div>
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June 24th-25th: Fish River Canyon, Namibia</div>
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June 26th: Luderiz, Namibia (apparently this is a Bavarian style village on the ocean!)</div>
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June 27th-28th: Sossuvlei, Namibia</div>
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June 29th: Swakopmund, Namibia</div>
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June 30th: Brandberg White Lady, Namibia</div>
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July 1st: Abu Huab, Namibia</div>
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July 2nd: Kamanjab Game Park, Namibia</div>
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July 3rd-5th: Epupa Falls, Namibia</div>
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July 6th: Van Zyls Pass/Marienfluss Valley</div>
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July 7th-9th: Etosha National Park</div>
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July 10th: Grootfontein, Namibia</div>
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July 11th: Cross into Botswana</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is this place for real? Epupa Falls, Namibia</td></tr>
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After Etosha, we'll head into Botswana via Grootfontein, and we'll spend some time in the Okavango Delta region at Moremi National Park, Savuti Camp, Chobe National Park and Maun. From there, we may go to visit our friend Ben at Victoria Falls in Zambia, or we may head straight to Hwange National Park or Mana Pools in Zimbabwe. Part of the adventure for us is leaving our options open. </div>
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We promise to do our best to post photos and updates as we travel. The challenge with Africa is that nothing is guaranteed, so who knows what kind of internet access we'll have, let alone having power that's consistent enough to connect and post. Check back here to see where we are or you can sign up updates below by clicking "subscribe to posts". And please leave your comments and questions - we really want to stay connected with everyone at home and this seems the best way to do that.<br />
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Julia Sarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17691710293360296969noreply@blogger.com11Portland, OR, USA45.5234515 -122.676207145.1675815 -123.3216541 45.8793215 -122.0307601