Welcome to Namibia

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.

First time to Namibia!

Our first camp was at Ai-Ais Hot Springs in Southern Namibia. Driving here has been an adventure for a number of reasons:

1. The roads are crap. Asa has said that whoevever invented the washboards would be a rich person in Namibia.
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.
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.
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.

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.

Not much in Namibia

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.

These huge weaver bird nests are everywhere in northern South Africa and southern Namibia

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.

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.

Fish River Canyon drought

Fish River Canyon - Namibia's answer to the Grand Canyon

We've been trying to conserve water by not showering every day, but the laundry still hast to get done. .

Ai Ais camp laundry line

After a night at Ai Ais and a few soaks in the hot springs, we headed north toward Sossuvlei, Namibia's red sand dunes.

First oryx we spotted in Namibia

Oryx close up

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. 

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!

Love to all!

Julia and Asa