We passed from Botswana into Namibia the day after we left the Delta but didn’t leave the foot and mouth hassle behind. It’s a real problem in Botswana, to the point that they’ve built what is known as the “Buffalo Fence” - a very solid fence that stretches for some 3000km to separate the buffalo from the farmed cattle in an attempt to keep the disease at bay. Elephants and giraffe can step over the fence, which is about 1.3m high, and antelope etc can easily jump it. All through Botswana there are foot and mouth checks where all vehicles have to stop, have the wheels sprayed, all passengers have to get off carrying whatever additional footwear they have and dip the soles in a solution. All a bit of a hoohah and adds a lot of time to journeys, particularly when you have to do this 3-4 times a day! Sometimes, the guys get on and want to see whats in the chili bins to make sure we’re not carrying cheese, meat, yogurt etc.
The first three nights we had in Namibia were all bush camps. Namibia is a pretty cool country I’ve decided. Large open expanses of land, very few people, loads of animals, desert, hills, mountains, massive sand dunes, an unforgiving coastline and long long straight roads that are pretty much empty of traffic. Brilliant.
Bush camping is fun to a point but it is very cold at night now and getting more so the further south we head, and it really depends on where we set up camp. The first night it was in a clearing off the road and there was loads of wood around for a fire, flat spaces for the tents, minimal thorns on the ground (they pierce through the tent base and into whatever you’re sleeping on), not too many acacia trees to walk into in the night (the thorns on these are about 3 inches long, but elephants still eat them) and out of sight from the road. There were noises in the night but we’re over that now and just figured that it was donkeys crashing round in the bush. There are a lot of donkeys wandering round in Botswana and Namibia and they’re a real pain on the roads. We’ve had a few near misses but the only casualty thus far has been a duck.
We had a long drive into the desert and a fair few kilometres down a sand track before we reached the home of a large tribe of San people. The truck got bogged in the sand on the way in so there was a mass eviction and a lot of digging before it bounced through the ruts about 2 tonne lighter to where we were setting up camp in the sand.
The San people are amazing. If you’ve ever seen that movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy”, they’re just like the African folk in that. I was absolutely entranced by the way they spoke and could have listened to them for hours and hours. Their language has so many clicks and clocks and it was beautiful to listen to and they were such tiny tiny people! This is Kate (not me) who is about 5’3” and the guy she is talking to is one of the San men.
These guys are so lean but have big round bottoms
and the kids are just gorgeous.
Their hair is so coarse and the babies hair grows in rows like a crop of corn. The hair is like little coarse hard tufts and when you touch it, its really hard – almost like ridges. You can see that it doesn’t really change as they grow older from these guys in the photo below. These guys were still quite young
but this chap is much older and his hair has gone a bit fluffy
I sat with the women for a while but they don’t speak English and are very very shy so its difficult to communicate. I felt (and looked) gigantic next to them but when one of the guys, a huge 6’3” chap from Somerset held one of the babies (who was loving every minute of being enveloped in this giants arms) he absolutely dwarfed the wee kid who laughed and laughed with a gummy toothless smile.
Back on the main road, we stopped for lunch and were over run with curious kids, all dressed for school. We started a game of cricket and there were some mean batters and wicket keepers among them. This chap on a donkey was cute and he’d taken his shoes off and tied them to the donkeys bridle. I watched them for a while and the donkey was clearly long suffering but patiently putting up with an awful lot.
A full days drive took us to just outside the Etosha National Park where we camped up on the side of the road for the night. It wasn’t a pleasant camp side as literally only meters off the road in the gravel but it was incredibly flat and the road was so straight, you could see car headlights for about 5 minutes before they passed by. I don’t know how cold it was that night but it felt super cold but there wasn’t a frost on the ground in the morning. I think it’s the extreme temperature changes that make it seem colder than it actually is - either that or we're all soft as!
The first three nights we had in Namibia were all bush camps. Namibia is a pretty cool country I’ve decided. Large open expanses of land, very few people, loads of animals, desert, hills, mountains, massive sand dunes, an unforgiving coastline and long long straight roads that are pretty much empty of traffic. Brilliant.
Bush camping is fun to a point but it is very cold at night now and getting more so the further south we head, and it really depends on where we set up camp. The first night it was in a clearing off the road and there was loads of wood around for a fire, flat spaces for the tents, minimal thorns on the ground (they pierce through the tent base and into whatever you’re sleeping on), not too many acacia trees to walk into in the night (the thorns on these are about 3 inches long, but elephants still eat them) and out of sight from the road. There were noises in the night but we’re over that now and just figured that it was donkeys crashing round in the bush. There are a lot of donkeys wandering round in Botswana and Namibia and they’re a real pain on the roads. We’ve had a few near misses but the only casualty thus far has been a duck.
We had a long drive into the desert and a fair few kilometres down a sand track before we reached the home of a large tribe of San people. The truck got bogged in the sand on the way in so there was a mass eviction and a lot of digging before it bounced through the ruts about 2 tonne lighter to where we were setting up camp in the sand.
The San people are amazing. If you’ve ever seen that movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy”, they’re just like the African folk in that. I was absolutely entranced by the way they spoke and could have listened to them for hours and hours. Their language has so many clicks and clocks and it was beautiful to listen to and they were such tiny tiny people! This is Kate (not me) who is about 5’3” and the guy she is talking to is one of the San men.
These guys are so lean but have big round bottoms
and the kids are just gorgeous.
Their hair is so coarse and the babies hair grows in rows like a crop of corn. The hair is like little coarse hard tufts and when you touch it, its really hard – almost like ridges. You can see that it doesn’t really change as they grow older from these guys in the photo below. These guys were still quite young
but this chap is much older and his hair has gone a bit fluffy
I sat with the women for a while but they don’t speak English and are very very shy so its difficult to communicate. I felt (and looked) gigantic next to them but when one of the guys, a huge 6’3” chap from Somerset held one of the babies (who was loving every minute of being enveloped in this giants arms) he absolutely dwarfed the wee kid who laughed and laughed with a gummy toothless smile.
Back on the main road, we stopped for lunch and were over run with curious kids, all dressed for school. We started a game of cricket and there were some mean batters and wicket keepers among them. This chap on a donkey was cute and he’d taken his shoes off and tied them to the donkeys bridle. I watched them for a while and the donkey was clearly long suffering but patiently putting up with an awful lot.
A full days drive took us to just outside the Etosha National Park where we camped up on the side of the road for the night. It wasn’t a pleasant camp side as literally only meters off the road in the gravel but it was incredibly flat and the road was so straight, you could see car headlights for about 5 minutes before they passed by. I don’t know how cold it was that night but it felt super cold but there wasn’t a frost on the ground in the morning. I think it’s the extreme temperature changes that make it seem colder than it actually is - either that or we're all soft as!
2 comments:
This F&M fence doesn’t make sense, surely if the elephants, giraffe and springbok/gazelle etc can get over it, surely thwey can also carry the desease!!!
Those guys are indeed very small, I used to watch that film over and over again when I was a kid. So!!! Do they now use modern tools in their way of life or has that glass bottle definitely been thrown off the end of the earth.
I'm no expert but I think its cattle, sheep and goats that carry the disease. Giraffe, elephant etc don't so they can wander freely. The San people definately have a few mod cons like radios and western clothing but they still seem to be passing down the old traditions and techniques although how much these are used in everyday life I'm not too sure....
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