Hey all, just returned from Etosha national park (pics here), doing some game driving. Animals at Harnas were much more fun as you can interact with these animals, nevertheless seeing these animals in the wild is a special experience. On the way back the car broke down which left us a while in the hot desert, you can easily boil an egg on the sand and actually that's what the local people do :-) I lost a day with this but hey this is Afrika, looks like working for the belgian government :-)) Anyway thanks to Thomas and our guide Azis for the nice exiting trip, we even had jackals as guests on our beakfast session. Next day I'm heading for the coast for a day full of adventures, keep you posted on this one :-)
have fun, I know I do
K
Hey, I've left Harnas and will enjoy my last week exploring Namibia. Things on the wish list are Etosha park and Swakopmund (adventure town for sandboarding, quad driving and sky diving). Harnas has offered me a great experience, the link with nature makes you another man, I have lots of stories to tell on this one and special thanks to all girls and boys (yes the 3 of you ;-)) for making this a lifetime experience. I've posted some pictures of my last day at harnas (like HERE), saying goodbye was hard but some new exiting things are coming up again.... Today is planning day as next few days I'm on the road in the desert so no comm there
all the best
grz
K
RESPECT is the proper word to describe this fantastic day. The whole day was completely focussed on the local bushmen. The day started with a visit to the church. Most of you now that I'm not into religions but the way these guys and boys celebrate sunday is amazing. They all sing during the session which sounds great and they were so happy with our visit that the asked a local guy (good old petrus)to translate into english. After the celebration everyone shakes hands. I see these guys during week on work, on sunday they are all dressed up but we do not even give the clothes to charity, they are wearing for sunday. These people have so less material stuff an still they are so happy and warm and they would welcome you in their home and give their last things away. This moment made me silent for a while. After the church session we did some soccer with the local boys, running in a heat on 35 degrees celsius in the shade is killing... and of course we lost :-) I also met 2 dutch girls who founded a foundation to help streetkids from Godabis (http://www.ubuntutheatre.org/), those kids wanted to play soccer with us as well and they play barefeet!!! We lost again, probably we are not so great in soccer... After the match the boys made some music for us on their drums and started dancing, I was so impressed by their skills after 2 weeks that I promptly porposed to do a donation collection for these boys, after a few minutes we could give 1500 Namibian dollars to the foundation, I'm sure they will spend it well. Tomorrow is another day probably filled with animals as 10 days ago 4 new lions were born and starting from monday I can nurse them. Anyway all is going great over here, hope you have the same at home and at CTP :-)
Love you all
K
Hi all,
Finally the first pictures are uploaded on picasa, you can find them here. Everything is still going great. I did a lot of different activities like bush burning, digging a splash pool, going on tour with german guests, of course looking after the animals and sitting around the camp fire each night. Atmosphere is great and there is still more to come. Time to go bed though as tomorrow is an early day ;-)
see u all next time...
grz from hot namibia
K
Hi all,
Finally I found some internet access in hot namibia. It's really fun here, I've met lots of guys and girls: American, English, Australian, Scotisch, Irisch, Namibian, South African, German etc... I haven't been alone for a second, days fly by without notice. The wild animals are amazing, I found a new girlfriend: a 10 months old leopard called 'lost', she looks like a big cat but you should never underestimate her. It's amazing to be next to animals who can just kill you in a second but you'll never find a better place just to sit around and think about all stuff, they have a 'mystique' of lonelyness around them, really a strange feeling. Anyway I cannot post pictures until I'll be in South Africa due to some lazy internet lines but it will be worth the waiting... The days are completely planned: food preparation, feeding, enclosure cleaning... I even did a walk with a 200kg lion next to me and a 2 years old baboon on my head :-). Every night we have socializing time and we get around a big fire. This afternoon we are playing soccer against the local bushmen team, the guys here told that I was a former international belgian soccer player :-) oeps this will hurt...
Anyway all my regards to be people back at home and at work, have fun and enjoy life, at least that's what I'm doing now ;-)
hope to post some more news soon
K from Namibia
't is bijna zover, backpack is gepakt, tickets in de hand en hup naar de vlieghaven. Bij deze post dan ook mijn vluchtgegevens voor het thuisfront ;-). Meeste vluchten behoren tot een 'around the world ticket' met British airways en Qantas met uitzondering van Tanzania (South African airlines)
- 02/09/2008 : Brussel - Londen Heathrow, 19:15 - 19:30, vlucht BA0399
- 02/09/2008 : Londen Heathrow - Johannesburg, 21:15 - 09:05, vlucht BA0057
- 03/09/2008 : Johannesburg - Windhoek, 12:00 - 13:00, vlucht BA6275
- 02/10/2008 : Windhoek - Johannesburg, 15:00 - 16:50, vlucht BA6274
- 03/10/2008 : Johannesburg - Dar-es-Salaam, 13:50 - 18:30, vlucht SA7167
- 21/10/2008 : Dar-es-Salaam - Johannesburg, 15:25 - 18:10, vlucht SA189
- 22/10/2008 : Johannesburg - Sydney, 18:10 - 14:55, vlucht QF0064
- 02/11/2008 : Sydney - Cairns, 09:05 - 11:05, vlucht QF0167
- 10/11/2008 : Cairns - Melbourne, 12:25 - 16:45, vlucht QF0703
- 15/11/2008 : Melbourne - Sydney, 15:00 - 16:20, vlucht QF0442
- 15/11/2008 : Sydney - Bangkok, 18:05 - 23:10, vlucht QF0001
- 12/12/2008 : Bangkok - Londen Heathrow, 00:35 - 06:25, vlucht QF0001
- 12/12/2008 : Londen Heathrow - Brussel, 08:55 - 11:05, vlucht BA0392
