Overland Trek: Week One

My apologies for the delay in blog posts! Some of the places we have stayed do not have power and/or the internet. I'll be lucky to post every 7 days from now through the rest of my time in Africa! Once I get a quicker connection, I'll upload a lot more pics onto picasa.

The first week of the overland trek brought many 'firsts'. The first time I've pitched a tent, the first time that I've seen a desert and the first time I've seen a pack of wild zebras on the side of the road!

On the trek, there are Irish, Scottish, English, Dutch, German, Danish, Spanish and Australians, as well as 4 other Americans. 11 of us are traveling alone, and there are only 9 guys...no potential there! ;( It's a fun group. We've all gotten along really well so far...hope that lasts!

This week we crossed from South Africa into Namibia. We watched the sunset over Fish River Canyon, 2nd to the Grand Canyon for largest canyon in the world. The reflections of the sun deep into the canyon were post card worthy. We camped outside Bethania where I climbed to the top of a mountain (photo). In the distance, you can see the one dirt road in the vast landscape. There are only 2 people per square mile in Namibia, and it has been refreshing to see such vast streches of untouched nature.

Thursday we climbed Dune 45, supposedly the highest in the world, to watch the sunset in the Namib-Naukluft Park, one of the oldest deserts in the world. It was a really difficult climb straight up in the sand, but the views at the top were well worth the effort!

From Friday until this morning, we spent time in Swakopmund, a small German-influenced resort town on the Atlantic. I went sandboarding and quad biking (four wheeling) in the Namib desert. Sandboarding is way easier when it's warm and doesn't hurt when you fall. I ate a lot of sand and had it in places I didn't know sand could go. Quad biking was scary in the sand dunes! We were out for two hours and I was scared that I would flip the whole time. We stopped by the Atlantic to check out the desert sand that goes right up to the ocean...saw a humpback whale a short distance out into the sea. That was cool!

Animal watch: first pack of wild zebras just hanging out on the side of the road, ostrich, springbok, oryx & kudu (all part of the deer family). i also saw a jackal peering at me with his piercing green eyes when i was walking back from the bathroom alone in the middle of the night. Scared me to death! ;)

Noteworth nibbles: I've eaten warthog ribs (better than Sonny's), kudu steak, baboti (springbok meatloaf), biltong (dried springbok...just like beef jerky) and oryx steak. All were good and, most importantly, I didn't get sick!

This week we're headed to Cheetah park and Etosha National Park. Will see a lot of game this week.

Camping for 35 more nights will prove challenging. I didn't sleep at all the first two nights due to the snorers in the group. Now that i know who they are, my tentmate and I stay away from them! Trine (pronounced Trina) is my tentmate. She's a 29 year old teacher from Denmark. She's very funny and slightly crazy...perfect tentmate for me!

Happy Birthday wishes to Sarah Ryan and Todd Galinski. Doris, the travel pillow you gave me for my birthday has been a life saver on the truck. Cameron, I love Beach Music. Conroy is a brilliant writer. Thanks for giving that to me, it's provided hours of entertainment. That's all for now. Thanks for posting comments! It's nice to hear from you all!