Between the dunes and the deep blue sea

Hello from Namibia!
I am in Swakopmund right now, a lovely little beach town on the Atlantic coast of Africa. We're on the Skeleton Coast right now, which earned its name because many shipwrecks have happened here. If you were unfortunate to wreck along the shore of Namibia back in the day, you were out of luck. There really isn't any water here, just lots of sand dunes.

We drove north from Cape Town last Sunday, through the north half of South Africa, and now we are midway through Namibia. Tomorrow we head north again, and east towards Etosha National Park and some game drives, followed by the Okavango Delta in Botswana. On May 10th, we arrive in Victoria Falls.

This trip is an overland adventure - which is really just a road trip across Africa. We are riding in a lovely truck with huge windows in the back for the passengers. Please note - it is not a bus, it is a truck named Janis. I have spent a LOT of time with Janis, and she is lecker (that's South African for good or great). There are 16 of us on the tour - plus two guides. Walt does the driving plus most of the talking and explaining of things along the way. Lorina is the cook and she is gifted, let me tell you. We are eating well. As for the rest of us - The youngest is 20, the oldest is 78. We have 2 Americans, two Austrians, two Brits, two Dutch, two Danes, one Swede, one Korean, one Israeli, one Japanese, one Australian, and one Argentenian. Quite the mix, eh?

We're all camping in two-man tents for most of the trip. Once we arrive at our camp, we all set up our tents while Lorina gets dinner ready. At this point, we are a well oiled machine.

Namibia is an incredibly beautiful place. Walt swears that it is the most beautiful country in Africa, but he is biased since he is Namibian... I have to agree, though, that this is some of the most amazing scenery I have seen in my life. The basic landscape reminds me of Montana, but on a bigger scale. We stopped and saw the towering red dunes where Brangelina had the photos taken with their kids, and we also went to Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert to see the dead trees set against the red dunes and the white desert floor. Spectacular.

Aside from the scenery, we have also been on many hikes, went canoeing, learned a Namibian dice game, went quad biking and sandboarding. And of course we're learning a lot about the other countries represented in the group. Plus we got up and hiked up a dune to see the sunrise one morning. It was definitely worth it.

Unfortunately I don't have time to load any pictures right now. But never fear, I am taking plenty and I can also get copies from my new friends here. I'll have internet access in Vic Falls on the 10th, but will be out of touch until then. Swakopmund is the last civilization in the northern part of Namibia. So I will be in touch with everyone on the 10th!

On the Road Again

Tomorrow morning, my time in Muizenberg is over. A taxi is picking me up at 7:15AM and I'm off on my tour of Namibia, Botswana, and Vic Falls. Jalle is meeting me in Livingstone, Zambia on May 11th (which is my sister's birthday!) and I'll spend a few days with her. I am really looking forward to that!

Muizenberg has been fun. As I predicted, I am really sad to leave, but I also know it's for the best. I've been getting bored with the routine and I am definitely ready to see some new stuff.

This week has been crazy from start to finish. On Weds I went to see Cape Point with Ken, the new Irish volunteer. We took the train to Simon's Town, saw the penguins again briefly, and then hopped in a Rikki (van) to the Nature Reserve and Cape Point. It was a beautiful day, but very windy as always at the point. It was definitely worth the visit.

Yesterday I decided that I needed to visit the orphanage where most of the other volunteers at the lodge work. I only stayed for a half day, but I was exhausted. There are children from 2 months to 6 years old there, and there are a lot of them. The volunteers are each assigned to work with one age group - infants, toddlers, or the older kids. I visited all three areas in my 3 hour visit. They are all adorable and very excisted to have any attention they can get. A few of the babies just cry until someone picks them up. So I helped play with them, took lots of photos, and then helped feed the infants before it was time for me to head back to Muizenberg to wrap some things up before I leave tomorrow. I'm really glad I went. I don't know how Steve and Amy and the rest of the volunteers do it every day. It's exhausting, but defnitely worthwhile.

Today was my last day working in the surf shop. So of course it had to be the busiest day we have ever had since I have been here. We had a birthday party of 22 kids first thing, followed by another lesson at 11AM, another at 12PM, and finally one more at 2PM. It was mass insanity from 10AM onwards. And to make things even crazier, it was also a lovely day and the surf was not big, but very clean and glossy. So it was a good day to be at the beach. I spent the day in the shop, taking care of renting boards and wetsuits, making sure the kids could get the wetsuits on, all of that. It was busy, so the day just flew by.

Tonight we are staying in the lodge and grilling out - which is called having a braai here in South Africa. So we're cooking burgers and brats over a wood fire. It just sounds much better when you call is a braai, I think.

I'll update more as soon as I can, but it may be about a week or so! Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Namibia!

Top o' the Mountain

This week we got two new surf school volunteers, Alex and Ken. Alex is from the US and Ken is our representative from Ireland. They arrived right in the middle of several people leaving, so we have been celebrating everyone's last night on a pretty regular basis for the last week. Needless to say, things have been a little crazier than usual. It's tough staying in the Beach Lodge - it's really one big revolving door. Just as you are getting to know someone, they leave! By the time I go, almost everyone will be "new".

I've decided that I need to see more of Africa than just Cape Town and Muizenberg. So I am heading out from the surf school project a bit early. I leave next Sunday to go on a tour up through Namibia and Botswana to Vic Falls. My friend Jalle (from college) is going to meet me in Livingstone, Zambia and then I will go with her to Kalomo, where she is living and working as part of the Peace Corps. I am so excited about this trip! It's 20 days with a group of about 10 people, mostly camping, through lots of desert (including the giant sand dunes in Namibia, just like Brangelina). I will have very limited internet access, so after this week, it'll be a bit harder for me to be in touch with anyone.

Since my time is drawing to a close here in Cape Town, this week is sure to be a whirlwind of sightseeing things that I have been putting off for the last month. It started today with the strenuous hike up Table Mountain. When we started at about noon, the top of the mountain was clear and sunny. When we got there after 2+ hours of huge steps uphill, a cloud had rolled in and we couldn't actually see anything. But it was still fun to hike up and the cablecar down was worth it, too. Here's one picture from the hike up... This is the trail to the top.



Otherwise, this week involved yet another visit to Cape to Cuba for the UK Katie's last night. We got a ride home with a friend of our friend Meshack in the back of his truck. This is classic of the gang here:
Back - Jamie, Alexa, and Katie
Front - Meshak, Sheep, Dana, me


It's not all a big party, though. We did all get up and go to church on Easter Sunday with some of the guys who live here and work in the surf shop with us. We had a gaggle of people from the lodge head to the local church for a very nice service. Easter here is a major holiday. The schools are all off for two weeks and pretty much everything completely closes on Easter Sunday. The music at the service was in both English and native languages. I'm not sure which ones, to be honest, since there are several official languages here.

Get Involved!

It's been very busy here in Cape Town. Last week we tried sandboarding with Gary's son Matt. That was interesting - very hot and a lot of work to hike up the hill in the heat. Snowboarding is much better in my opinion. It's easier to maneuver through the snow than through sand.


I went to Kirstenbosch with Natalie and Chris - some amazing gardens in Cape Town. They're nestled right at the base of Table Mountain, so the location alone is just breathtaking. It's fall here, so the flowers were not in bloom. I can only imagine how beautiful it is with all of the flowers. This is me with a sculpture in the garden:


Our daily job is in the surf shop. Luckily we've all had plenty of opportunities to get out and surf on our own, so I've managed to get some practice on the smaller boards. I still need a lot of work, but it's really fun even if I am not perfect! This is Natalie and Alexa heading out for a surf. Yea bru!

This is the Gary's crew at the moment, although Natalie just left to head back to England and we have 2 new arrivals coming on Tuesday. Counterclockwise from the left: Alexa, me, Dana, Jamie, and Natalie.


I took a side trip on my day of to go to Simon's Town to see the penguins that live there. They are so stinkin' cute...

Other than work and sightseeing on our days off, we do a lot of hanging around at the lodge or going out to eat or going to the bars in Kalks Bay, which is a 30 minute walk from the lodge. Our favorite is Cape to Cuba, a Cuban themed bar with a really relaxed atmosphere. This is Kwezi and Alexa mugging for the camera - My favorite picture from the evening - they crack me up!

I managed to delete all of my pictures other than the ones I have posted here - Stupid thing to do, but no point crying over it! I'll just be getting copies from friends here to share with y'all when I get home!

If you're going to swim in shark infested waters....

...the best place to do it is here, in Muizenberg, South Africa. Not that most people have a great desire to spend their holiday in oceans that are frequented by white sharks, but if it's the only good beach around, it's a good bet that people will end up in the water with the big fishies.

The reason I say that Muizenberg is the best option is because of the fantastic Shark Spotters program here. It began simply enough. A few of the car parkers along the beach were asked by the local surfers to keep an eye out for fins in the water. That has expanded to a large scale project involving the World Wildlife Fund, funding by sponsors like Reef Wetsuits and Puma, the installation of a Shark Alarm and warning flags, and over 30 spotters who watch from various locations around False Bay.



















There are about 5 sharks in this area that have been tagged due to previous aggressive behavior. Needless to say, the spotters keep an extra close eye on those guys, but also keep tabs on any other sharks that happen to approach the popular swimming/surfing beaches. The spotters are so familiar with the sharks, they can recognize some of them by the movement of the shark alone.

For those of us in the water in Muizenberg, it is reassuring to know that the spotters are there to let us know when a shark is in the water with us. They spot them as far out as possible and immediately sound the alarm and change the flag on the beach to a white flag with a black shark on it. That's the cue to get out of the water.















Even after the shark has vacated the area, the flag is changed to red as a warning that a shark has been in the area in the last two hours. So far, I have not been around or in the water when the alarm has been sounded, but I have seen the red flag up. I have no intention of going in the water when the red flag is flying.

The majority of the time, the flag is black, which means that the spotters are on duty and no sharks have been spotted, but visibility is not perfect. Once in a while it will be green, meaning that visibility is good and no sharks have been spotted. When the flag is down at night, the spotters are not on duty and you are swimming at your own risk.

If you're interested in learning more, check out the Shark Spotters website:
www.sharkspotters.org.za