Easter celebrations and the end of a semester in Namibia

My time in Namibia is coming to an end. I leave on Saturday for Cape Town, which is the last travel seminar of the semester. After a week in Cape Town, I will be heading home, forever changed by my 4 months in southern Africa.

The last few weeks have been pretty uneventful. After our trip to the South all my time has been spent in Windhoek. Classes wrapped up last week with reflections on all we have learned and what we still have questions about after our semester. Brief highlights:

· Debate in religion class about whether or not religion is essential to the structure of society

· Further discussion about the legacies of apartheid and segregation in Namibia and the U.S. How can I fight institutionalized racism at home?

· Recognizing in development class that there is always more to the story, and that no one can start a development project and think they know all sides of the story or how everyone is going to be impacted. Amanda also brought up that sometimes during these discussions she feels hopeless, like there is nothing that can be done to actually change anything. But it’s times like these when it can be helpful to look at the smaller picture, and remember that good IS being done, even if it is on a small scale. You can change the world in some small way, as long as you have the courage to get up everyday and do something.

· Final days of the internship! Followed by internship presentations, which was accompanied by delicious snacks. I feel like I learned a lot about how CCN is run, and what they are doing in Namibia, but I felt like my time was wasted a lot of the time.

· I turned in my last paper for the semester over 2 weeks ago! It’s a good feeling, knowing that the only “work” I have left for the semester is my integrative project, while everyone at PLU still has a few weeks of class left, and then all the stress of finals.

I have also been spending some time on my summer research, attempting to interview Lutheran church leaders as part of my Kelmer Roe fellowship. I have learned the hard way the difficulties that come with trying to get hold of people here. I have called the same leaders over and over, attempting to set up interview times. It’s difficult to figure out where people want to meet when they give directions like, “go straight down the road by the church, go straight through the first two 4 way stops, turn right at the roundabout, turn left at the next 4 way stop.” It has also been tricky because it’s Easter weekend, and Good Friday and Easter Monday are both public holidays, so absolutely nothing is open and people don’t want to meet or are busy with Easter celebrations.

I’ve also been spending time walking around Windhoek when the weather permits. These walks of course include time shopping at the different craft markets, and stops for gelato or pastries at my favorite bakery. Who knows when I’ll be back in Windhoek, so I need to eat all the pastries I can, right? We’ve also had lots of movie parties in the CGE house. We watched Pride and Prejudice last week, and I think someone has watched it every single day since then. I feel some people are getting a little obsessed…

One night we went out to dinner at a restaurant in Post Street Mall. Four of us split a large pizza, devoured it, and ordered a second one. It was delicious! I have missed pizza here. Last night we went out for dinner at a Cameroonian restaurant to celebrate Siobhan’s birthday. Tamara and I split a vegetarian peanut dish, and it was a great change from the CGE food. After dinner we all headed to Zanzibar for some dancing in celebration. Six of us walked there, and it was good to be able to walk through Windhoek at night, and to know the city well enough that we didn’t get lost. It was an entertaining night, but I have definitely never started an Easter Sunday that way before.

This morning some of us went to church at the Inner City Lutheran Congregation. It was an interesting experience for me. Some of the liturgies were very similar to ones I grew up with, and some of the hymns were similar to Easter ones I’m used to, but it was not the same as being at home for Easter. I miss eating brunch with my family at church, and the great music that my church always has at Easter. I miss celebrating Easter at home. It was a beautiful day today, but it was a lazy day for the most part.

This week is my final week in Namibia. We have integrative project presentations on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, and on Thursday we are cleaning the house and having a going away party. The rest of the week is pretty open. I’m trying to have a couple more interviews for my fellowship, and will hopefully have time to go on a few more long walks around Windhoek. It’s bittersweet, to think of leaving on Saturday. I’m excited for Cape Town, and to go home and see my family and have my exciting summer start. But at the same time, I have changed so much here, and have made so many new friends. I’m going to miss everyone, and it’s going to be hard to say goodbye to this beautiful country, especially when I don’t know if I’m ever going to be back.

Some random pictures from around Windhoek:

in honor of Earth Day

my favorite bakery!

crafts at an outdoor market

Climate Change in Namibia?

The weather has definitely been changing over the last few weeks. We are in the middle of fall now, and it has become very obvious with the weather. With fall, sunset is early. We had a beautiful Easter Sunday today, but it was tempered a bit by the fact that it was completely dark by 6:00. The rainy season was supposed to be over at least a month ago. But try telling that to Mother Nature! For the last two weeks or so, we’ve had frequent cold rain/hail/thunderstorms. I can deal with the slightly cooler weather, but not with cold weather and rainstorms. During the rainy season it rained every day for an hour or so during the afternoon or at night. But now, it will rain most of the day, and a lot harder than it has been. I feel like I’m back in Washington! We’ve gotten so much rain that Windhoek doesn’t seem to be able to manage it. The bedroom on the first floor is flooding because there has been such an increase in groundwater, that it is seeping through the floor and into the house. Houses in Windhoek are not built to withstand this much rain. Is this the future of Namibia with climate change?

Who has climbed a mountain before 7 am?

Over the weekend, we had our last travel seminar in Namibia. We traveled to southern Namibia on Thursday afternoon for a weekend full of camping and learning about community based land management. All of our camping sites were beautiful, and it was exciting because the last time I went camping was in high school, and it was fun to sleep in tents and braai outside. On the downside, there were a lot of weird bugs everywhere. There were these little flying green bugs that swarmed the tent in Berseba, and we ended up bringing some of them back in Windhoek because we couldn’t get rid of them. We also saw some little scorpions, and several African armored crickets, which are huge!

African armored cricket

Brukkaros Mountain

this is all you can see for miles and miles

oh camping...

Our second campsite was just outside of Berseba, next to Brukkaros Mountain. On Saturday morning we did not have any activities until 10 am, which meant we had time to climb the mountain in the morning! We left a little before 6 so we would have time to get to the top and still make it back in time for breakfast. Although I’m not a big fan of waking up at 5:30 in the morning, it was nice to be hiking in the dawn, watching the sun rise over the ridge. The first part of the hike was pretty easy. It was uphill, but there was a “road” up to a different campsite, and then a fairly well defined path. At one point there was a small troop of baboons sitting on the rocks above the trail, barking at us and slowly advancing. Amanda barked back at one point, and then realized her mistake as they started moving closer. She was prepared though, and had a rock ready to throw at them. After that point we made sure to hike in groups.

About 40 minutes into the hike, the trail ended and the mountain just rose straight up. But did we let that stop us? Of course not! We started scrambling up the rocks. Some were big, some were small, some were really loose and we started a few small rockslides. There were times we had no idea how we were going to make it to the top, and it was exhausting. The group I was hiking with made sure to take water breaks, and stop every so often to catch our breath and take pictures. After almost 30 minutes of climbing up this mountainside, we made it to the top!

this is how steep the mountainside was!

It was so incredibly windy at the top, but the views were so worth the effort it took to get there. You could see out across the Kalahari for miles and miles, with only one small town in the way. It was also crazy to realize that we were on top of a mountain, and it was only 7 am. It made me feel like I actually accomplished something.

view from the top

Going down was a little more difficult, as I was worried about slipping and falling all the way down the mountainside. But we all made it back safely, although a few people sacrificed their water bottles to Brukkaros. The next day I was extremely sore from climbing up the rocks, but it was a fun activity!

simple pleasures

I am learning to appreciate all the little things here. Today I went on a long walk by myself after another long, dull day at my internship. There are so many things to love here! Warm air kissing my face. Pink sunsets over the mountains. Solitary joy during my walks. Knowing that when my internship is over next week, I don’t have to work in an office again if I don’t want to. Walking to Tom Thumb to buy delicious chocolate bars a few times a week. Friendships. Laughing. Beautiful birds flying away. Knowing that I can go home soon to family and friends and beach and mountains, but take home good memories and knowledge and a new perspective on the world.

Windhoek is a beautiful city, nestled in green mountains. I love my walks through Windhoek. It’s still warm when I go walking at night, and I usually see beautiful sunsets. I love wandering the streets and neighborhoods, discovering new gems. I have come to terms with the fact that my favorite thing to do here is go on leisurely strolls throughout the city, taking everything in, rather than going out at night. I struggled with this at the beginning of the semester, because I felt isolated from the social activities of most of the students here. But now I just enjoy my walks, and I know I’ve seen more of Windhoek than many of my peers here.

I’ve found a bakery/gelateria in downtown Windhoek, and every time I go into Windhoek I stop and buy gelato, a donut, or a pastry (or sometimes more than one). But who knows when I’m going to be back in Windhoek, so I might as well enjoy all the gelato and German pastries I can, right?

I know that this post doesn’t take into account any of the social issues that Namibia has to deal with on a daily basis and that I have been confronted with during my time here. But I think sometimes it’s good to focus on the little things that make me happy, and try to carry these into the rest of my life.

MOSI-OA-TUNYA: The Smoke That Thunders

We arrived in the town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe early afternoon on the Friday of spring break. Crossing the border into Zimbabwe was pretty simple, and it means I have a new visa in my passport! This trip sure is helping to fill up the pages in my passport. It was exciting to drive into town and see the gorge in the distance, knowing that I would soon get to see one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We stayed at the Victoria Falls Hotel, which sits right on the gorge with a view of the Victoria Falls Bridge. It’s an old Victorian-style hotel with an amazing view, a courtyard, a couple of restaurants, and lots of charm. We ate lunch at the outdoor restaurant that overlooks the canyon and the bridge. It was such an odd experience. There we were, sitting in a Victorian hotel in the middle of Zimbabwe, with the warm African sun beating down. You could look out over the clouds of mist rising from Victoria Falls. I felt like the falls were taunting me, because I could see the clouds, and almost feel the mist, but I couldn’t see them yet because they were around the bend. Caribbean-style music was playing in the background, and all the prices were in U.S. dollars, so for the first time in over 2 months I didn’t have to do the automatic conversions in my head. (Zimbabwe’s currency is essentially worthless, so everyone uses American money. But buying a trillion dollar bill is a popular souvenir here!) These different sensations: memories of Trinidad, Africa, and the U.S. all mixed together to confuse me.

View from the Victoria Falls hotel

After our meal we set out to try to see Victoria Falls, because I couldn’t take the fact that they were sitting there just out of sight! There was a shortcut from our hotel to Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park, and a security guard from the hotel walked us to the entrance of the national park. There are lots of tourism police in Victoria Falls because they are concerned about tourists having a bad experience. In Zimbabwe they recognize that much of their income comes from tourism, so they want to make sure tourists feel safe at all times. We got to the entrance to the national park and realized the only way to actually see the falls was to enter, but we didn’t want to pay the entrance fee when we were planning on a guided tour of the national park the next morning. We ended up walking back, taking a detour by the outlook where people can do a gorge swing across the canyon. The views were incredible!

entrance to the national park

Saturday morning we had our guided tour of Victoria Falls. Before entering the park our guide handed us all raincoats, reminding us that we would get soaked on the tour. Let me tell you, the raincoats didn’t help at all! I wore mine because I didn’t especially want to be really wet, but halfway through the walk I was soaked to the skin. We had a guided walk through the national park, stopping at all the overlooks. There’s a big statue of David Livingstone, the first European to view the falls, and the one who named them Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria. Our guide told us that he was in a canoe with some of his guides, and they heard the thundering and saw smoke from the falls. He asked what it was, and his guides could only tell him that it was Mosi-Oa-Tunya (the smoke that thunders). They somehow landed on what is now known as Livingstone Island, an island on the very edge of the falls. We marveled at his good fortune because now, at the end of the rainy season, the water flow is nears its peak and I can’t even fathom how he didn’t get swept over the edge. There’s so much water going over the falls! Victoria Falls isn’t the tallest waterfall in the world, but it is the biggest. It’s over a mile wide, and has the highest water flow. Seeing it in its peak season is so amazing.

One of the times we got lucky and the rain cleared so we could see the falls

Because Victoria Falls is so wide, different sections of the falls are given individual names. We stopped at different outlooks to view these sections of the falls. However, you have to remember that Victoria Falls creates its own clouds of “mist”, which roughly translate into monsoon clouds if you’re within them. There were times we saw the signs for “Horseshoe Falls” or “Main Falls”, and just had to trust that those were actually there, because we were blinded by the rain and couldn’t necessarily see farther than 10 feet in front of us. Half the time I was worried about losing my contacts because of all the water pouring into my face. Local legend has it that anyone who gets wet from Victoria Falls will have good luck for a year. Do you think we got wet enough?

Victoria Falls is really behind us, I promise! This is a good example of those monsoon clouds

Our tour ended with an overlook of Victoria Falls Bridge, where we caught a sight of someone bungee jumping. We then walked back through the rainforest to the park entrance (Victoria Falls creates its own rainforest, where the trees and other plants get water year-round).

Victoria Falls Bridge

After changing into dry clothes we headed off for our “Flight of the Angels”, a 15 minute helicopter ride over Victoria Falls. I’d never been on a helicopter before, so the anticipation was pretty exciting. We took off with great views of the Zambezi River, Zimbabwe, and Zambia (just across the river). The ride was so loud, and I was a little nervous because they left the window right next to me open, and I was worried about dropping my camera out the window, losing it forever to the great Zambezi. Thankfully I didn’t lose it.

our helicopter for the "Flight of the Angels"

As the ride started my anticipation was building and building. Then we turned and I could finally start to see the smoke from Victoria Falls off in the distance. It was pretty exciting. For the next 10 minutes we circled the falls, and it was just incredible. During our walk in the morning it was hard to get a good sense of how BIG Victoria Falls actually is. Well, it’s kind of hard to miss when you see it from the air, and can see how high the mist rises in the air, and can see how wide it is, and how impressive the whole spectacle is. It’s pretty incredible.

first view of the mist off Victoria Falls

look how big it is!

so beautiful!

That night we went on a dinner cruise on the Zambezi, above Victoria Falls. It was only the four of us on our boat, and we had a hard time getting into the river from the jetty. But we finally got it, after pushing hard off some other boats (the current kept pushing our boat into the other ones). We cruised up and down the Zambezi, occasionally going into the Zambian part of the river, while we ate our dinner. We go to watch sunset, and see the stars come out. Our guides kept joking, after getting close enough to see the mist off Victoria Falls, that we didn’t have any parachutes for going over the falls. Tamara of course wanted to try it. The whole time we were eating we heard hippos bellowing, but we didn’t see any.

The next morning we ventured out into town in an attempt to find postcards before Tamara and I had to leave to catch our bus. That’s when we discovered the family of warthogs just outside our hotel!

warthog family!

Tamara and I took a taxi across the Victoria Falls Bridge to the Zambian side, where we caught our Intercape bus in Livingstone (the town on the Zambian side). Our bus ride was pretty uneventful. It was exciting to cross the border back in Namibia, if only because it meant that I had money I could spend again! I had a problem with the ATMs in Victoria Falls, so I couldn’t spend any money in Zimbabwe. But I was able to buy food in Namibia! We had a short food stop in Namibia, and then set off down the Caprivi Strip. Intercape is run by a Christian company, so they have some interesting videos that play during the bus ride, but only after the devotions and televangelism stop. One of the movies we saw was titled, “Belle and the Beast: A Christian Romance.” But they helped pass the time. I ended up being able to sleep for most of the bus ride (and by sleep I mean I dozed, waking up every 30 minutes or so to readjust. Although it was a plush bus, it’s still not that comfortable for sleeping). We got into Windhoek about two hours late (you’ve got to love that African time), which meant we sat on that bus for about 20 hours. That’s even longer than the flight from Washington D.C. to Johannesburg! It was good to get back to Windhoek, and I know everyone was glad to see us back because we were the last people back from spring break.

These last few blogs have been a short, very abridged version of my spring break. It was amazing! Ask me to tell you more stories, and I will be happy to oblige. A HUGE thank you to the Siburg family for inviting me on their trip, and to Tamara, who once again took pictures for me so my camera wouldn’t get ruined (hers is waterproof, mine isn’t).

Chobe National Park

After leaving Maun we took off for Nata, where we spent a night on our way to Chobe National Park. Nata was pretty uneventful. We checked into our hotel in the afternoon, then hung out by the pool until it was time for dinner. It was a little cold, so I didn’t stay in the pool for long. One exciting thing about our room was that it had an outdoor shower! That was fun. The next morning we left for Chobe!

We stayed at a lodge just outside of the park, right on the Chobe River. You could look across the river to see Namibia, which was exciting because at this point I hadn’t been in Namibia for several days, and was starting to miss it a little bit. One of the first things we noticed when we walked into the lodge was the vervet monkeys running around and playing on the railings and in the trees in the courtyard of the hotel. A good reminder to always shut the windows so monkeys don’t get into the room and wreak havoc!

After a buffet lunch (we sure had a lot of buffet meals, I ended up eating way more than I needed to over spring break) and a short time by the pool, it was time for our boat ride on the Chobe River! We got on a boat with 10 other tourists, prepared for our three hour boat ride in Chobe National Park. Our first stop was at an office to declare that we were entering the national park, and we saw our first elephant and hippo of the day! The elephant was walking by the office, and as we were pulling away the hippo surfaced right next to the boat. It was an exciting start to the boat ride.

We probably saw hundreds of elephants during the boat ride. Families running down to the water together, baby elephants wallowing in the mud, elephants eating by themselves, elephants eating with other elephants. Pretty much, we just saw lots of elephants. One thing I saw that I thought was really cool was how you would see families of elephants traveling together, with many different generations living together. If I hadn’t been an elephant fan before, these sightings would have been enough to do it now!

elephant family traveling together

baby elephants playing in the mud

baby elephant!

We also saw families of hippos in the water. These weren’t quite as exciting for me, because it was hard to see more than eyes or ears for the most part. But we did see some hippos partially out of water, and there were large groups of hippos, so that was fun.

Another part of the boat cruise was getting to see the sunset. We stopped over near the Namibian shore for a while, and observed the effects of the rising floods. There are houses and cabins that are partially covered in water already, even though the peak of the flood in this area won’t occur for another couple of months. But sunset was absolutely beautiful. We watched most of it from the boat and, as usual, the sky was incredible (what is it about the African sky that is so indescribable?). The water was really peaceful during this whole time, so it was a great experience. We arrived back at the lodge to some traditional singing and dancing, and watched the rest of the sunset over the river. The colors were magnificent! So many purples, pinks, blues. I loved looking out over the river, watching the rainstorm miles away and being glad it wasn’t over us, admiring the beauty.

sunset over the Chobe River. Note the rainstorm in the distance

In the morning we went for yet another game drive, this time through Chobe National Park. Although you can see much more wildlife in the morning, the morning game drives always leave around 6, which is a little too early to be up on a vacation. Not two minutes away from the hotel we saw our first elephants for the day, feeding along the side of the road. Once we entered the park we started seeing herds of impalas, because apparently you can’t go to a national park in southern Africa without seeing hundreds of impalas. But I love looking at impalas, they don’t get old.

A troop of hundreds of baboons walked past our jeep. There were so many it took over 30 minutes for them to all pass us. We saw baboons with babies, baboons grooming each other, old baboons, young baboons, baboons in trees, baboons in the road, pretty much baboons doing everything. Our guide had told us that in the morning, it’s not likely to see many animals, but it’s the time of the day you are most likely to see any of the cats. During the entire drive, we had our eyes peeled, looking for lions or leopards or cheetahs. We finally saw some lions though! Our guide drove off the road to get closer to them. We got pretty close (not close enough for my little camera to get good photos, though), and go to watch a few lionesses walking through the bush. As we were speeding back towards the road, one guy lost his hat because we were driving so fast. We had to go back and get it, but the guide was in a hurry the entire time. When we got back to the road, he explained that we were not supposed to leave the roads, but he wanted us to be able to see the lions. We were all very appreciative that he thought of us. After the lion sighting, the rest of the game drive didn’t seem as exciting. Afterwards we got back to the hotel, checked out, and headed towards Zimbabwe and Victoria Falls!

part of the troop of baboons walking in the road

lilacbreasted roller, national bird of Botswana

Welcome to Botswana! or, the start of the most epic spring break ever!

I spent my spring break with Tamara and her parents, who were gracious enough to invite me along on their family vacation. We left from Windhoek on Sunday morning, after a day and a half of free time in Windhoek. It was really nice to have a day to hang out, check my email, do laundry, and wander around downtown Windhoek (my new favorite activity. Seriously. Every Saturday I walk around for a couple hours, along with more random wanderings during the week. I find so many random cool stores and restaurants that way! It’s especially nice to buy gelato and leisurely walk around). We drove into Botswana on Sunday and spent a night in Ghanzi, at a lodge on a private game reserve. We went on a game drive that night, and then were treated to a show of traditional Bushman dancing. It was a lovely start to the trip, and the first of many new stamps in my passport!

On Monday we drove into Maun on our way to the Okavango Delta. We walked around a little bit and looked at little shops that sell souvenirs (during which I learned that Tricia, Tamara’s mom, really likes to shop). We ate lunch at a little diner just outside the airport, and it was delicious. Then we headed to the airport to catch our flight into the Okavango Delta! The Okavango Delta is the only inland delta in the world, draining the Okavango River after it receives its annual floods from Angola (the same floodwater that causes northern Namibia to flood every year). The lodge where we stayed in the Okavango is about a 25 minute flight from Maun on a tiny little plan. Including the pilot there were six seats in the plane, but the sixth person would have been a little squished. We were handed cold bottles of water before getting on the plane to serve as our refreshment for the flight. The safety lecture was pretty short, too: buckle your seat belt, make sure the door is locked, first aid kit by your feet, more first aid stuff on the seat by Tamara. Then the pilot shut the windows and we took off!

our plane into the delta!

The flight was really exciting because we were low enough above the ground (only about 1000 feet) that we were able to get a really good view of the Delta. Every direction you looked was a continuation of the Delta, and I saw several elephants during the flight, and an ostrich on the flight back! It was really loud, but it was a fun experience. We were met at the airstrip by a jeep that took us on the 20 minute drive through the bush to camp.

The Okavango Delta from the air

We spent two nights in the Okavango Delta, filled with early mornings, delicious food, and lots of game drives. Every morning breakfast was unfortunately at 6 am in order to try to see animals before it go too hot out. We came back from the morning activity for lunch at 11:30, then a break in the afternoon to take a nap, then tea time with delicious snacks at 3:30 before heading out for the afternoon activity. Dinner was at 8 before heading to bed. We spent a lot of time eating and just relaxing on the porch overlooking the delta. Another plus was that there was always dessert after dinner! This was very exciting because I have felt deprived of my normal desserts all semester, so I was happy. One night the dessert was Amarula crème brulee, and the second night dessert was banafee pie (pie with bananas, toffee, and cream – so amazing!). All of the food was always delicious. One day at lunch we had a version of a burrito, which was a welcome addition because I haven’t had anything even resembling Mexican food since January!

Me and Tamara on a game drive

We started the first afternoon with a game drive through the bush. We saw lots of impalas, a few giraffes, warthogs, vervet monkeys, other antelope, and lots of magnificent trees, many of which had the bark stripped off of them by elephants. The water level was pretty high, especially for so early in the season, and one of their bridges was out, so we had to drive through a river on the game drives. The water literally covered the hood of the jeep, and started pouring into the floor under our feet. The first time through was a little intense, and we were worried we were going to get stuck. But we made it, and then it just felt like a ride at Disneyland! Bumpy ride in a jeep (kind of like the Indiana Jones ride), fording a deep river, seeing animals, what could be better?

fording the river!

The next morning we wanted to do a game walk, but it was raining so we opted for another game drive instead. However, about 2 hours later the rain stopped and it started to warm up a little bit, so we did get out and walk around for a while. We saw an elephant skeleton (like a mini elephant graveyard), lots of termite mounds, numerous species of birds, and some hippos in the water!

beautiful sky

warthogs!

In the afternoon we went on a boat ride through the Okavango Delta. It was so beautiful! The boat went through papyrus and reeds, and we saw so many different birds: owls, storks, lilacbreasted rollers. It was a nice change from the game drive, and we got to stay on the water until sunset, which was picturesque.

Papyrus

boat ride through the delta

Sunset over the Okavango Delta

The stars that night were also amazing. There were about two hours between the time it got dark and moonrise, and because we were in the middle of the Delta there was no other light pollution. I have never seen so many stars! The Milky Way was so bright that it was almost difficult to pick out Orion, because there were so many other stars that stood out more than they normally do.

After dinner we went on a night game drive, hoping to find some bushbabies. Sadly, we did not see a bushbaby, but we did see several hippos walking around feeding, and we finally saw an elephant, which was exciting. It was a fun game drive, but at that point we were all tired and just wanted to go to sleep.

The next morning was our last morning in the Delta, and we got to go on a Makoro ride. Makoros are traditional dugout canoes that are used in the Delta. We took the boat out to Makoro Island, where the Makoros are stored. Then we got to ride in them for a couple hours. There were two to a canoe, so Tamara and I shared one while our guide poled us around from the back. It was so peaceful, gliding through lilypads and reeds in the canoe. We saw some tiny little frogs, beautiful flowers, more birds, some baboons, and we got to try some dates from the date palm. I really enjoyed getting to experience nature without the noise or inconvenience of a motor boat or a jeep.

After a quick lunch, we rode back out to the airstrip with our pilot. When we got to the airstrip, our pilot pointed out the windsock and said some other tourists a few weeks ago had asked if that was how they fed the giraffes. Anyways, we had a pretty uneventful flight back to Maun to start the next leg of our trip!