Journey to Namibia 2013: Katutura and Okapuka

01.09.13

I have had a hard time connecting to the Internet at the house. Between our group of 9 and the Norwegian group of 12, there are a lot of laptops, phones and gadgets trying to use the Internet. Anyway, on Monday night we had a braai (pronounced brye) at our house, which is a traditional Namibian BBQ. We had kabobs with red meat and chicken on them as well as ribs with a couple different salads. It was such a great way to start our time in Namibia and get familiar with the grocery store, town and the food we could expect to eat. The red meat here, by the way, is absolutely delicious! However, I have already been informed that it is illegal to bring back to the United States so don’t get your hopes up on trying any when I get back.

On Tuesday, we got a tour of the township where we are living for the next two months—Katutura. It is part of Windhoek and is known as the part of town for blacks. As a matter of fact, 25 years ago, whites were arrested for being in Katutura. Likewise, blacks were arrested for being in Windhoek past 5 pm. It was so amazing to drive around Windhoek and Katutura and hear Uanee (our guide) tell us stories about the apartheid, segregation and racism in Namibia because it is still so fresh here. Namibia gained their independence in 1990 from South Africa so it is very surreal to be in a nation where everything is still so new. I cannot help but compare it to America where we are still struggling with some racism when we experienced the Civil Rights Movement generations ago.

During the tour, Uanee (pronounced Juan-ay) showed us the tin towns (or “Silver Cities” in Katutura. They are literally tin shacks that people live in when they move to the city (Windhoek) but cannot afford to live in it. As we drove around, I noticed many of the tin shacks were converted in to bars at night and during the day, the people set up car washes. People from all over Windhoek bring their cars to these shops to get them washed. I found it very interesting that these bars and carwashes were set up right next to each other for blocks, whereas in America, if you are opening a bar, carwash, restaurant, etc., you would strategically place it away from other stores of the like in order to maximize your profit. However, in Namibia, Uanee told us that you go to the business you are most familiar with or have relationships with rather than going to the nicest one or the closest one.

However, the tin towns are not a place you want to be after dark. Uanee said they are very cool to experience during the day and talk with the people but he said, “There’s something about red meat and alcohol with these people…when they are combined, they get violent.” Uanee has a great sense of humor and he is so great to listen to because he is so knowledgeable about the area. He said some of the people that live there are violent but not just to anybody; it is usually between family members or work members that they take their aggression out on. Nonetheless, you will not find me at the tin towns after the sun goes down. (It’s okay, mom.)

Another place we drove by was the Soweto Market; it means “South WEst TOwnship” and is just down the street from our house. It is where the blacks were relocated to during the Apartheid. I can see myself going to this market often after school or on my way home because they had a lot of delicious food for cheap. Namibians absolutely love red meat; a lot of times their “read meat” is any game that can be hunted. In America, red meat is usually just beef but here, red meat can be anything from springbok, oryx, cows, etc. so you never really know what animal you are ordering. However, today we went to Okapuka Ranch for a game drive and I was able to eat some red meat for lunch—this time it was springbok. Springboks are small, deer like animals that literally spring, or pronk, over obstacles in their way. They have beautiful coloring that goes from a light cream color to a darker brown.

This leads me in to what we actually experienced today—our first game drive. We drove down B1, one of the very few paved highways and roads in all of Namibia, to Okapuka. First of all, it was absolutely breath taking. We rode in a Safari vehicle, which was basically an oversized Land Rover, and drove through Okapuka Ranch. We saw numerous animals that resembled deer (but much more beautiful and majestic) such as Sables, Oryx, Gnus, Springboks, Lesboks, Red Hartebeests, Elants and Wildebeests. The Oryx is an animal native to Namibia and is their national animal. It is absolutely beautiful with a black and white face that reflects the sun when they are in the Namib Desert. It is also able to retain 90% of the water in its body! It has beautiful horns and a tail like a horse. The Sable is from South Africa and is actually the national animal of Angola. We were very lucky to see the Gnu because they only had two in the park. There are black gnus and blue gnus and this one was black—it was about 18 and lives to be about 25 years old. We saw numerous Springbok, as was mentioned before and the Lesboks we saw were also beautiful with black and white spiral horns. An Elant is the largest antelope in Africa and we were able to see about 5 of them toward the end of the game drive. The Wildebeests were very entertaining to watch as they ran through the savanna because they kind of gallop and play with each other. The Red Hartebeest is a very fast deer-like animal with beautiful horns, just like all the other animals we saw.

Along with all those animals, we saw numerous warthogs, guinea fowl, and my favorite—GIRAFFES. There were also rhinos and crocodiles in the park but we were not able to see any today. The warthogs were funny to watch because they very closely resembled Pumba from The Lion King. Warthogs actually run with their tails straight up in the air so their babies are able to follow them, and many of the warthog families had at least two baby warthogs with them. The guinea fowls were absolutely beautiful and looked kind of like a small peacock without the long feathers. They make very interesting, high-pitched noises when they see predators, and in turn, they warn all the other animals that predators may be near.

Now to my highlight of the day, the giraffes—we were able to see so many of them and I could have sat and watched them for hours. When we first spotted them, they were drinking from the river and there were many couples and had about three or four babies with them. Our guide said that the smallest one there was only a week old. We followed them for a long time and watched them eat from trees, protect their babies, drink water and watch them watch us. I would say they come in a close second or third place behind the Minke whales and Gentoo penguins from Antarctica last year. I am so excited to see them on our future game drives and take another 300 pictures of them!

On our way home from Okapuka, Uanee was spewing more information at us and I learnd that giraffes are monogamous animals; just like the penguin and whales and that must be part of why I like them so much. ;) He also told us that “most animals we saw were polygamous. They like to exercise their true nature—just like men!” He went on to say that the three African polygamous animals he could think of off the top of his head were porcupines, chimps and men. He never ceases to make the whole car bust up laughing after a long day of sun and heat.

Pictures are out of order from the blog--Sorry!