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7/26/2011

1 Comment

 
12 July, Tuesday  Uchab River 
 
I received an e-mail from our best friends in South Africa who wanted to know where we are, because they will be in Swakopmund from the 11th– 14th. We met in 1980 in
Cape Town where Marianne and I worked at the School for Cerebral Palsy Children.
We moved to Namibia in 1985 and Handrè, Marianne and their 2 daughters came to
visit us often. Most of our 4x4 safaris were with them and we have chests filled
with photos and unforgettable memories of our shared adventures. It was
difficult for all of us when we moved to the US in 1994, but as it is, usually
more difficult for the ones staying behind. Our friendship survived and
strengthened through the years of absence even though life took all of us on
very different journeys. We were excited about the fact that we will be closer
to one another again. 

When Willie heard that they will be in Swakopmund he immediately
decided that we can adjust our plans so that we will be able to see them before
they have to go back to Cape Town. The plan was to meet them tomorrow afternoon
where they were going to stay with another good friend of ours, Elsje. 
 
It is an interesting place to come to after all the months of
travel as the reality of the end starts to crystallize: our second last
  breakfast, our last night camping, our last breakfast, last pack and strap,
  last meal etc. Sadness and uncertainty laced our excitement as all of us
  realized that our journey is coming to an end. A new beginning and season are
  waiting for us: Willie and I will start our ‘new’ life in Namibia; Hugo is
  going to New College of Florida in Sarasota; Andrej will go back to Serbia and
  then on to America later in the year. Our lives will look very different in a
  month from now. We will never have this again – the 4 of us together on a
  journey like we’ve had. We might have trips in the future, but this was a
  unique, not to be repeated experience and the thought brings a sense of pending
  loss - so many mixed and different emotions.

 The last 5 – 10 kilometers to the Uchab River takes us through
harsh and serious 4x4 terrain. Hugo and Andrej sit on the roof and I walk in
front of the car as Willie slowly and carefully help the car climb over rocks,
through potholes, around bends, uphill and downhill. We finally see the Uchab
River down in the valley – a wide river bed with green trees and reeds. Wet,
marshy areas make it very difficult to drive in what we remember as a dry, sandy
river bed. The rain over the last 4 years has really changed and softened the
face of most of Namibia and we cannot get used to seeing water in what was dry,
arid places.

 Willie finds our last camping spot under a few big trees in the
middle of the river surrounded by towering cliffs. We make a big fire, grill
sausages and steak and Hugo and Andrej go through all the pain of making fries
again! I have no idea why they want to do that, but I’m glad once they are
finished when I can eat it!

 They stay behind at the fire when Willie and I go to bed and I
hear them reminisce and laugh about so many experiences. They are in Jordan,
  then in Egypt and Turkey; they laugh about things that happened in Ethiopia,
  recall how sick or hot or tired or out of shape they were; they remember people
  and new friends and I know we’ve gathered a storehouse of memories that will
  keep us going for the rest of our
life!
1 Comment
Dennis Brown
8/8/2012 10:39:07 pm

Hi! enjoyed following your journey. As I'm planning similar would love have some communication particularly re crossing borders with vehicle..did you use Carnet de Passage or similar? Also interested in your route selection and why? Any tops on visa's etc too..:)

Drop me a line when you get time.

Best regards

Dennis

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    Author

    Caren

    "There is something about safari life that makes you forget all your sorrows and feel as if you had drunk half a bottle of champagne - bubbling over with heartfelt gratitude for being alive. One only feels really free when one can go in whatever direction one pleases over the plains, to get to the river at sundown and pitch one's camp, with the knowledge that one can fall asleep
    beneath other trees, with another view before one, the next night." -
     Karen Blixen - Out of Africa, Kenya
    'Of course as I am reading this, I know that you DO get your visas and the container DOES get released, but oh the internal struggle we face even though we should trust (as Hugo does) that God has His hands on all things and is constantly taking care of us.'


    From a Friend:
    :) Crazy to think that we are ALL made of blood, bone and water yet we speak in so many tongues that getting along together becomes a massive task within itself.

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