Mission4x4Africa
  • The beginning
    • Preparation
  • The (Im)possible Dream
  • Day to Day
  • Gallery
    • Photos >
      • Berlin
      • slovakia snow
      • Istanbul potpouri >
        • Picture Journal
      • Petra
      • Wadi Rum Wadi Willie >
        • Andrej and Hugo
      • Egypto-glyphics
      • Ethiopia >
        • Ethni-opia
        • Moyale to Marsabit
        • Starling bushcamp Konso
        • Strawberry Fields in Konso
        • Arba Minch
        • Lake Langano
        • Gonder, Ethiopia
        • Marsabit
        • Marsabit to Samburu road
      • Kenya >
        • robinson crusoe
        • crossing the equator
        • Samburu National Park, Kenya
        • Samburu Day 2
      • Tanzania >
        • rolling to the ruins
    • Videos >
      • saying goodbye
      • Berlin Beauty
      • Belgrade Goodbyes
      • Turkey >
        • Konya
        • first freezing bushcamp
        • Istanbul, Turkey
      • Dead Sea
      • Petra, Jordan
      • Etosha Pan - Namibia
  • Birds and more...
  • Caren's Conundrum
  • Doorways
    • Doorways of Sudan
    • Doorways of Egypt
    • Doorways of Damascus
  • Red Route

2 July Katima to Mamili Memory Lane

7/9/2011

0 Comments

 
2 July, Saturday  Katima to Mamili 
 
I’ve shed a layer of emotions since entering Namibia and am left
with a glowing skin devoid of stress, anxiety, fear and concern. I left Germany
with some of these emotions already imbedded and others have joined without us
realizing – simply as a result of the lifestyle that came with traveling for so
long, so far through different seasons and countries. No more border-crossings
which is huge for me; no new languages, no foreign cultures, no more
‘fish-out-of-the-water’ feelings: we’ve arrived in a place where I have a sense
of belonging; where there are more things familiar that unfamiliar; where I feel
part of; where I share culture, traditions and languages with others different
from me, but strangely similar…

 We stock up: meat = Namibia = meat and Hugo is a happy boy:
  boerewors, lamb chops, steak – not even expensive. We are on our way to Mamili
  Game Reserve and it is ‘Memory Lane’ for Willie and me. We have wonderful
  memories of 4x4 trips with some of our best friends, Handré, Marianne and their
  daughters, from Western Cape when we traveled in this area 25 years ago. I am
  amazed with Willie as he remembers roads and places as if we’ve done it a week ago.

 Mamili is true wetland – the only in Namibia, and we have to
  cross through a river to enter the park. The car swims through like a fish. We
  stop at the ranger’s office and he tells us that most of the park is flooded
  with all the rain they had the last 2 years, but we are welcome to go as far as
  we can; we can camp anywhere we want to, because we are the only visitors in the park! 

Andrej and Hugo sit on the roof as we drive through the park.
Although there are signs of elephants and hippos everywhere, we don’t see them,
but lots of deer, warthogs and birds. We find a beautiful spot to pitch camp and
watch in awe as the sun sets in burning colours of red and orange. As soon as
the sun disappears hippos noisily surface at first suspicious about the human
activity in their territory, but not too long and we hear them chomping away on
the reeds and grass in and outside the water. 
 
The guys make a huge fire and we enjoy our carnivorous meal
  rounded off with ‘braaibroodjies’ – toasted cheese, tomato and onion
  sandwiches. We drift away to dream land with the chomping sound of grazing
  hippos and feeding elephants ripping off leaves and breaking branches from the
  trees behind our camp.

Click Play for Photos:

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    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.

    Archives

    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    Personal
    Photos
    Travel Update
    Travel Update;
    Travel Update; Photos
    Travel Update; Photos; Video
    Update Travel; Photos

    "Julle sal dit maak! Opwindend, dis 'n geleentheid 1x in 'n leeftyd. Ons wens ons kon deel wees daarvan. Sterkte en ons bid vir 'n veilige reis!"

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.