The complete tour of Namibia in 5 days

I’m listening to the Lion King soundtrack as I write this, very fitting considering we spent the entire trip attempting to sing the opening of the Circle of Life as we drove around the park. So I’m in Africa! More specifically in Namibia, a country most people have never heard of. It’s only been independent for 18 years, crazy! Before that it was controlled by Germany or South Africa. It’s also one of the least densely populated countries in the world, with under 2 million people in a country that’s roughly twice the size of California. We’re the first Semester at Sea group to come to Namibia, perhaps one of the first commercial ships (that’s a rumor I heard so I’m not sure); you can imagine the impact 800 people descending on that small of a population had!

Because no one has been here before, no one knew what to expect or even really what to do. My group was an exception - before we left, we had planned a safari to Etosha National Park. Our total trip took all 5 days in port. As soon as we had our passports, we left to meet our van that took as for a short stop in Swakopmund, then to Windhoek, the capital city where we stayed the night - around a 4 hour drive. The next morning we were picked up and drove to Etosha, roughly 5.5 hours, for our 3 day safari. The 4th day we drove back to Windhoek and spent another night at the Safari Court Hotel, and were picked up this morning for the drive back to Walvis Bay (pronounced Valfish Bay). We basically got a complete tour of Northern Namibia, definitely saw the most of the country of anyone on Semester at Sea, and including game drive spent a LOT of time in a van haha.

But now for some details. We didn’t venture into the city our first night in Windhoek, just stayed in the hotel (4 star hotel for $15 a person a night - quite the exchange rate!) But our hotel was not short of excitement, because it turns out that they were hosting prom! Seriously, prom. We were walking to the restaurant and there was a ridiculous line of fancy cars with guys sitting on the roofs posing like models and little girls running alongside screaming. At first we thought they must be famous, but we asked and they told us it was prom. Crazy! There were all these people there cheering for them as they got out of the car, it was insane. Quite the experience.

As soon as we got to Etosha on Saturday, we went for an afternoon game drive. Sunday we rode around the park the entire day, starting with an early morning game drive to look for cats, and Monday we got in one more early morning game drive before we left. We had a 16 person van that the windows came down halfway and the roof popped up so you could stand on the seats and look out the top - perfect for viewing animals and safe in case a rhino decided he had something against us! Our guides were Manni and Marcus and they were wonderful to us; made us delicious food and spotted crazy animals for us! As for the animals.... Here’s the list: Springbok, kudu, onyx/gemsbok, impala, ostrich, baboons, wildebeest, warthog, vulture, zebra, giraffe, elephant, black rhino, white rhino, jackal, lion, and leopard! As you can tell, we saw a lot of animals, so I’ll go into the more impressive encounters.

I won’t keep you in suspense; I’ll start with the leopard. The very last morning we were driving looking for cats (they stay in the shade once it gets hot so you have to look early or late) and we see all these vans stopped, and whenever you see other vans stop you have to as well to figure out what they’re looking for. Turns out it was a leopard in a tree! At first he was really hard to see, but then he started to move and, the part that made the entire trip, jumped out of the tree and started walking along the side of the road! We followed him for what had to be 15 minutes; he was just strolling along, crossing in front of our van a couple times and just letting us stare in awe. Absolutely stunning. Manni told us that was only the 2nd leopard he had seen that year, that’s how rare it is to see them. We were so incredibly lucky.

The lions weren’t quite so kind to us - we spotted them hanging back in the shade of a tree and could only make out their silhouette unless we zoomed in with our cameras. Meanies. But still, we saw lions in their natural habitat doing their natural “thang.”

The elephants were so much fun to watch. We caught them a couple of times at the waterhole bathing. After they were done washing off, they got out and started spraying themselves with dust! It was adorable watching them shake their head in the dust, their ears flapping everywhere. There were also a lot of baby elephants around. And I saw an elephant kick at a zebra!

The first night we stayed at the most famous lodge of Etosha - all I remember is the name started with an O and was impossible to spell, let alone remember, and my roommate has hidden my Lonely Planet somewhere so I can’t look up the name. But, it has the best waterhole of the park that is floodlight at night. So after setting up our camp, we went there to watch sunset. When we got there we saw a pair of black rhinos! I think there are only 500 in Etosha total, so they’re a treat to see as well. We went back later at night and ended up seeing 10 black rhinos total! We got to see a mating dance and several rhino fights. There was a mommy rhino with her baby, so she was very defensive. There was also a huuuuuge male rhino that just seemed to have a problem with everyone and kept picking fights. He had a literally 10 minute back and forth showdown with one of the other rhinos, then surrendered and immediately went and picked a fight with another rhino and then a fight with mommy rhino! He was not very smart. I got a lot of the animals on video, including some of the rhino fights, so I can’t wait to share those when I get home.

One of the giraffes decided to come really close to our van and give us a little photoshoot. It’s amazing what a difference 10 feet away and 30 feet away makes with our excitement level of seeing the animals. Did you know that giraffes get darker colored as they get older? Elephants too. The zebras were everywhere, but my favorite zebra was a baby that looked like black paint had been spilled on his back, covering up most of his stripes. I think he’s the perfect inspiration for a children’s book.

Our last night in Windhoek we went out to the city for dinner at a restaurant called Joe’s Beer House (see the German influence?). Two of the German girls on our safari with us recommended it to us (we had 2 German girls and 2 guys from New Zealand on our van along with us 12 SAS kids) and they served game, so we were game! Lame pun, I know, I’m my daddy’s daughter. I tried ostrich, springbok, onyx/gemsbok, and crocodile. They were all delicious! I wish we had more exotic meats in the US! I’m definitely going to have some more gemsbok in South Africa for sure. Oh, the best part? For a huge plate of meat (even split between two like I did, it was a lot of food) and 2 draft beers, I only spent 12 American dollars. Ridiculous. On the subject of food, Namibia has the best potato chips! They’re called Simba Chips (the name alone makes them awesome) and they come in crazy flavors like Chutney and Savory Roast Beef, but also normal American flavors that just taste better than our chips. They make them in South Africa so I’m definitely going to stock up before 11 days at sea to India!

I’m back on the ship now; we have only 2 days at sea until South Africa, so I’ve got a lot to do in that short of time! I’m going to miss Namibia, but not as much as I miss all of you at home! I’m going to start editing my hundreds of pictures now and send some of the priceless ones on to be posted hopefully later tonight, so look forward to that! But first I need to get my laundry together so I don’t have to wear stinky smelly clothes! Can’t wait to hear back from everyone, I miss you!