July 12, 2008 – Phil’s Birthday

Last night we ate at Joe’s Beer house in Windhoek. It is famous throughout Namibia – and justifiably so. Phil and I each had a steak- his was springbok, mine was beef. They were excellent.
An excellent night’s sleep followed a phone conversation with Karin. Then, this morning, after a big breakfast, we left Windhoek for Soussevlei. Josea took us on a short tour of the city of Windhoek before we drove south. The first hour was on a paved highway and then we left the paved road and traveled for several hours on gravel road. Josea pointed out many fascinating trees and many birds. I took careful notes for Erik. There is very little habitation in this part of Namibia. But we saw many animals including baboons, ostrich, goats, sheep, cattle, donkeys and horses. This part of Namibia has many fences so the wild game do not navigate here any longer. One of the most interesting sites was the nest of the sociable weaver nest – which often takes up most of a tree and houses many birds. It is an awesome site.
We ate lunch at a small farm/car repair place. Josea packs a lunch box for each of us each day so we can eat on the road- But this place was lovely – a nice table in the sunshine, covered with his tablecloth and a delicious lunch.
Then we continued our drive until we reached the Tsauchab River Camp, our home for the next two nights. Nicky and Johan own this large camp – which is comprised of some little homes (where we are staying), some tent platforms, and many tent sights. Johan believes that there are 50 people sleeping here tonight – but we have not seen anyone.
The sights are very separate because they are spread over 15 km. Phil and I have a lovely suite- that is totally isolated from the rest of the campsites. It has no electricity- but they have a solar panel that allows us two light bulbs inside. When we came back from dinner tonight, someone had lit three candles outside to show us the way into our house.
After checking in, we went for a 4 km. walk up a nearby canyon- it was a lovely way to stretch our legs after a long drive. After we returned home, we went up to the main house and ate a delicious dinner. It was springbok fillets, rice, delicious vegetable soup, salad, and then birthday cake (that the folks back at the B&B gave Phil this morning). The people at this place gave us a bottle of champagne. We enjoyed talking with the owners about their operation – they opened it in 1999 and developed it from scratch. They have 3 young daughters under 4 years of age- all of whom will go to boarding school when they are 6.
They have 7 people who work for them – 5 women and 2 men. The men manage the campsites – the women cook all the food. The campers often take their food in a basket out to the campsite. That food is also prepared by these women. Last week they had 100-120 people/night here so it is a big job..
Josea is a wonderful young man – very knowledgeable about the nature and conservation. He told us tonight at dinner that we are the nicest people he has ever guided and he is very surprised by that because other Americans have been rude and unpleasant and he certainly did not expect us to be so nice. (He thought we were British). We think he is very nice too.
Tomorrow morning we will get up at 5 a.m. and leave at 5:30 to climb the dunes at sunrise. Should be simply wonderful. Josea has promised me I can have coffee before I climb. He also reassured me that many people age 75-80 have made it up the dunes- so I will get there too!! Just as log as I can have my coffee first.