Returning to Kunene

On Sunday, I celebrated my 6-month anniversary in Namibia. I was at the Kunene River with 3 other volunteers and 3 guys who have become great friends. It was the best way to acknowledge the time spent in this country, and it provided with stories that will last a lifetime. This blog entry won't even be able to do the stories justice though because there are so many small details to write about. 

On Friday, I left Odibo with another teacher to meet up with volunteers in Ongwediva. From there, we drove up to the Kunene to stay at Jan's river house for the night. While there, we braaied dinner and celebrated Jan's 29th birthday. The night went late as we caught up and celebrated, and we ended the evening sleeping under the stars. Although it was chilly, it was one of the best nights of sleep I have had in a long time. 

The following day, the girls woke up and cooked breakfast as the men took one of the bakkis to Johnny's camp. Around 12, we got on the river to canoe 33km down the Kunene. Fortunately, I was in a boat of three people so my rowing skills were limited. Lucky for the people in my boat because I do not have any experience. Sometimes it went ok when I was participating, but other times it resulted in us going a little and then ending up in a circle. Let's just say I won't be entering any races anytime soon. 

While on the river, we spent a lot of time relaxing and eating. It was great until about 3:30 when we realized we were only about halfway. Namibia is getting dark around 5:40 these days and since we were in the wilderness, there were no additional lights to help guide us. On top of that, only one person had their torch. We pushed forward, getting much more serious about our boating. However, at around 5:30, we had to cut the trip short and pull over on land. From there, two of the guys walked/ran 9km to Johnny's camp to get the car. Unfortunately, they did not have the keys, which led to more of an adventure. Jan borrowed some china shop looking motorbike and drove back to his place to get the keys. During all of their excitement, the girls and Johnny were hanging out by the river with a fire, wet clothes, and food for about 2.5 hours. I can't really complain though because it was cozy. Eventually Jan made it back to us with the truck and we drove back to the camp. During this time, we got to see how far the guys really had to walk and I swear it is longer than 9km. I am so thankful they tackled that for us.  Once at camp, we braaied and finally ate dinner at midnight. 

The next day, Sunday, we all relaxed. We ate breakfast, hammocked, discussed our potential plans for when we return home, and had a delicious poikee (sp), which is similar to a soup/stew concoction. We got on the road around 5:30, getting me back to Odibo at 9:30. 

Overall, the weekend was amazing and so refreshing, especially after two straight weekends in the village. 

Side note: the Kunene River runs between the border of Angola and Namibia, so I got to go to Angola when I needed to relieve myself. Although I can't officially say I have been to Angola, I can now say I have been on Angolan soil.