Truck Life

Since I'm sometimes easily irritated, there are many times when sharing a small truck with 19 people really gets on my nerves, but for the most part I have managed not to tear anyone's head off. I find myself using all sorts of British English - loo, reckon, torch, palava... (Damn colonialists!) Generally the group is quite fun, but I know some of you want some nasty dirt so here it is. There is one woman I like to refer to as "The Nemesis" because there is no one on the truck who really likes her, apart from her bf, though half the time they fight anyway. Mostly because she is a bossy lunatic who takes herself far too seriously and has zero sense of humor, or humour. Humility still escaped her when, on our recent two day canoe safari, Nemesis and Co. couldn't figure out how to operate a canoe and had the biggest canoe zig-zag I have ever seen. They kept crashing into EVERYONE else and then pushing our canoes out of their way! Being in hippo territory on a sometimes fast moving river, well, this was not a popular move. But this is mild compared to other nonsense. The worst bit for me was witnessing Nemesis ripping a customer service rep a new one for no reason other than she was stressed and then (poorly) justifying it the next day when I tried to call her out on it. Eff off I say!

I get to see a lot of different things while traveling by truck, including my favorite - lots and lots of friendly people who like to wave at us. Especially little children. Except for one knee-high lass who threw a stick at us and pointed accusingly. I have a lot of thoughts on the different villages and poverty and various other things we see, but I will save those things for when I have more time, and haven't just ranted about evil people.

I am currently in Zambia, have survived the canoe safari on the Lower Zambezi without any terrifying hippo encounters (because seeing them 50 meters away while in a canoe was terrifying enough), and will get to do some game drives in the next few days in South Luanga. Oh, and I found it a bit worrying that I could never spot the crocs on the shoreline. But since I didn't see them, they couldn't terrify me. ;)

Dunes and Bugs

Check this out - I just realized my camera has a "trim for blog" feature, so at least I can upload a photo or two into my posts where internet cafes allow! These photos were taken when I was watching the sunrise from atop Dune 45 in Soussesvlei, in the Namib Desert. Waking up at 4:30 in the morning to trek up the sand dunes before breakfast was 100% worth it - amazing landscape, beautiful colors (there are a lot of iron deposits in the sand giving it the reddish color), wicked sky too. We also did a guided hike through the dunes after breakfast, where our guide showed us beetles, lizards (he looked like he was going to eat it raw a la Bear Grills, but to my disappointment he did not!), and 6000 year old dead trees.

In addition, we have watched the sunset over the allegedly largest canyon in Africa, Fish River Canyon, traveled over gravel roads through varying desert landscapes, crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, and now landed in the coastal Namibian town of Swakopmund. This town is mostly known for its adventure/adrenaline activities, such as skydives over the dunes, sandboarding, and quad-biking. Since I've already done a skydive and sandboarding in other places, tomorrow I'm going to check out the quad-biking. Then we are heading further north and the safari adventures will begin.

Now, a bit about the whole overlanding experience itself! First, I have to note how AMAZING my tour leader Anna is! She has been leading groups for a long time, loves Africa (she's Aussie), and knows a ton about this continent. I feel really lucky to have her leading us and essentially taking care of me for the next 5 weeks. The group I'm traveling with is a fun bunch, though mostly on the younger side, so I feel like big sister to a lot of them. My tent-mate is a big ball of sunshine - 19 year old Daisy makes us check for "creepy crawlies" every night and is one of the most positive and sweet people I've ever met. As for the creepy crawlies, well, there are some wicked looking beetles and bugs, but I've only seen one snake (which our current co-tour leader had to destroy with a shovel in grand fashion as it tried to get aggressive near our dinner), and the mosquitos don't seem to have a taste for Jewish blood or something like that, because they generally don't bother me. Lots of other people and things I could tell you about, but I am sure the stories will only get better, and possibly more bizzare as we head further north... One overlanding post-meal time ritual that I can't get over is the plate flapping. I've never done this when camping, and find the process seriously hilarious. We stand around and each grab a plate or bowl in each hand and wave them around to dry them. It's effective, but I feel like an idiot everytime. Such is life living out of a giant truck! More on that next time... but here is a picture of Oscar (our truck) and some of the gang on what was probably a pee stop or photo stop: