Easter Weekend: River Rafting in Namibia

Friday morning at 4am we were picked up and we started our Journey to Namibia, which was an 8-hour drive. After getting through customs we arrived at out first campsite where we learned about the trip, boats, and safety. Friday night we had a wonderful traditional meal cooked by the staff at the campsite and began our nights sleeping on the ground outside. When the sun rose on Saturday we woke up, went over safety, packed up our boats – 2 people per boat – and were on our way. Each day we paddled for about 6 hours, stopped for lunch around noon, and continued to paddle to our over night sites, which did not have bathrooms or any facilities. We slept outside under the stars on the grass or sand every night, and all our food was cooked over a fire by our guides. Every morning started with sunrise and we were all in bed by 9:30pm. I fell out of the boat once on a rapid- oops! But it was tons of fun and my boating partner, Jessa, didn’t even realize I fell out haha. It was pretty hot every day – Id say up in the 90s, but I didn’t burn at all YAY! The water varied between flat water, which was more difficult to paddle through and rapids. Our first day we had to fight the wind which was difficult, but day 2 and day 3 we had a nice tail wind which was helpful. On day 3 during our lunch break we got to swim down a set of rapids, which was really fun, but very exhausting.

Our guide joked he would never do this with his wife because it would lead to divorce and I’m not surprised! It requires a lot of teamwork and the back passenger depends on the front for directions and the front depends on the back to actually turn the raft. Communication is key, and luckily Jessa and I handled it very well!

We returned late afternoon on Tuesday- Overall the trip was a blast, our guide was phenomenal, and the food was fantastic… But I’m a city girl through and through J

Spring Break Africa Style

Spring break started on Friday, March 16^th, with us waking up at 3:45am to pack, what we were told was a bus, and to be on the road by 4:30am. The bus ended up being what the group refers to as “the aquarium,” a large truck with floor to ceiling windows – kind of resembles The Ducks you can ride in Boston or Devils Lake, WI. Our tour guides, Jimmy and Johan, have been doing this trip with the Marquette group for 5 years and were very lively, easy going people. Day 1 consisted of an 8-hour drive to Chinsa Beach, when we arrived we had a late lunch on the waterfront and then checked into our Backpackers (a slight upgrade from a hostel but still dorm style bedrooms.) Once we arrived we were split into rooms and some people went to explore the town, and pick up food to BBQ. I ended up having food poisoning – seafood pizza for lunch wasn’t my smartest choice – and I hung out with some other girls who were not feeling too well either. That night the boys BBQed as usual, and then it started raining so we all hung out in the common room and most of us were in bed before 9:30pm.

On March 17^th, St. Patrick’s Day, we left the backpackers around 6:30am and drove two hours to THE TALLEST BRIDGE BUNGEE IN THE WORLD!! Once we were there we were weighed and geared up! To get to the bridge you must walk on this grate walking bridge – SO SCARY, it felt like you could fall right through. On the platform of the bungee jump you could see the Indian Ocean, which was attached to the river we would be jumping over. On the platform they went over safety instructions and announced the order in which we would be jumping, then they started blaring music to get us pumped up! I was jumper 5! From the platform you could watch the monitors and see people jumping/ hanging. When it was my turn they had me sit down and they wrapped this, what appears to be very simple, device around my ankles, and then helped me hop to the ledge. I got a very fast 5-4-3-2-1 count down and was sent on my way. The jump was SO COOL, but I had to remind myself to keep my eyes open as I fell the 71 stories! It was actually pretty peaceful falling/ hanging there, but after a minute of hanging there I was ready to be brought up J Then they send down a guy on a harness to attach to you, get you sitting up straight, and they bring you up. Once my feet were safely on the ground I was ready to go again! Haha. After everyone went we got back on the road since we had a 7hr drive to our next destination. This place was in the middle of nowhere but not even a 5min walk from the beach! We were divided into two dorms, and in my dorm we had some random guy from Germany who quit his job and relationship to travel the world – his goal is to hit all the continents in 2 years, starting with Africa. Pretty cool guy, but a little weird, so one of the boys, Kevin, decided to come share a room with the 3 of us girls who were placed with the guy from Germany. The rest of the group had their own dorm across the way. We then attended a dinner with all the other backpackers – butternut soup, stew, potatoes, and veggies, all home- made YUM. After dinner we migrated to the backpackers bar to listen to the drum circle, which was so cool and turned into a pretty fun evening of learning how to play drums and dancing. Then a few of us walked down to the beach to put our feet in the water – it was FREEZING, and then we went to bed. The next morning we had another group breakfast, packed up, and left.

From there we drove another 8 hours to Coffee Bay, a rural village on the water. Coffee Bay was given its name because hundreds of years ago a ship carrying coffee sunk and all the coffee went into the bay. This backpackers was probably the best out of all of them, and we loved it even more because we got to stay 2 nights, not just arrive and leave within 12 hours like our past two destinations. Our first night in coffee bay we went on a short hike to watch the sunset and then had dinner around the campfire. The next morning, at 7:30am, I had a surfing lesson!! It was so much fun, but only completely got up on the board 2 or 3 times. IT IS MUCH HARDER THAN IT LOOKS! After our surf lesson Charlie, Jessa, and I went for a horseback riding tour on the beach, while the rest of the group went on a hike to a rock formation called “the hole in the wall.” We all spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the small village and napping in hammocks. That evening we had another meal around the campfire and we celebrated one of the staff member’s birthday. Bright and early the next morning we packed- up, ate breakfast, and were on our way to Durban.

Durban is the second largest city in South Africa, predominantly Indian, very dirty, and over crowded. We arrived at the Happy Hippo Backpackers around 8pm, where we met another girl from the house who was on her own spring break trip. After arriving we went out to dinner on the boardwalk, and had amazing Indian food. After dinner we were all so exhausted we just went for a short walk and then went back to the backpackers. The next morning we spent a few hours on the boardwalk, walking around and shopping. At noon we got back on the bus and were off to Johannesburg. We had dinner on the road and arrived in Jo-burg around 10pm. The next morning we woke up very early and left for our tour of Soweto, The Apartheid Museum, Desmond Tutu’s House, Nelson Mandela’s House, and the Peterson Memorial. It was a very long, but very educational day. The Apartheid Museum was done extremely well and I found it to be very interesting. At Nelson Mandela’s House we learned that the Michigan Legislator requested George Bush issue an apology for the CIA’s / America’s involvement in arresting Nelson Mandela, but the president declined their request. In Nelson Mandela’s house there is the framed request from the legislator. After our tours we went grocery shopping and bought stuff to BBQ back at the backpackers. That evening we did a night wine tour and learned how to “properly” taste wine. The wine was good, but I left there knowing relatively the same things I knew going into it. We also ad dessert there, delicious chocolate mouse cake with berries J

Finally it was Friday and we were off to Krueger National Park! We arrived in Kruger in the late afternoon and after we checked in we went on an hour safari tour. We then returned to our bungalows, went out to dinner, and went on a night drive. During our night drive we saw a black mamba, the most poisonous snake in Africa, elephants, rhinos, and an owl. The next morning we went on a 10 hour safari game drive in our “aquarium,” where we saw the big 5 = leopards, lions, rhinos, elephants, hippos. We also saw crocodiles, many species of birds, zebras, giraffes, and springbok. That evening (Saturday) our driver, Jimmy, BBQed for us, which was SO delicious, and then the group spent the night sitting around the fire talking. We woke up early for a quick elephant tour, where we got to ride the elephants. Sadly, it was very touristy and we got to sit on them and go in a circle, but it was still cool to say I did it! Right after we left to drive back to Jo-Burg to go to the airport. Our flight was delayed so we had dinner in the airport and eventually returned to Cape Town around midnight.