Let’s see here…it’s going to be a bit hard for me to remember the days here so I’ll do my best to quickly rely some of the happens.
Day Two
This morning was some of the best weather I’ve had here so far. Brisk and breezy…very nice. We packed up early and were off for another day in the car. Again, I had no idea where we were going other than west of Kamanjab.
Our day started with a stop by one of Penny’s prospective campsites. I was a bit underwhelmed due to the openness of it all, but with a little work it could probably be just as nice as all the rest. We picked up a man whom I’m going to call Oscar as that may have been his name, but I really don’t remember…it’s my best guess. He will play into Day 3. I promptly fell asleep and awoke in a small village where we were to drop this guy off. As luck would have it, a flat tire. The locals were quick to jump at the opportunity to fix the tire…fine by me. We were there for about 45 minutes while Penny met with a local to discuss the campsite and the tire was changed. We paid the man N$20 for the tire change and he protested that it should be N$50. I told the man to say thank you just as I said thank you for him helping and we were off.
Next stop was a place called the Grootberg Lodge…why not? The road up to this lodge is not awesome. Scary is how I would put it and I kind of wanted to walk. The video clarifies the drive a little. This lodge is something else though. It’s situated on a cliff at the end of a huge canyon…it’s as cool as it sounds. This is a 100% conservancy owned lodge so all profits go to the local people. We were offered some free drinks and we enjoyed some time there. My parents and I will be staying at this lodge in their upcoming visit so more on it later.
The rest of the day was spent driving to Wereldsend where we would be spending the night. Nothing too eventful here except for more napping, the occasional sighting of an oryx and some delicious dried pears.
Wereldsend is the HQ of IRDNC, the organization Penny works with. It’s pretty much in the best middle of nowhere you could imagine. Quiet is an understatement. No shabeens for miles around…this makes me happy. Lions and leopards are in an assumed abundance; however, we would not see any this trip. Only prints on the ground…some pretty big ones at that.
The evening was spent by the fire with Penny scaring Jesse with stories of lions and such. Always nice to sit by a fire…especially with your back to a very large open grassy plain area.
Hyenas could be heard close by as I went to sleep. The night would prove interesting…