Desert Life

Last week was Desert week, I spent 7 days in the far west of Namibia right on the coast near Swakopmund with 7 other Volunteers from Harnas. We drove for about 7 hours right into the middle of nowhere to a farm called Vergenoeg about 100km from Swakopmund. We spent the days exploring the area which is mainly desert although not all sand dunes! It is quite a mountainous area and we spent a couple of days exploring the mountains, climbing to the top of a couple of big summits with the most astonishing views!! 

We also slept out 3 nights, under the most amazing starry skies both in the mountains and in the middle of the dunes! We also went sand boarding which was so much fun, flying vertically down the steepest dunes you can imagine at about 50 mph! One of the days we went swimming in the ocean as we had a couple of americans with us who live in land locked states and never see the sea. We were about waist deep in the freezing sea when we saw a fin, first thought was sharks second evaluation proved to be dolphins, 4 of them and they came right up to us. They were so inquisitive and so friendly, pretty amazing unplanned moment!! We also had a survivor afternoon, pattrick dropped us in the middle of the desert where we could see nothing but sand dunes for miles around. He gave us 1 water bottle and told us to walk towards the sun until we hit the coast! slightly daunting prospect but 1 hour and 30 mins later we hit the ocean and there he was waiting for us. phew we made it out of the desert alive!!

We had an awesome meal in swakopmund that night, with baked camembert, kingclip and chocolate mousse! wow it tasted good. then we slept out in the dunes and got up early to watch the sunrise over the desert......incredible moment!

Long drive back to Harnas last thursday, Frikkie is back! He is slowly recovering from being sick for 3 months. He is no longer running the project here but is still involved in bits and pieces, the parts that frikkie is amazing at...star talks, bush walks etc. 

Other than that Harnas life continues, I did my second induction on Friday which went well only 11 people. Although 17 arrive on this friday so we are up to 60 vols pretty much! Hectic times!! 10 minutes doesnt go by without a question from one of them! fountain of knowledge.

Goeters is continuing to struggle and we are all pretty worried about his health, but he is getting the best care and attention and has a volunteer with him at all times tending to his every need. All the other animals are doing well. Elvis and Llody are growing up so fast and i got my first baboon bite in 5 weeks! Nothing major dont worry mum!

Thats all for now, will report back on the latest news in the next week or so

xx