I have been delaying writing this blog post because I do not have many pictures to accompany it at the moment. However, it's too good to wait any longer. Last weekend I embarked on a 5 day rafting trip on the Orange River in Namibia with 8 of my housemates, our landlord David, 10 kids from Stanford, and two other volunteers who live down the street. IT WAS AMAZING. But before I get to that, I have to be honest- I was nervous about going. I had never been camping/rafting for that long or camping without toilet facilities or without a tent or carrying everything with us on rafts from place to place before. Because it's South Africa and everyone has a much more relaxed attitude about everything here, David really did not give us much information about the trip other than the cost and dates we would be going. So, it was a dive into the unknown going on this trip. I put my name down on the list and trusted that everything would work out…and amazingly, it did.
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| This is a general map to show the relative location we were. We traveled down a portion of the Orange River that is the border between South Africa and Namibia. |
Thursday afternoon we all piled into a bus and were driven the 10 hours to the Namibian border. After two hours going through customs and filling out forms at the Namibian border (Surprise! They don't have pens to fill out forms, so bring your own), we finally made it to the Amanzi Trails base camp around 3am. Everyone was exhausted, so we hopped off the bus, rolled out our sleeping bags and slept right there on the ground under the moon and the stars. The next morning we awoke to a shining sun and the promise of a great beginning to a great adventure. As we packed our gear in dry bags, ate breakfast, and went through some safety tips, someone asked David if there was a time by which we were trying to leave. He looked at her, laughed, and said, "do you see a watch on my wrist?" And that's how the whole weekend operated-syncing with nature instead of a clock. We woke up when the sun rose, we ate lunch when it was directly above, and we made camp for the night as the sun went down.
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| Rafts and Orange River- that's me with the towel on the right. (Photo cred. Zan Zurawski) |
Each day we would paddle our rafts along the river stopping to set up lunch wherever we pleased, and then continuing until we pulled off the river for the day. There were 2 people to each raft, except for David and our other guide Albert who were alone on a raft with extra supplies. Each raft carried a cooler, the dry bags and sleeping mats of its riders, and any extra supplies necessary. Spending each day on the river was amazing. The river alternated between stretches of 1 or 2 star rapids (think a little worse than a choppy lake) and stretches of calm. We would paddle along until the sun got to us and then jump off our rafts and swim as we floated along. As the day neared afternoon, David would pick a spot along the shore for lunch. Sandwiches, juice, and a bit of chocolate would energize us for the rest of the day as we headed back onto the river. Then, when the sun seemed to be dipping behind the mountains, David would scout out a place along the shore again to make camp for the night. David spoiled us with dinners of chicken, African pizza, steak & potatoes, and a traditional Cape meal (I don't know how to spell the name of it, but I'm definitely getting the recipe!). Our nights were spent sharing stories, laughing at our misadventures, and stargazing at the gems smattering the night sky. Wherever we decided to stay for the night, we would pull out our sleeping bags and sleep under the stars on the sand, mud, or whatever happened to be covering the ground in the area. Throughout the night I would wake up and watch as the moon rose and travelled across the sky until it disappeared pulling the sun behind it.
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| Sarah and I just paddling along! |
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| Setting up camp at the end of Day 1 |
Each morning we would have breakfast of bacon and eggs over the fire, cereal, or a breakfast scramble before packing up all our gear again and getting back on the river. Throughout the day we would fill up our water bottles in the river where the water was churning the most. It was not exactly clear, but it tasted just fine to us! There were a couple of other groups on the river, but we were spread out enough that we only saw them maybe once a day. The Orange River is a little oasis in the middle of the desert. I did not know how true this was until we were driven back to base camp on the last day. Besides the little stretch on either side of the river, there is not much happening in that area.
Everything about the trip was awesome- well almost everything. We encountered a lot of bugs (specifically flies) one the second and third day. They would not leave us alone all night and made it hard to eat anything. Day 2 was the worst because we paddled longer than expected and had to camp at a very muddy and smelly spot. That night it rained, but for me, it was a welcome relief to the heat that lasted well into the early hours of the morning.
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| Sarah and I taking on the river! |
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| Orange River, Namibia |
Probably my favorite day of the whole weekend was Sunday. Easter in Namibia, Easter in the desert, Easter with a Jesus-look-alike. At first, I was hesitant to go on this trip because it was over Easter weekend, but I had to say yes to this amazing opportunity. When was I going to have the chance to go rafting in Namibia again? Sunday was an especially beautiful day on the river. Instead of continuing after lunch, we set up camp where we stopped for lunch. This gave us extra time in the afternoon to go swimming and hiking. David led us on a hike up the nearest mountain. If I ever thought I was going to not make it on a hike this would have been the one. First off, David basically ran up the mountain as my little lungs worked to keep my panting at a minimum and adjust to the altitude. Then, we had been rafting for two days and were probably dehydrated so that added to our (or my anyway) lack of energy. Lastly, we were hiking on loose shale, so falling rocks, slipping, and unstable footing was a real concern. However, despite all that, I made it to the top with only a few cuts on my ankles. The view from the peak was incredible- on one side was South Africa, on the other was Namibia. The mountains sprawled into the distance, and beyond the mountains were large stretches of sandy desert. An extra bonus at the top was being able to see plants that have been on the earth since Jesus was alive. The plants only grow a little bit every century, so based on their current height, it dates them back to Jesus' time. All the pain and wheezing was well worth it, especially since we ran straight from the base of the mountain into the river. Jumping into the river after such a hike was blissfully satisfying.
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| Tell me he doesn't look a little like you imagine Jesus to look like. That's David our landlord and fearless leader, Zan, and Sarah. |
Spending the weekend in Namibia was better than I could have ever imagined it to be. It reaffirmed all my sentiments from mid semester about my love of nature and need for open spaces. Adjusting to nature's clock was a freeing experience, and living off of the supplies we could fit on the rafts gave me a whole new perspective on wants versus needs. Returning to Cape Town after the weekend was a snap back to school, responsibility, and clocks. I am sure I will have more reflections on the weekend once I am able to develop the film from my disposable camera. For now, I'll leave you with some lyrics from Ben Howard's song "Old Pine" that played in my mind throughout the whole weekend and has been a sort of theme for my time here in South Africa:
Hot sand on toes, cold sand in sleeping bags,
I've come to know that memories
were the best things you ever had
The summer shone beat down on bony backs
So far from home where the ocean stood
Down dust and pine cone tracks
We slept like dogs down by the fire side
Awoke to the fog all around us
The boom of summer time
We stood
Steady as the stars in the woods
So happy-hearted
And the warmth rang true inside these bones
As the old pine fell we sang
Just to bless the morning.
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