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Welcome to the blog of the NeverTooLate Girl.

With the aim to try out, write about and rate the things that people say they'd like to do but haven't quite gotten around to, this website gives you the real and often humourous inside gen on whether it's really worth it.

Read about it,think about it, do it.

 The Top 20 Never Too Late List

  1. Learn to fly - RATED 4/5.
  2. Learn to shoot - RATED 4/5.
  3. Have a personal shopper day.
  4. Attend carols at Kings College Chapel on Christmas Eve - RATED 2.5/5.
  5. Have a date with a toy boy.
  6. Do a sky dive.
  7. Eat at The Ivy - RATED 4/5.
  8. Drive a Lamborgini.
  9. Climb a mountain - CURRENT CHALLENGE.
  10. Have a spa break - RATED 4.5/5.
  11. See the Northern Lights.
  12. Get a detox RATED 4/5.
  13. Read War & Peace - RATED 1/5.
  14. Go on a demonstration for something you believe in.
  15. Attend a Premier in Leicester Square.
  16. Go to Royal Ascot.
  17. Buy a Harley Davidson - RATED 5/5
  18. Study for a PhD - RATED 4/5.
  19. Visit Cuba - RATED 4/5.
  20. Be a medical volunteer overseas - RATED 3/5. 

 

 

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« Getting into the swing of things | Main | First day at the medical clinic »
Wednesday
Apr152009

Easter weekend – checking boreholes for elephant damage in Damaraland

The prospect of getting off the farm for a few days and seeing a bit more of Namibia comes up in the shape of a trip to Damaraland.  The focus of the expedition is to check on boreholes that had been built by various volunteer groups over the last ten years and to see if there has been any damage either by elephants (I didn't realise how destructive they are) or humans (actually, as destructive again). The trip was opened up to the volunteer cohort but with some clear caveats – we were going to be driving a long way over a short period, we would be camping and it was going to cost about N$1200 each to pay for the cost of hiring additional 4wd vehicles. This was enough to put nearly everybody off but as I wouldn’t be getting the opportunity to go into the clinic over the holiday break I was keen to get out and explore some of the country.

 

We left at 6am on Good Friday. Rudi and Marlice and their three year old son Zacheo and his seven year old Bushman friend Willem (or Dabu, which is his Bushman name) in one car and myself with Erica and Gerdt who were to photograph and film some of the expedition in the other. The cars were well packed with not only camping equipment and food but all the essential things that you might need when travelling off road in the bush – spare wheels, ropes, lifting equipment, extensive tool kit etc.  Enough tinned food had also been packed in case we became stranded or lost and had to sit it out for a week or so until we were rescued. We were aiming for Damaraland, southeast of Etosha National Park and about 10 hours drive away. Once there we would locate the boreholes, plot their GPS location and photograph and film any damage. The plan was to go back with a group of volunteers later in the year to do any repairs or maintainence. A secondary reason for the trip was to look for new sites to release wild carnivores from the sanctuary back into the wild. Finding new sites is an ongoing problem for a number of reasons; the relocation site has to be sufficiently far enough away from the place at which they were caught (particularly for problem animals that attack farm animals), it has to have sufficient game for the animals to feed off all year round and there has be enough breeding pairs or the males will roam across great distances in order to find a mate.

 

The road to Windhoek and onto Omaruru is metalled though pitted with potholes that have been filled and refilled. This makes the surface very uneven and at times the road slants off into adverse camber.  Cars overtake with no apparent concern for anything coming towards them and there are several hairy moments where I grab onto my seat and brace myself but luckily the only result is a few more grey hairs. The lanes are narrow, too narrow really to safely accommodate the high levels of freight vehicles that use this main arterital route through the country to and from the capital and the government is in the process of improvements. So for thirty or so kilometers there are groundworks at various stages of completion where the road is being widened.  After about 3 hours we arrive at Omaruru where we fill up amongst a profusion of 4wd vehicles almost exclusively driven by affluent looking whites on their way north for the holiday break. Having risen at 5am and breakfasted at 5.30 I'm peckish by this time and so as our two vehicles are refuelled I sit in the sun, watching the comings and goings and refuel myself with a large, stale iced bun bought at the service station payment point (heavily protected by metal grills.  Everything has to be pointed at and it's passed through a small gap). But at N$4 (28p) and with a growling stomach I wasn’t about to be fussy. From time to time an older, more battered vehicle would pitch up and a family of black Namibians would spill out along with various dogs, bags, boxes and other paraphernalia. The women are mostly dressed in an impressive manner in long dresses with high waists which spill into a profusion of pleats down to the floor. Round necks and huge puffed sleeves are set off by a headdress which looks for all the world like an oversize croissant perched on their head. Expensive looking jewellery and hairpieces finish off the outfit. Apparently a large and portly figure is still seen as a sign of affluence and status in this community and the women can wear up to fifteen layers of petticoat in an attempt to get the desire level of rotundity. 

 

Past Omaruru we turn off onto a red dirt road and the shrubs and trees become sparser and we see mountains in the distance, out of focus and glazed in the heat haze. Namibia is a large country - 824,292 sq kilometres and getting anywhere takes time.  The country really is very beautiful as you drive north. Not in the verdant, lush way of our own countryside but in a more basic and brutal way and with a quality of light that brings out the beauty of the red earth and rocks. We keep our eyes peeled for wildlife for mile after mile but see nothing other than rocks that look like animals or shadows playing games with us. From time to time we came across a view or a plant that warrants a photograph and so we get out to stretch our legs and to get cold water from the back of the car (each car has a fully working refrigerator in the back.  Oh, joy!) and in the process feel our skin prickling and contracting in the heat of the sun. Taking your sunglasses off is a shock. The white light sears your retina and even with squinting it’s almost impossible to focus. The desert here looks like a dreamscape after the unusually heavy rains with mile upon mile of delicate fronds of golden grasses blowing in the breeze and which release spores that litter the ground and look for all the world like snow. It’s an amazing scene and you forget for a moment that you are in one of the most inhospitable deserts on earth. There is a story in my guidebook that tells of a couple that hired a car to tour in the far north. The car broke down and nobody came by them for a week by which time the husband was dead and the wife was in a critical state. Reading it is a good reminder of how easy it is to get into trouble out here if you don’t follow some basic rules and common sense.

 

About 70km north of Omaruru we turned off the dirt road onto a track about a vehicle wide. This cuts off two corners of a triangle and takes us about 60k up to a small town called Uis.  Uis was established around a salt mine and you can still see the heaps of discarded salt glinting in the distance as you approach it.  But now the mine is closed and the village survives around a supermarket and a couple of roadside restaurants and, strangely, a garden centre, though it's difficult to tell whether it's still actually trading or not.  We sit outside because we have Arbout the Jack Russell with us and order our lunch.  The menu is pretty basic - toasted sandwiches, german type sausages (Namibia was a German colony before independence) and salads but it's nice just to get out of the car and stretch our legs and chat about where we are going,what we might see and the general itinerary over the next few days.  After Uis we drive for another 30k, three sets of eyes in our truck scanning the horizon for any of the Big Five.  In the dry season there's a chance to see elephant, rhino and even giraffe in this area but luck is not with us for the moment.  We are doing a detour to a village called Ghaus to drop off some maize for the people that live there.  To call it a village is an overstatement really as it is rather a clutch of small buildings and shacks that house a family or two and a small variety of animals.  The buildings are quite amazing in the way they've been manufactured out of anything that has come to hand.....

TO BE CONTINUED.

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