Monday, 8 May – The bus arrives in Windhoek at about 4:30am so we head over to the PC lounge to hang out until the sun rises. I return to Rehoboth where I spend the rest of the week preparing for the start of Term 2.

Sunday, 7 May – Our fairytale holiday comes to a close as we board the bus for our ride back to Namibia. A chilly ride yet again but it is a safe form of transport.

Saturday, 6 May – Erikka and I head over to the market to check out the crafts while Pam and Coppelia go on a microflight and jet boating. The market is very overwhelming as everyone wants you to buy from them. There are not many markets in Namibia- they have a craft market in Windhoek and Swakop and nowhere else really. it is my first experience in such a setting and I am also trying to work with 3 currencies as all three are acceptable- 1 USD = 3000 kwacha, 1 USD = 6 Rand (South Africa’s currency, equivalent to Namibian dollars), 1 Rand = 500 kwacha. Hair elastics or anything else you want to trade is also popular. It is a good experience but very draining and overwhelming. We decide on dinner at a restaurant with 2 other PCVs and then have ice cream afterward before we relax that night in preparation for our journey that begins the next day.


Friday, 5 May – Erikka and I decide to return to the falls while Pam and Coppelia hang out in Livingstone. We go with Ashley, Mark, and Dale. This time, we decide to hike down to the Boiling Pot. The Boiling Pot is the name given to a whirlpool that forms as a result of the falls. The hike down there is a bit of a challenge because at times we are scrambling over wet rocks but it is really beautiful to see the result of the falls and the VF Bridge from the view. The climb back up is hot but fortunately we are able to cool off in crossing the footbridge. Dale comes to the falls that day knowing he is going to bungee-jump so for moral support, Erikka and I accompany him. It is much more enjoyable going over there when you are not jumping. That afternoon we stay at Jolly Boys relaxing. Rough life. Erikka and I decide that for dinner we want peanut butter and banana sandwiches. It’s fine because we have peanut butter and bread but we are missing bananas. At 7:30pm, arms linked, we set off to find bananas. The way Livingstone is, it is not hard because people line the streets selling things. The Shop Rite (grocery store) sells out of things by about 1pm every afternoon because people go in there, buy things and then sell them on the street. We made a deal with our seller and got our three bananas for 1500 kwacha. (1 USD = about 3000 kwacha.)


Thursday, 4 May – We are on the shuttle at 6:45am heading to the Botswana border. It is the 5 of us plus Tom who is from Oxford, England, currently working for the World Health Organization (WHO) on malaria treatment in Tanzania. We get our passports stamped and board a freighter ferry that will transport us across the Zambezi River. We cross the river and our driver tells us to wait there for our transport by the Thebe River Safaris but warns us not to cross the street (just a dirt road) because that will be Zimbabwe. If we look back across the river it is Zambia and to the left across the river is Namibia. We arrive at the lodge where we have breakfast and then board the safari truck to go to Chobe National Park where will have our safari. On the safari we see impala, warthogs, hippos, elephants, mongooses, kudu, baboons, lizard, crocodile, birds, and giraffe. After the safari, we take a boat cruise down the Chobe River (which separates Botswana and Namibia) that turns out to be a private cruise for the 6 of us where we have lunch and see the animals as they come down to the water. During the cruise, we see a bull, a crocodile up close, a fish eagle (which is beautiful when it soars), elephants enjoying the water, and hippos in the water.

Upon the suggestion of Jesse and Coppelia, we head over to a local restaurant where we experience a local dish called nshima (pronounced shee-ma.) That is maize meal prepared in a particular way and the result is a lump that looks very much like mashed potatoes but is heavier and not so fluffy. We wash our hands at the table, using a pitcher to pour the water, lather with soap, and the use the pitcher again, as we are to eat the nshima with our hands. I had vegetable nshima which I means I take a clump of the shima, dip it in the shredded vegetables and awkwardly attempt to get the nshima and vegetables into my mouth. It tastes good but afterward, I can definitely feel it sitting and possibly expanding in my stomach. We then decide to walk down to the marketplace area where you can buy anything – food, clothing, trinkets, soap, jewelry, shoes and that may not have been the wisest decision of the trip as our presence did seem to cause some problems for some of the locals but overall it was okay. For the rest of the evening, we found ourselves relaxing at Jolly Boys.