Etosha to Windhoek - June 22nd

June 22nd, 2008:

Although struggling, Niki did manage to wake up early (6am), and we began driving back to the eastern camp. The drive was similar to the last few days until the last thirty minutes. As we were nearing the east camp both of us were looking left to read a road sign, and at the last moment I caught a glimpse of a lion’s head directly to my right and slammed on the brakes. Three female lions had been sunning themselves ten feet from the road. I quickly reversed and we were able to capture a few pictures as they slowly walked off, most likely annoyed that we had interrupted. An hour later we drove south out of Etosha, on our way to Windhoek, having seen most of the large mammals we had expected to see. The other thing we took away from Etosha was mosquito bites. We were both devoured last night. To give an idea of how bad it is, I have more than twenty! bites on my right foot alone.

The drive to Windhoek was uneventful and we arrived in the early afternoon. After stopping at a guesthouse that wouldn’t allow us to camp, we headed to the Cardboard box backpackers hostel. As luck would have it the Australian couple from Swakopmund was also staying here. After cleaning up a bit we headed downtown and found it to be absolutely dead…It’s Sunday. Amazingly though, as we walked down the main street we found Hilbert and Dirk, the Dutchman and German from Swakopmund, wandering around. We all had a quick coffee together and then parted. One hour later, we recruited Damon, Jo, and Scott (An American we also met in Swakopmund) to head to dinner with us. While trying to flag a cab, a man in a small sedan stopped and asked if we wanted a ride (for a fee of course). His entire family then proceeded to exit the car, and they walked the short distance back to their home, while we packed the small car with five people. We all met Sandra (an Angolan friend of a friend of Niki’s, who is engaged to a Spanish oil worker and told us very interesting stories about life in Angola) for dinner at Jo’s Beer House, a highly recommended “wild game” and steak restaurant. While at dinner we decided to give Damon and Jo a lift to Maun tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how we can fit two people in the back of the car!