Roy's Camp to Caprivi Strip

Thursday February 9 – Roy's Camp to Caprivi Strip

We stayed at a camp called Roy's Camp Wednesday night. We have now had about three days of on and off rain, so our tent is a bit wet (on the outside only so far). By now we are washing our clothes a few pieces at a time in the bathroom sink and hanging them to dry. When the rain comes in the middle of the night I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. The good news is the clothes are well rinced and have a very fresh scent. The bad news is that it takes some genius to dry out the clothes somehow before the mildew smell sets in. Soooooo, on those 5 to 7 hour bus rides our bus looks somewhat like a portable laundromat with clotheslines connected from shelf to shelf across the width of the bus. Windows down and the breeze blows those clothes dry pretty fast. Top of the list two best Christmas gifts: clothesline made of twisted elastic so no pegs necessary, and soap sheets in a nifty case for those gas station washrooms (2Namibian dollars buys about 8 squares of toilet paper at the washroom entrance and the right to use a clean washroom, but no soap. Hahaha).

Thursday night was no different than the night before; RAIN! Problem was that Roy's Camp was mapped with very narrow and windy sandy roads, making it very difficult for our monster truck to manouver around. On the way in Ed had his hand on the window and one of the tree thorns found a home in his finger. Tweezers entered the scene along with immediate gauze, tape and cortate cream. Bacteria didn't have a chance with our response. Hahaha! By the way, Ed is cured of whatever ailed him back in Etosha. Yeah!!! He's back washing dishes and pots and cutting veggies when its his turn.

On the way out of Roy's Camp we got stuck; no surprises there! We were so deep, the muffler was touching the road. Fortunately a neighbor with a tractor came on the scene and after some discussion in two different languages about how we were going to get ourselves out of the mess, the problem was solved. Success criteria met and I visualized an elaborate Bump – It- Up Board that could have been created from the problem solving task. Onward!

Hours later we arrived in Rundu where we collected some food supplies and wandered around while the truck was fueled. When we go into the towns, it feels like we are walking into a movie set; doesn't seem real. We are the strangers doing our best to use observation skills to answer our questions. We are definitely the minority and do our best to figure it all out. By 2:00 we were on our way to Bagani, Namibia. Our camp is on the Namibian Caprivi Strip on the Kavango River. The area is not frequented by a lot of tourists and is very natural. Chris, our guide warned us not to dip our feet into the river; BEWARE OF CROCODILE! To the pool we go.