The Overland Adventure

My overland adventure consisted mainly of waking up early for sunrises, taking down our tents, driving in the overland truck, seeing animals or landscapes, pitching our tents and then chasing another sunset. All the while I would be joking around with my Irish friends Meabh and Paul and two Germans named Christian many others. One of the Christians joined in Swakopmund and he took the seat next to me. It was previously empty and I begrudgingly accepted him. However, after awhile, I learned that he had a quick sarcastic wit and we got along very well, joking with each other for the rest of the trip. Our favorite topic was the guides.

Also on the trip was Zoe, a Dutch girl who managed to turn the cook against me. He was a bit jealous of how she and I got along. Christian who sat next to me was automatically assumed in my camp and the cook didn't like him either. Our cook was not the brightest and managed to catch himself on fire on the first part of the trip. His scarf dangled too close to the fire and he ran around like a madman. (I later learned from a person in Jo'burg that worked at Kruger park that the cook is engaged. What a punk.) I wasn't a big fan of his cooking either. The first day we had soup from dried packets. All the cook did was heat up some water and viola soup. Meabh Paul and I would often joke about lunch because it was pretty much just ham and cheese. Meabh would say that she might spice it up the next day by adding Mayo. Yummy.

Our first stop after Swapkopmund was SpitzKoppe which is a mountain with sand paintings. I joked with the Irish that the tour guide would not be too great and that he would probably just point out the drawings and say "This is an elephant." I had become somewhat cynical of the trip but I was right. The guide said "This is an elephant. This is rhino." I laughed because I could have lead the tour.

That night some of us slept in a cave. We drank some beer and Zoe told a scary story sine we were in a cave. It was a story that she and I passed back and forth. She jumped in when I was telling it because I was leading the characters to a quick demise.

The next day we headed to Etosha where we saw two lions right off the bat. They were under a tree mating. I didn't get to see them all that well since it was our first real animal sighting and everyone was jostling for position in the truck.


The watering hole near our camp site that night was a spectacular. When we got back from our drive. There were giraffe and 2 elephants at the watering hole. Then, came a herd of 20 or so elephants pushing the giraffe away. After dinner, a rhino came to the watering whole. He came so close mainly because they are blinded by the lights and have poor eyesight anyway. Then came another rhino. We stayed here pretty late into the night just drinking beer and watching the animals. I came back to the hole around 2 am to see if there was anything there. I ran into Kisung the Korean photographer on the way there and he had been awake since I went to bed and saw nothing. I went down just to verify and he was correct. I didn't stay long because I was the only one there and a lot of jackals were running around the campsite.

Our next stop was the Himba village. This was supposed to be a small inhabitant of tribes peo0ple who still lived the original lifestyle. I didn't think so and thought it was more like going to Williamsburg in the US where people dress up like they did in colonial times. everyone was friendly but they definitely wanted our money. At night we walked to the camp because he heard music. We originally thought they were doing some tribal dance but as we got closer we realized. They were just listening to a tape or radio. The next day I saw the some of the Himba women in town. They were just sitting on the street asking for money for people to take their photographs. I thought since it was ok to take their photos the day before it should be ok now. They weren't too happy about that.

We then went to the Kavango river and did a sunset cruise. That night we saw some local village dancing and I even participated. Later, we all played a drinking game and they girls led by Zoe were definitely out to get me. I got really drunk that night and out guide nicknamed me "Eric the Entertainer."

The next day we played a football/soccer match against the local villagers. They were pretty happy to play against some Europeans. I even got to play and had a spectacular kick on the sideline. ran as fast as I could to get to the ball and then kicked it right into a bunch of kids standing ting on the line. I fell down afterwards and took a substitution. Everyone agreed that it was quite a theatrical moment. The game went on and ended in tin a 4-4 draw.

Our next stop was the Okavango River Delta. We camped here for three night and heading to the bush for one of them. Christian and I were in the same canoe as we were poled out by Kato. On our way out, we all ran into two hippos. Apparently we came too close and they charged the canoes. We were all pretty afraid of them. Christian, (yes, another German named Christian) was the lead canoe and the hippo came out at them about 4 meters from his boat. Kato backed us up and took us a different route. We got to see the two hippos and Christian asked Kaoto If we needed to stay here and just watch. Kato said no and off we went at a hurried pace.That night our tow guides slept outside.

Later that night, around 2 in the morning they heard some lions and panicked fleeing too our tents. Of course, they went to the girls tents. CJ, the other Korean was awakened by the commotion. Emblazoned by the knowledge that hippos are the only animal that attack humans (imparted by a wizened poler), CJ went into the bush with his video camera to catch the lions. Luckily he didn't find them and they didn't find him. I laughed when I heard about this because CJ headed out in the wild while our fearless guides fled.

The next day we camped on the banks of the Zambezi. The highlight of the day was dinner. The cook made tomato soup for dinner. I was pretty frustrated because I don't consider something a meal unless it has meat in it. Luckily, there was a restaurant at the camp site. My compadres and I decided that the tomato soup was an excellent started and would have dinner at the restaurant. Of course, Meabh, Paul, and Christian were in on it too. Christian and I both ordered Kedu, which is like impala. It was delicious. Very lean and tender. It was by far the best meal I had in Africa. Maybe even the whole trip. It's right up there with the alpaca steak I had in Peru.

Chobe National Park was our next stop. Christian had given me Rum Diary by Hunter S Thompson to read. It's about a journalist who is always drinking rum down in Puerto Rico and the trouble he encounters. It's a pretty good boo0k but I never finished it. Inspired by the book, Christian and I bought a six pack of beer on our game drive. We had a good time drinking our beers and taking photos of giraffes and elephants. We even saw a buffalo on this trip. In Chobe, we got the closest we have ever been to the animals. That night we drank some more and I had and enjoyed the local bar. Meabh and Zoe were on dish duty and I walked over to talk to them. It was hilarious because the cook and the guide were helping Zoe while Meabh toiled away on her own. I yelled "Meabh, why does Zoe get all the help" and rolled up my sleeves to help Meabh. I dried all the plates for her and then went about hiding them. Christian persuaded me that this was not the best idea so I took the plates out of hiding.

We arrived in Vic Falls the next day. This was our final stop. We visited the falls that evening and I wasn't too impressed because Iguazu is much bigger and you can get a lot closer there. That night we had our farewell dinner. Everyone went to bed a bit earlier than usual because they were all going white water rafting in the morning. When we left the bar, we found an elephant munching on a tree across the street. Christian and I took some photos and our flashes disturbed the elephant and got him running. The elephant made a quick exit from the area.

I said good bye to everyone the following morning. It was a pretty rushed and confusing good bye,. The hotel made me account for everything I had put into the safe so we had to meticulously check off every frequent flyer card I had. At the same time everyone was loading up for rafting. The gang came over and said good bye to me and I followed them to the waiting cars. I jumped on the one bus to say good bye to everyone and the rafting guy overheard me say bus. He told me it's not a bus but a truck. This same guide heard me use the word oar earlier and told me it wasn't an oar but a paddle. I didn't care for that guy too much. After saying good bye, I waited for my taxi to the airport and flew off to Jo'burg. The taxi driver was another Nomad guide who lived in Vic Falls. He seemed much more knowledgeable than our guides and I wondered what the trip would have been like with him. I don't think he would have schemed on our girls as much.

Here's a photo of me and the gang. In the top row, starting from the left, it's Christian (the one that sat next to me), me, then the other Christian. Below is CJ and then next to him is Paul. Meabh took the photo.

Well, that's the end of my overland adventure. The computer I am on now is super slow and I will update this page with photos later. Hope you enjoyed it and for those who wen ton the overland with me, feel free to let me know if I missed parts of the story.