Photos from April/May Holiday

Below are photos from the April/May school holiday. (Sorry some of the photos are sideways...)

First, there was Camp Glow, which is a week-long leadership and youth empowerment camp for Namibian youth. Each day has a theme, such as leadership, health, futures and careers, or gender equality. Below, you can see one of the campers working on their team banner and a group of campers.

Next are some photos from Etosha National Park. Here, you can see a HUGE male elephant that was scary-close to our car as well as one of the elegant giraffes.

And a number of photos from Tweyfelfontein, the first U.N. World Heritage Site in Namibia. Soussevlei, one of the most famous and pictured red sand-dune parks in Namibia, is also applying for this status.

Near Tweyfelfontein are these funny “organ pipes” – strange geometric rock formations.

Just outside of Khorixas, headed to the Skeleton Coast, we stopped by a petrified forest. It might look boring, but these are super-ancient trees that have petrified into rock. They are quite interesting in person. The dry plant is a Welwitschia plant. (Namibia also has the “Little Prince” famous baobab trees!)

Finally, we reached the famed SKELETON COAST. This name is VERY fitting as the place is EXTREMELY remote. It has an eerie, freaky feeling about it – you seriously pray that nothing will happen to your car because you don’t see other people for long, long stretches of vast, deserted, Mars-like road. At one point, we stopped to camp at what turned out to be one of the most deserted a creepy spots on the planet – we quickly left to find a hotel!

You will see that the shipwrecks which used to be quite common along the Skeleton Coast due to its treacherous coastline have largely disappeared. The best we could see was the help of a ship below. Most of the shipwrecks have slipped beneath the sand, but if you are a diver, you can see more underwater.

One of my favorite places was this stunning, abandoned diamond mine. I love the way the glittery sun frames the abandoned mine pillars.

Completing our loop around Namibia, and headed back to the capitol city of Windhoek, we stopped at beautiful Spitzkoppe. This is a red-rock formation complete with arches, hiking, bushman cave and rock paintings and the cutest campsite ever. We really loved our time spent there, and definitely recommend this place to any of you coming this way!

After the road trip, it was time for Namibia’s All Volunteer Conference. This was exciting because the new group of volunteers were sworn in. A highlight was the traditional dancing featured during their ceremony, shown below. The other photo is my host mom, another volunteer, and me.

And finally, after the Peace Corps conference, I headed to Botswana for a final few days. I stayed with some other volunteers in the far north in Maun, which is a launching point for game drives and tours of the Okavango Delta. One day was spent exploring the Delta via boat, which was really gorgeous. After the dryness and heat of Namibia, the lush expanse of jungle-like greenery and swimming in the refreshing Delta was a really amazing contrast.

You can see below a traditional Botswanan village and the traditional “Mokoro” carved-wood boats, which are also a popular way to explore the Delta.

A funny bar we passed...

Crossing the border...

It was an invigorating, relaxing and opening break from school. Namibia is truly diverse, and truly stunning. I feel fortunate to have this opportunity, and want to invite YOU to visit!