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Well, that interval certainly proved longer than I intended…..

When I last wrote in June, we were so excited to be taking our farewell journey with our friends, camping together throughout as much of Namibia as we could show them in two weeks.

By the time we saw them off for their return flight home, we had five days to get all our goods packed, surrender our trusty car to the new owner, give away what we couldn’t take back with us, and get our little apartment in good shape to give back to Poly — all concrete tasks; all easily handled.

The camping trip with Bruce and Peg provided lots of ‘that’s the last time we’ll see that’ moments, but at the time, we were so excited to show them everything we could, the little twinges of sadness that bubbled up got shoved aside to be dealt with later. It wasn’t until we actually started to pack up our six(!) suitcases

that we realized what profound sadness there was going to be in leaving. We had come to love Namibia and our life in beautiful Windhoek,

but most especially, the amazing friends we had made and the irreplaceable experiences we had during our year. Turns out, coping with non-concrete emotions of sadness and loss—not so easily handled.


The day before we left was my birthday. The teachers at the preschool asked that I visit one last time to say good-bye (again!) and celebrate my birthday. The kids and teachers presented me with beautiful gifts crafted from shared memories of my extraordinary year spent with them.

They sang all the songs they knew, some of them mastered just for this occasion. There were dances, recitations, hugs, laughter, and tears all around.

Hard as it was, I finally had to hang up my Teacher Lynn moniker and leave the school for the very last time.

Here is what my walk to my car was like.

It broke my heart.

Our farewell dinner with friends was emotionally just as difficult. Even though we laughed a lot, ate and drank heartily, were saluted with an original limerick written just for us by the poet laureate of the group,

and gifted with such thoughtful mementos of our year together, leaving our friends behind was like a little death.

We've been back for six months now.  It has taken these past six months to start to put it all into perspective, to try to figure out how to be home when a large part of us still feels like we left home behind in Namibia.

A woman I met a few days before we left Windhoek told me, “You have been changed by being here. Africa’s in your blood now…..you’ll come back”.

I hope she’s right.


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P.S. There are more adventures to chronicle. I intend to do just that. Check back in a couple of weeks if you like.

Camping Safari Day Nine – Twyfelfontein to Etosha West and a birthday party, too!

Our overnight destination for January 6th was the Gondwana Collection’s Etosha Safari Camp just south of the Anderson Gate entrance to Etosha. I had arranged with Safari Camp to have a birthday cake so we could celebrate the professor’s birthday that night. As a northern hemisphere dweller with a January birthday, the professor had been looking forward to this since we arrived last July --his first summer birthday ever! Even more special was that he got to celebrate it with all his family together in Africa! There couldn’t have been a better gift for him.

We left Aabadi Mountain Camp early, headed to Outjo and then to Safari Camp. Other than our trek through Etosha, this was going to be our last day traveling on gravel. Once we reached Khorixas, the remainder of our trip’s drive was going to be primarily on tar.

Coming out of Aabadi and headed to C-39, we were back in rolling hills and arid expanses of farms.

 

Small homestead with surprising satellite dish!

Our trusty vehicle on the road to Khorixas

Along this route, we did have the opportunity to see a Welwitschia mirabilis on the side of the road. These ancient plants with only two leaves have deep roots allowing them to survive in this hugely arid landscape – indeed thrive – they can get to be 2000 years old.

We made great time to Outjo, topped up the truck’s double diesel tanks just across the stations’ driveway from the illuminating paraffin (kerosene) pump,

and had a light lunch at the bakery just across the street.

 After a quick trip to the grocery store for supplies, we drove the last 90 kilometers on to Safari Camp for the night.

At Safari Camp we had a soft, grassy site with trees all around.

 
The trees’ occupants were varied and each of them, very busy.

Weaver building an engineering marvel

baby African Red-Eyed Bulbuls

After relaxing showers, we headed over to dinner and the birthday celebration for the professor.

Dinner at the Safari Camp’s outdoor courtyard is always enjoyable with great buffets and dinner entertainment by their guitarist/singers. When it was time for our dessert, the guitarists left the stage and headed inside.

Returning a few minutes later, they led a long line of folks out of the kitchen -- the chefs carrying the professor’s birthday cake followed by a full chorus of cooks, kitchen staff, managers, and wait staff. With apologies for the darkness of this video, what followed was this:

If you are going to have a birthday celebration, this is definitely the way to go! The folks at Safari Camp go way out of their way to make your visit memorable and the musicality and joyfulness of this group is amazing! Even as they headed back to the kitchen, it was a celebration of sound.

Thanks to the folks at Safari Camp and our indulgent adult kiddos’ willingness to come to Africa, the professor’s first ever summer birthday was perfect – he’ll never forget it. Nor will we.


The next day was going to be the kids’ first day at Etosha and what turned out to be an amazingly close view of a very impressive (but somewhat scary) pride of lions.


P.S. If you are having a down day, come back here and replay the birthday celebration video again. It’s guaranteed to cheer you up!