Thank you Zambian Immigration office for one of the best vacations yet. I'm back safely and again working at the hospital, allegedly with the correct visa. In the interim, while banned from the country, I got to have some fun cruising around Namibia with my friend Jen and her husband Ben.
After seeing Victoria Falls and having "Sundowners" at dusk on the Zambezi, my friend Jen, Ben and I set out the next day for Windhoek, Namibia. The 18 hour bus ride there was indeed as long as it sounds (actually ended up being 20 hours because of an overturned fuel truck blocking the road)but the bus was definitely the nicest I've ever been on. It felt more like flying with pit stops every few hours. From the minute we crossed the border it was very apparent that Namibia is a completely different world than Zambia despite sharing a border. The immigration office we had to stop in on the Zambian side was a run down house run in a completely chaotic manner. In contrast, the Namibian office looked brand new, was air conditioned and very orderly. All week the three of us were astounded by how good the infrastructure and development in Namibia was- by any standards, but especially in contrast to Zambia.
We arrived in Windhoek which felt much like a German town in the middle of the Kalahari desert. Much to my delight after a month of Zambian food, we stocked up on groceries at a Whole Foods type store then picked up our rental truck and camping gear. Our 4x4 made us feel like we were cheater camping as the tents unfolded on top of the truck. We then drove about 4 more hours out to Swakopmund where we had a seafood dinner looking out at the Atlantic Ocean. Yes, ocean as in beach- very strange after living smack in the center of Africa. Notable events in Swakopmund were Apple Strudel (phenomenal!), riding ATVs in the sand dunes and sea kayaking with literally thousands of seals playing around us.
After Swakopmund we packed up and headed south to Sesrium, our campground at the base of Soussevlei where the largest sand dunes in the world are. The drive out to Sesrium was incredible because we started at the ocean, drove through the desert followed by mountains which turned into canyons with rivers in them, then green rolling hills, more plains, then eventually desert again. This was made all the better by coming over a mountain pass to see an enormous full moon (which my super novice photographic attempts couldn't quite capture).
At Sesrium we pretty much just relaxed, hiked in the enormous dunes and lamented how fast the week had flown by. The dunes were incredible- as always, way more impressive in person than on film but there are pics below.
On 18 hour bus ride round two I managed to wake up enough to plead my case to the immigration officers and was very relieved when they agreed to not deport me. I did get a 30 second lecture that I could have settled all of this on my initial arrival(an even different way than suggested by the previous two immigration offices) but ultimately they smiled and said "We will work with you and want you to enjoy Zambia". So I now have 30 more days to work and then up to 60 days to be a tourist before leaving. This week I'm doing more surgery and also trying to get more involved in seeing other health projects going on locally- I'm going to visit some rural hospitals with the district health office on Friday then hopefully spending some time at the ER in Lusaka next week.
Thats it- sorry this got longer than planned. Again.
Have a great week!
Melissa
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How awesome. Those pics are gorgeous. I'm also really glad you found some decent food. :-)
ReplyDeletehey melissa!
ReplyDeletethose pics are amazing! can't believe ya had to go through all that will the immigration office...just so happy things have worked out! looks like the sand dunes trip was a wild one! thinking of ya! stay safe!
cyndee