Brandberg

On May 21st the Namibians celebrated Ascension Thursday, a public holiday here. May 25th was also a public holiday, Africa Day. This meant a 5 day weekend for the Bates family and another excuse to head out and explore the wilds of the Namibian bush—as if we needed any. The girls, especially Emma had been ill with what I term the two ended virus and so I, particularly, was raring to get out of the flat and see the countryside. We had made plans with our trusty traveling partners, the Powells, to visit Brandberg, home of the White Lady Rock Painting. There are over 1000 of these paintings in the Brandberg area. They are generally attributed to the Bushmen but there are a few myths that need to be dispelled before proceeding. First off the “Lady” in the painting is no lady. The first European explorers clearly missed the mark with their original interpretations of the painting. Now to quote Wiki (I know, I know, not the best source…),
It is usually assumed that the painting shows some sort of ritual dance, and that the "White Lady" is actually a medicine man. "She" is definitely a male, as a penis is clearly visible. He has white legs and arms, which may suggest that his body was painted or that he was wearing some sort of decorative attachments on his legs and arms. He holds a bow in one hand and perhaps a goblet in the other. Because of the bow and the oryxes, the painting has also been interpreted as a hunting scene. Apart from the shaman/lady, the other human figures have less detail, and are mostly completely black or completely white. One of the oryxes has human legs. The painting was probably made of ochre, charcoal, manganese, hematite, with blood serum, egg white and casein used as binding agents.[2]
Additionally, the paintings were probably done over a long period of time with different artists and or groups of people adding to the tableau. No doubt there were also some Damara contributions as well, as they are one of the major tribes currently residing in the region. The paintings are thought to date back at least 2000 years if not more.
Getting to the White Lady was somewhat of a challenge for our party of eight. We first checked in at the entrance and were assigned a guide, Matthews. He was very patient with us of little stamina. In all fairness, the girls were just recuperating and their energy level was a bit low for such a demanding hike. Once again we learned our lesson with trusting the guide book. Here’s what Wiki had to say about the hike, “To reach The White Lady it is necessary to hike for about 40 minutes over rough terrain, along the gorge of the dry Tsisab river.” Needless to say, that’s not exactly how the guidebook portrayed it. And the gorge wasn’t dry either. That provided the fun and distraction though, crossing over the water. Yes, I have discovered that I am just a beast of burden in the eyes of my children as I alternately carried either the backpack, Emma or Annie along the 2.5 km hike up and the 2.5 km hike back. Reid pitched in on occasion, but it’s always the mother’s burden isn’t it? We spent about 3 hours total on the round trip, which we thought was pretty good for a party of eight containing young’uns.
It was truly an awe inspiring visit. I personally was humbled by the surroundings. This is Namibia’s highest peak and there is something about the area that is no doubt at once spiritual and uplifting, somewhat akin to being in the church of the great outdoors. I sincerely doubt that my kids experienced the same sensation, however, as they panted and complained about the heat.
We camped at the White Lady Lodge. The staff was friendly and helpful. We ate dinner there on our first night and the food was quite good. We had our choice of oryx prepared in various ways, schnitzel or stroganoff or kingklip (fish). I had the stroganoff which was actually well seasoned. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The reception area has two pools and a rockery. It is a beautiful sight to encounter in the midst of the vast emptiness. The kids enjoyed the pool, even though the water was very, very cool while the adults enjoyed the bar. It made for some welcomed R and R on the part of the adults.
The camp sites were, on the other hand, a bit lacking. The braaii had no grill and the water tap was difficult to use. The showers, although heated, were no match for what we had encountered on our previous camping trip down south on the guest farms. Additionally, there was a large number of campers present due to the holiday weekend, so the noise level was beyond desirable for me and Reid, but one of the advantages to this was the fact that these touring visitors had engaged the services of local singing groups who serenaded them acapella (sp?) for the evening. So, on two occasions, we fell asleep listening to the strains of African folk songs.
The other really cool thing about the White Lady Campsites is that being out in the bush, one can’t help but attracting the local wildlife. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a feisty springbok who attempted to head butt our small party. He later showed up at our campsite for round two. Upon awaking on the following day, we were greeted by the caws of a pair of hornbills. We later got them on video doing their thing with a little prompting from Reid. After breakfast, as if ordered in to patrol our area for debris, a pair of meerkats sauntered in looking for their morning meal. Emma was bold enough, despite my protests, to pet them. So, all in all it was worth camping there despite the noise and the less than adequate facilities just to experience the close encounters with the little critters.

We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the desert elephants, the lodge's other big draw. They had not yet returned from the north. We've been told that sometimes they come right through the campsites. So, I guess we'll be returning to the Brandberg White Lady Lodge some time soon so that we can get the full treatment.

Science News

It’s off to the regional science fair for Augustus. His birding project garnered him the Teachers’ Choice Award at the WIS Science and Maths Fair (yes, they put an ‘s’ on math) and he’ll be representing WIS there (year 8) in July. He tested what food types would attract the greatest number of bird species. The birds here are so exotic, that the whole family really got involved with identifying the various specimens and photographing them. We got to the point where we started calling the birds our customers. We’ve now got what seems to be a whole flock of Laughing Doves frequenting our feeder on a daily basis. Some of the birds were so strange to us with vivid colors, long tails or often bizarre calls. Of course WIS being on the American academic year will be out of session at that time, but Namibian students will be in full swing as their year runs from January to November. So, we hope that our travels won’t interfere with Augustus attending the competition.
There seems to be a greater emphasis on science at WIS than we experienced at home in Louisiana or at least in our little parish. Emma’s class held a mini-science fair earlier this year where the kids completed experiments for which they created backdrops/posters and subsequently invited other classes and parents to view them. Emma elected to do the Coke and Mentos geyser. No one here, remarkably, had ever heard of it, so of course, it was a big hit. The class and visitors went out into the court yard so as not to spray everything with the Coke. All the kids and parents oohed and ahhed and Emma performed like in a circus act, even taking a bow at the end. I hardly recognized my own daughter.
Annie’s class too is taking its turn at science experiments. They are working with the forces of “push” and “pull”. They will complete an experiment at home, record their results, present it to the class and also to parents. The parents, it is assumed, will be guiding them quite heavily through the process, but it still introduces the little ones to the scientific method and Reid and I are quite appreciative of that.

Etosha Giraffe Surprise

A family group of giraffes stepped out of the bush right in front of our vehicle. They are so well camouflaged that we didn't see them until we were almost upon them. This is the one who crossed the road and then turned back giving us an inquiring look as if she wanted to know if we were done with our picture taking.

Etosha National Game Park

May 1st is a holiday here in Namibia as in most of the rest of the world. It is workers’ day—the equivalent of our Labor Day. We celebrate it at the end of the summer no doubt to get in a few extra days at the beach, but the rest of the world uses the May 1st date. Monday, May 4th is also a holiday—Cassinga Day. We’re not exactly sure what the Namibians celebrate on this day, but it means a four day weekend which for us means time to take off and explore some new area of Namibia. So, once again, we packed up the Rover and the kids and headed to Etosha. Etosha is the big National Game Park here in Namibia. It is just over 100 years old and boasts a large number of species in vast quantities. It is about a 5 hour drive from Windhoek and the road is tarred all the way there.
Staying inside the park presents an expensive proposition, so we decided to stay at a place just outside the southern gate (Anderson Gate) and drive in each day. We were very pleased with the accommodations because to quote Emma it allowed us to, “Live the dream—have all this nature at the same time having luxury.” The “rooms” consisted of elevated tents large enough to fit actual beds, which were quite comfy, shelving, pull-out couch and a vanity in each. The tents could be unzipped to the view of the outside while still being protected from the creepy crawlies by the netting. This was great because we were awakened each morning by the light of the rising Eastern sun. Outside, there was a toilet and outdoor shower that were decorated and concealed with wooden stick type fencing so as to maintain privacy. The kitchen was also outdoors with a working refrigerator, hot plate, sink, braaii pit and all of the necessary kitchen equipment. This was especially nice for us given that eating out for every meal for a family of five is much too costly and it allowed us to keep food expenses to a reasonable amount. The lodge’s restaurant did offer a nightly buffet of which we partook on our last evening there. The sides are of course pre-prepared but the meats are by choice and cooked right on the spot in front of the guest. The offerings included oryx, zebra, springbok, chicken and pork. Most of us opted for the springbok. We just can’t get enough of the stuff. The chef took great pleasure in grilling it up for us and even though his English was quite broken, he was most congenial. There was also the possibility of choosing a stir fry where another chef cooked up any concoction of given ingredients to one’s delight. The desserts were scrumptious as well. Needless to say the kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
Etosha itself was absolutely fabulous. From Anderson’s Gate there is a 17 kilometer drive to the lodge at Okakuejo, one of the places available to stay inside the park. Lots of animals can be spotted along this route and we saw zebras, giraffes, birds and jackals. Within the park itself, we encountered so many zebras in our two days there that the kids started saying they were “fed up” with zebras. The springbok were even more numerous and were so close to the vehicle that one could have probably reached out and touched them. We purchased a map as one of the first orders of business which showed the waterholes. Some of the waterholes are maintained by park personnel and are equipped with solar-powered pumps so that the animals will have water all year ‘round. Others are not and we were surprised to see how many had already dried up given that the rainy season just ended in March. It took us a while to figure out which were dry and which still had water and which were the most frequented by the widest variety of animals but we did eventually and were rewarded with some of the most spectacular views of wild animals we’ve seen so far in Namibia. At one water hole there were black-face impalas, springbok, zebras, wildebeest, and elephants. We also happened upon four lionesses setting up for a kill by sheer dumb luck. They had a few zebras, including a baby, separated from the rest of the herd and were attempting to route them through a bottle neck so as to grab the baby no doubt. They had probably been setting this up all morning and we came upon the scene in the last few dramatic minutes when the action was coming to a crescendo. Emma was rooting for the baby zebra but we wanted to see the lionesses’ labor come to fruition. The adult zebras weren’t going to have any of it though, they kept really close to that baby and having more stamina than the lions pushed their way through narrowly escaping the lionesses’ handiwork. When it was all over, we felt like we had just taken part in an Animal Planet video. The lionesses just kind of sat there with their tongues hanging out looking like they were contemplating what went wrong. They appeared to take it in stride, nonetheless, as they leisurely regrouped and headed out in the opposite direction of their prey.
On the second morning, as we were driving on one of the less frequented roads of the park, we were graced with the appearance of a group of giraffes. They just gingerly stepped out of the side brush and onto the road right in front of the vehicle. They had a juvenile with them so we assumed that it was a family grouping. One crossed the road in front of us, loping to the other side and turned back to look at us like she was inquiring as to whether or not we’d gotten her photo yet. We were all awestruck for several minutes.
The only thing we weren’t able to see that we regret is the rhinos. Etosha is host to a large number of rhinos, the Black Rhino as well as the White. We understand that they have a tendency to frequent the waterholes at night. This is where staying within the park pays off given that each of the interior lodges boasts waterholes where visitors can view the wildlife even after the gates have closed for the evening to outside guests.
All in all it was a most remarkable visit and we feel so fortunate to have this opportunity to view such magnificent beasts in their natural environment. We wonder how many of these creatures will still exist in our children’s twilight years and are glad they got to experience it firsthand.