Woken by the Fish Eagles calling and the Hippo's grunting you know your in Africa. Waking in a tent on the banks of the Okovango river, it just doesn't get much better. This camp is absolutely stunning. There are tree houses over the water, campsites along the banks, a central bar and kitchen with decks over the river for dinning or just chilling.
Guy and Amy went out on the makoro this morning where you paddle yourself up the river, where they learnt from their guide that there are 650 species of birds in the area here. They are so colourful and the bird noises are amazing.
I took the opportunity to visit a local village with Jacki from the sargerofti crew, our guide came from this village so we were able to ask whatever we wanted. We were shown how they make the houses using termite mounds and wood cot from the local trees. This village makes its money from cutting reeds and wood and selling it to locals or through the camp. They get N$10 for a bundle of wood and the camp sells it for N$12.50. A Namibian dollar has the same value as a rand so this is about NZ$1.50
It costs N$100 per term to send a child to school so many of the children can't afford to go. In the village we gave away some of the "imake a difference" pens to the kids. I asked one little girls if she had a pen already and she didn't. Boniface, our guide, told us that if a child doesn't have a pen then they must wait for one of the other kids to finish so they can borrow theirs but they need to be quick before the notes are removed from the board before the next lesson. Bring pens and soccer balls to Africa if you want to do something constructive for the locals.
The structure of the village is that girls and boys stay within the family compound. Once they get to be more independent the young men build a hut outside the compound and the young lady has a hut within the compound so the parents can keep their eye on her. If they want to get together they either need to organise this through the girls family or sneak out at night. If they have an accident then he must either marry the girl or take the child. If he wants no part of either then this would be a big problem.
This camp also has free wifi which us being thrashed as crews try to get their blogs up. This is not an official checkpoint but at least half of the crews seem to be here. We are taking the time to spend two nights here and are sharing the site with our friends from Team Maverick again. On the other side we have the Sole Sistas who are a fellow Project Rhino supporter. We had a good chance to chat and they might be interested to Adopt a Rhino under their Sole Sistas name.
The boys organized a fantastic lunch of borevors rolls with potato and onion. Maybe not the healthiest thing but it sure tasted good.
It was nice to have some down time in the afternoon. Traveling is fun but tiring and we probably spending more time in our car than most others. Bruce is doing a stirling job chauffeuring us around the continent.
Guy and Amy went out on the makoro this morning where you paddle yourself up the river, where they learnt from their guide that there are 650 species of birds in the area here. They are so colourful and the bird noises are amazing.
I took the opportunity to visit a local village with Jacki from the sargerofti crew, our guide came from this village so we were able to ask whatever we wanted. We were shown how they make the houses using termite mounds and wood cot from the local trees. This village makes its money from cutting reeds and wood and selling it to locals or through the camp. They get N$10 for a bundle of wood and the camp sells it for N$12.50. A Namibian dollar has the same value as a rand so this is about NZ$1.50
It costs N$100 per term to send a child to school so many of the children can't afford to go. In the village we gave away some of the "imake a difference" pens to the kids. I asked one little girls if she had a pen already and she didn't. Boniface, our guide, told us that if a child doesn't have a pen then they must wait for one of the other kids to finish so they can borrow theirs but they need to be quick before the notes are removed from the board before the next lesson. Bring pens and soccer balls to Africa if you want to do something constructive for the locals.
The structure of the village is that girls and boys stay within the family compound. Once they get to be more independent the young men build a hut outside the compound and the young lady has a hut within the compound so the parents can keep their eye on her. If they want to get together they either need to organise this through the girls family or sneak out at night. If they have an accident then he must either marry the girl or take the child. If he wants no part of either then this would be a big problem.
This camp also has free wifi which us being thrashed as crews try to get their blogs up. This is not an official checkpoint but at least half of the crews seem to be here. We are taking the time to spend two nights here and are sharing the site with our friends from Team Maverick again. On the other side we have the Sole Sistas who are a fellow Project Rhino supporter. We had a good chance to chat and they might be interested to Adopt a Rhino under their Sole Sistas name.
The boys organized a fantastic lunch of borevors rolls with potato and onion. Maybe not the healthiest thing but it sure tasted good.
It was nice to have some down time in the afternoon. Traveling is fun but tiring and we probably spending more time in our car than most others. Bruce is doing a stirling job chauffeuring us around the continent.
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We teamed up with the Creastfesters, sole sistas, tekkietubs and the legendary Team Maverick for the Booze cruise at 5.00 to view the animals in the park across the river and see the hippos and crocodiles in the river. We saw a good herd of Elephants coming down to drink, Kudu, Crocodiles, Buffalo, Little Egrets, Cattle Egrets, green backed heron, blacksmith lapwing, giant kingfisher, pied kingfisher, fish eagle, reed cormorants and spoon bills. The no swimming signs are for real! Ngepi camp does have a swimming pool in the river which has netting around it so you are safe from the crocs.
As we were coming back we were treated to another stunning sunset. The colours of an African sunset are quite unique. It seems every shade from yellow through gold, red and purple feature in the sky at the same time. As the sun went down we were treated to the largest moon since 1930. It was huge and again all the colours of the spectrum. The reflection on the Okovango river was an added bonus.
The Ngepi camp has to be seen to be believed, they have a very relaxed vibe and will make a plan about anything. Everything runs on an honesty system which was a new experience for many of the South Africans. You run a tab up and pay on exit.
As we were coming back we were treated to another stunning sunset. The colours of an African sunset are quite unique. It seems every shade from yellow through gold, red and purple feature in the sky at the same time. As the sun went down we were treated to the largest moon since 1930. It was huge and again all the colours of the spectrum. The reflection on the Okovango river was an added bonus.
The Ngepi camp has to be seen to be believed, they have a very relaxed vibe and will make a plan about anything. Everything runs on an honesty system which was a new experience for many of the South Africans. You run a tab up and pay on exit.
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