Etosha - Here We Come!

We had some nurses visiting and we all decided to head to Etosha Game Reserve that is a couple hours from our house. Mel, Danelle, Carely, Linda and I spent the day looking at all the animals and were super stoked to see almost everything, including lions and a rhino. We had such a great time, it was the best Etosha trip ever. I have been several times but it is still so amazing to see the animals each time I go. This time was great because we went with a guy from town who knows the place better than anyone and we were in the back of his open truck. It was the best way to travel for sure and we were able to see the animals without any windows in the way and we got some amazing pictures and videos.

We are so excited! Yea animals!

Mel and Carley enjoying the sun.

It's The End Of The World!

There is this place in Etosha that looks like the end of the earth. When you stand and look out, you see nothing and it goes for like 15kms of nothing. It is a pretty cool place!

Say cheese?

End of the world...

Me, Mel, Linda, Carley and Danelle

Yea!!! I am such a dork!

Linda at the end of the world!

ELEPHANTS!

I love elephants but they are scary! The second picture here is of an elephant getting ready to charge the back of our truck. It was stomping its feet and flapping its ears. And we were in the back of the truck, not the best place to be!

This is like ten feet from the back of the truck!
When elephants go bad...

I am going to squish you...

Poke! Poke!

GIRAFFE

This is for you little sister. Giraffe are so interesting and ackward looking creatures. The way they look, the way they walk and definately the way they bend. I like just sitting and watching them. They are interesting animals and I think one of my favorites!

I love seeing all the different animals altogether. There are giraffe, springbok, zebra and wildabeast. It is just cool to see them out in their own area doing there own thing.

Rare sighting!

We saw a rhino!!!!!! Seeing a rhino in the middle of the day is a very rare sight but we saw it! It was really cool. We also saw four mother lions with some cubs. It was pretty cool. They were quite lazy and could care less that we were watching them!

ZEBRA

I love the second shot with all the zebra in it.

Here is Carley with our tour guide, Jurgen.

Protection!!!

Carley and I thought since we were going to be around wild animals than we should at least be able to protect ourselves and those with us!

We are serious about protection, no animals will get us here!

Oh Carley, you are supposed to shoot the animals, not me!!!!!!!!! Silly girl!
Looks like our shots are a little off. At least we all came out alive.....

Riding to Etosha!

Because we went to Etosha with a friend, we went with his transportation. It ended up being a truck. The four of us younger girls loaded up with blankets and cuddleded close in the back of the truck the two hours there and two hours back. Even though Namibia is a desert, it is cold in the morning and night right now because it is winter. We were freezing! But I guess it is all part of the experience eh?

Mufasa...Again!

Here are more pictures of the lion Mufasa. He lives on a farm a few kms from our town. He is reletively gentle but still a wild animal. This time we were able to see him being fed. It was great until he attacked the fence three times, twice were at me! It totally freaked me out. They also fed the cheetahs which was pretty cool. Our taxi driver came with us, Phillip, and it was the first time he had seen him. It was the best trip to see Mufasa so far!

Musical Chairs

We had some visitors, three nurses from Canada, who stayed with us for a couple of weekends. Carley and Mel had some fun with the kids in the backyard playing musical chairs. The kids are always happy to have visitors. It was great to have them around!

School Boys

Last week, some of the boys from my school walked an hour over to visit me at home. These boys drive me crazy in class but I love them! Carlos is 16 and wearing the orange shirt. Jeffery is 14 and David is 14 and they are sitting on the sofa. They just hung out for awhile, ate some oranges, looked at books, listened to music and danced a bit. It was fun. I really enjoy being able to spend time with my learners outside of class. They are not nearly as naughty then!

New Clothes

Linda brought sent a huge bag of clothes from the states and we were able to give a little bit to all the neighbor kids. It was a lot of fun to try on different things to see what looked nice and what fit. Most of the kids were really excited to get a new short or some trousers. Farther down are two girls, NoNo and Anoshka. They are wearing dresses I bought in Kenya from a group of women who are helping raise money for AIDS orphans. The great part for the girls is that the clothes actually cover their body. Even the youngest girls here don't always dress appropriately so it was good to give them some well fitting clothes.

Henna!

I love henna and while I was in Kenya, a friend of a friend was able to come and do it for me. This isn't exactly henna but like it. I love the black color. It has been more than two weeks as I write this and it is still on although quite faded. Since I have been back in Namibia, I can't go anywhere. There are not really any people who wear this here so it is a new thing. I get stopped in the store and on the street. Everyone asks where I had it done and if it is permenant. The first couple times was fun but after a while it was not nice because I couldn't get anything done in town. I still love it and think it is beautiful. And much less permenant than a tatoo!