Apologies for this late post. For those of you that are also late in tuning into the adventure, allow me to fill you in on the last few days of our travels.
Our last night under African stars was spent at the Becker Farm in Omaruru. Mr. Becker runs cattle and also provides game hunting opportunities to people. Ben, Katie, and Tanner were able to join Becker's son in a game hunt that ended in the successful taking of an oryx. Others of us went with Mr. Becker on a drive around his land. He explained to us about his farming operation, as well as some of the more diminuitive residents of the farm: termites. They dig burrows from their mounds over to downed trees, encase limbs in mud, and eat away at the limbs inside the casing. That's fascinating, I don't care who you are.
We ate outside with the Beckers in the evening and had some springbok and lamb stew, or poiki. All in all, it was a good time at the Becker Farm, except for the part where I thought my feet were going to freeze off ( a small price to pay for getting to hang out on another continent).
We made it to Windhoek the next day and picked up our gear from THE CONSOLIDATION at the Schachts'. Carol asked us to think about how the things we had experienced would change our lives and our ways of thinking. It is a could subject to consider; since I saw little kids in the depths of poverty in Katatura, what am I going to do to help them. It is a topic everyone should contemplate, for at least a few minutes.
We returned the cars to the rental place and said good-bye to Tanner and Dr. Powell. I did my best not to tear up, but it truly was difficult. When you spend three weeks with two gentlemen that possess a sense of humor like those two, it is hard to suddenly depart from them. I hope they both have a great time in Africa, since Dr. Powell was staying on in Namibia for a while, and Tanner was going to South Africa. Good luck and have fun!
Somehow, when we reached the airport outside Windhoek, we did not have tickets waiting for us. Fortunately, after some emergency calls and a little strong-arming, Dr. Pegg got us underway. Haha!
The rest of the time was spent either in the air or waiting to get into the air. We tried to catch up on sleep and on movies. I must say, the return trip had some of the best airline food I've ever had, so my hat is off to the catering services.
We finally arrived in Lincoln a little before 7 pm. We said our good-byes to each other and went our separate ways. It is always difficult to just leave people behind after being around them all the time for three weeks. I am happy to say that I made friends along the way, and I hope I see them again soon. We had some good conversations, a fair amount of silliness, and the adventure of a lifetime ( again, apologies if this is too sentimental for some).
Well, I guess I had better sign off before the blog tells me it's overloaded. I have to say a huge thank-you to Dr. Powell and Dr. Pegg for making this trip amazing, educational, and funny. I also have to thank Uapii for being an awesome tour guide and showing us several different dimensions of Namibia. Have a great summer my fellow camel jockeys and anglers!
-Courtney Anthony
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