This morning I woke to the sound of jackals and it’s good to be back on Okambara. Vera and I did some expedition shopping in Windhoek yesterday, and now we are busy setting up base camp for our six Namibia expedition groups this year. Good and bad news at the bush camp – for our three returning expeditioners, you’ll be sad to know that the elephants knocked down the shade tree we used to use for the trucks. The good news is that we can use its thorny branches to make corrals! Other good news is that we now have nine rhinos on the farm. They are only a couple months old and Vera has yet to see them, so that is definitely something for all of us to look forward to.
I remember from last year we had some confusion about the “lunch boxes” mentioned in the dossier (myself included!) and so I want to clarify that you’ll be wanting to bring a plastic container to carry around your sandwich. We got so see some really creative ones last year, including recycled ice cream containers and lime Vera’s green one that happened to be the same color as the anti-venom kits. Bring whatever style you like, just know we’ll be packing our lunches every day and using the plastic boxes to keep the contents together.
Another thing you need to be sure to bring is a re-usable water container. Backpack hydration packs are great, for example. See your dossier for further details.
One last thing I’ll mention right now to everyone is to bring your valid driver’s licenses! You will be able to drive our 4x4s around the study site (after proper training of course) and while we’ll only be driving on farm tracks, I still need to see your license in order to let you drive (no need to send copies to the office beforehand). Bring them even if you are thinking that you won’t want to drive, because I guarantee you when you see how easy and fun it is, you’ll regret it if you cannot drive. I mentioned the cold in yesterday’s diary, but it deserves mentioning again because when I arrived it was ZERO degrees Celsius. Bring a warm hat, scarf, layers, and especially warm gloves or mittens because the early morning vehicle game counts will be very cold until the sun comes up.
Looking forward to meeting Team 1 in Windhoek at 08:30 am on Sunday!
From our working holiday volunteering with leopards, elephants and cheetahs in Namibia, Africa
Biosphere Expeditions: blogs from the frontline of wildlife conservation and the fight for a more sustainable planet 