Namibia: Spring break of a lifetime

I am lucky enough to be here during the Spring Semester of UCT, therefore I got to enjoy 10 glorious days of Spring Break.  There were 14 of us - quite the crew - that decided Namibia was calling our names. It is about a 7 hour drive from Cape Town to the border, and then we made our way about halfway up into Namibia and came back down. 

We started our journey on Saturday by only going about 2 hours away from Cape Town to a music festival called Alien Safari.  However, right when we got there my car's trunk broke, which resulted in a week of inhaling sand and dirt, and all of our things being layers in inches of it. It wasn't very fun. Alien Safari is a psy-trance party - which is music similar to dub step, kind of a techno feel. It was absolutely crazy and a complete blast. Everyone was covered in glow in the dark paint and was just dancing all night, it was great. It was held at a vineyard in the mountains and was breathtaking. We camped the night and headed for Namibia at about 8:30 Sunday morning.

Alien Safari- still going strong at sunrise

Sunday was a day full of driving and was incredibly hot and uncomfortable in the car. We got through SA immigration fine, but no one at Namibian customs stopped us, so we didn't get our passport stamped, this caused problems later on. After driving all day on dirt roads, we arrived in Ai-Ais at a hot-springs resort where we ended up camping for 2 nights. We were able to set up camp and sit in the hot spring pools all night and it was exactly what we needed after a long day.

We woke up the next morning and drove to Fish River Canyon about 30 minutes from our campsite. It is the 2nd largest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon. It was completely gorgeous and we hung out there for a few hours, and hiked down part of the canyon and explored a little. Day hikes are prohibited however, and we discovered why with its loose rocks and steep slopes, but it was still doable. After the canyon we relaxed at the campsite for the night.

Fish River Canyon

Tuesday morning we woke up early to embark on a '5 hour' drive to Sesriem. This 5 hour drive turned into a 10 hour drive - all on horrible dirt roads.  Along the way our tire/ rim/ hubcap got completely destroyed, along with one of the Land Rovers also getting a flat, in the middle of nowhere. But the boys changed the tires and it turned out fine. We arrived at our campsite, made some dinner, and ended up seeing my roommate Roger and Carl and the bar, so it was a fun night.

We woke up bright and early at an attempt to get to the Sand Dunes by sunrise, but that didn't happen. We still got there extremely early, and it was the best morning of my life. We were in the middle of dunes, just surrounded by mountains of sand. It was so incredible and very peaceful. I took tons of pictures, I think it may have been my favorite part of the trip. After the dunes we got back on the road towards Swakopmund, a coastal town we stayed at for the rest of our trip. We got there pretty late and ate our first real meal of the trip! I had a greek salad and it was so delicious. We then went back to the hostel and had an amazing night sleep, in an actual bed.

Sand Dunes

We woke up the next morning and went to the beach for a few hours before going quad-biking through some sand dunes. It was one of the funniest things I have done in awhile. We were going as fast as possible up and down the sides of huge dunes, it was so awesome, everyone loved it.

Friday was a day of relaxation, with exploring the town, going into shops and to the open market, and hanging out at the beach. It was a much needed day of no stress and no driving.

Saturday morning we woke up early to head back to Cape Town - it was a 19 hour drive, arriving back home at about 3:30 am. On the way home we had one little issue- we had been in Namibia illegally all week. They threatened to arrest us, we freaked out, and ended up bribing them R3,000 to let us through. It was stressful and we were so happy to not be in jail. However, my roommate had the same issue but they said it "happens all the time" so we think we got played. But there has been students jailed for it in the past, so I guess it depends on the immigration officers mood that day.

Overall I had an amazing spring break that I will never forget.
I will try to post pictures this weekend!