Tuesday 23 February 2016

The Taxi Collective: Resistance is Futile

Vern.

In North America, it would be highly irregular if you were in a taxi and your driver stopped to pick up additional passengers.  There would likely be an "Excuse me, what the hell are you doing?" as part of that conversation.  And then no tip.


It took a while to get used to, but there is no such thing as "this is MY cab" here in Windhoek, Namibia.  The "collective taxi" concept is the norm.  Because there are no public transit buses here, it's like the taxi industry functions as a bus system of sorts - they'll take you where you need to go, but you don't know what route you'll take to get there, how long it will take, or who you will be sharing your ride with. 


Cabs are ubiquitous and cost 10 Namibian dollars (about 85 cents Canadian) to go anywhere within the city.  Good deal, really!


All taxis are 4-door sedans.  Happily a "full" taxi is usually 4 passengers (3 in the back, one up front), but sometimes they will try to fit an extra person in the back.  A driver at a shopping mall may wait until he has four or five passengers heading to the same part of town before he'll leave.  And if the car isn't full, he'll honk at potential passengers along the way.


On our first day, when the driver tried to stop for an additional passenger with us already in the cab (and not yet knowing about the collective), I glared so fiercely at the incoming passenger that she stopped with her hand on the door handle, turned around and left.  


And there was the time when the driver had a passenger up front, the three of us were in back and he was going to let a really big guy into the back seat with us.  Ixnay, buddy, move on.


I'm happy to say that we are now fully at ease with the concept, and think nothing of joining a cab in progress or welcoming additional passengers in flight.   After all, when in Rome...



Image result for taxi

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Saturday 13 February 2016

Grocery items remind us of home!

Carolyn.   We are half-way through our 4-week apartment rental in Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia.  Our time here is part of our original world plan to stay put in one city per continent, to stop travelling for a while, and "live like a local".

While we were in South America for the first five months of our trip, aisles in grocery stores looked very different from home.  Different is good - it's what this year of travel is about!  Lots of interesting options, especially amazing fruits in the markets, but nothing that was familiar.  To our surprise in Nambia, there are many things in the grocery stores that look the same as in Canada (we guess the same will be true when we get to South Africa - since most of the retail items in Namibia are shipped from there).

Three things I missed over the last 5 months in South America that I am enjoying again:  pretzels, Multi-grain Cheerios, iced tea.



Click here to see the rest of the pictures from our world trip so far: Trip Photo Album


Saturday 6 February 2016

Foodie Corner: Joe’s Beerhouse, Windhoek, Namibia

Vern.

Joe’s Beerhouse lends credence to my theory of “if it moves, it can be eaten”.   Located a short ways out of downtown Windhoek, Namibia, Joe’s has become an icon for tourists and locals alike.  Yes, they do serve beer, but the main attraction is their game menu.   

Rather than settle on a single meat source, I opted for a kebab with variety:  springbok, oryx, zebra, crocodile and kudu.  Helpfully, my dish arrived with a laminated 'what's-what' legend.  Each piece of game was nicely cooked and well-seasoned and I thoroughly enjoyed my meal.  However, I learned that full steaks can provide a better cut:  Carolyn’s oryx steak was beautifully tender.   Next time ‘round.


If you ever find yourself in Windhoek, don’t leave without a visit to Joe’s.



Click here to see the rest of the pictures from our world trip so far: Trip Photo Album

Tuesday 2 February 2016

Kalahari Safari

Cooper. We just finished an amazing ten-day safari in the Okavango Delta. From Victoria Falls, we drove to the Botswana border, and met up with our safari guide: Eddy. Eddy took us to the Chobe River, where we got onto a boat, went out on the river, and saw our first African animals; lots of hippos, elephants, and buffalo! Afterwards, we got back into our safari truck and started for our campsite. Once we entered the national park, we saw elephants, giraffes, and even lions! We arrived at our campsite and watched the beautiful African sunset.

On our safari, we saw elephants, hippos, and giraffes every day! We saw lions eight out of our ten days, including cubs! We journeyed along a river in a wooden canoe-like boat called a Mokoro. The sunset was beautiful every night. We watched it in front of our campfire until it got dark, and then ate dinner. The breakfasts, lunches, and dinners were delicious every day. We had steak, pork, bacon, eggs, hot dogs, pastas, and fruits and veggies. It’s very hard to keep the fruits, veggies and milk good for the whole ten days. If anyone didn’t know, I love lemons (especially eating them straight), and they gave lemons at every meal, so that was awesome.

When we slept, we weren’t on mats in sleeping bags like we usually are camping, we were on cots with duvets (but we really didn’t need the duvets, it was hot outside already). In spare time, we all read, and I journaled each day (thank you again Ms. P!). We woke up at 5:30 am each day for our morning game drive and usually went to bed around 9:30 pm.

At the end of the safari, we visited and stayed for one night in Maun (ma – own), a small town outside of the national park. We all agreed that we could have done with a seven-day safari instead of ten, but we had a great time.The next day, we took a ten hour drive to a large city called Windhoek (vind – hook), the capital of Namibia. 

Here is a wildlife list that I made about the animals we did and didn’t see:

Green = we saw it
Blank (white) = we haven't seen it yet


Here are some of our favourite pictures from the safari:

Beautiful sunset

 Baby hippo yawning

 Giraffe family and elephant herd (also a baby elephant)


Please leave comments! We like to read them!



Click here for more safari pictures

Click here to see the rest of the pictures from our world trip so far: Trip Photo Album