This is no place for a girly-girl....

...nor a girly-boy for that matter! You'll see what I mean as you read on.

Hope you are all well and being good. Uuumh! Thought so! I was glad to receive the odd few messages from various people over the last few weeks, so keep 'em coming. It's always good to hear from you.

Me? Well, what can I say? I've just completed my 1st 2-week stint as a volunteer on the EHRA (Elephant Human Relations Aid) project based in Damaraland, 3.5 hours north of Swakopmund by dilapidated truck. I have so much to update you on. So much has happened, so much more has been experienced! I want to share it all...except it is not possible given the short time I have at the internet. So, I'll update you on the main things to give you a feel for experiences to-date. Suffice it to say, for everything I tell you about, there will be a million other things that will have been left out! I have learnt a huge amount already, although have only skimmed the surface. There is still more to find out, much more waiting to be discovered!

Talking about the weather...

Namibia is a hot, desolate, harsh and unforgiving land. It's Spring here at the moment and it's hot. I mean REALLY hot! A desert environment in the truest sense. It's going to get hotter over the next couple of months before the rains come - if they come at all. It's 30-35C in the shade and over 45C in the sun. At night, the temperature can fall to around 8-10C (which is actually a relief). Through a 24 hour period, our clothing can range from ski-wear (hat, goggles, thermals,wind-proofs etc.) to shorts and t-shirt/tank top (unfortunately, any less is not allowed!! Yes, desperate measures to keep cool do sometimes cross my mind!). The warm clothes are worn when we're travelling at 20-40mph in the open-sided truck around sunrise. B****y freezing! More about that later. The winds during the day start off light and by the afternoon can be quite wild, blowing sand into every space and especially between my eyes and contact lenses (ouch...and double-ouch)! Ski sun-glasses come in handy, although ski-goggles would have been better for keeping out more than just the sand (uuumh....more later)! I am glad for the breeze and the stronger winds as without them, I would literally melt! Now, let's be clear - these winds are like having a hair dryer blowing on you on the second heat setting - but better a hairdryer than nothing is what I say! The sun is harsh. Factor 40 sun lotion is effective for 1 hour 23 mins before I feel I'm burning. I've resorted to wearing long-sleeved shirts in the day....it's the only way! Do I hate it? NOPE! Takes some getting used to and it's tough, but I wouldn't swap this experience for anything. It's cool!

Getting to base camp...

Now back to where I left off from in my last blog.... The project team intros were at 6 in the bar at the hostel. The new volunteers (incl myself) who were starting on 6 Oct had already met through the day. At 6pm, the project staff and the volunteers who had been there for a few weeks came to meet us. And, as usual, all the new names went in one ear and out of the other! I'm so rubbish with names. I guessed that by the time the journey to base camp was over, I'd have enough time to get the names sorted. There were 8 volunteers and 3 staff. All seemed nice enough! We went for dinner that night and then had an early night. We were to start off at midday next day as the truck we were travelling in was "broken" (engine problems) and wasn't going to be ready until Monday. Well guess what....the engine was not ready on Monday so we ended up travelling to base camp in an open-sided truck!!!!!! Travelling in an open-sided vehicle at 45mph on a bumpy, sandy road with a strong, cold sea-breeze blowing in from the coast is NOT FUN! We had to dress in thermals, wind proofs, woolly hats and goggles and basically rattled down the bumpy road, getting a numb bum and freezing all the while. What an experience! Having said that, the views were amazing! The Namibian desert stretched out before us, as flat as a pancake and as far as the eyes could see, with the desolate coastline on one side and an unbroken horizon in full view! Breath-taking! That alone made it worth the ride. Oh, and also the fact that we all got a good facial exfoliation treatment with the sand blowing on our faces!! Free and effective spa treatment to boot! As we turned more inland, we stopped to take off those layers of clothes as the temperature rose. By the time we reached base camp, we were in shorts and t-shirts and sweltering in the heat of the day! Oh, forgot to mention, we had a 4-legged friend accompanying us on this journey. Hannibal. He's huge!!! As some of you may know, dogs and I don't mix well and he sat behind me in the truck, feeling just as rattled, uncomfortable and cold! Poor thing! Poor me! Apparently there were going to be three dogs at base camp that week! Three! THREE! I mean THREE!! Aaaaaarrgh! It was due to a sponsored desert trek taking place that week and Joe (founder of EHRA, and owner of 2 of the dogs) was on the trek and unable to care for them. So they were going to stay with us at base camp for the week! Will tell you more about me and the dogs later. The trek was to raise funds for EHRA and specifically to buy out the shooting licence for one of the elephants from a professional hunter so EHRA could save it from being shot!!! People from many countries had trained, fund raised and trekked through the the desert for this worthy cause. Negotiations with the hunter are in progress and I will update up as and when I hear more. Don't think we're out of the woods on this one yet!

Base Camp...

Wow! What an amazing place! We are based alongside the Ugab river. It is a dry river (as are most rivers in Namibia, except in rainy season). It is roughly a third the width of the Thames at Embankment and not that deep when it flows. The other side of the river has a rather large bolder-hill that turns an amazing pink/ochre colour at sunrise/sunset. So, let me introduce you to my home for the next 2 months: base camp is built between a number of large Ana trees (acacias I believe). The kitchen is an open plan kitchen-diner under one of the trees; the living area has a lovely big fireplace, lit every morning and evening to provide heat and also as a means for us to cook our food (porridge for breakfast, and some rather scrumptious meals for dinner); the living area has a swing hung off a branch of the larger Ana tree. This tree also houses our bedrooms!

pictures: Katy in the kitchen; my "bedroom"; steep stairs down from the tree house; view from by "room"

Yes, we sleep in a tree house. How cool is that? Branches/leaves for ceiling, wooden boards for floor, the tree's trunk for stairs and an amazing river/hill view from the bedrooms! Prime real estate! The living area also has a bar area!! Oli, the resident, very talented, fixer-of-all-things, has also managed to rig up 2 small, quaint lights in the living space and a small fridge off the generator! Real luxury to have cool drinks after a hard day's work! OK, for the rest of the camp - we have 2 toilets (holes into the ground with a toilet seat cover) with incredible views, 2 showers (another luxury) with hot water heated from the sun (bliss) and a rather large workshop space where all the repairs and building prep gets done (Oli's "office"). The most luxurious commodity we have is water! We keep the shower times short and don't wash our hair as often as water needs to be conserved. It's clean water, dug directly from the ground so we don't need to treat it either. What more can you ask for???? I love this place.

---> Oli at the bar

---> relaxing by the fire at sunset

Talking about the birds and the bees...and the elephants...

We wake up at 6 every morning to the wonderful sound of birds all around and beautiful colours of the African sky at sunrise (pink and blue)! Occasionally, we have been woken up way earlier by the call of baboons on the rocks over the river! V loud indeed but pretty amazing! During the day, there are mopani bees that drive us absolutely insane. They are just slightly larger than black flies at home and buzz around our head trying to get into ears, nose and eyes!! My theory is that their sole purpose in life is to drive me mad.

<--- Fran and Katy burning some elephant poo to keep the bees away!

However, Hendrick (another v talented local guide/project leader) told me that they also make honey!!! Uuuuumh. Who needs honey when you can have sanity instead? They also try and get inside your mouth when you are talking!! They look for moisture wherever they can! Like I said, water/moisture is v precious to living creatures out here! The only things that remotely help to keep the bees away are tight-fitting ski sunglasses, the wind/breeze and the smoke from burning dried elephant poo!!! Oh, and at night, they disappear - thank god! Other living creatures around base camp: we share our bedroom space with 2-3 v v large bees with a v large buzz; little small green caterpillars that fall out from the trees onto you, your sleeping bag etc (ug! - they are harmless but I don't like things falling onto me like that. Reminds me of leeches in the Vietnam jungle! ug! ); scorpions - normally under rocks and in logs; springbok (we've seen a few around - they are cute and fast); cheetah's (haven't seen them myself, but Ben (the project leader) saw 3 about half an hour out of camp and we (Hendrik, Doris, Miriam and I) saw fresh footprints on a walk just 5 minutes from camp - aaarrrrgh - they are around and close!!) and of course - elephants!!! Apparently, just the week before we arrived, they had strolled/charged through base camp and into the workshop and caused quite some destruction!!!! The dining table benches and part of the kitchen had to be rebuilt and the vegetable patch at the back was eaten/destroyed!!! The elephants like the seedpods of the Ana tree (it is a favorite of theirs apparently) and they have been known to use base camp as their local drive-through take-away place!!!!!! The seedpods are ripe now and falling off the tree - hence attracting the elephants to visit! Exciting and scary at the same time. You certainly don't want to run into one on your way to the toilet at night!

Ana Tree Seed Pods

Talking of which...yes, three bull elephants passed by base camp one evening!!!! I was in the shower and was abruptly interrupted by Ben shouting "Priti, get out and into the tree house as the elephants are coming!!!". I had to ask him to repeat as I was sure I'd misheard! I hadn't misheard! I just dressed and ran out to the tree house. The drill is, if the elephants are around, we must get to the tree house (our bedrooms effectively) and sit quietly whilst they pass through. The rest of the team were already up there when Ben and I climbed up. 5 mins later, 3 elephants passed by below on the river bed in single file. They certainly knew we were there - they could probably small us due to wind direction and also, they are hardly stupid! They glanced over at us as they passed us! It was awesome. They were literally about 3o meters away. They were huge and shockingly quiet and graceful as they walked by. Yep, very special indeed. They were heading for the watering hole upstream that EHRA has built for them.

Anyway, enough for now...

In the next update, I'll provide more info on the work we have done so far:

- helping rebuild base camp

- tracking the elephants

- visiting communities and school that EHRA is also involved with

In the meantime, here's a sneak preview....

Needless to say, it's not easy out here: the work is challenging with this desert heat and the mopani bees, the environment is harsh and we all have cuts/bruises/scratches to prove it, keeping clean is impossible for more than 5 mins, and sand gets into just about everything. No place for a girly-girl!

Am I enjoying it? HELL YES!