Adventures in Africa
Where to even begin...
First of all, I am in Swakopmund, Namibia, a gorgeous town on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Namib Desert. Amazing.The past 7 (?) days have been great. The group of people I am with are from all over the place, 5 Germans, 3 Aussies, 3 Swedes, 2 Dutch, 2 Koreans, 2 Scots, an Irish bloke and a British girl, and me! We have a good group and have been having a lot of fun. Long days on the road with great views, usually ending up with us in the nearest ocean, river or pool at the campsite and then a trip to the bar. Not bad.
We did some dune hiking and exploring of the Kalahari Desert a few days ago. We hiked around Fish River Canyon and saw a lovely sun set. We spent some time at Walbert's Bay and played in the FREEZING but very wavy ocean. I managed to lose my sunglasses in the current as the waves crashed over me. It was worth it.Yesterday we arrived in Swakopmund and went to an activity centre where we could sign up for what we wanted to do the next 2 days. I head straight for the counter and signed up for sky diving. And not only that, the previous 6 days I had managed to convince 6 others from our group to try it out as well. We went right away that afternoon. I was up third. They basically give you a brief run-through of what is going to happen and then you are up in the plane for a 20-minute scenic flight before you plunge...I have to say I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. Having other people around doing the same thing really helped. When we jumped out of the plane (at 10000 feet) it was amazing! You get that falling feeling in your stomach for only the first second but then you just feel like you are flying! Then after about 6 seconds of freefall(falling 5000 feet) your shoot opens and you just float down and everything is really quiet and beautiful. The view was of the ocean and the white desert. Although it was a little cloudy. We passed through the clouds and landed VERY softly. I HIGHLY recommend it. HIGHLY. Best thing EVER.
I had so much fun that I did it again TODAY! Oh no - I think I am addicted. This time I got a discount, but also we did more tricks. For example, we did 3 sommersaults when we tumbled out of the plane. Then we did some tricks while freefalling, like spinning & going sideways.Once the shoot was up we did more spins and also things like where you stop falling for a second and so you get that feeling in your stomach where you are falling. We did that on a cloud so it was like we were standing on it and then we basically fell right through it. Sorry this is so scattered but I just came back from the second jump and I am still on a high! SO MUCH FUN.
I like Namibia. South Africa is amazing but it was too modern and commercialized for me. Although Swakopmund is pretty commercial as well. There is a KFC here too. I don't know why that bothers me so much but it really does. Especially when you are driving through districts of slums and shack housing and then you see a mini mall and a KFC just a few minutes drive away.
The desert is nice. I went Quad-biking today. It is like on a 4-wheeler bike thing? Like in Napolean Dynamite what his grandma was doing when she got hurt? We did that over the dunes. It was great! One of the Korean guys flipped his bike but he said it was fun. I will update again once I am in Victoria Falls. In about 2 weeks I think?
By the way, I heard about the election. You understand now why I am jumping out of planes??
First of all, I am in Swakopmund, Namibia, a gorgeous town on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Namib Desert. Amazing.The past 7 (?) days have been great. The group of people I am with are from all over the place, 5 Germans, 3 Aussies, 3 Swedes, 2 Dutch, 2 Koreans, 2 Scots, an Irish bloke and a British girl, and me! We have a good group and have been having a lot of fun. Long days on the road with great views, usually ending up with us in the nearest ocean, river or pool at the campsite and then a trip to the bar. Not bad.
We did some dune hiking and exploring of the Kalahari Desert a few days ago. We hiked around Fish River Canyon and saw a lovely sun set. We spent some time at Walbert's Bay and played in the FREEZING but very wavy ocean. I managed to lose my sunglasses in the current as the waves crashed over me. It was worth it.Yesterday we arrived in Swakopmund and went to an activity centre where we could sign up for what we wanted to do the next 2 days. I head straight for the counter and signed up for sky diving. And not only that, the previous 6 days I had managed to convince 6 others from our group to try it out as well. We went right away that afternoon. I was up third. They basically give you a brief run-through of what is going to happen and then you are up in the plane for a 20-minute scenic flight before you plunge...I have to say I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. Having other people around doing the same thing really helped. When we jumped out of the plane (at 10000 feet) it was amazing! You get that falling feeling in your stomach for only the first second but then you just feel like you are flying! Then after about 6 seconds of freefall(falling 5000 feet) your shoot opens and you just float down and everything is really quiet and beautiful. The view was of the ocean and the white desert. Although it was a little cloudy. We passed through the clouds and landed VERY softly. I HIGHLY recommend it. HIGHLY. Best thing EVER.
I had so much fun that I did it again TODAY! Oh no - I think I am addicted. This time I got a discount, but also we did more tricks. For example, we did 3 sommersaults when we tumbled out of the plane. Then we did some tricks while freefalling, like spinning & going sideways.Once the shoot was up we did more spins and also things like where you stop falling for a second and so you get that feeling in your stomach where you are falling. We did that on a cloud so it was like we were standing on it and then we basically fell right through it. Sorry this is so scattered but I just came back from the second jump and I am still on a high! SO MUCH FUN.
I like Namibia. South Africa is amazing but it was too modern and commercialized for me. Although Swakopmund is pretty commercial as well. There is a KFC here too. I don't know why that bothers me so much but it really does. Especially when you are driving through districts of slums and shack housing and then you see a mini mall and a KFC just a few minutes drive away.
The desert is nice. I went Quad-biking today. It is like on a 4-wheeler bike thing? Like in Napolean Dynamite what his grandma was doing when she got hurt? We did that over the dunes. It was great! One of the Korean guys flipped his bike but he said it was fun. I will update again once I am in Victoria Falls. In about 2 weeks I think?
By the way, I heard about the election. You understand now why I am jumping out of planes??
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