Experiences of a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia (2016-19) and further adventures…
Pertaining to non-human activities.
Greetings from Namibia! Sorry – I didn’t mean to be away for so long!
My intention was to take a few weeks off from the blog, during which time I camped in three of Namibia’s game reserves. The break was wonderful but only served to put me behind at work so I extended my “blog pause.” I hope to make up for my absence with this, my longest post yet. Fear not – it’s mostly photographs and one little short video.
I hope you enjoy it!
Continue reading “The new year started with a lot of wildlife!”
With apologies to Stephen Stills…
“When you can’t be with the ones you love, love the place you’re at!”
Continue reading “When you can’t be with the ones you love…”
This is a long post, but made up only of photos and captions so I hope you find it fun and easy to go through during this busy time of year. You’ll see a bit about the work I’m doing and a lot from life in and around my home and some recent travels.
It will be remembered as the day I nearly took on more than I could handle in my explorations around Arandis: a lesson learned not to take anything for granted in this terrain. Continue reading “Another weekend bike ride, but this one was too long!”
This past weekend afforded me another chance to explore my nearby surroundings, this time along the bed of the Swakop River that separates the high desert in the north from the high plains to the south. I tented at the Goanikontes-Oasis rest camp, explored the river bed and climbed up to the south rim for great views.
Continue reading “Weekend getaway to Goanikontes-Oasis on the Swakop River”
It was on this day, back in April, when I departed SFO for my 2+ years in Namibia. Time is truly racing by!
Group 43 is at our ReConnect retreat this week for more training and to share early experiences. We’re in the hills above Windhoek and clearly, as you can see, there are more than just Peace Corps volunteers here!
Those of you familiar with Arches NP in Utah or Joshua Tree in SoCal will recognize familiar types of geologic formations at Spitzkoppe, which I explored this past weekend. Stunning beauty as the light changed throughout the day, and each feature seemed to take on a new appearance when I barely moved my vantage point. Later, I learned that Stanley Kubrick’s Dawn of Man sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey, was filmed here.
The beginning of Spring means that Summer is not far behind, and our comfortable temperatures won’t continue for long. A week ago, for example, we saw the cold, wet fog reach 65 km inland from the coast and only my sleeping bag kept me warm enough at night. Yesterday, on the other hand, it reached the high-90s!
One of my favorite weekend activities is exploring the desert surrounding Arandis. For most recent weeks, this has been on foot–but now that I have a working bike, I’m able to cover much more ground and go further into the bush. Yesterday, while clocking about 30km off-road, I found ancient riverbeds, an endemic Quiver Tree and several herd of wandering Springbok.
Or anywhere else, for that matter…
Another interesting article on the perceptions we form when looking at historical representations of the world:
I love maps!
