On the Road Again!

Between the end of the school semester and when everyone started to return to their various countries of origin, there were about three weeks of free time.  Some people went on organized tours, some people went home early for various reasons, but lots of people decided to partake in the classic college road trip.  A few weeks before the end of classes, I decided with one of my friends (Sam) that we wanted to go on a trip, but not necessarily an organized one.  Now all we needed was someone who could drive a standard car.  Enter Neil.  The three of us decided to rent a car and head off somewhere.  But where?  Sam really wanted to go to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe/Zambia, but after looking at a map and the amount of time we had, we decided that it was too far away.  Neil really wanted to spend some time sitting on a sand dune in the Namibian desert and I just wanted to see something totally new and experience an entirely different culture.  After a lot of research and realizing that we really could only afford to do one country, we decided to travel only in Namibia, but spend a lot of time there and really see the entire country.  In the end it was decided that Sam would spend the first few days driving with us and then we would drop her off at the bus station in Windhoek, Namibia so she could go on a tour of Victoria Falls.  A few days before we left, we added one more member to our crew.  Thomas (from Montana) would travel with us for a while and then we would drop him off with some other people so he could return to Stellenbosch to take an exam.  Then Neil and I would spend a few more days traveling before heading back to Stellenbosch so Neil could catch his flight back to Alaska.

 The Crew

Name: Sam

Job on Trip: Photographer

Name:  Thomas

Job on Trip:  Co-Pilot/Navigator

Name:  Neil

Job on Trip:  Pilot (aka driver)

Name:  Katie

Job on Trip:  Provider of Snacks

Means of Transportation:

The Nissan Micra

Neil and I spent a lot of time doing research on the kind of car we should get and who we should rent it from.  Although a Volkswagen bus or Landrover was our preferred mode of transport, we ended up settling on a tiny car.  Despite our reservations about whether or not the car would be able to make it on dirt roads or even hold all of us and our gear, the car was fantastic.  We (thanks to Neil’s driving skills) made it over some crazy bumps and down some seriously crazy dirt roads.