TAMU

The Last Days, The Best Days

6Aug

By: Micah Mills

Climbing to the top of a marble mountain: Check.

Night sky that takes your breath away: Check.

Time spent with good people: Check.

Habis Farm Sunset

This is just a short checklist on how I describe our last couple of days.

The last leg of our trek across Namibia – which according to Dr. Martin Schneider is bigger than Texas, but that is debatable – was spent in the company of the Schneider family at their “farm.” To limit it to just that one word would belittle this wonderful place. Sure there are cattle, goat, sheep, and chickens, but the Schneider’s made this farm our home during our stay there. They opened their doors and arms and treated the nine of us like we were kin.

Personally, the time I spent on the Habis Farm was one of my favorites during the trip. It is a place that constantly radiates beauty in some form or another. It was spotting a mountain zebra across the way or watching the sunset behind the surrounding mountains. It was getting to immerse ourselves in the knowledge the Schneider’s have of Namibia.

It was humbling in many ways to be at such a place. At night, the house is lit by candlelight and in the mornings showers are heated with a wood-burning furnace. It was refreshing to step into a world outside of the American mindset and slow down and take in everything around you. There was no television or Internet. It was satisfying to know the world doesn’t stop when you do.

The Schneider family left a strong impression on my time in Namibia. They will be the first to cross my mind when I hear of Namibia. I am so grateful for the hospitality I have been shown in this foreign place. Hospitality has been such a strong factor in why none of us want to leave this place, but all good things must come to end.

Just as our time at Gobabeb had to end and our time on the Skeleton Coast had to end and our time at Etosha National Park. Our time in Habis had to end, as well.

So this one is for the Schneiders – to their hospitality, their kindness, and their open arms. The way they treated us is something that is not easily repaid. I hope future study abroad groups get to know them they way we did.

Today we fly out of this beautiful place and head onward home. This is goodbye Schneiders. Goodbye Habis. Goodbye Namibia. Until we meet again.

Grinding the Millet

2Aug

By: Trotter Heady

Here we are along the B1 road, a major route in Namibia, headed toward the Nakambale Museum near Oshakati in the village of Olukonda. We are imagining just another museum to fill our long rides across the country, but it turned into some amazing memories that we will grasp on to forever.

Nakambale, founded in 1871, was one of the first Finnish Mission Stations in Namibia. It currently contains a museum dedicated to the history of the location, a simulated community based home that is still in use today and the restored church that was built by the original Missionaries. The site was very educational especially because it was informative about a civilization that we had zero knowledge about going into the tour. We were able to see their living conditions and learn about their ancestry.

The tour was great but so much more was to come. We were surprised with being able to visit a community that was near the museum. These homes are surrounded by a fence-like structure made by sticks, bushes or plant stalks that is used to corral the livestock as well as protect the family that lives inside. Within the fence is where there are multiple huts made from stone, clay and sticks. Each of these huts has a different use. There is a boy’s sleeping hut, a girl’s sleeping hut, a grinding hut, a brewing hut, a storage hut, a sleeping hut for the mother and infants and the father’s hut, which is near the corral. Our group was able to interact and learn from a real family that lived in one of these small communities.

We began our surprise visit by learning about millet, a grain that is widely used in this area of Namibia. These people eat millet with every meal accompanied by a vegetable and meat. Everyday millet is ground up by using a hollow log that has been sealed within the ground with clay and a very large and heavy wooden pole. Once the grain is in the hole with a splash of water it is then ground to a fine powder by slamming the wooden pole into the bowl-like log. Then the women start singing as they repeatedly land in the log perfectly. They sing about their family and loved ones in a way that seems so caring. It was obvious that this was a muscle memory action. It was so in synch that I could tell that the women are practically born performing this chore. We were then able to give it a try ourselves! The entire group quickly figured out how difficult it actually was. The women and made it seem so easy! I even bonked my head with the grinding pole. What a workout!

Millet

Then we met Johanna. This woman is an 83 year-old who visually demands respect when she entered the area. She seemed to be so stoic and wise. Johanna showered us with knowledge on our tour. Beginning with how to prepare the millet for consumption. It is simply boiled over a fire and turned into paste-like dough and eaten using your hands, no utensils here! Then Johanna taught us how to weave anything from a plate to a multicolored basket.

Johanna

Here we are in an inhabited village with real people and all I can think about is how lucky we are. How many people, let alone Texas A&M students, are able to experience a situation like this? As this trip is coming closer and closer to an end the realization that I have experienced so much in one month that most people wont throughout their entire life becomes stronger and stronger. I almost don’t want to go back! There is still so much to encounter, experience and live through that I feel like I’m not done here yet.

Etosha Park

1Aug

by Kelsey Smith

Our time in Etosha Park included seeing 3 out of the “Big 5”, a Sunday morning traffic jam of Elephants, my newfound love for Giraffes, and more Springbok than the number of bad jokes that have been told on this trip. On second thought, disregard that last comment. We have experienced a lot of extraordinary things, but there is a line between extraordinary and impossible that we can only get so close to crossing.

Before coming to Namibia I had imagined seeing many of the stereotypical animals that are so commonly associated with Africa. Those thoughts, however, seemed to come and go quickly because I don’t think I honestly expected to see the wildlife that we experienced at Etosha. Seeing each type of animal took us on a continuous roller coaster of excitement that began early Friday morning and continued until we headed for Ogongo on Sunday.

Each animal offered a unique sight because of the beautiful details in their size, shape, color, and movement. Seeing a little Jackal became a familiar sight, especially for our friend Trotter who took to its cute pet-like characteristics and tried to feed it a dinner roll. A less familiar sight that our bus driver Dennis enjoys seeing most of all each time he brings a group to Etosha was the Rhino. We were fortunate enough to see its historical and ancient movements that showed both strength and grace at a watering hole one night.

Zebras were not in short supply. The details in each Zebra’s appearance begin with definitive black stripes that perfectly shape around each one’s face and continue in the same matter throughout the rest of its body. We were also lucky enough to see one male Lion laying under the sun, which created a golden shimmer on its mane.

Before coming to Namibia I was not familiar with some of the animals that we have seen during our time here. Names like “Kudu” and “Gemsbok” were of another language to me, and their appearances seemed even more foreign. Sights of mule and white-tailed deer that are common to us in Texas don’t offer much comparison to the long spiraled horns of a Kudu or the size of its vaguely striped body. Each time we see a Gemsbok it never grows old to look at its beautiful black and white detailed face and straight, spear-like horns.

One of the most amazing sights at Etosha, and maybe even for the entire trip, were 12 powerful, yet gentle Elephants that silently walked up while we were observing a watering hole. The baby of their herd energetically followed its mother around with an unconditional excitement for life. Other Elephants whipped their trunks back to throw clouds dirt on wet skin under the warm sunshine. Each member of the herd enjoyed independently playing in the water and quenching its thirst, but the reliance they had on each other showed as they fluently moved together to and from the watering hole.

Last, but definitely not least, was the Giraffe. I’m sure each person in the bus could tell you about my overreaction when we saw them drinking at a watering hole for the first time. I have seen Giraffes before, but it wasn’t until I saw the awkward splits they have to do when bending down to get a drink of water that I fell in love. I don’t know what it is, but my heart now melts when I see this beauty of a stretch animal with a long and lanky physique that leads up to big, beautiful eyes. Maybe it spurs from my appreciation of being able to relate to another creature that looks extremely awkward when they run. I don’t know. Whatever the case, my next mission is to find a plane big enough to get my next pet back to College Station, TX so that I can introduce my dog to her new brother or sister.

A Sea of Sand

24Jul

I’ve got sand in my ears. I’ve got sand in my nose. I’ve got sand in places I didn’t even know. That is what staying in the Namib Desert is like. It’s a sandy void where not much else stirs.

During our last day here we hiked up to the top of the dune one last time to enjoy our last sunset staying at the Gobabeb Research and Training Center. My adviser, Tobin Redwine asked us, “Doesn’t this beat working at the bookstore this summer?” That’s when it hit me that I was in Africa. It took me being on top of the dune, watching the sun go down over the mountain to realize how grateful I was to be in Namibia, sifting my hand through some of the oldest sand in the world and laughing at silly jokes.

The last week of my life in Africa can only be described, in my mind, through one word: adventuresome. The tempo of the trip has been a constant go, go, go and we have hit the ground running. Whether it be gallivanting around the desert dunes or taking long exposure photos of the Southern Hemisphere sky at 4 am, it is always an adventure with this group.

Through our adventures our first priority here is as photographers. On June 22, 2013, Gobabeb has been certified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On behalf of their new certifcaition, the center requested that we assist them in updating their fauna and flora photo archive. Our driving force the past couple of days has been to capture as many living creatures that crawl around this desert. With the submission of hundreds of pictures, we have successfully improved their biota register.
What is so interesting about the trip and our “job” here is a group of students, just like us, from Texas A&M visited the Gobabeb Center last year making posters and mottos to promote the application to be certified. With success, it is wonderful to get to carry on their legacy. The old saying goes, “If an Aggie does it once, it’s a mistake; twice, it’s a tradition.” Being our second time at Gobabeb, a new Aggie tradition was started in 2013.

Even through all of our adventures and fun, it was quite strange to be at a place so far from civilization. Social interaction was limited. Personally, it is already hard being so far away from home, with so limited communication, and putting an isolated setting into the mix made it just that much harder. The adventures here are real and lively, but the solitude of the center’s community is often eerie.
Nonetheless, the adventures here in Gobabeb have been unforgettable. It has been cool to get to experience the different aspects of a place different than any other I have visited. The center has created ample opportunities for us by asking us to take pictures that could open many doors in the future. The memories of hiking up the dunes and sunsets will be engrained in my mind, as we travel elsewhere.

If you want to keep yourself updated on our travels like TAMU ALEC Namibia Abroad on Facebook and follow #TAMUSafari on Instagram.

Destination Safari

17Jul

By Kelsey Smith

After 3 flights that took us between 3 continents, 36 hours of traveling, and an accumulation of maybe 5 or 6 hours of sleep, we finally arrived at our destination at the Neudamm Campus of the University of Namibia. I have to say, getting there was probably the least stressful experience within the past week, mostly thanks to the people I will be surrounded with all day everyday for the next month. Bad jokes alongside the excitement that our adventure has finally begun continue to allow contageous smiles and laughter spread between each precious face of our newfound family. Preparing to leave the country and enter into an area that I did not have much knowledge about turned out to be the most challenging part this far. Taking care of things around the house, saying goodbye to friends and family, 2 a.m. trips to the Wal-Mart , poor packing skills, meeting for class and writing papers all seemed to creep up on me at the same time within about 72 hours of leaving the U.S. Getting to the airport, checking in, and going through security felt as if more than the 45 pounds that was my suitcase had been lifted off of my shoulders. I could begin to relax, get to know 6 of my 8 new family members better, and give my mom and brother one last call before boarding our first 10-hour flight.
The people that work for British Airways made the experience much more comfortable with their hospitality and to my excitement, REALLY cool British accents. It never got old hearing my sweet flight attendant repeatedly calling his passengers “love” while graciously serving us. When I began playing around with the touch screen that sits in the back of the headrest I was pleasantly surprised to find popular movies and TV shows along with a map that allowed us to track our flight’s location around the world. Sleeping on the plane was another story. Each time I would fall asleep it wasn’t long before I woke up to find that gravity had taken its toll yet again, bringing my head down in a position that my neck did not agree with. The airport in London was amazing. It felt as if we were in an enormous building that can’t decide whether it wants to be a mall or an airport. Our next flight to Johannesburg, South Africa was about the same, but it was a little bit easier to sleep because of how much we were overdue from the previous flight. Finally, the short flight from Johannesburg to Windhoek did each and every one of us in. At one point we were all passed out in unison, not affected by the shaking of the plane during taking off and landing, and sadly not even affected by eating (one of us… a.k.a. Tobin… literally fell asleep between each bite of food).
We reached Windhoek, Namibia to find the rest of our group. One unfortunately was told that her luggage had been lost (which has still not been discovered after more than 72 hours). This was one of those moments that Dr. Wingenbach’s advice to “pack our flexibilty” came into play. We loaded a bus, and took a short drive to the campus we would call home for the next 5 days. As I looked around I already felt at home with the scenery resembling the panhandle of Texas, or the countryside of New Mexico. The people that welcomed us to the campus are nicer and more accommodating than we could have asked for. Our meal that night was prepared by the cooks that continue to so graciously feed us breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the most selfless way.

We had the privilege of sitting in on a meeting with some of the University’s Directors, Deans, and other faculty members. They showed us a glimpse into the agriculture programs at their school and talked about how much progress they have made and continue to make at the University of Namibia. A few of their members attended Texas A&M during graduate studies, so we all loved hearing and relating to stories about their time in Aggieland.
After only 24 hours we already have so much gratitude because of the gracious people here at the Neudamm campus. They continue to go out of their way to selflessly serve, teach, laugh, and provide us with more than we expected. We will never be able to repay them, but I pray that our time, conversations, smiles, and laughter will express to them how much we appreciate their hard work.