tamusafari

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.

My Disease

5Aug

by Laura Brainard

We all know those crazy people who cough once and decide they have every disease in the book. They soon find themselves buying another medicine cabinet just to hold all the solutions to their profound problems. Personally, I have never been much of one to diagnose myself with every illness that matches a symptom. But on the other hand, I have known about a disease I have carried for quite some time. It did not come with a name or title, yet has been infecting body, soul and mind. Of course I didn’t say anything to anyone because quite honestly, I wasn’t sure what was going on and I certainly didn’t want to be a burden or identified as a complete “quack!”

All I know is that it started as an itch. After experiencing an incredible trip to Africa last year, this itch developed into more of a mental health concern because I soon found myself wanting to attend graduate school to pursue International Agriculture. Suddenly, I’m surrounded by the most influential and knowledgeable international professors in the world. But it didn’t stop. (This disease I mean). The uncontrollable itch to travel had amplified to extremes and I suddenly I have wound up back in Africa. I questioned whether or not maybe I had some sort of boomerang disease.

It wasn’t until I met my new graduate friend Melanie Balinas, where I was properly diagnosed with “Wanderlust.” Words can’t express how utterly relieved I was to be informed of this infectious travel disease. Apparently, you take this “itch” to the grave and there is no absolute cure or medication your local pharmacist or Dr. Phil can provide. The only way to suppress the symptoms is to take your desire to the next level….embrace the love of Africa.

Without a doubt, my interest has grown towards becoming more educated on developing countries and I hope to use my recent abroad trips to harness a foundation for my graduate studies. This experience has given me the opportunity to be surrounded with fellow companions with the same passion and itch. Balinas, only a year older than myself, has indefinably surpassed my air time by several hours. Dr. Wingenbach on the other hand, has undoubtedly logged more travel hours than a Canadian goose and Christopher Columbus combined. Needless to say, it is an honor and absolute privilege to be a part of this incredible experience in Africa where I can learn from some of the all-time greatest world travelers, peers, and wise crack artists. Years of travel experience brings stories, stories soon become memories, and memories evolve in to life-long friendships.

There are certainly no medications you can take for this disease. There is no cure. There is only the option to embrace the love to travel…and my suppressant is taking a journey to Africa.

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.

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.