Orange River: January 19

After spending the night on the beach we headed into Namibia with a full day of driving. We ended up at our first night of bush camping along the Orange River. We had no running water, no toilets, and no showers. It was my first experience bathing in a river and my first time having to walk down to the river with my headlamp as my only light to wash my dishes. The landscape was very different on the river than it was on the ocean and there was not the same fog that we had experienced the previous morning.

The 22 students were divided into three teams, the Red team, White team, and Blue team. I was a part of the Red team with Nancy, Sally, Martha Anne, Andy, Gus and Patrick. We were the first team to be on duty so we were on duty at Strandfontein and at the Orange River. Burger kept reminding us that we had to learn to work together and that definitely proved true. Some jobs were easier for the boys, like starting the fire and carrying the heavy pots, while the girls were more interested in the cooking! At the Orange River we had minced meat with corn and green beans, a tomato sauce and pasta. It was very different cooking all of that over an open fire rather than in an oven at home but it just made us appreciate the fact that we do not have to build our own fire at a daily basis at home. After being on duty for two days we had a break for the next four days while the other groups were on duty.

On our drive we passed by a quiver tree (aloe dichotoma). We learned about this plant during our presentations at Wofford so it was interesting to actually see it in its natural habitat. It was standing pretty much in the middle of nowhere and had no other plants or trees nearby. Although it is called a tree it is actually an aloe plant and it is a succulent. It has a thick trunk where it stores water and a very hard bark. The branches are covered in a white powder that reflects the sun. The San people use the branches of this tree to hollow out and make quivers to hold their arrows. In the particular tree that we looked at there was a weaver nest. By being up in the tree, the birds are protected from jackals and other animals that might prey on the young.