It begins. I am now crossing Africa in a ridiculous big red truck full of rock climbers. The trip is called Hot Rock and the truck is called BiRT (the Big Red Truck). Needless to say, it has been an adventure – I have been with the truck for nearly a month now and am settling in to the rhythm of dust and grime and scarce showers. Being in a group is a bit odd after going solo for so long, though. It can sometimes feel a bit like Big Brother on the Big Red Truck. I wish I had a decent video camera and an interview chair…

I joined the group in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, after a few days on the coast of Tanzania on Mafia Island. I was given a tour of the truck and the first thing I noticed was the smell. Then I was told that I was the first girl in the group, aside from the trip leader (which explained the smell), and met the lads. Everyone seemed nice enough, but I was exhausted, and retired to my tent fairly early while the others had a big night. They had just come off a week in the desert and were enjoying a bit of civilisation (e.g. beer and girls). I did not have the same predilection. ;)

Windhoek (prn: Vint-hook) is a pleasant enough town, mainly known for the lager beer of the same name. Nothing notable happened there, other than a good deal of preparatory shopping and a delicious meal at a steakhouse that I couldn’t appreciate quite like the other, half-starved members of the group. I should mention the food budget for each traveller is $1 a day, which is for breakfast AND dinner, plus a little extra for condiments. While this amazingly seems to work for the most part, when a steak is at hand, people run for it.

Finally, we were ready (a few days late) and we took off for a town called Swakopmund, on the coast of Namibia, and an adrenaline junkie’s paradise. Everyone was eagerly looking forward to the activities on offer there. We quad biked on huge sand dunes, sky dived, met a crazy old man who set up a 1.2 km zip line from one mountain to another (which of course we had to try), among other things.

Dune Diving near Swakopmund

Sky Diving near Swakopmund - I'm on the right.

Mike getting ready to zip-line 1.2km across the valley

Here I also learned that there was somewhat of a pirate theme on the truck, which for those of you who know me, this was cerrrrrtainly exciting… I ran out posthaste and bought the gear to make our own “land-pirate” flag. 

The Pirate Flag

Having exhausted the crazy activities in Swakopmund, we headed inland for a week of climbing at Spitzkoppe, which is a huge granite peak that rises up 700m from the surrounding desert. It was pretty intense for my first climbing in months, let alone outdoor climbing which I hadn’t done in over a year. One of the first endevours, of course, was the summit. Another favourite climb was the Rhino Horn, which had an amazing abseil in the sunset. Aside from the hordes of flies, it was a fun climbing spot which reminded me quite a lot of a slabby version of Smith Rock, Oregon.

BiRT and Camp at Spitzkoppe

Remi and I at the top of Spitzkoppe - photo taken by Mike

Abseiling off the Rhino Horn - taken by Remi

Our Spitzkoppe camp at night

Next, we headed up the Skeleton Coast (where we actually did see a number of animal skeletons), stopped off at a “Ship Wrack” and took a dip in the frigid water. It was a quick visit as we had a long drive day with destination: Etosha Pan (salt flat and game park). We ran around on the salt flat and went on Safari with BiRT, which is an interesting experience given its ridiculously loud diesel truck engine and a bunch of loud climbers blasting music in the back. I have a lot of great pictures of animal bums, as they all ran away the moment they sensed us coming.

BiRT on the Skeleton Coast

Zebra bums in Etosha

Hot Rockers proudly waving the pirate flag, from left: Remi, Sam, Mike, Emma (trip leader), Henry (the driver)

Bye bye pretty elephant!

Giraffe watching us

BiRT Wildlife Photographers

Our second safari, in Botswana’s Chobe National Park, was more successful. We took advantage of local 4×4 jeeps and split up into smaller, quieter groups. This way we saw much more game, including: giraffes, elephants, zebra, a rhino, hippos, oryx, springbok, crocodiles, and LIONS, who were a leeeettle closer than some would have liked… especially when they began running toward the ‘candy mobiles’ as I like to call our jeeps, making eye contact with you as you begin to worry that mayyyybe they are selecting their next meal.

Lion in Chobe park, Botswana

Elephant pooping in Chobe, Botswana

Hippos

 For more photos, visit the flickr sets Namibia and Botswana.