Namibia - Day One & Two

Travelling There and Arriving


I left for Manchester airport on Sunday 9th June as my flight was at 18.50 and even arrived in plenty of time to check everything in (16.40), after saying goodbye to mum which was a little more emotional than I expected I then went and bought an adapter (which turned out to be the wrong one, even though the shop man was positive it was correct), some flipflops and a nice new notepad. The flights all felt like a bit of a  mad rush, due to having to run around Zurich airport with heaving bags and having to get on a train from one side of the airport to the other but i luckily made my flight to Johannesburg.
Breakfast on the plane to South Africa was served very early but I was pleasantly surprised by all the plane food served on the trip there. In South Africa I had a 4 hour layover. On the plane from Zurich however I was told I needed to collect my bag and recheck it in. So after spending an hour in the queue for passport control and going to the baggage carousel I was informed that my bag would be on my flight and that I hadn't need to have done the hour of wandering! Once on the flight to Windhoek I slept for the majority of it due to being so shattered!

views on the way to the sanctuary


My flight landed in Windhoek at 14.15 and I was so relieved to be greeted by a man holding a sign with my name on it!! There was 6 of us who clambered into the minibus and it took about an hour to reach N/a 'an ku se Wildlife Sanctuary. Once we arrived we were shown to our rooms. I shared a room with 2 girls called Harriet and Mowena (not that I could have told you there names on the first day, or anyone elses names who i had met). They were both so lovely, Mowena is a vet and Harriet did a degree in animal behavior. The food at the Sanctuary whilst I was there was better than expected, usually with meat in a sauce and rice/pasta/potatoes. Definitely not the Chicken and Chips that I was given every night in Gambia. In the evening everyone sits round the fire and just chat. Whilst I was at the sanctuary there was probably between 20 and 30 people, which seems pretty daunting to begin with but after spending time with them it seems like a good number.
The first night I was most surprised about was the fact everyone going to bed by 8/9 and so even though you get up around 6am you still get over 10 hours sleep!