South

Africa and Namibia

We used our rst day in the city to

visit the Apartheid museum. It is a
powerful place that tells the story of
South Africa's troubled history.

Our kids were just barely old

enough to witness video
footage of the iniBal student
uprising in 1989.

The next day, we joined a bicycle tour in the Soweto

townships of Johannesburg. This is where the uprising
occurred.

We rode through poor

and middle class
neighborhoods

stopped at tributes to the uprisings

and ended at Nelson Mandela's former house.

For the kids, it was a not-so-subtle educaBon that

the privileges of our life and educaBon are not
universal

On Tuesday, April 5th, we drove a

long way to Krueger NaBonal Park,
spending four days exploring the
southern half of the Park. The
amount of animals is astonishing.
We saw most species face to face.
The only absence was the rare Wild
Dog and the elusive Cheetah
(though we did nally see one in
Namibia a week later).

The rest camps were nice (though commercialized) and

usually situated above some river, where we could watch
life happen over a beer.

During the drives, the people spread out and leV us with
the feeling of being far out there somewhere.

AVer returning to Jo'burg,

we ew to Windhoek, the
capital city of Namibia for
the next days of adventure.

Equipped with a loaded truck, we headed north to

Etosha NaBonal Park.

We explored the expansive salt pan

and saw more wildlife.

Our luxury accommodaBons

AVer another long drive, we arrived in

Swakopmund, where we dipped our toes in the
South AtlanBc Ocean

and sand-boarded the dunes.

We conBnued to Sossusvlei and hiked the 1200-foot

dunes of the Namib Desert. We rose at 0400 to hike
the sand before it became too hot to touch. It is one
of the most scenic areas and it was hard to stop taking
photos...

This marsh land was cut from water by the wandering sand dunes. These trees
have been dead for many hundreds of years but fail to decompose due to the
dry climate

Returning to civilizaBon, we explored Windhoek by foot

before starBng the

long trip around the
world back to Sea^le.

Besides the obvious scenery and animals, the kids learned a lot about traveling and
we got to talk to many local people. We had a discussion at our Jo'burg hotel with a
Kenyan and Zimbabwean that taught us a lot about the current mindset in Africa,
their views of our side of the world and even Donald Trump ("We have Donald
Trumps all over Africa, now you nally have yours").

It was a wonderful trip in all respects.