Namibia day 8 - San woman

Last night after supper I had to stay in the restaurant to upload my blip as that was the only place I could get WiFi. Then when I got to our room I decided to try and photograph the Milky Way. We could see Orion, the Southern Cross and Canus Major. The Milky Way could easily be seen in the dark skies, but I did not have much success photographing it as my f/2.8 lens was only 24mm and ideally it needs to be much wider than that. 

This morning I woke up very early and then Tommy and I decided to photograph the sunrise. It was not a spectacular one, nothing like the red sunset last night. After sunrise the sky became the most beautiful cerulean blue. I am enjoying the colours here, and the clouds during the day in the blue sky are such interesting shapes. 

After breakfast - the staff baked me GF bread for breakfast which was delicious, and GF rolls for the road - we packed up and left. We were heading to Damaraland and on the way we stopped at a living museum to visit a San tribe. We visited the Masai when we were in Kenya several years ago and I found the whole experience very commercial and lacking in authenticity. Although we paid a fee per person to visit the San people it felt far more authentic and we spoke to them about their lifestyle and their families. I was allowed to freely take photos which was great. This woman is making jewellery from ostrich shells and wood, it was so delicate and intricate. The men demonstrated fire making skills and hunting with a bow and arrow.

We then went via Uis, which is where there is a tin mine and where we had lunch at a cafe - it was ridiculously cheap but so slow. We finally got to our destination Camp Kipwe in Damaraland, which is the home of the desert adapted animals, particularly adapted elephants. We could not believe our room - we were upgraded to a suite which is mind blowing as it’s huge with its own plunge pool on a deck overlooking the endless landscape with the granite koppies and basalt mountains. It is above the lodge and it feels like we are in our own special haven. It got to 37C today, so hot!

We had sundowners at the mountain bar perched higher up the mountain where we watched the sunset. It can be seen in the extras but what wa more spectacular was the reflection of the sunset on the clouds behind us, it was quite breathtaking - last extra.

We have got wifi again but I have had no time to look at journals. Tomorrow morning we are leaving at 6am to go try and find the desert adapted elephants who are usually in the dry river bed. We will have some down time in the afternoon so maybe I can catch up then.