Don't worry, we didn't see any.
The rocks had been worn down into a seat where you could sit on the edge and let the water rush over you. It was so relaxing...Julia and I felt like we were at the most exclusive spa in the world!
Pa, Ecky, Julia and Kyle
The past two weekends have been jam-packed with traveling. Three other volunteers are fairly close to me and I've been able to hang out with them almost every weekend since we got up north...it works out nicely that we all like each other so well! So Julia, Brent, Kyle and I planned a trip to Ruacana Falls. It's a waterfall that has been dammed up and now provides power to about 70% of northern Namibia, if I remember correctly. Also, technically you leave Namibia and are in Angola briefly when you visit, so this will be the only time I set foot in Angola. During the rainy season (which is now) the falls can be very impressive so we decided to play tourist and get away from our towns for a couple of days.
Everything fell into place nicely for us...we had planned to hike there on Friday after school, but Kyle's colleague David, or "Pa", was nice enough to offer to drive us. It wasn't an entirely altruistic offer, though, since Pa had never been to Ruacana and it gave him an excuse to go. He brought a friend, Ecky (I'm probably butchering the spelling of his name), and we set off on a meandering route to the falls. Pa and Ecky were up front and the rest of us arranged ourselves in the back of the truck. Luckily it was covered and it really wasn't a bad way to travel...the alternative would have been much hiking with many more people in a more cramped space, so we were happy to have the luxury of Pa's truck.
We stopped in Ondangwa for food and wine, where we were made fun of by the woman at the check out because Julia and I rolled up with a ridiculous amount of chocolate and marshmallows for s'mores. Randomly enough, once we explained what we were planning to do with such a copious amount of chocolate, the woman said that she had tried s'mores before when she was in Wyoming.
Then we needed to stop at KFC in Ongwadiva (I'm not sure I've ever eaten at a KFC in the states) for dinner and then Pa needed to stop in Oshikuku to say hi to his girlfriend. We didn't reach Ruacana until after dark. There wasn't anyone on duty at the campsite but it looked like there were some people behind a fence sitting around a fire. Pa and Ecky got out to ask the man (a white afrikaner) about camping and he was incredibly unhelpful and told them they couldn't camp there. The four of us then got out to talk to him to see if that would help and the guy back tracked a little bit, but still said he wouldn't recommend camping there since we hadn't made a reservation. So we backtracked up the road to a shebeen to find out what we should do. We found the woman in charge of the campsite hanging out there and she told us just to go back and camp and that we could pay in the morning. So back we went and set up camp. Pa and Ecky clearly thought we were crazy to sleep in tents on the ground so they slept in the back of the truck and the rest of us pitched some tents. Then we settled into an evening ginger nut cookies, boxed red wine, and some raucous games of skip-bo.
The next morning came all to soon and we were up early to find the falls...I had been hoping to do some hiking, but it was more of a drive. I really didn't have high expectations, so when we found the falls it wasn't hard to be impressed. We viewed it from the top for awhile and then walked down the stairs (something like 479 of them) where you could scramble over the rocks down to the very bottom. Maybe the falls themselves aren't as physically impressive as Niagara Falls or Vic Falls, but we were completely alone there. We were there for 3 or 4 hours and we never saw another person. It was an incredible feeling. We had a picnic on the rocks and lay out in the sun for hours and it was amazingly peaceful. It was wicked hot though, so when we found a spot at the edge of one of the rapids where you could sit safely and have the water rush over you we all indulged in a safe dip.
Afterwards we continued our lazy afternoon lounging around the campsite. The only thing that would have made the weekend more complete would have been if we had gotten the goat that had been offered to us...the woman who ran the site came over to say there was a goat auction going on and to see if we wanted one. This would've involved killing the goat ourselves, and Brent said he was up for it. I wasn't too sure about the killing part, but I would've eaten it, but we waited too long and missed out.
Sunday morning came and we loaded up our stuff and crawled back into the truck to head back home.
