Our brush with greatness in Namibia

We returned home to Windhoek today from an 11-day trip with my parents to Namibia's Caprivi region, Zambia, and Botswana. More to come regarding those adventures, but I thought I would start with a story of our last adventure of the trip.

It was about 4:30 pm, and we were pulling into our last lodge for the trip--Zelda Guest Farm, west of Gobabis, Namibia--about 20 km from the Botswana border. We were very happy to be back in Namibia and on 'our own' soil again.

Upon pulling into the drive to the Zelda Guest Farm, we noticed a police vehicle following us. Then, we found a large bevy of security folks near the lodge. We checked in at the reception desk, only to find out that Namibia's President Hfikepunye Pohamba was to be a guest that same night!

We were hurriedly encouraged to attend a cheetah feeding, which seemed to be timed precisely to coordinate with His Excellency's arrival by helicopter--to keep us away from his entourage. We did spot the President walking to his private dining room at the lodge later that evening. Except for that brief moment, we never saw him again. But, his security folks were crawling over the place all day and night.

We are often reminded of how small a country Namibia is--this was a great example. I'm sure if President Obama decided to go to a lodge, our reservations would have been cancelled and the entire place securely shut down for his visit. Not here. Also, the President's security forces camped in the lodge campground overnight--no high rolling suites for them!


In the morning, I went out on a bird walk, and successfully added 7 new species to my life list in about 15 minutes. The other half hour of the walk, I was attempting to be sly and find ways to take photos of various Presidential moments from various vantages in the bush--sometimes it pays to be a birdwatcher...the photo at right is the security force that was near our room.

Other than getting our dinner about 30 minutes late, our visit was not affected by the President's visit. We were not frisked, interviewed, or viewed suspiciously by the security folks. We managed to find some 'decent' clothes in our bags of almost-all-dirty-because-the-trip-is-almost-over clothes, to make ourselves presentable at dinner. Tristan even washed his glasses and combed the lint off his coat before going to dinner. It was arguably the safest night we've ever spent in the country! It was a great place, and we'll write more later about our interactions with the San people that live on the farm.

I might add that I waited to post this until now, in the interest of Namibia's national security. The President left, according to his aides, at about 4 pm this afternoon, so his whereabouts are once again top secret.