Angolan to South African border in a week

Fish River Canyon - amazing

Our group and our amazing tour guides

From the top of a mountain along the Orange River

Mountains at our first campsite

I am back from the Orange River, exhausted and happy to be back in the land of showers and beds and running water. My final week of travel was incredible. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking, and I am so glad that I got to see the southern parts of Namibia. This past Sunday we left at 5:30am, drove all the way down to Noordoewer which is on the border of Namibia and South Africa and spent time at the base camp. We drove the B1 (which I can now say has the nickname "the road of death" because there are no streetlights and there are only 2 lanes: aka no night driving), which means that we took the highway all the way up to Angola last week and then all the way down to South Africa this week.
The next morning we set off down the river, the mountains were beautiful. The river had occasional rapids which were so much fun, and Larry and I succeeded in not capsizing at any point! The other people on the canoe trip were really great and far more prepared than us- it turns out that being rushed means that we forgot basic essentials such as sleeping mats, utensils and plates. For being so minimalistic we had a wonderful time and did really well. This may or may not have something to do with the ability to scrounge things up from other people. After the Orange River we drove to Fish River Canyon, which is the world's second largest canyon. It was unbelievable how small it made me feel and how quiet everything was. The canyon went on for miles and miles. (As you can tell this trip was filled with beautiful landscapes). Then last night we stopped in Rehoboth, which is south of Windhoek. We camped along a lake, I won't mention the mountains and how great they are. I do have lots of photos, but typical of Namibia the internet is unwilling to upload more than the ones I have above.
It was a great week of relaxing and seeing more of the country. The month of October has meant more sleeping under the stars and less showers than I ever thought I was capable of and I loved it. I understand now how Namibia only has a population of 2 million, because there is so much empty land, which I would have no idea of if I stayed in Windhoek West. Driving back in to Windhoek this morning I felt like it was such a big city - that's when you know you've been in sparsely populated areas for a long time, when you start to feel that Windhoek is big! It is reassuring to get back to civilization, even though I have no desire to get back to work. I can't believe how quickly the month of November is going to go by, I have lots to do with the rest of my time here - starting with working on my list of restaurants to visit!