Blog - ABCs Part 1

Blog 5 – May '13 - Namibian Rebecca's ABCs

I’ve been living in the desert with little human contact and no TV for a little while now, so I figure I am in the prime position to follow a recent trend by basing my blog around a pop culture reference. So, this blog (and 2 more to come) will be based on a very important theme from the ever popular, ever quoted, Sesame Street. The alphabet. Oh yes, I am so hip, so cool, so up on what the popular kids are watching it isn’t funny. So here are my ABC’s; the ABC’s that define my life in the field. Some are very similar to the ABC’s of Australian Rebecca, and some are a product of Namibian Rebecca.

A is for Avian. Surprisingly for those of you who know me I have become a bit of a bird watcher. In 2 weeks my Birds of Africa book has been opened more times than my Birds of Australia ever was and I have managed to ID 34 species and counting.

B is for Baking. My limited time off is spent baking which is less of a surprise. It gives me something to do and seeing as I am over 100km from the nearest town, something to eat. It’s also just as good at softening people up (perhaps literally as well as figuratively) as it is back home.

C is for Cloud. On day 17 in Namibia something felt odd, everything looked… different. It turns out it was cloudy. Until my 17th day I hadn’t even seen solitary wisp of a cloud.

Namibia 1 : Queensland 0

D is for Desert, Dirt and Dust. Unsurprisingly everything I own is covered in a

coat of white dust. Fortunately my car (pictured) is already white, so it saves

on washing.

E is for Elephants. You can sit at a waterhole all day watching wildebeest (and

other numerous game species) with not another human being in sight but the second an elephant shows up you’re sharing the waterhole viewing road with at least 5 other vehicles, many filled with loud German-speaking occupants.

F is for Fridays. There are no groups having Friday drinks or a celebratory dinner, instead I enjoy a wine as the sun goes down and watch my ‘pet’ jackal (you’ll have to wait until J for that story) attempt to hunt.

G is for groceries. Or lack thereof. I have realised just how dependent Australian Rebecca was on international flavours. So far I’ve made coconut-less Anzac biscuits, soy-less stir-fries, nut-free pesto and burrito-less burritos, I’m planning meals that I can freeze so that I can last 3 weeks without shopping and am eating fruit in order of perishability.

H is for Hot stuff, aka Alcohol. A few lessons: Light beer is more expensive than full strength beer so obviously, full strength it is, in case you needed a new excuse. The price of wine doesn’t necessarily tell a story about quality-stick with what you know. And finally, “hot stuff” is cheap in Namibia, even their tourist prices (which they find exorbitant) are cheap compared to Australia.

Until next time, this is Namibia Rebecca signing off.