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Field Notes From Namibia- Part 2

Photo-Dylan & Delila8/18/97
By Delila Geises, Namibia
and Dylan Woodbury, U.S.
At six o'clock this morning, about half of us went on a game run with Pete, a volunteer at CCF. Unfortunately we didn't see very much. After the unsuccessful game drive, we returned to an unsavory breakfast of what was said to be French Toast. It was not very good. After breakfast, we packedup our belongings and stuffed them onto the bus. Once the bus was ready to go, we made a final garbage sweep of the center and said our goodbyes to Madala and Albertina, our hosts. The next five hours were spent driving from the Namutoni Educational Center to Okakuejo Rest Area. We stopped at several water holes but were disappointed, because we had yet to see any predators and were mainly seeing more zebras, giraffes and springbok. Photo-ZebrasLuckily for us, Anna was on the trail--of a leopard that is. She had the fortune to spot one resting in a tree. Nobody got a picture, but we have plenty of witnesses.
Once we had gotten to Okakuejo we set up our tents and headed straight to the swimming pool. It was colder than something that is very cold. Refreshed from the swim, we decided to eat out at the luxurious buffet. We enjoyed food such as Impala and Ostrich. We returned to camp and had a productive camp meeting. After that, the whole group sat out at the water hole. Though it was colder than the swimming pool, some of us (the real troupers) managed to stick it out until the wee hours of the morning. We saw many interesting animals for the first time, such as Jackals, Rhinos (three of them to be exact), and finally when only a few of us were left, some Hyenas. All in all it was a productive day. We all had a lot of fun and hopefully there will be more to come on the CCF Ranch.
8/19/97
By Nicodemus Hifitikeko, Namibia and Muriel Arroyo, US
Today was a good day. This morning everyone did what they wanted to. Nicodemus and I and others went for a morning swim. The water was cold, but the Namibian heat kept us warm.We headed out about 10:30 and were on the road again. On the bus we were jamming all different tunes. We all danced and sang. We all felt good and enjoyed ourselves. We felt the unity and bond between both cultures. We are one now.
It was about a four hour ride, but since we had fun it felt like two. We stopped for lunch at a park in Outjo and headed for CCF. On the way we saw three lions on rocks. The bus stopped and everyone had a chance to see through the binoculars these beautiful creatures. It felt like total awe.It CCF we made our tents and settled down our sleeping bags. Then all of us teens danced and had show time. We laughed and shaked our bodies from left to right. We feel the group is becoming closer, dancing under the Namibian Sky as the time passed us by. The feeling was strong and tremendous. I think the meeting yesterday really helped.
We just finished eating dinner, it was super de dooper! To top it off we ate a lovely brownie. We hope the unity we have known will stay like this and actually grow stronger throughout the trip. The moon is full and bright. In the distance we see a vague silhouette of the Waterberg Plateau. It is beautiful out here. It feels like a dream come true. Everyone is conversing around a campfire. You can feel the love when we all sit together. Today was the first time we all as a group participated in dancing and just having fun! Keep it up.
8/21/97
Photo-Ruins
By Patrick Viehoever, U.S.
and Englehardt Awaseb, Namibia.
This morning at the CCF ranch we were to try to get an early start on the day, but one of the trucks had a flat tire--the second one since we got here--so we were late...fine with us. We arrived at the camp construction site about 9:30 and started to work. One group started making stairs to the food hut (which was already partially built) while other groups leveled tent sites, blazed trails to the hut and the toilet site and dug a camp fire pit. We are hoping to be able to move ourselves to the camp site in the next few days. The boundaries of the area we can be in at CCF headquarters have been limited because one of the wild cheetahs captured by a rancher and turned over to CCF has escaped. They are attempting to recapture it and we would easily scare it away with our noise. We went on the bus at 5:00 to a field to see Photo-ChewbaakaChewbaaka, CCF's pet cheetah, chase a little piece of cloth on a line driven over the ground by a motor. It was realy cool, but he never actually ran full speed, he really didn't have to. We then got to pet him while he was resting, and Laurie Marker, the CCF Director, talked about different aspects of cheetah behavior, genetics and lifestyle. I'll now let Englehard finish the last sentence, because I want to see his handwriting... Hi, this is Englehard, how are you?
P.S. People from the World Wildlife Fund are visiting today, so Laurie is very busy.
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