Lunch

This lady is stirring the pap for her family's lunch

This is the pot of  tasty 'relish' made of beef to go on the pap

The start of the school day

Pre-primary learners line up to go into their classroom

It is very dusty so the sand needs to be swept every day.

Josephine helps to keep the school clean 

Mrs Mayembelo and Mrs Mutau are ready to teach

Chobe National Park, Botswana

The bridge that separates Namibia from Botswana

Just over the Namibian border, in Botswana is Chobe National Park, which runs parallel to the 'pan handle' of the Caprivi Strip. There are many animals living in Chobe. Visitors can drive through the park and see the animals. 

One of many large beetles at the border

There are many buffalo, which live in great herds 

About 40 hippos wallowing in the water

Security Guard

Many houses have security guards at night, to protect the property from burglary.

For a few days, our front door lock was broken, and so we were given a very friendly security guard to keep a careful eye on our house. Thankfully the lock was mended quite soon, and so there is no need for a guard any more.

The Market in Bukalo

The small market is open every day.
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It is opposite the place where you wait when you want to get a lift into the main town of Katima. This is called 'hiking' and it costs £1.50 (15 Namibian dollars) to go from Bukalo to Katima.

The market sells fish, both fresh and dried bream.

A lady prepares the fresh fish for sale.

A teacher from Bukalo School chooses some fish to buy for her tea.

Assembly at Bukalo Primary School

Assembly is once a week on Monday at 10 minutes to 7. All the learners line up in their classes, facing the front.

Even though the temperature is quite warm, some learners are wearing a jacket and hood.

The assembly begins with everyone singing Namibia's National Anthem while the flag is raised. 

Next the learners say a prayer, which is led by one of the teachers at the front.

The man with the file is the principal.

At the end, the learners go quietly in their lines back to their classrooms. 

Swakopmund

Swakopmund is on Namibia's coast (in the west) roughly in line with the capital Windhoek.

It is 1400 km from Katima Mulilo, and it takes around 16 hours to drive in a car. 1400km is around 875 miles, so the whole distance there and back is 1750 miles. The road is very long and can get very boring at times.







The sun makes the road ahead look as though it disappears. This is called a ‘mirage’.

There were many road signs like these, to warn drivers to watch out for elephants. There were also road signs showing warthogs and kudu (a kind of antelope). Although we didn’t see these animals, we did see several families of baboons and ostriches, a single giraffe, two elephants and a large stag deer, possibly an oryx.

Rossing Uranium Mine near Swakopmund

is an open cast mine which extracts uranium from the earth. 

The pieces of rock are crushed and processed until they end up as pure uranium, which gives energy. One barrel of uranium gives the same energy as 40 000 barrels of oil. The processed uranium is radio-active and so there are many, many safety measures in place to ensure everyone who works at or near the mine is safe. The uranium was first discovered by an ‘amateur prospector’ called Rossing in the 1930s. It took until 1980 to begin mining in Namibia. The shovels on the vehicles are enormous! The dust cloud is from the blasting.  

The Museum in Swakopmund has many interesting things, showing how life used to be in Namibia. Things are changing very slowly. The musical instruments and the necklace were of particular interest.

Women from the Himba tribe

The Himba people put special paste on their skin to make it a red colour. These ladies were selling crafts and jewellery. The lady in the picture is holding the very bracelet I bought for my daughter. I will give it to her when I return to England.