You know what’s not fun? Camping with a cold.
I’m here in Okonjima, which is a couple of hours north of Windhoek, camping in a game reserve owned by the Africat Foundation. It’s the first day of my camping safari tour, and all would be wonderful if not for this nasty cold. I woke up this morning feeling like I’d been hit by a truck, and I’ve already gone through about four packs of tissues. It’s a great way to meet new people, let me tell you: “Hi, I’m Sari, and I’m covered in germs. Nice to meet you.” But, as they say, you can be sick at home or you can be sick on safari, so might as well be sick on safari.
Our group of ten consists of three South Africans, four Americans, an Australian, a German and myself, the lone Canadian. Led by our guide, George, and our camping assistant, Alfeus, we set out in a 4WD safari truck mid-morning and headed north.
The first stop was in Okahandja, one of those typical tourist trap craft market service station places that tours love to take groups. Some people bought stuff. I bought a coffee, and tried not to sneeze.
Next was the obligatory grocery store shop, where we could pick up drinks and snacks. They’re feeding us quite well, but everyone has their own preferences for truck munchies and libations. We all bought far too much food, and got back on the truck for the drive north.
We arrived at our campsite in Okinjima about 2pm. It’s one of the fanciest, laziest campsites I’ve ever seen. It has flush toilets, hot showers, electricity and drinkable running water. Not only that, but it’s completely secluded; it feels like we’re the only human beings in the place. Amazing. Because we were running late, the guides even pitched our tents for us while we were off exploring the foundation.
Then, the purpose of our stay here: The foundation employees met us with open-top safari vehicles and gave us the grand tour. The Africat Foundation is a cheetah conservation project that seeks to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned and injured cheetahs. The vets were actually doing their annual health checks of the cheetahs, which was pretty neat to watch. They also have one leopard on the grounds, and we got to see it being fed some meat. Aside from the cheetahs and leopard, we saw a wide range of other wild animals, including springbok, kudu, and lots of warthogs.
Dinner was a delicious cookout over the fire, followed by stargazing. It’s actually not all that cold at night here — it’ll be much colder in the south — but being sick makes it feel freezing. I’m wearing every layer I have and have set up a thermal liner, sleeping bag and blanket setup in my tent. Hopefully it will keep me warm enough to allow me to get some sleep and shake this cold once and for all.