-Cow

Farm life in Namibia. We got a little taste of it over the holiday while we were house sitting for my supervisor at LAC. She has a lovely colonial-style home outside of Windhoek and the farm comes complete with cows, chickens, dogs and cats. One cat is a wild African cat. There are other interesting wild creatures running around including warthogs, leopards and baboons. The baboons can be quite a nuisance. In fact, every morning there are fresh eggs—except for when the baboons get the eggs first which happens quite often. They are a bit rude. My supervisor says that so long as you bring dogs with you on walks etc, leopards will usually be too afraid to come near humans. The dogs certainly are not afraid of warthogs either--they went charging after one but luckily we caught them before they were harmed. I'm not sure what the dogs would have done had they caught up with the warthog but there are many stories of warthog vs. dog that end with a warthog victory.

-Andrew with the dogs

-A cow crossing in front of the vehicle

We had quite a lovely stay and things were always interesting. There were a few veldt fires one night coming from two different directions, which was a bit scary, but they did not reach the house so it was all fine. It did cause a bit of an issue though since the fire destroyed some of the water pipes. I imagine living in the more remote areas of Namibia is similar to living in the rural U.S. You are kind of on your own with these kinds of things.

While the farm is not too far from Windhoek, the unpaved road to get there was a bit tricky to drive (this is a huge understatement). Even in a 4x4 vehicle, it was a difficult 30 minutes of navigating windy, hilly, unpaved, and rocky “roads”. Despite this, the drive is beautiful and it was refreshing to spend some time outside of the city.

Namibia has some frightening creatures and they seem to enjoy the more remote areas. Andrew really does not like spiders or solifugaes (giant spider-like creatures). Solifugaes are not poisonous but they are pretty scary looking. However, after expressing his concern about spiders, the farm hand let us know that we should be much more concerned about Zebra snakes, which cannot only harm or kill you when they bite, but also when they spit their deadly venom from several feet. Uniquely, the Zebra snake’s venom is both cytotoxic and neurotoxic, killing and/or harming cells in the body and disrupting neurological function. There are also Puff Adders in the area, which were described as “lazy snakes.” At first we thought this was a good thing, but then we were told that more people are actually bitten more often by Puff Adders because they hide under piles of leaves and grass and instead of retreating (like Zebra snakes), would prefer to attack. Their venom is cytotoxic and causes muscles to deteriorate. For example, Andrew met someone named “Crazy Warren” who had been bitten by Puff Adders multiple times. As a result his calf muscles were almost entirely deteriorated.

One other interesting thing that happened at the farm, Andrew was asked to help find an intruder in one of the rental houses on the property. Not sure what to expect, he went along for the ride. As the farm hand, his two friends and Andrew rode into the night ready to face intruders who could be armed, desperate and/or dangerous, the Taylor Swift song “Shake It Off” blared on the radio. No one seemed to notice the song selection since they were focused on the task at hand but I really wish someone had made a video. Andrew and the other three met up with some neighbors, the ones who had informed them that there was a possible intruder. After explaining something in Afrikaans, one man fired his shotgun into the veldt. Everyone else seemed to know this would happen (they understood Afrikaans) but this understandably surprised Andrew quite a bit. Luckily no one was in his firing area so no one was harmed. I am not sure what this man’s intention was in firing a gun where there could be people or animals. Lets hope that his goal was to frighten and not maim.

The interesting people and wildlife here certainly make the farm experience in Namibia unique.

-A view from the porch