San Festival

Well school holidays started last week and I've been doing a little travelling. Last weekend I went to the Kuru Dance Festival just north of Ganzi, Botswana. The dancers were comprised mainly of San people and it was an amazing experience. I went with Trine and Ingrid from Tsumkwe and we were joined by Beth and Ingrid from the Peace Corp. We crossed the border just east of Tsumkwe on Friday August 19 (my birthday!) and made the 120 km trek across deep sand to the paved road. From the paved road is was another 200 km (or so) to the camp just north of Ganzi.

Friday evening consisted of fireside healing dances and was quite nice, although hard to see at times. After the dancing we went back to our site and prepared some of my famous chilli for dinner and had champagne. The chilli definitely has an African twist, as ants had somehow crept into the pot. All in all a great birthday.

The next morning started off will VERY long speeches by representatives. It was worth the wait as this was followed by children dancing. So cute! During the afternoon break we went into Ganzi to pick up more supplies, fuel and explore. Its a very new and clean town, not at all what I'm used to seeing in Tsumkwe. The rest of the day consisted of more dancing and games. I have many pictures and hope to post them shortly. After dinner on the Saturday evening they had several musicians, with the most popular instrument being a hand piano!
On Monday morning Ingrid and Beth caught a lift to Windhoek while we headed north to make the border crossing. Unfortunately the border closes at 3:30 p.m. so we decided to go a few hours north to the Okavango Delta. It was so amazing! We drove through swamp, mud, cow pastures, monkey filled trees, by elephants...to a beautiful campsite on the water. I haven't seen water since I've arrived in Namibia, so it was awesome to sit by the water and feel the wind of the delta. We basically spent the afternoon sitting by the water and sipped a cool beer. Heaven.

The next day we made our way back to Tsumkwe and since then I've been anxiously awaiting our trip to Fish River Canyon. We'll be making our way to Windhoek this weekend and will start the 86 km trek of FRC in Monday. After that I'll be in Windhoek for a week at the VSO National Conference...then back to school. So if I'm not quick in replying these next few weeks...SORRY.
All the best, Jeanson (my other new name)