Have you ever travelled on an overland truck? Very cool and you should. But there are some downsides that I wish to share. So maybe you wanna think twice?
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| Kamanjab - Himba campsite - August 2009 |
For starters... there is a group in an overland truck. In my case these are usually Dutch families, which are great but sometimes noisy. Now you wake up, usually around 7 AM, and the group is there. You have breakfast, and they are still there. You drive for up till 8 hours and they are still there! You get of the truck, everybody sets up their tents and helps to prepare dinner or make a camp fire. This would actually get quite boring, if they weren't there. The food is great. The Zimbabwan cook charming. The wine comes in cardboard boxes so there will be laughter... but sometimes people get sick. Or you may get sick. And everybody is still there. Some moan when they are sick but usually others moan for them and the sick person is actually quite quiet. Just wants to sleep. But others are worried. That they might also get sick or need a doctor and get hiv infected in a local hospital. They make up theories about why this person got sick. And the next one. And the next. Because apparently there is this "one-day-overland illness", that almost everybody on the truck gets. In the case of this particular trip, 16 out of 24 for got it!
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| Jackal in Etosha - 2006 |
First time I got it was rather bad, or maybe good, timing. In Etosha National park. At the Okaukuejo Campsite. Very close to the waterhole where the Rhinos usually visit around 9.30 PM And where Jackals roam the site, looking for left-overs, or steeling meat straight from the BBQ (braai). Now you may already see this coming, and so did I. After dinner I wasn't feeling very well so I went to bed early. It actually gets very cold at night, in the desert-like climate of Etosha. Clear skies, quite elevated, mid-July, heart of Winter... So I was shivering badly in my too-thin sleeping bag. The zipper of the tent was broken. Which is bad luck, if you are cold. But good if you need to throw up. And I did. No need to get too much into details but I felt relieved afterwards! And scared. Because it was not for long until the Jackals pick up this nice warm new scent and came scavenging. And my tent zipper was broken. So I was very afraid, at that moment that one of them might get the idea of checking out what else was there to eat, inside my tent! I used my luggage to build a wall in front of the opening. The Jackals were meanwhile fighting and growling over my stomach contents so I did not rest until they did.
In the morning my tent was almost entirely clean! I felt much better yet exhausted... And the group was still there.
Still want to go? Do not be scared off, but read some more of my experiences on the topic. Never too late to change your mind. But that would never be my advice. Go ahead. Make the same mistakes.
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