Today we did a zip line course over Victoria Falls gorge. The minimum age for this activity is 6 years old so we didn't think Nash would be able to partake on this adventure. When we got up to the counter, the man helping us asked how old the boys are. Finn proudly says "I'm 7 years old and he's 4 years old". He proceeds to tell us all the various activities they offer: bungy jumping, gorge swinging, flying fox, white water rafting, etc. When we asked about the zip line, he says "He's big enough" referring to Nash only being 4 years old. We had 9 total zip lines to complete the course and of course the boys loved this! We spent over an hour doing the zip line tour over the falls. At one point, Nash is laying on his back with both hands in the air spinning in circles screaming "yahooooooo". At the end of the course, we got to hike up for about 20 minutes out of the gorge area. We decided to have lunch and a rest break at the cafe here that over looks the falls. 

"Mosi-oa-tunya" or the smoke that thunders is the term locals use to describe Victoria Falls. In the 1850's a Scottish man named David Livingstone visited Zambia. He was the first European to see Victoria Falls. He was completely blown away by this natural wonder and named it in honor of his Queen, Queen Victoria. 

Another day on the road for us. The boys have adapted so well to driving long distances. They use their imagination to be different characters: for example, Nash pretends to be Finn’s pet dinosaur named Dino. Dino has to be fed, given water and needs naps. Finn also tells Nash different stories- some are adaptations from movies he has watched and some are just stories he’s created in his mind. The boys can’t read books in the car because they both get car sick. They have really enjoyed listening to stories and have gotten into listening to comedies. Finn loves a guy named Mike Birbiglia on Spotify. He’s a funny and clean comedian that keeps the boy’s attention. 

Today we left Etosha National Park and headed Northeast towards the Hakusembe River. This river is the border between Northern Namibia and Angola. On our drive we did see a family of warthogs grazing on the side of the road. We also got held up by several traffic jams of goats crossing the road. We have seen more animals on the road than cars or people. I must say, all of us are a little excited about heading to somewhere that has a little more humidity and water. The boy's skin has been so dry and itchy, I've been having to put a layer of aquaphor all over them. We surprisingly had a short drive today - only around 5 hours, half of which was on tarmac road! We were excited to get to this lodge because according to our travel agent, you can do boat cruises, water skiing, fishing and knee boarding on this crocodile/hippo infested river. Once we got to the lodge, the kind lady told us that since there is currently a drought, none of the river activities are available. I asked if there are any activities in the nearby town for the kids, she told me the only option is a massage? Once we realized that we were literally staring across the river at Angola, we decided to take a chance of entering a new country. Since all the activities at the lodge were a no go, we didn't have anything else to do so why not! We drove to the biggest city we have seen in weeks called Rundu. We stopped at a local supermarket to grab some water and snacks. The kids were overwhelmed with the amount of people and cars surrounding us. It has literally been weeks since we have seen this many people! When we were standing in line, a lady passed by us and dropped her giant 2 liter of coca - cola that spewed everywhere including on all of us. 

Obviously the very first thing we did this morning was head out on a drive to the "poachers hideout", as the boys have named it. They were still exillarated from all the fishing action the day before. Finn actually shot 4 more fish with his bow and arrow. Don't worry, we didn't waste them - one of the local guys was super excited to receive this delicacy for his dinner! After a few hours of the boys torturing these poor, tiny fish, we finally convinced them to head back to the lodge for some lunch. 

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The dust was so thick and heavy it looked like fog swallowing up the road. The bumps along the dirt road made me feel like I was on a roller coaster. Every now and then we would see a shadowy figure on the side of the road and realize it was a person walking. 

Twyfelfontein - Afrikaans for doubtful fountain. That is the name of our current location. This area was inhabited by Stone-Age hunter gathers dating back from around 6,000 years ago. We first did a hike to see their engravings which are dated back from 2,000 -5,000 years ago. These engravings were the way people communicated during this time period- sort of like modern day books. They used granite stone to create these engravings for maps, art, and express their sightings to others. These people were nomadic, they followed the food and water supply. No one person owned any land around here. The land belonged to the people or everyone. The first "white" settler here was a family from Germany of Jewish descent. They built a stone house and "claimed" the land as their own - a truly foreign concept to the local tribes here.  After 20 years, these foreigners finally returned the land to the Namibian government. In 2007 UNESCO approved Twyfelfontein as Namibia's first World Heritage Site - it contains over 2,500 items of ancient rock carvings that are time capsules of Namibias past. Truly remarkable history to see and be apart of here. 

Today we set off from our wonderful hotel, the Strand Hotel, in Swakopmund. Swakopmund is a funky, german coastal town in between Sossusvlei and the Skeleton Coast. As we started our drive, our first stop was Cape Cross, the largest seal colony in Africa. We pulled up to a typical National Park office spot to pay for a day pass into the park. The friendly lady gave us our receipt, told us to stay on the path and don't touch the seals. As we pull up to the seal colony, Paul is the first to open his door. OMG, he yells, this is awful! The smell is so pungent our eyes are watering. Apparently the seals here have no predators, so they are accustomed to people. The first seal we saw was blocking the walkway between our car and the wooden path. We waited a few seconds and he finally moved out of our way. We didnt last long at the stink colony. The smell is a combo of lots of dead seals and seal poop. Oh, I forgot to mention where the name Skeleton Coast came from - all the dead seals and whales found on the shores. Also we learned because of the rough ocean conditions, dense fog that comes from cold, Atlantic ocean and hot desert sun it creates extremely difficult maritime conditions. We also learned that some of the sand in this area contains minerals that are magnetic- old school compasses were affected by these magnetic minerals creating total confusion along this coast. We saw several ship wrecks, an old oil rig, whale bones, tons of dead seals and many other interesting sites along this long, drive. 

Emily asked me to take on the task of writing about today. Please lower your expectations. Emily has been doing such a phenomenal job with the posts that I have been hesitant to get involved. Today Emily and the boys signed us up for a Little 5 safari. The Big Five is a famous term for safari sightings which include the cape buffalo, elephant, lion, leopard and rhino. The little five includes the gecko, palmeto lizard, sidewinder adder poisonous snake, chameleon and the dancing lady spider. We left our hotel and my comfort zone at 9am and headed about 15 minutes from Swakopmund into the sand dunes. Johnny was our guide and he told us that nature is unpredictable and he can't guarantee any animal sightings. Within 5 minutes he stopped and told us to wait in the safari vehicle. He returned a few minutes later and told us to get out vehicle. He walked us across the sand a hundred feet or so and showed us various tracks in the sand. "This is a skink track...this is a sidewinder... this is a ... whatever ...". Suddenly Johnny dipped his hands into the sand and pulled up a shinny small snake looking creature. He explained its a no eyed skink. The boys and Emily had done their research and were ready to hold the non threatening creature. I was ready to document it. Next up was the gecko, the deadly sidewinder adder (which is quite small and far less scary than we expected), the chameleon and the lizard. We never saw the spider because the guides are no longer permitted to dig them up. The government wants to protect the spider eggs which are disturbed when guides dig them up.  The boys also found a lot of beetles and magnetic (iron) sand. Our luggage will now have 4 extra pounds of the finest Namibian desert iron sand. The kids loved the adventure, Emily loved the adventure. I surprisingly enjoyed the adventure. Afterwards a woman named Petra from the hotel front desk had promised the boys that she would take them on an adventure. Petra took the boys on a date to the ice cream/ hot dog shop that is part of the hotel. Emily and I went on a date to seafood restaurant at the hotel. We knew the boys were safe because our restaurant was 100 feet away from the boys and we could hear (but not see) the boys talking Petra's ears off. The rest of the day we spent packing up, playing legos and exploring the promenade along the beautiful coast of Swakopmund.  We are finishing the evening at Brewer @ Butcher's restaurant (also at the hotel). It is an amazing steak house combined with German brewery. The highlight of the evening is a local men's acapela group who serenaded the restaurant.

This evening Finn filmed a man proposing to his girlfriend at our hotel restaurant. The local A' cappella group was singing during the proposal. Finn got an amazing video of the entire experience. Afterwards, he shyly approached the groom and asked if he would like the video Finn recorded. He said yes, Finn sent it to him and a little bit later he told Finn how grateful he was to have this amazing footage of the proposal. 

I am alone walking through the desert. I can feel the hot sun baking on my skin. There is no one and nothing in site. I can hear the wind howling and feel the sand blowing in my eyes. In the distance I see a group of springbok jump up and run away fast. I look around to see if a predator is chasing them- that’s when I realized I’m the predator that just scared them off.