28th January 2018
So left drizzle ridden Bristol on a National Express coach to Heathrow, an absolute bargain at £6.40 for a return trip. The driver was very nice, we left on time &arrived about 5 minutes behind schedule, but I had allowed for this & arrived with plenty of time.
I flew with Virgin Atlantic & have to say it was very pleasant. I am lucky enough to have a window seat & two empty seats beside me ~ LUXURY !! The seats are comfy, with a good head rest, as it was a night flight there was a pillow & blanket. The safety cartoon was actually really enjoyable, we had free headsets & entertainment, I watched Victoria & Abdul, Goodbye Christopher Robin & a 3rd film, can’t remember now.
Early into the flight we were handed out a menu along with a tiny bag of pretzels & a drink of your choice – I chose larger.
8.45pm dinner arrived ~ cous cous salad, spicy korean pork & a Gu desert with a bottle of white wine.
4.00am breakfast arrived ~ fruit salad, yogurt, cooked breakfast & fruit juice.
On arrival at Johannesburg airport I was greeted by a guy who appeared to be staff, although I had 2 hours to get to my Windhoek flight, it all went horribly wrong, this guy said I needed to hurry & rushed me through the airport, he left me at a barrier, having not got a boarding pass or gone through security, it all happened so fast & panicked, he asked for a tip & pointed me in the direction I needed to go ~ only they wouldn’t let me through because I had no boarding pass, the guy had said he had rang through to security & everything would be fine, it really wasn’t, which caused me to end up running through the airport with an actual member of staff, having to jump ques (most passengers were ok with this ~ but there is always one) The flight started to call my name on the tanoy along with two other passengers (thankfully not just me) I arrived before the other two guys & we did actually take off on time, but it was soooooo stressful ~ SO PLEASE, be very careful at Johannesburg airport & don’t get caught like I did!!
The flight to Windhoek was with South African airways, an hour & forty five minutes, soon after take off a meal turned up ~ pepper & pasta salad, beef stew, rice & veg, roll & butter, little piece of tiramasu cake, a square of chocolate, juice & water ~ you wouldn’t get that with Easy Jet or Ryannair !!
Take off & landing was eventful!!
Passport control took an hour, we had not been given the immigration form to fill in on the plane, so that took some time, the guy who picked me up for my journey to N/a’an ku se didn’t look best pleased, so I refrained from asking for a photo lol
On the 45 minute journey to the farm we saw (there were 3 other volunteers) two lots of two baboons just sat by the road & a tree full of baboons.
On arrival we met Corne, whom I had booked with, he took me to Springbok tent, the last tent, where I spent the first few days by myself, had a nap followed by a shower & took my donations to Laura, who was also English.
Dinner was a roll of stuffed beef, rice, salad & deep fried pumpkin ~ all very nice !!
It was very hard to make friends on the first night, felt quite awkward, so I went to my tent & watched the sun go down, there was a little neighing of horses, birds & a breeze, but it felt soooo peaceful ~ through the night there are many noises, lions, jackals & who knows what ………………………
The Wildlife Volunteer 