24th June. Volunteering

Hi,
On the trip through Africa in 08 we were aware of the many AIDS agencies, orphanages and volunteer organizations in many of the countries. It's also something that you are made aware of on a regular basis by the media back here in Australia. We both felt that perhaps we could give something back now that we are retired. The web is great to find details of such organizations but we found many of them are quite expensive: help the Cheetah Foundation, US$1500 for 2 weeks, track desert elephants, $1100 for 2 weeks that type of thing. Then we heard of a web site for low cost volunteering www.volunteer4africa.org that had a great array of opportunities. Just the one in Namibia but it sounded worth looking into. REST Namibia is a wildlife crowd committed to conserving 5 of the less known African animals and birds that are on the endangered list. They are the cape vulture, pangolin, African wild dog, dwarf python and the spotted rubber frog. The refuge is in the north of the country, the way we intended heading once leaving Windhoek. A couple of emails were sent and it was worked out, seeing we will have our own accommodation, transport and cooking facilities, a donation at the end of our time would suffice. That's one of the advantages of having wheels.
They have just built a new centre and there is a lot of finishing off but there is also the feeding of the animals, banding, and releasing back into the wild that could make it interesting. I am happy helping with the finishing off work and I'm sure Joan will get something out of working with the animals.
We intend heading further north into Damaraland, up near the Angolan border, when we leave Windhoek but will stop off at the refuge to introduce ourselves etc. It will only be for a couple of weeks but will give us an idea whether we are cut out for this type of thing. We are looking forward to it.

13th June 2010: Preparation

Hi,
Well, we put the trip off last year but another year on with the GFC still hanging over our heads we decided to stop stuffing around and just do it! Virgin Australia have started to fly to Johannesburg which means competition for Qantas and a lowering of air fares. We leave home on 26th July and reach Jo'burg late on the 27th, stay a night then fly on to Windhoek, Namibia the next day. We hope to catch up with our good friends Len & Ria while we are in Jo'burg.
On our way through Africa in 2008 we met a couple from Narromine, NSW, Keith Dixon and Anne Elliot. They had bought a bakkie from a car rental place in Namibia and were very happy with their purchase and the crowd they bought it from. Asco Rentals in Namibia hire 4X4s to visitors mainly from Europe and the U.S. There is always a risk when you buy sight unseen but sometimes a bit of trust has to be accepted.They often sell their used vehicles to Europeans and have a reputation to consider.
The vehicle is a 2007 Nissan 3.2L Bush camper with a Jurgens slide-on camper on the back. We had seen the type while over there and loved the idea that the bed came out the side of the vehicle meaning we didn't have to climb up to bed and also climb down in the middle of the night to pee.
It has high ground clearance which means we can go more off road than we could with the VW. There is a kitchen inside, a lift up roof, storage and the side of the bed can be sat on. I have added a photo.
We like to hear from people who read our blogs, last time I didn't think anyone was reading them. Unfortunately Blogspot make people join before they can add a comment. There are no catches involved but if you would prefer emailing us at gandjconlan@gmail.com we would love to hear from you.