Sick in Africa and Windhoek, Namibia

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I was on day 11 of my 35-day African Overland Truck adventure and was sick!  (I know I talked about it in my other post briefly, but wanted to share the details…goody for you!) We had spent two days in Etosha National Park in Namibia that you can read about here, and were now on the road for 7 hours towards the Capital of Namibia—Windhoek.  I had already taken two doses of Cipro, but they hadn’t kicked in yet.  I also took two Imodium (kept me plugged up for 6 days!) since I was going to be on the road without a bathroom on board.  I laid down in the back of the truck (the bumpiest area) and didn’t eat anything all day.  At one point, I felt nauseous, so I told one of the guides and by the time he radioed the driver, they stopped and unlocked the door to let me out, I was gagging!  Luckily it was just dry heaves!  I made my way through thorns and tall grass to a hidden area to go to the bathroom!  Seasoned travelers know this goes with the territory when you’re traveling in developing countries.  I had been sick in Peru twice and Cipro worked for me then!

When we arrived to the beautiful Namutoni campsite, two men from Australia (Dirk and Des) were kind and put my tent up for me.  As you can see, it was a beautiful area.   It looks like I was being quarantined!

Some of the group went for a long hike to the top of the ridge, which I would have loved had I not been sick…but I slept until dinner.  The antibiotic had kicked in so I took a shower, ate for the first time that day and felt much better!

The next morning we were on the road again by 7am and arrived in Windhoek around 1pm.  We stopped at a mall…

to go to the ATM, buy snacks/liquor, and use the bathroom, before driving to the hotel.  Here’s my room…

After checking in, I washed some clothes in the sink, hung them to dry, got my luggage organized, took a shower, had a drink at the bar, and then our group went out for dinner to Joe’s Beer House.  It was a fun, interesting and unique restaurant/bar!  Here I am with Kelly and Noreen…

These two girls were the youngest, Sarah and Kiki, from Denmark…

It felt great to be cleaned up, have some make-up on and not be camping!

24 thoughts on “Sick in Africa and Windhoek, Namibia”

  2. Thanks for dropping by my blog! Weird to see your photo of the Mall in Windhoek… I probably have one just like it (photo I mean) when we stopped in for coffee. I was on a trip from Cape Town up to Vic Falls a couple of years ago – fantastic 🙂

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  6. Hi,
    What a shame you were sick and missed out on the hike, but at least you got better by morning and you could start to enjoy.
    Looks like you had some lovely company that was on tour with you, that always makes for a wonderful trip, and the photos are great. How nice a couple of Aussies helped when you weren’t well, but I could only smile at the picture of the mall. 🙂

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  7. It’s not fun to be sick when you’re away from home but often it happens that way because you’re exposed to bacteria you have no immunity to. As long as it’s a temporary thing you can handle it. Glad you’re home now.

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  9. Why does it seem really weird to me that there is a mall in the middle of this? I’m really glad you are feeling better and that it didn’t ruin your trip.

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  12. I feel for you! I was so sick crossing the Bolivian Salt Desert – made for a really rough night. A few weeks later in Rurrenabaque – food poisoning struck! Lesson learned – don’t eat hamburger if the locals don’t eat hamburger! Glad to hear you seem to be feeling better and were able to get out that night!

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