More Namibia...

Ashlynn was thrilled to get to go on a weekend camping trip with her team at Namib-Naukluft National Park. As you can see from the photos, this park is quite desolate as it encompasses part of the Namib Desert (Namib means vast).

She worked long hours, but there was still a bit of time for fun, which included kayaking. 

They enjoyed their final meal together in their cottage. 

Ashlynn was incredibly lucky that her roommate Antonia had a driver’s license, credit card and no plans immediately following their internship so she could rent a truck with a pop-up tent on top of it and all the camping gear they’d need. They spent two days in one national park and then another two in Etosha, Namibia’s largest animal sanctuary. She showed us some amazing photos upon her return of the scenery, their cool tent and all the animals they saw, but failed to send them to me so this one of the watering hole near their tent will have to suffice. 

Getting her out of Africa proved to be quite complex because Namibia became a RED country in regards to COVID-19 while she was there so her flight kept getting changed. I spent much of two days on the phone with the airlines and eventually just gave up on her original routing on Brussels Air and booked her a flight on KLM through South Africa and crossed fingers she wouldn’t get stuck there—which she didn’t. 

Meanwhile in Namibia...

Most of Ashlynn’s days during the five weeks in Walvis Bay were spent out on a Zodiac searching for dolphins to photograph and record their vocalizations. It was winter in the southern hemisphere, so it was pretty chilly while zooming around the water.

This dolphin was clearly quite close to land.

If you look closely, you will notice a bunch of fish between the two dolphins and lots of flamingos in the shallows behind them.

It looks like these flamingos were posing for photos at sunset.

When it was too misty to go to sea, the team went in search for other marine mammals. Sadly this loggerhead turtle was deceased.

They also saw some jackals.

Here’s Ashlynn showing off her drawing skills on a buoy. 

She enjoyed getting to shoot some images with the giant zoom lens.

Here’s a bunch of her best shots.

In addition to dolphins...

…she captured shots of Cape fur seals...

…and humpback whales.

 

Next Big Adventure...

On June 4, we said farewell to Ashlynn yet again. This time she was off to Namibia for six weeks. Normally we would have taken her to the airport, but she was travelling by train to Frankfurt to catch a direct flight to Namibia rather than having to take a connecting flight to avoid the risk of getting stuck in a RED country due to COVID. 

She spent two nights in a nice hostel in the capital city of Windhoek.

The first day she wandered into town to find some vegan food and happened upon a band, which she enjoyed listening to for hours. The following day, she had planned on going on an organized hike, but it was cancelled. Instead she went on a 11-mile hike on her own. 

The next day she caught a bus to Walvis Bay on the coast to start a five-week internship at Namibian Dolphin Project. Before she left for her trip, she’d declared that she was taking a break from social media (and somehow convinced herself that messaging her parents qualified as “social media”) and the universe delivered: her phone was stolen on the bus and her computer wouldn’t connect to WiFi. 

Luckily Antonia, her 40-year-old German roommate, hooked her up with a hotspot so she could update us weekly.

There was just one other intern, Eduardo from Spain. The three interns shared a very nice cottage with the staff members. They took turns helping to cook. 

Just eight days after arriving, Ashlynn experienced the most amazing moment of the trip: helping a stranded baby humpback whale.

Along with members of Ocean Conservation Namibia, the team spent four hours trying to coax the young whale back into Walvis Bay, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Apparently these types of rescues are often unsuccessful...

…but this one worked! Here’s a video; don’t worry, it’s just four minutes rather than four hours.