Hello hello, and welcome back. .
I'm writing in from Swakopmund, Namibia !! (you'll want to look that
up at - http://www.go2africa.com/namibia/swakopmund-coast/ )
After a relatively uneventful stay back home (India) from mid-April
till mid-June, relative to the most wonderful and glorious month and a
half in Brazil just before that - I'm back on the road, or the plane
as the case might be, once again - all expenses paid, while making
money!! This time in far flung, exotic, ancient Africa.
We are in the last schedule of this movie project that has kept me
fed, housed, clothed and travelled over the last 11 months.
But let us not rush ahead too much.
Chapter 1 - The Adventure Begins -
So, there we were, the last 2 crew members to leave Mumbai for
Johannesburg enroute to Walvisbaai (Namibia). Everthing was fine, we
had an ok flight, 8 1/2 hours. I chatted up a lovely young lady
sitting in front of me. Turned out to be a photographer ... working in
India. . .in the film business ... and living 1/2 a km from my house!!
Ofcourse we bonded.
My fellow crew member and I plonk ourselves in the nicest cafe in the
Jo'burg airport on arrival the next morning: Dark wood n cane
furniture, and gorgeous life sized paper and wire sculptures of birds
and wilder-beests suspended overhead - as we chugged giant mugs of
cappuccino and I slammed a scrambled egg n bacon on toast. We then
sauntered over to the electronics shop and I drooled over some
digi-cams.
Then, at 10-40 we headed over to our gate for boarding - well in time
for our 11 o'clock boarding time, and definitely in time for our 11-30
flight to Walvis Bay. We reach the counter at 10-45, and the attendant
looks at the boarding pass and says "Please take a seat, this is not
your flight."
To cut a long story short - - the line for that flight ended after
10-15 mins, then the counter was empty for 20 mins, and when our
flight listing went off the overhead-display-monitor, we ran to find
out that we had somehow missed the bloody flight!!!! while sitting
infront of the damn gate!!!
Now, thankfully, we both had multiple entry South African visas. So we
came out through immigration, went to find out what hapened to our
bags, then went up to the SAA ticket counter, asked to be booked on
the next flight (same time, next day!!! - which added a whole new
dimension to the level of confusion and expense that lay ahead), there
was a fare difference of Rand 250 per ticket, then went and had a chat
with the manager to explain to her what had happened, and also to tell
her about the fare difference, she was of no help, went back to the
counter, the shift had changed, the new guy said the fare was 490 Rand
each!! The seat booking was confirmed, so I decided that we will
tackle this the next morning.
We came down to the main lobby of the airport, and there I had the
good sense to buy a phone sim card which came bundled with some money
on it. It also dawned on me, while I had already been mulling over the
somewhat distressing fact that no one had given us names, contact
numbers or hotel names of anyone or anything in Namibia - that one of
my dad's best friends is in Jo'burg. So a quick purchase and short
phone call later, we were suddenly sorted!! Uncle sent his chauffer,
we went home, Aunty fed us cake and tea - it was her birthday. Had a
nice hot shower, changed, watched the world-cup, had a drink, had some
home-made dinner, passed out, woke up, got dropped to the airport,
bought the damn ticket - paid R250 each - reached Walvis Bay after
flying over the flattest, dryest, beige-isht land I have ever seen. .
and found our luggage on arrival.
Chapter 2 - The Cradle of Civilisation -
We are shooting in the Namib desert. It is THE oldest desert in the
world. Arguably - mankind - was born here!! (Pls no "creation v/s
evolution" debates here - this a travelogue monologue)
This is raw desert - it's absolutely gorgeous - the sand and sky keep
changing colour all day. There is a crew of about 40+ Indians and
locals - we reach our little base camp at 6-30 am - while it is still
dark - and freezing. It is peak winter right now - southern hemisphere
and all, remember.
The dunes that surround our little camp of tents are HUGE. They block
off the incessant winds - but aren't much help when the dastardly East
wind kicks off. We are expecting a bit of East wind action tomorrow -
the sand gets everywhere!!
Just had a yummy dinner at the Swakopmund Brauhaus - one of the finest
restaurants in a 400 mile radius. Ate some wild game steak and some
sirloin steak, washed down with a local draft.
Ok - it's late - I have to sleep - 5am wake up - spend the day again
on top of a train - it's all quite exciting.
Ciao for now
Your intrepid wanderer in the desert -
Adil
