Maybe we should just quit and go home while we’re still ahead…

After spending a chilly night in the desert, we got up early to get a head start on our drive down to our next destination, Quivertree Forest. But Avis had other plans and this brings us to Avis Fail #3: The refrigerator unit stopped working.

This was not good. The refrigerator is our lifeline for the next few weeks. We called Avis but after some back and forth we were unable to troubleshoot the problem over the phone. Instead we had to wait 4 hours for our replacement fridge to be delivered to us. So much for getting the early start we wanted.

 The Fraud Trifecta

Around the same time G received a text from his credit card company regarding suspicious charges on his card thus completing the fraud alert trifecta. Yes, all three of us had fraudulent charges on our credit cards within a week. First Kim’s got a fraud alert on the day she was leaving for Namibia and just yesterday D received a fraud alert on her AMEX. We knew it was fraud right away because there was an unauthorized purchase of tickets on Air Canada and we all know D would not buy tickets to Canada.

As suspicious as it seems, we don’t think there is a link to our travels to Africa. Kim’s fraud alert was on the day she left and D’s AMEX card was never used for any Africa trip expenses.

Friends Don’t Let Kim Drive

On our way to Quivertree Forest, Kim who was driving hit the shoulder and lost control of the vehicle. We were suddenly weaving all over the road as Kim desperately tried to regain control and G was frantically yelling out to her to “get off the road” while D sat watching in horror. Thankfully, there was no oncoming traffic and it took her five tries to finally get the truck to stop weaving. And just in time as a truck was just heading towards us in the opposite lane. Once we pulled over a mini-bus van full of passengers, who witnessed the whole ordeal from behind us, stopped and everyone piled out to check on us. We were OK but obviously shaken. Once we calmed down we were on our way but this time with G taking over the driving.

We finally made it to Quivertree Forest without further incidents and arrived just in time for a sunset hike. These odd looking trees are actually not a tree but a branching species of aloe. The trees are named because bushmen used its branches as quivers. They are found all over Southern Namibia but the Quivertree Forest is one of the few places where so many are seen together.

Accommodations:

Quivertree Forest Rest Camp
http://www.quivertreeforest.comQuivertree Forest Rest Camp

The campsite we were staying at surrounds the forest and provides easy access to the park. At the campsite you can visit their resident warthog and two cheetahs.