Day 54-60: A new week...

Day 54: Monday

Today we went back to Okaue, where butcher Ismael and another customer were waiting for Lars, Jakob, and me. Ismael wanted to choose and slaughter a bull on the spot, as usual. The other customer wanted to buy a live bull for his herd. The selection, slaughter, weighing, and sale of the bull by Ismael went almost smoothly. The loading of the live bull was a bit more problematic. Despite kicks and beatings, it did not want to climb into the trailer. After an unsuccessful hour, a friendly farmer called Gero from Karsten and Sylvia came to our rescue. Gero manages the farm opposite Okaue and provided us with a teaser. With this tool, we finally managed to get the stubborn bull moving, and the second deal of the day was concluded. We were supposed to clean and repair the hides at the waterholes as well, but we only had time for one of the hides.

Day 55: Tuesday

Like every Tuesday, today I went to Okaue for the store trip. Within a few hours, all the workers were taken care of, and it was 'typically African': with a colorful bunch of people on the loading area back to Kalkfeld.

Day 56-59: Wednesday - Saturday:

We spent the remaining days of the week mainly in the grass field or in the hayloft. In order to provide enough food for the animals on the farm during a dry period, Karsten and Sylvia have cleared some areas of bushes and created a pure grass field. This grass field can then be mowed and turned into hay bales. These bales are then stored in a large barn. The workers have now reached the largest field, which is about 55 hectares. Our task is to load the bales. The bales are stacked up to a height of 10 bales on a trailer and driven into the barn. While loading is hard physical labor, the trips to the barn are always an adventure. In my opinion, the single-axle trailer is completely overloaded and threatens to overturn the whole rig with every little bump - but according to African ways, this risk does not exist. After a whole day of loading hay bales, I always look forward to a shower, because the grass pricks and itches endlessly and finds its way to every part of the body.

The only exception was Thursday, on this day we worked with the cattle in the game camp. The herd of about 140 animals had to be gathered throughout the camp and then driven to a second camp about 5 km away. We completed the task by noon, but while counting the animals, we realized that the herd was not complete. We spent the afternoon searching for the missing candidates, but without success.

In addition, on Wednesday Anja, the daughter of Sylvia and Karsten, and her new boyfriend Max from Germany arrived. Anja is currently living in Munich and will soon start training as a hotel clerk.

Day 60: Sunday

Sunday, the only day off of the week, started with sleeping in this morning. Today we had planned a small hike to the so-called 'Omaruru-Koppe'. Mathias and Anja had already done some research in the past few days to find out whose farmland the mountain is on and obtained the contact information of the owners. We had to find out if we were even allowed to climb the mountain over the phone this morning. But luckily, the farm owners had no objections, and about an hour later, we were in the car (everyone except Sylvia). As we passed Omaruru, we made a quick stop at the supermarket (which is regularly open on Sundays here) and after another 10 minutes of driving, we reached the gate. The son of the owners was already waiting for us at the gate to let us in. His mother was ready a few meters away, greeted us very warmly, and even printed out an aerial photo and marked the way to the 'parking lot' for us - super friendly!!! So we found our way without any problems and quickly started the hike to the summit. We experienced a beautiful hike in bright sunshine. We climbed the 250 meters in about an hour, traversing across the land (there was no pre-made hiking trail). The view from the summit was simply breathtaking. Flat savannah as far as the eye can see.

After a small picnic on the summit with apples and cookies, we made our way back down to the base of the mountain. After about an hour, we were back at the parking lot and headed back towards Ondombo. A very successful Sunday...