Trees

We stayed at the Trees campsite for our second night on the river. Like Scorpion before, this site is on the Namabian side of the river. Upstream is left and Downstream is right in this photo.

Perhaps "Trees" should have been named "Scorpion," because Michelle saw two scorpions here, which made "free camping" (without a tent) a little more exciting. For the record, no one else saw any scorps on the rest of the trip.

James and I claimed "Team Treehouse" for this site, because our site was deep in the trees, just to the right of the rightmost boats in the photo below.

We had an interesting discussion with Stefan about whether he should take a "gap year." Most of the South Africans (except Duncan) supported the idea. I was against it unless there was a specific reason for doing it. I also claimed that gap years were uncommon in the U.S. In fact, I hadn't heard the term until I came to South Africa. I was challenged on this point, and now I present the evidence on Wikipedia (the unquestioned and ultimate arbiter of this type of thing). Everyone please see the following sentences: 

"In the United States, the practice of taking a 'gap year' or 'year off' before entering college remains relatively rare. This can be partially traced to the considerably higher cost of post-secondary education in the U.S. Many American students cannot afford to take a year off.'

And now, I rest my case.