Finally, after a week, a wifi connection that allows an update. You may want to grab a coffee before starting!

Tough thing in this post is to capture and condense so many of the impressions we’ve experienced in just the last week. Namibia is a vast land; its deserts are seemingly endless. With a population of only 2.4m, in a country that is twice the size as Germany, these impressions have been almost exclusively limited to its unique natural environment, as we’ve hardly seen any of its population. The few we have encountered have been warm and welcoming and displayed a lively wit and humour.

It is very unique part of our planet. Almost the entire west of Namibia is the Namib, the oldest desert on earth, with immense sand dunes (towering like Alpine peaks) as it buttresses against the ethereal Kalahari that stretches eastward relentlessly with its’ gravel and rocky plains. At first glance this is an unforgiving place and it took a day with a native Bushman to help us see it with new eyes. It is home to a complex ecosystem that supports an immense array of wildlife. “Alfred”, our Bushman guide, lifted a veil, which gave us a glimpse of this hidden world. Beatles, spiders, scorpions, moles, raptors, foxes, jackals are all instrumental in giving life to these deserts. Only a fine mist that lightly settles at night across the desert brings the minuscule amount of water needed to support life and rains that come every five years. It’s miraculous. However, in a sad twist of irony it is not the existence of these creatures that is threatened in the harsh place, but that of Alfred and his people. The Bushman were the natives of these lands, rock paintings dating back 20,000 years attest to that, and a part of this ecosytem. Yet, like the natives of North America or Aborigines of Australia they were “resettled” by the arrogance of the white man. Alfred spoke with tears about the passing of his people’s connection to this mystical place.

It’s not all flat endless plains or sand dunes however; the Fish River Canyon is almost equal in wonder to the Grand Canyon in the US. The Namib Nakluft mountains gave us the welcome opportunity to get in a long trail run amongst it’s acacia wooded and rocky flanks. Camping alone over night in these mountains with their refreshingly cooler air, under a canopy of bright African stars, with the flames of our camp fire dancing off the red rocked ravine walls gave us that deeply satisfying feeling that swells within you at moments like this, “ah, this is what it is all about”.

We’ve found our rhythm setting up our camp, sleeping in our tent which folds out from the roof of our truck, giving us a sense of unmatched independence and freedom but it was a welcome relief to spend two nights at the “luxuriously” unique Wolwedans Dune Camp (thanks for the recommendation Raphael Curiger), which resembled that classic “Out of Africa” experience. If you ever come through Namibia it’s a must. As one Africa’s largest private concessions it is fascinating to see how they are taking a leading role in developing conservational thinking in Africa. It’s also inspiring to see how the vision of one man can have such a positive impact on an areas of our planet’s delicate environment within one generation.

In truth, like all adventures those highlights are born from challenges overcome. It’s not been all plain sailing.   2000kms over rough dirt tracks has meant many hours sitting in the cab of a hot, dusty and rough Land Cruiser. That’s tough for two normally very active people. It’s tougher when the GPS broke and Monika was forced to navigate (she’s learning to read maps and the points of a compass) as her off road driving skills were limited by the unusual but frequent habit of confusing third gear with reverse! Or when Eric does not listen and reverses into the only tree for miles around and then blames it on Monika for not shouting a warning louder. Frustration often gives way to roaring laughter however, like when Eric adamantly dismissed the advice of a local to let pressure out of the tires in order to cross a deep sandy stretch, and under the amused gaze of the local got stuck within 25m. It’s humbling, under these circumstances, to ask for help from the very person (the only person around for 100km) who’s advice you have just dismissed!

Humbling. It’s a good word. If we had to summarize this first week the external experiences were met in equal weighting with the richness of the internal experience. Each day, if you are prepared to observe yourself, you have the platform to learn as much about oneself as the world that is unfolding around us.

Now leaving Swakopmund, a vibey little town, where a German community has hung on stubbornly to its colonial heritage (Namibia was once a German colony until it lost its’ empire after WW1). After five generations, and nearly one hundred years of British and South African administrations, perfect “Hoch Deutsch” is still widely spoken and the main buildings of the town, built during 1900 to 1914 would look more at home in Heidelberg. Swakopmund feels on the edge of the earth and you can’t but be impressed by the colorful characters who built this place and who still come here drawn by a sense of free spirit (it has a growing population – including Namibians, South African and Germans). It sits on the Namibian coast, surrounded by the great Namib desert on one side and the rough seas of Atlantic on the other. The cooling and upwelling of the powerful Benguela current that flows from Antarctica up the coast of Southern Africa bringing moisture laden winds up the west cast which, together with atmospheric factors, prevent rain from falling on the Namib and acts as an air conditioning for the town. This powerful current us give the coastline its infamous name – The Skeleton Coast. Before modern navigation techniques were developed this coast was a death trap to the sailors and whalers who ventured through its waters and wrecks still rust away on its shores.

We are heading up the Skeleton Coast before turning north east and inland into Northern Namibia and across to Botswana into another changing landscape. We’ve used Swakomund as a base for a couple of days to plan our next section and replenish supplies. Reports of heavy flash flooding and impassable rivers are causing us to adapt our route (we had hoped to go up towards Angola). Our timing for this trip was always hostage to the end of the rainy season as we enter South/Central Africa. It’s also allowed us to get the Land Cruiser welded up (that damn tree!) – and a huge thank you for that goes to Stefan Bauer, an adventurous local and talented auto mechanic, who sacrificed his Saturday morning to repair our “Vervet (not Velvet) Monkey” Land Cruiser. We also used the time to stretch our legs with some fun “Fat Bike” biking over the desert sand dunes and early morning runs along the beach. So freshly recuperated, we head off on our trek Northerly trek onwards towards Nairobi, which despite over 2500km already travelled seems a long way off right now!