Exploring the oldest desert on Earth
From a list of thirty amazing Pre-Summit Adventures, I chose the Namib Desert trip. Although I felt that going on a safari would be an appropriate choice for my very first trip to Africa, I couldn’t pass up a chance to spend time in one of the most beautiful deserts in the world. In case I haven’t mentioned it a thousand times already, here I go again; deserts and glaciers are two of my most favorite places on earth.
We started our journey from Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia. For the next five days, we drove a lot. Our drivers were highly skilled. They conquered the dunes with their rough 4WD vehicles. It was very much a roller coaster ride. We made the sand sing, sliding down the dunes with no clear path. The entire drive was full of sand and hills, but the scenery gradually changed. We started with green patches (some animals live around the bush: zebras, oryxes, springboks, ostriches…) and bright-red dunes, and ended up swimming in a great ocean of sand dunes. To name a few places we went: the Kuiseb River and its valley, Tsondab valley, the Long Wall in the Sperrgebiet, and the Sandwich Harbour (please see the photos below).
I brought half of the desert back with me, in my shoes, socks, clothes, and even in my ears, and it was one of the most amazing travel experiences I’ve ever had. I can still vividly recall the bright southern Milky Way and Venus soaring high above the sand dunes at night.
