Anyone who ever said it doesn’t rain in the desert lied. I know this because rain is exactly what it did on our 3 day camping trip in Namibia. Most people may think that this would make our trip a total bust, but it was just the opposite.
Once the boat reached port in Walvis Bay, we were greeted by a children’s choir of local girls singing and dancing for us. Despite our industrial surroundings, this was by far the most welcoming port we’ve been to.
We hopped off the ship after a diplomatic briefing of the country and JacMac, Lisa Nick and I joined a group of 11 heading into the desert. Lead by our Wild Dog Safari guide Clifton and his assistant Alfeus, we headed on what we were told was a 2-3 hour drive. Apparently we were unaware of a little phenomenon called “African Time”. We stopped at scenic points along the drive seeing vast stretches of desert turn to mountains and then stopped for a picnic lunch. While stopped at a cliff for pictures of the mountain, we saw huge dark storm clouds in the distance. The desert is amazing because you can see for so far in so many directions. Because of this you could see where the rain began and ended, it was incredible. We stood around for a while talking about how fast the storm was moving until we realized it was moving in our direction.
After running back onto the safari bus the downpour began, and continued for the rest of our 8 hour drive (2-3 hours African Time) on dirt roads. There should definitely be an amusement park ride based on the experiences of driving on unpaved roads in Africa in a rainstorm. By the end of our trip, I was praying that our bus had the ability to turn into a Duck Tours boat, considering we were doing more floating than actual driving. Apparently this was the most rain that Namibia has seen in years. When we reach our campsite, most of it is under water. We try to get rooms in a nearby hotel but they are all full and flooded. At this point it’s looking like we’re sleeping on the bus. We head back to the campsite to wait out the rain and crack open the wine we bought at a supermarket before leaving port. At this point, we’re all pretty darn happy we thought to grab a little alcohol. The rain starts to slow down and Clifton and Alfeus set up to make dinner. After about 2 hours we’ve pitched tents, started a fire and cooked a delicious dinner of chicken and rice with just about every condiment you can imagine (they really like their flavors in Namibia). The rain has stopped and we’re very proud of ourselves for sticking it out.
Tired from our long day of traveling and sight seeing, everyone crawls into their tents for bed. I’m so tired at this point, but because of the rain the air is extremely heavy. Another desert lie: it gets cold at night. I woke up at about 3am in a panic because I could barely breathe. I woke up Lisa and ran outside. Being claustrophobic in a small hot tent is not a good feeling. Despite being miserable, I ran outside and Lisa and I were the only ones who got to see the stars once the clouds had cleared. Never in my life have I seen starts like these. It was totally worth the panic attack.
After a sleepless night, our 5am wake-up call was a welcome relief to escape the tents. Tired and sweaty, we piled onto the bus for our drive out into the desert in hopes of reaching the dunes before sunrise. We get to Sossusvlei, one of the most stunning areas of the Namib Desert, just before sunrise and race up the nearest tall dune. Here we sit silently and watch as the sun comes up over the vast expanse of space. Now I know why people write songs about the desert sunrise. Everything lit up to be a thousand colors; Purples, blues, reds and yellows, literally every color under the sun. Sometimes it scares me how beautiful these parts of the world are that are untouched by humans other than the imprints of our shoes. It makes me wonder what it used to look like where I live at home, before we covered it in bricks and cement. After we’d taken in the sights and spent our last peaceful moments at the top of the dune we wandered back down to the bus where Clifton and Alfeus had set up a delicious breakfast of eggs and bacon and toast with Nutella, along with some much needed coffee.
We then filled up on water and began our 4 hours desert hike. Across the open space and over the red dunes, we walked as Clifton taught us what plants we could eat to provide water if you’re lost in the desert and caught little lizards and bugs for us to inspect. Although the climb up the hot dunes was intense, we had a blast running down the unpacked sand, it looked like we were walking on the moon. On one dune we even slid down on our stomachs like penguins because the sand was so soft from the rain the night before. It was a pretty funny sight to see a bunch of us sliding full speed on our tummy’s down a sand dune. We ended our hike in an area called Deadvlei. We were all so hot and tired by this point that Jac and I took off our socks and shoes and walked through the desert mud. It was a free foot treatment and it felt great! We made our way to some open trucks that took us back to our bus and headed back to camp.
After a quick rest Clifton drove us to a canyon with a giant river running through it. It was a sight that was pretty much impossible to capture on film but it was definitely an awesome view.
When we got back to the campsite it starting to pour again right after we had all changed into our bathing suits to get in the pool and rinse off the desert dust. The wind picked up and all of a sudden our tents were blowing away. So we ran around screaming and barefoot holding down tents and tarps absolutely covered in mud. We must have been the craziest group of half-naked white kids the people who worked at the campsite had ever seen. At one point the rain was coming down so hard that it was starting to hurt, so Jac, Lisa, Nick and I huddled together on the group under a tarp. At this point we were already so filthy that we decided just to go with it. We covered ourselves in the wet sand and afterwards took some hilarious tribal photos of ourselves. It’s funny how much fun you can have with a little rain and a good attitude.
After another campfire dinner and barbeque, we had to sleep in a game room because our tents were soaked. This would have been okay, except the room was completely infested with bugs and even hotter than the tents. I spent most of the night just sitting outside and waiting for the sun to rise.
In the morning we packed up and drove to Swakupmund, the touristy area near where the ship was docked. We had lunch at a café and wandered around the open air craft market. Back to bargaining, I traded a cheap leather bracelet I bought in Morocco for a very cool small Africa tapestry that’s now hanging in my room.
Despite being dirty and tired, we ended our trip satisfied with the idea that we had seen one of the most incredible natural views the world has to offer.
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