Deserts are not places to be taken lightly, they must be respected at all costs. Animals living in the desert have adapted to survive, but still many don’t. Nigel and I had no such adaptation – save for an Expedition Land Cruiser with roof top tent, 2 fuel tanks, 120 litres of water, two fridges, a winch, sand boards, and a satellite phone (all hired from the wonderful Bushlore in Windhoek). Plus a medical kit, motion detectors , and enough food and drinking water to keep us happy for weeks of isolation. Oh, and of course, beer of course.
However, before all that, we served our apprenticeship with more traditional holidays to Namibia.
Nigel and I first visited Namibia in 2003. We drove the standard tourist route mostly staying in luxury lodges. I might add that, Namibia has some lovely luxurious lodges for those not so keen on roughing it. Many years, and many holidays later, it dawned on us that we were not getting any younger (I appreciate this should not have been a surprise, but somehow it was). Nigel asked, if I could only go on one more holiday where would it be. I didn’t hesitate to say – Namibia.
So, we returned for the holiday of a lifetime in 2018. We visited less touristy places, drove in rougher terrain, and were more interested in experiencing Namibia, than seeing it.
We hooked up with Red Dune Safaris and they took us to Sandwich Harbour, a permit only area of the Skeleton Coast.
We (well Nigel) wanted to learn how to drive on the sand dunes. Although he was brought up in Zimbabwe, it was a long time since he’d driven on sand. Red Dune Safaris issued us with a walkie talkies and taught us what we needed to know.
We repeated our Namibian holiday of a lifetime in 2019. We became more adventurous, drove in more remote places, and stayed in more authentic places (this is code for having to ditch the luxury lodges).
One evening on our 2019 holiday we watched the sun go down, and then realised it was a 50 mile drive to get back to our bed that night. I started to think that sleeping by ourselves in the desert, miles from anyone, and immersed in the landscape might actually be rather special.
Finally in 2020, we had served our apprenticeship. We hired an Expedition Land Cruiser from Bushlore Car Hire Windhoek (a tremendous company recommended by Red Dunes Safaris and no they haven’t given me a penny or a discount to say that – but Bushlore if you read this, I’m open to it) We headed off to spend the next three weeks in the Namib Desert.
Being perversely adventurous and risk averse at the same time, we also hired a satellite phone and borrowed a friend’s skiing location beacon. We didn’t need the satellite phone that time, but we did in 2024 (you’ll have to read the main blog for that).
Most of my friends thought I was roughing it. In fact, I had a shower every night, and loved falling asleep to the light from our dying campfire flickering on the roof of our tent. I loved waking in the night and seeing the Milky Way, and keeping myself awake trying to recognise some of the constellations. And I loved the freedom of going where I wanted, when I wanted, and with whom I wanted – that would be Nigel.
That first Namibian camping trip was in February 2020. Every time we came within range of mobile data, Nigel went online for news of a virus taking hold in Wuhan. He kept saying it was going to spread. I just covered my ears, and looked at the scenery. We returned home on 29th February, three weeks before the UK lockdown. We didn’t take another flight until 2024 when, of course. it had to be back to Namibia
Desert Wonderers 