Namibia I

I need to discuss break in segments since there is just too much to talk about all at once, but here is an exemplary moment. I went on an overlanding trip from Cape Town up through Namibia to the Skeleton Coast (so-called because of all the ship wrecks that the cloud formations caused) and then back again to SA. Everything was so overwhelming and different and desolate but here is one of my favorite experiences:

One morning we hiked up to the top of Dune 45 (all the dunes are numbered) and saw the sunrise and the way it made all the sand change color. It was so so beautiful. We then got in a bakkie (a flatbed truck) and drove out with a San guide for a walk through the desert. As expected he was incredibly knowledgeable about all of the flora and fauna but the most fascinating portion of his talk was also the most basic. He explained that theoretically, the river could flow all the way from its source in the mountains to the sea but over time the dunes merge with each other due to the wind patterns and block its path. As this occurs each blocked off area grows incredibly lush (at least for the desert) but then itself will die once the dunes behind it merge and cut off its water supply. The result is a kind of petrified forest in the middle of the red sand that feels like a Dali painting come to life. (The one we visited that you can see pictured here was 1000 years old. The wood is too hard for any animals to eat so it only decays very very slowly)

But I found his unwavering acceptance of death, of change and of the inevitability of both to be incredibly moving. There was no resentment in his explanation of what happened to this place, even though its existence would have made his and his family's life easier. The implication in all that he said was that this was simply the way nature intended it, we can only go on if we accept that it is far more powerful then we can ever hope to be.