Hardly anyone I knew had been. Every picture I came across looked like a different world.
Endless dunes, gigantic rocks, roads disappearing into nowhere, desert meeting the ocean and landscapes that looked more like another planet than somewhere I could actually get to on a flight to.
There’s something extra exciting about going somewhere you know nothing about.
Hey
Welcome to this week’s pin.
This one’s going to need a slightly bigger pin, because for the next four weeks I’m pinning an entire country.
Namibia!
It’s not memories of one particular landscape, animal or luxurious accommodation, more of the excitement in total stillness.
Raw without being unwelcoming, empty without actually being empty and peaceful whilst holding so much adventure.
As I’m curious about most things, this obviously intrigued me.
Somewhere different, adventurous a place I didn’t already feel like I knew. Exactly the trip I was looking for.
We booked a flight, packed a bag, and spent the best part of three weeks driving around Namibia in a 4x4 with a RTT.
No guide.
No group.
No one stopping us from making some questionable decisions along the way.
Welcome to Namibia - the Land of Adventure.
Namibia & OSI
Our Namibia adventure consisted of:
Having a complete breakdown whilst getting lost in a dried riverbed.
Convincing ourselves the only way out was to cross sharp rocky terrain, which felt like we’d landed ourselves in a Land Rover advert.
Crossing a muddy river at a speed that gives me the shivers, whilst dodging the broken down cars and trees in front of us. Yes, others in front had tried and not succeeded.
Sleeping within earshot of strangely comforting sounds of lions roaring.
Nearly stepping barefoot on a scorpion. I once slept on top of a scorpion too. For some reason, scorpions and I seem to get on pretty well.
Living off - toasties, biltong and droëwors. My God, the droëwors, it became a staple of my diet and I still dream about it.
Driving through landscapes that changed by the hour.
Experiencing a side of Namibia not many witness. Our vehicle, upside down with our bed for the night and belongings crushed, and no signal to call for help.
Meeting the locals who went out of their way, opening their doors, pure kindness. Sometimes the people you remember most from travelling are the ones you never expected to meet.
Disclaimer:
When I say “breakdown”, I mean “I”, my designated chauffeur aka hubby, won’t let me live this down.
Neither of us even knew how to change a tyre. Tip - learn this before any road trip adventure,
A country to go to if you’re not afraid of being alone. The total stillness never felt boring or frightening, quite the opposite. Feelings of excitement, of what’s next?
No cars passing you by, often no phone signal, miles and miles of just road before any sight of a village or town. Sometimes the person greeting us on the arrival at our base for the night would be the first person we’d spoken to all day, sometimes there was nobody there at all.
There aren’t many places left where you can be alone without feeling lonely.
I thought Namibia would be mostly sand.
There was a lot of sand, but what surprised me most was how Namibia’s scenery changed in the blink of an eye.
One minute we were heading to the huge dunes, the next, we’ve turned a corner greeted by rocky quarries. There’s Ghost towns swallowed by sand, vast amounts of lush vegetation, vast oceans. Name a landscape, Namibia has it.
We went looking for an adventure and Namibia understood the assignment.
The Cool Camper
Some people make camping look effortlessly cool:
Beautifully set up tents.
Crackling sounds of a campfire.
Sweet scent of marshmallows.
Camping chairs facing the sunset.
This was us, the Kalahari was our backdrop, we did it so easily - Until we didn’t!
We’d found our spot, unpacked everything, put the rooftop tent up, dropped the ladder and were feeling rather pleased with ourselves. Until two men approached, letting us know that the actual campsite was around the corner.
We had just set up home in the middle of the camp’s porter loos.
Taking everything back down seemed too easy, after all we were on an adventure. So, we decided the less sensible option was to leave the tent fully erected and drive around the camp to find a spot for the evening.
There we were, driving a 4x4 around the middle of the desert with our entire bedroom flapping above us and the ladder clanking against the side.
The local rangers, at least that’s what I think they were, tbh they could have been any old Tom, must have thought we were totally cuckoo.
As must the camper who had already sensibly set up by the side of the rock and was now watching his new neighbours arrive with their entire accommodation still assembled on top of their car.
When A Seal & Pelican Came For Lunch
Just when I’d started getting used to Namibia being dust, rock, sand and enormous skies, we reached the coast.
Suddenly we weren’t bouncing around on dirt tracks anymore. We were on a boat surrounded by splashing Cape fur seals and their barking pups, thousands of them.
And then, completely out of nowhere.
A seal jumped up right next to me.
A moment later, a pelican arrived.
You couldn’t make it up.
Both of them made themselves at home on the boat as though this was the most normal thing in the world, hitching a ride across the water and hanging around long enough to join us for lunch.
📍 Namibia’s wildlife → (coming to the OSI Archive soon)
There’s an entire collection of wildlife stories from this trip: lions feeding, a lost baby rhino trying to befriend a wildebeest, waking up to paw prints at the bottom of our ladder, getting up in the middle of the night to see what animal was lurking at the waterhole, picking up what I thought was a rope only to realise it was a snake, the list goes on.
There seemed to be a pattern throughout Namibia. Every time I thought I understood what the country was going to be, it threw something else at me.
You come to Namibia expecting sand and somehow end up having lunch with a pelican like you’ve wandered into the middle of a children’s story. “When A Seal & Pelican Came For Lunch” Watch this space 🤔
This Is What Dreams Are Made Of
Staring into the night sky, I lay there wondering whether there was another human within miles of us. I’d never really experienced that thought before.
Namibia - a place that makes you feel small, feel more, think more and appreciate more.
I’ve seen the Northern Lights and eclipses, but these skies felt different.
Just pure darkness and a ridiculous number of stars sparkling and shooting by - fingers crossed all my wishes come true.
It’s what dreams are made of - Is this what Hilary Duff was singing about?
Sometimes you need to go somewhere with almost nothing around you to realise just how much is in the way.
The San & OSI
After endless days driving through landscapes that to me, seemed empty and deserted. We met with San people.
This is when I realised.
It wasn’t empty at all.
Greeted by children running towards our vehicle, they were intrigued. Fascinated by our phones, selfie stick, food. They giggled as they poked at everything, totally mesmerised by their new visitors.
The curiosity went both ways, although I’m not sure we left them with as much of an impact as they left to us.
We spent time walking, sitting and learning from the San community. Learning how to look at the things I had previously walked past. Suddenly things had new meanings.
Somewhere that looks so empty contains so much information. You just have to know how to look.
Plants, became food and medicine. Marks on the ground held information.
I realised I had completely misunderstood what I’d been looking at.
Where I saw bush, they saw life.
Of course, I couldn’t read the landscape the way the San can, but that’s whats so fascinating.
📍Read about what the San taught me about their hunting culture → A Society Without Status
Travel becomes more interesting when you stop asking “What is there to see?” and start asking “What am I not seeing?”
We spend so much time travelling to “see” things, but seeing, and truly understanding what you’re looking at are completely different things.
I’d been looking at Namibia for days, yet it took someone else to make me realise how much I was missing.
Most of us see the finished product. But once you understand the story of something, it changes how you see it.
OSI Archive
📍 A Society Without Status → San men on hunting
📍 Silk → We see a silk shirt, not the silkworm it came from, the hands that created it, and the nature within it.
📍 Fair Isle Knit → Fair Isle isn’t really just a jumper, but something that holds a story of the community.
Namibia did the same thing. Maybe “empty” is simply what we call a place when we don’t understand what we’re looking at.
Sleeping Under 5 Stars or 5 Million Stars
Some nights we were covered in dust, eating whatever my husband had managed to make with our simple supplies. Toasties, biltong and droëwors.
I wouldn’t describe the camping as basic. Some of our own private sites made us feel like we were part of the Flintstones family. Private bathrooms with hot showers open to the landscape and animals roaming around, toilets looking straight across the Kalahari.
Maybe this is the “quiet luxury” way of travelling?
Imagine getting ready in the morning, brushing your teeth and showering whilst watching the sun rise over the desert.
Standing naked in the middle of nature and realising it’s just you and the vast emptiness.
Every so often, we’d arrive at a lodge with a bath, an actual bed and somebody making dinner - Pure bliss, at least to my husband, I was quite happy living off droëwors and marshmallows.
Sometimes luxury’s a hotel with the most incredibly soft sheets, and sometimes it’s having an entire rock to yourself.
📍 Namibias Best Camps, Lodges & Hotels → (coming to the OSI Archive soon)
The best places don’t give everything away. Knowing less before you go is part of the adventure, you just have to be prepared to look.
Coming Up 📍
We’re going deeper into Namibia’s:
Plants, herbs, traditional medicines, local words, materials, craft and the knowledge they hold.
📍 The Namibian Road Map → (coming to the OSI Archive soon)
📍 Namibias Best Camps, Lodges & Hotels → (coming to the OSI Archive soon)
📍 Namibia’s wildlife → (coming to the OSI Archive soon)
Q. Would you rather sleep under 5 or 5 million of them?
I would love to know.
Be Part of the Community
If you’ve ever wanted to sit around a campfire listening to stories about wildlife, adventure check out Tracks & Sutures by Suravi .
Her publication shows a deep connection to wildlife, particularly big cats. Stories with a level of honesty that feels incredibly refreshing.
Bringing you closer to a world most of us rarely get to see.
A trusted curation of fascinating stories from around the world. Join me in my travels, mapping out people, places and crafts that make you stop and think.
‘Wait…tell me more.’
Bye for now.
