Namibia, the land of the brave
Most of my stories start in the same way: a friend inviting me on a trip, me saying yes and us heading to some new place. This time was no different: Derek, a friend with whom I’ve already traveled to both Faroe Islands and Thailand with, asked me if I wanted to join him on a trip to Namibia.
A trip to Namibia? That was an offer I couldn't decline.
A few weeks later I was driving my car down to Frankfurt airport, with Derek sitting next to me, as excited as I was for our first trip to the African continent. We’d be flying down to Namibia from Frankfurt for a specific reason: the excellent connection Air Namibia provides from there. No stops, no layovers, no nonsense: you get in at Frankfurt, you eat, sleep and before you know it, your feet will be touching the soil in Africa. I can really recommend Air Namibia because of the friendly staff, good food plus the plane was only half full, which gave me some extra space to lie down a bit.
Erindi Private Game Resort
Once we arrived at Windhoek Airport, there was a drive waiting for us to bring us to ‘Erindi private game resort’, which is about 2 hours north of Windhoek.
Erindi is, as the name already explains, a private game reserve. A 700 km2 big area, with guarded fences all around it where wildlife is protected and, if necessary, taken care of. In the center of this huge area, you’ll find great accommodation. With big suites overlooking the plains of Africa. I could literally see the animals from outside of my window. This would be the perfect place to spend our first week.
When our driver drove us through the fences of Erindi, we were immediately greeted by a herd of wild elephants. Such an insane way to start our time here!
The days went by in a rush and everyday we’d have the same routine: get appointed private drivers, with whom we would head out in search for wildlife. Most of the guides were just young guys from all around the world, who were passionate about the animals and were eager to show us around and teach us everything we needed to know. Here’s a collection of random photos from our days at Erindi:
Everyday was a new adventure and really, words can’t do justice, but here are some of my highlights during the first week:
The first time I’ve ever seen a lion in the wild! They are so different from what you’d expect. Basically they acted like big cats, just laying around in the shade, sleeping, chilling, playing and recovering from a night of hunting. I actually managed to shoot a nice portrait of one of the males when eyes our crossed for just a few magical moments.
Walking with cheetahs! Well not really walking them like you walk your dog, but for once we could exit our big jeep and approach the cheetahs while our guide Francois kept an eye out for our safety. Such beautiful animals! Sitting just meters away from them, snapping photos was definitely an experience I’ll never forget.
Shooting the Millky Way in Namibia! Ever since I’ve been to New Zealand a couple of years ago, I fell in love with photographing the stars. But doing it in Namibia while all the wild animals are hunting is something else. We drove out with our guide Matt in search of a good location to spot the stars. Eventually we stopped at a waterhole and framed our shot. While setting up my tripod, I noticed that there were 2 crocodiles staring at us from just a few meters away. Matt comforted us by telling that crocs don’t attack at night. Phew.
As we were calmly taking our photos, suddenly there was a huge splashing noise coming from the water. I turned my head to the right and saw a hippo storming straight at us. Now, hippos might seem fat and slow, but they're actually the most deadly land mammals in Africa, killing approximately 500 people every year! You can imagine the scare: I grabbed my camera and started running towards our jeep. We waited out the situation until the hippo forgot about us and made sure we had the perfect photo as a souvenir for our nightly adventure. My heartbeat still rises when I think of that night though.
After having such a crazy last night, we sadly had to say goodbye to the good people at Erindi and we were brought back to the Airport, where a nice pick-up truck was was waiting for us, provided by Namibia 4x4 rentals.
Sossusvlei
Our plan was to drive south towards Sossusvlei, you can’t visit Namibia without seeing those famous dead trees in the desert. It was quite a drive over endless gravel roads, but the diversity of the landscape always kept things interesting. We got there without having a flat tyre once, some would call it a miracle.
Pro tip: we ended up booking a spot at the Sesriem campsite, this has a few advantages:
You sleep inside a national park, which is closed by a gate at night. So in a way it feels more secure.
You can enter the park one hour before everyone else, which is great to make it anywhere before sunrise. This way you avoid the traffic jam outside the gates.
It just a nice campsite really, never had this much space for my car.
Plus camping is my favorite thing to do. I was excited to open up our rooftop tent every night after cooking dinner on a gas stove. Nothing beats that, right?
Just make sure to book everything in time, as places are limited!
The Sossusvlei was something else, again. This was the first time I've ever been in a desert like this. We spent a total of 3 days here, doing everything you can do. From catching sunset on top of Big Daddy Dune (the highest sand dune in the world!), watching the sun rise over Deadvlei to flying in a helicopter over the outstretched desert. All amazing experiences, but the place we returned to most was Deadvlei. Somehow, seeing these 700 year old dead trees in this dry desert is otherworldly. We roamed around there for hours, taking it all in.
And that was it. We headed back to the airport in Windhoek, boarded our plane home and before I knew, it, I was stuck in a traffic jam while heading to my 9-5 job. Wishing I was still in Africa, where the only reason we had to slow down for were giraffes crossing the road.
Derek also made an incredibly beautiful aftermovie from the whole trip. I strongly recommend you to watch it. Words can only say so much, this video tells a whole lot more.