Hey all! We’re back with a travel post, and let me tell you, this is a big one. We’ve been in Namibia for the past three weeks, and for the past week and a half or so, we’ve been road-tripping around the country. This was such a beautiful trip because of how unique the Namib desert is, but also because of all the animals, views, new experiences, and good times we had on the trip!
We set out from Luderitz on January 18th, and spent the first week or so day driving between campsites. The landscape was absolutely breathtaking. There’s nothing quite like the desert. It’s a full experience—the sand, the dryness, the windswept hair, the sunburns, the SAND. I swear, it was such an experience to find sand in everything and everywhere. My mom was thrilled about that!
During that first week, we stopped at scenic places for pictures, climbed a dune for sunrise, and tried (and failed) to avoid the heat of the day. We stopped at campsites for the evening, sleeping on top of the car in tents—and, in my case, in the backseat of the car. Then, my dad had a trip to go on for work to London, so we dropped him at the airport in Windhoek and continued on to a coastal town called Swakopmund.
We spent three days in a nice, urban campsite in the town, exploring (them) and doing school (me). I was still on school while we were road tripping, which is not as easy as it sounds. There was a lot of intense study sessions over a few hours and then days of nothing, which is basically the only way to do school/work when your on a trip. It wasn’t super fun, and I complained a lot, but what could I do? I also had classes with my teachers, which was probably the worst because I had to do them in restaurants or cafes with Wifi. So annoying!
Anyway, after Swakopmund, we drove back to Windhoek and picked up my dad, then drove up to Etosha, which is a park of animals. We spent two days driving around within the park, looking at whatever game we could find. It wasn’t super great, as it was just more time in the car, but I did like seeing all the animals. We saw giraffes, zebra, buffalos, wildebeest, hyenas, antelopes, and more!
After Etosha, we decided we wanted to cut our originally two week trip down to around ten days. We started heading back to Luderitz, which would turn into a day and a half trip. That’s a lot of driving!
We’re back in Luderitz, and I’ve been slaving away at school for the past two days as we wait around for good wether to continue our trek up the coast of Namibia. Our next stop is Walvis Bay, and we plan to start sailing there tomorrow. It will probably be about a two day trip, and I’ll have a few days after to do some school before I start classes again. Ugh, why is life so difficult? At least we have the desert!