This is a late post, but worth sharing because Nathan and I took one of the best trips of our lives recently to Namibia. It is a difficult place to describe and I don’t think our pictures will do it justice either! After finishing my teaching certificate program in May, Nathan had a conference in Cape Town, South Africa so I went along. We had a few days to explore the Cape Peninsula again and were also able to see some old friends from my study abroad program in Kruger National Park in 2004. Even though we are 12 years older now and many of them have children and all of them have super cool jobs, we can seemingly pick-up where we left off. I really hope to see them all again while we still live in Africa.
We then flew to Namibia and rented a truck with a rooftop tent so we could spend a week exploring the southern part of the country. Namibia has the second-lowest population density of any country in the world (after Mongolia), with only 2 million people in the whole country. We drove for hours on smooth, gravel roads through beautiful, dry, wild desert landscapes and would see maybe 1 car or 1 farm. This was the type of trip we were craving. We felt very free – a feeling that is hard to find in East Africa where you are constantly stopped by traffic police or asked to pay for any outdoor activity.
It’s not quite like any other place we have been, but at times we felt like we were in southern Utah, or Mars. There is great infrastructure for camping, hiking, mid-range lodges, and it just takes a bit more prep to make sure you have extra water, gas, and food before you leave any little town. However, it also feels a bit strange. Where is everyone? And when we did find other tourists, they were mostly older Germans in big tour buses (again, something we don’t see often in East Africa). Sleeping outside at night, we didn’t hear hardly any sounds. Why is it so quiet? Where are the police stops? Where are the potholes? Oh, right, this is Namibia.
In a week of travel, we only had one negative experience and that was because of a very smart, persistent baboon at a campground. We returned from a hike to see he had learned how to open the LOCKED door of our truck bed-cover. We lost 2 days worth of food and he left us piles of poop inside the truck bed as a thank you. This is not the first time our food has been stolen by baboons in Southern Afrca, and it won’t be the last if we don’t learn how to outsmart them soon…
If you have the opportunity to visit Namibia we highly recommended it if you like seeing places that feel undiscovered, need some peace and quiet, and enjoy a bit of adventure. Namibia-mazing.
NERD ALERT: The Namib Desert has the highest sand dune in the world at just over 1,200 feet tall!
Karibuni Vietnam, Y'all 
Guess what Tucker’s favorite part of the story was? Beautiful pictures!
Baboon poop in the truck…? I didn’t mention that Auntie Shannon had to clean it all up because it grossed-out Uncle Nathan.