Isn’t it odd how light can remind you of another time and place. A bit like smells and how they can suddenly transport you somewhere else – like the smell of an orange grove or the sea.
It was last evening as the sun was going down (yes we had sun!) and the sky was darkening not only with the setting sun but also with the darkening rain clouds that were starting to threaten. The light was that peculiar yellow brightness of the long shadow sunset coupled with a darkening sky – just a little surreal.
Sundowner
Suddenly I was back in Africa having a sundowner way out in the Namib desert amongst the iron rich rocky moonscape that so much of Namibia consists. It was that kind of atmospheric light that brought it all back.
It was also the stillness and the absolute silence that surrounded us on that particular evening, though fair to say that much of Namibia is so uttelry quiet, there are few places on earth like it and where you can truly relax.
So there we were standing around with drinks in our hands, on what a South African friend of mine describes as “alluvial conglomerate! or that rocky stuff that I mentioned before. It really is a lunar landscape being out in the Namib desert but also a fascinating one. From the millions of years old enormous sand dunes of Sossusvlei to the wonderfully evocative Skeleton Coast and DamaraLand and the region of the Himba – it’s a wonderfully different place.
The Namib desert
You can also experience the lush game parks of the Caprivi Strip, that thin belt of land between Angola and Namibia, where my friend lost a finger to a Puff adder and was also bitten on the cheek by a tiny spider with such horrendous consequences.
See the fabulous flights of millions of pink geese off Walrus bay, marvel at the whales off the coast and drink champagne on the beach at Swakopmund and all in a huge and often desolate landscape of vast gravel plains, towering mountain ranges and deep sculptured canyons……………………….Wow!
Sorry about that, but I did love that country and to suddenly be transported even just for a minute or two brings back great memories. Takes me out of the rut that Britain seems now to be in.
It's you, yes!
Anyway – this picture is of yours truly ( a good while ago now I admit!) – with the Himba people, seeing themselves on camera for the first time. You probably can’t see from this picture but they cover themselves with heavy layers of red/brown ochre. So much so that you never ever give them a lift in your car or landrover or in any vehicle as this stuff gets all over everything! And it don’t come off easy!!
Of course when in Namibia you can never forget the wildlife, the desert Elephants with their long legs, maybe the Klipspringer or Hartmanns Zebra, plus all the fantastic bird life that is so prolific in the region.
Happy days though – happy days. So I leave you with one last image – which I call “Morning flight”
These are the fabulous Great Crested Cranes which early in the morning have this habit of dancing on the ground together. And being very large birds with very long legs, this is really spectaclular display and I love seeing it.
Quite bizarre and almost ungainly as their wings are flapping wildly as they half fly and jump together into the air yet so gracefully and softly do they land – like feathers!
Then just as suddenly they run along and take off, folding up those long slender legs and there they are – beautifully graceful and with the morning rays catching their superb colouration they fly away in pairs into the distance.
Wonderful!
