A Namibian Adventure

Namibia is not the first country that comes to most when thinking of Africa. It wasn’t the first place I had in mind to visit either. But after doing some research and reading about other people’s adventures in this Southen Africa country, I was eager to put it on my list.

Because Namibia isn’t as popular with tourists yet as other countries in Africa, like Botswana or South Africa, the prices for tourists are much more affordable—so much so that you can basically live like a king on a backpacker budget! I also learned that Namibia was one of the safest African countries to visit and that it boasted a combination of beautiful landscape and the Big 5!

But those weren’t the main factors in deciding to choose Namibia as my African adventure destination. To be frank, I simply wanted to do something different to the norm. Many people I had talked to who had visited Africa had gone to South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Kenya, etc. But I hadn’t yet met anyone who had experienced Namibia! Nothing quite beats going to a foreign country without any expectation or pre-conceived notions on how your trip will be.

I spent one week in Namibia and it has easily been my favorite adventure to date. Here’s why:

The animals:

One of the main drivers to visiting any African country for the majority of tourists is to seek out seeing the Big 5 (lions, leapords, elephants, buffalo and rhino). Namibia is no exception in boasting a wide array of elephants for people to come across during game drives and I was completely blown away with the sheer quantity of wild animal I came across in such a short amount of time.

Situated 6 hours north of Windhoek is the enormous Etosha National Park, which is home to som of the most glorious African animals. I spent the majority of my time in the park driving around in-search for animals and completing my “Etosha game check-list”. While I didn’t see everything, I was lucky enough to come across 100+ elephants, 10 giraffes, 5 rhinos, 3 lions, 2 brown-spotted hyenas, a family of warthogs (Pumba!) and too many zebra, wildabeast and oryx to count!

The most beautiful part about Etosha National Park is that no only can you see such a wide variety of game, but you can see multiple types of game interact peacefully with each other. My top 5 moments in Etosha were:

1. A pack of 40 elephants enjoying the waterhole under the stars alongside 2 rhinos, a giraffe and a small pack of zebra.

2. 2 large packs of elephants completely surrounding our vehicles and walking within arm’s reach on both sides of the car (and getting to see so many miniature dumbos run after their mums!)

3. Coming across a black rhino on the side of the road who was grazing peacefully with zebra and springbok.

4. A lion drinking from the waterhole at dawn, as the sun made his mane sparkle.

5. Curious giraffes coming so close to the our vehicle my heart nearly burst with excitement!

The people:

As much as I loved my encounters with so many beautiful animals, I really cherished the special interactions I had with numerous Namibians during my adventure. They all had such a special love for their homeland and were so passionate about sharing it with me.

What’s more, each Namibian I met had such a positive attitude despite their challenging life circumstances and really reminded me about the importance of appreciating what you do have, always having a hard work ethic and that there is no one-set recipe for living a happy life.

From the inspiring tribes of the Hereros, Darmas and HImbas that manage to survive in the harshest conditions of Damaraland to my hard working tour guides Alvin and Moses that defeated the 50% unemployement rate statistic that is plaguing the country and my passionate city tour guide/airport shuttle driver who took a risk and started his own business despite having little money of his own.

The landscape:

Namibia is a massive country with so much diversity in it’s landscape. There’s the capital city of Windhoek, which is tucked away in the middle of a valley.

Then there’s Etosha, which is a sparse desert full of wildlife. Damaraland is a seemingly never-ending deserts with the various tribes set-up throughout the sandy plain.

The skeleton coast is where the desert meets the Atlantic Ocean and one can find old shipwrecks washed up across the coast.

Further down is the adorable sea-side city of Swakopmund, which has a parculiar yet charming combination of coastline, German architecture and Arabian looking sand dunes in the distance (plus, there are literally flocks of adorable pink flamingos along the coast!)

Then further down is the Namib desert, which lies two of Namibia’s most renowned landscapes—the inspiring Dune 45 full of red sand in Soussevlei and the mysterious dead trees behind the Big Daddy Dune in Deadvlei—both reasons alone to visit Namibia.

The adventure:

The drives between destinations are long and often on dirt or gravel road. You never know how your car will hold up or if you will encounter any crazy animal crossings along the way. But the freedom of exploring this country without having to share the experiences with thousands of other tourists makes it such an intimate adventure.

I had no idea what sort of grand Namibian adventures awaited me, but that’s just what made this adventure all the more grand.