Saturday 3rd October

Arriving at Windhoek was really quite strange. The plane started to descend but rather than seeing a town or city on our way down – there was nothing! It was like we were about to land in the middle of the desert. The airport consisted of a small terminal building that has one international flight per day and several internal flights within Africa. No need for an air bridge or bus to the terminal. A short walk and we were in the chaos that was passport control. It took over 45 minutes to clear with some very officious staff struggling to understand that we were camping and didn’t have a fixed address to give them. We managed to explain ourselves and were let through to collect our bags, meet Faan (our wonderful local guide, mentor and project manager) and jump on the bus to be on our way.

We quickly realised that timings don’t really mean much in Africa. A 5hr journey turned out to be much closer to 7hrs but it was a great opportunity to see the country – and the wildlife! On the drive from the airport to Windhoek we saw several troops of baboons on the side of the road. It also became clear that the airport was a good 40 minute drive outside Windhoek. Windhoek was a strange place. It was quite modern and didn’t seem to have many original buildings. I was also amazed by the vibrant purple and pink trees that they had – and even more confused by the road names. At one point we turned on to Nelson Mandela drive – which led immediately off Robert Mugabe Drive! Two names you don’t immediately put side by side.

I was immediately struck by the beauty of Namibia, with its mix of mountains, desert, wildlife and vegetation. It was very warm, but we had all the windows open on the bus which allowed a nice breeze and kept us cool. We saw more baboons and loads of termite mounds. At one point there was a huge baboon sat on top of a termite mind, however we were travelling too fast to take photo’s – and clearly this sight was nothing new for the driver as he didn’t seem to think it was anything worth slowing down for. However, the tarmac roads dried up quite quickly and we were soon on hard packed gravel roads. These were a little bumpy but generally in very good shape.

After a stop at Omararu for a “rock shandy” and the use of the most immaculate toilet on the entire trip, we were finally dropped on the side of a sandy track, where the bus could go no further. Fortunately it was only a short walk into camp and our large bags were put on the back of the “Bucky” and driven to camp for us. The Bucky is basically an open top landrover and we all had the experience of riding in the back at some point during the week – which was a real thrill.

We arrived in camp at around 5pm, but this was too late for us to visit the project site, as the sun goes down at around 6.30pm. We were therefore given an hour to sort ourselves out in our tents before having dinner and settling down for the night. We were lucky enough to have a tent each on this trip as they weren’t very large. I’ve slept in a lot of tents, but never one that has had an open mesh at the top which meant that it was possible to lie in your sleeping bag at night and look up at the stars. With no light pollution and a full moon, this was a fantastic way to go to sleep – and after travelling for over 24hrs, an early night was definitely on the cards.