The winds move the the sand continuously, changing the shape and texture of the desert daily. No matter how many people plod up the dunes during the day, by dawn, all traces of our existence have been erased. The memory of those who came before us purged, the desert born anew.
To put the size of the dunes in perspective, there is a person running down the dune on the left side of this picture, just above the shadow cast from the tree.
Namibia is one of the largest and least populated countries in Africa. It also has very few paved roads, even by African standards. And it is hot….very, very hot. However, most destinations were well worth the effort to get there.
Lepard at big cat preserve.
Sunrise in the desert.
Vast and very, very empty.
Big, hot, and dry. Not the best park I went to, but still impressive.
Picture perfect.
The salt pan extends out to the horizon in all directions. Awesome.
Rain showers at dusk.
Himba woman in traditional dress. Shortly before this picture was taken I received a marriage proposal. Five cows get you a wife and, in the case of the woman who had made the proposal, three kids.
Perfect. Everyday.
The island has been inhabited continuously for over 20,000 years. It has experienced some dark periods and is still plagued with all the problems of a third world nation, but the place itself is about as utpoic as you could imagine.
No guardrails.
Not as impressive as the Serengeti, but still amazing.
Our last night camping on the crater’s rim, a grazing zebra put its ass right through our tent’s wall. An interesting way to wake up.
I had to turn away from this, a lion pride disemboweling a buffalo. One lion had its entire head in the dead animal’s body cavity. The level of gore was a little difficult to stomach.
The Serengeti is where our earliest ancestors first walked up-right. And it’s amazing they made it out alive. The Serengeti’s scale both in terms of land mass and animal diversity is hard to comprehend. Sleeping out under the stars, listening to the mutated bark of hyenas, the rumble of the wildebeest migration, and the eerily palpable roar of lions, the idea that our entire species is where it is today because a primitive man decided to walk north towards a distant horizon forces one to contemplate their own fortitude.
Masai woman selling beads at a truck stop.
Prehistoric looking bird, four feet tall and ugly beyond belief, the marabou stork.
Nice shirt…
The drive into the Serengeti.
Our ride.
More pictures from Africa are on their way, but I need to disrupt the continuity for a special announcement. Today is the first day I’ve ever choked on snow. Face-shots all day long!
*Not me in the pictures, but everyone had these same shots at some point today.
My first view of Kilimanjaro, on the approach to Dar Es Salaam.
After two continuous days to rain, our first view of Kilimanjaro.
Our only view of the summit on day four.
Morning of Day five. That’s Mt Meru in the distance.
The approach to high camp on day five. These rock chards sounded exactly like crunching dishes.
Amazing views and sunset from high camp.
Summit morning began at 1am. For me, it also began with a crashing headache and dry-heaving which persisted all the way to the top. But in the end, it was well worth it.
The highest point in Africa.
The team: 3 climbers, 2 guides, 1 cook, 6 porters.
The final walk out…
Mt Meru is the fifth highest mountain in Africa at 14,980 feet. The summit stayed in the clouds for most of the climb…
and then it snowed four inches on summit morning. Our view from the top.
And then later in the day, perfect!
View looking out over the Rift Valley.
A brilliant sunrise.
You can see the gentle slope of Kilimanjaro on the left side of the picture.
