Before departing for Africa - thoughts on travelling

To travel! It is indeed the happiest fate!

Our daughter, Klein Aus Vista,
Aus Mountains, Namibia, 2009

In his first travel book "Shadow Pictures" from 1831, the famous Danish author H. C. Andersen describes the journey as follows:

Oh, to travel! To travel! It is indeed the happiest fate! And therefore we all travel; Everything travels in the entire Universe! Even the poorest man owns the winged horse of thought, and if it becomes weak and old, Death still takes him on the journey, the great journey, we all travel. The waves roll from coast to coast; the clouds sail across the vast sky, and the bird flies across fields and meadows. We all travel, even the dead in their quiet graves, fly with the Earth around the Sun. Yes, "to travel," it is a fixed idea in the entire Universe, but we humans are children, we even want to play "To travel" in the midst of our and the great natural journey of things.

 Source ([H. C. Andersen (1805-75): Skyggebilleder fra en Reise til Harzen])

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park 2015. In the middle of nowhere,
100 km desolate sand track ahead of me and my son. Just so 
wonderful in its own peculiar way! We are in our own private
"Sea of Tranquility" for the next many hours! (Kgalagadi 2015)

6th trip to Namibia, venturing into the wilderness

Now, we are embarking on another adventurous journey! This will mark our 6th trip to Namibia and the surrounding countries. My wife and I are now 55 and 57 years old, and this time, we will be travelling without our two adult children for the second time. It is a bit melancholic, however, after 14 days, our two - I would say quite brave - friends from Denmark will join us for their first trip to Africa ever (except for a conference at the Waterfront in Cape Town)! 

We hope they will have the journey of their life. Certainly, they are not taking the normal first-time tourist route in Namibia (see next post), for example, venturing deeply into Kaokoland! which is one of the wildest and least populated areas in Namibia, with a population density of one person every 2 km2. Kaokoland is actually one of the wildest regions of Southern Africa, with very few roads and structures. 

The only road accessible to non-4WD vehicles in this region connects Sesfontein and Opuwo, but of course we will not be taking that route ;-) Instead, we will head towards the remote settlements of Puros and Orupempe. We will follow roads that are spectacularly beautiful - but in very bad condition, posing challenges even for our two 4WD Toyota Land Cruisers

Landscape on the way to Puros,
Kaokoland, 2012 (Kaokoland trip)

Blog author, daughter, and son (& wife) taking a break.
Literally on the track from Puros to Orupembe.
Kaokoland, Namibia, 2012

Indeed, as H. C. Andersen writes, "the happiest fate"! We are privileged to be travelling with good friends in the part of the world we have come to love so much. In the next post, you can read more about the specific route and itinerary.

Me and my son, Okavango Delta, Botswana 2019
"Oh, to travel! To travel! It is indeed the happiest fate!"