It's never the same

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Over many years, I’ve visited Namibia a number of times. Whenever I go, I always find something different to marvel at. It’s a magic country with abundant secrets and a whole horde of exciting attractions for the first time visitor or the seasoned traveller returning for yet another trip.

Our escapade last year proved no different in terms of offerings. We travelled in May, known by the locals as the windy month. What was different, however, was that they'd had bountiful rains a few months prior to our visit and it changed the surroundings.

I was accustomed to seeing vast landscapes, all desert, leading to the foot of a mountain range. The stark red sands provided a beautiful foreground to the purple mountains.

This time, the landscape was covered in waist high, golden grasses waiving in the wind. Once again, the views were spectacular, albeit it nothing like the deserts I remembered. What’s more, it was as if the grasslands amplified the magnificence of the mountains. They drew one’s eye into the landscape to rest, finally, on magnificent mountains, far in the distance.

On the outward bound leg of our trip, we drove from Swakopmund to Lüderitz – a journey that winds through the Namib Naukluft Park – rather than the road more travelled via Windhoek and Keetmanshoop. What a pleasure. We spent a night at a spectacular desert guest house called At Kronenhof Lodge near a little town called Betta. Best food, best accommodation and best value for money we experienced throughout the trip.

I hope it’s the same next time we go.