Namibia

Orange and blue, sand and sky. Namibia is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. Being in the car and driving to our destinations was half of the adventure! The group that I traveled with was Conor, two of his housemates Ali and Lis, and their friend Matt. It was really a great group to travel with, we got along really well and I think the majority of our trip we spent laughing and having fun. In a six day trip, we started in Cape Town, drove up to Swakopmund via Windhoek, down to Sossusvlei, and back to Cape Town. This meant a lot of driving, but was well worth it. After a flat tire and running out of gas, we arrived in Swakopmund, our first real stop. Swakopmund is kind of an eerie little town, with a lot of adventure activities and German influence. It reminded me a little bit of a college town, with long streets filled with all kinds of shops, cafés, and restaurants. The eerie part was that it was pretty deserted and quiet at night, but at least we felt very safe. We definitely made the most of our time in Swakop. In one day, I went both sandboarding and skydiving! SO MUCH FUN. I have never been snowboarding before, but I tried sandboarding on the dunes, which was really exciting. You are equipped with all of the gear that you would need for snowboarding including snowboard and snowboarding boots (and a very attractive black helmet). My main problem was not knowing how to stop, which wasn’t as bad as you might think it would be because falling on the sand doesn’t hurt at all. Gliding (and continuously falling) down the dunes was a lot of fun, but the trek back up to the top was a little rough, and by the end we were all quite exhausted. Good thing that only minutes after our 9AM-1PM sandboarding adventure, Conor, Matt and I were dropped off at Swakopmund Skydivers! Skydiving was both terrifying and exhilarating, and was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. I was scared out of my mind being in the little rickety plane and driving to 1,000 feet above ground level. Because I was the most scared, I had to jump first. The worst part was when they opened up the door and you could feel the air and realize that you are actually jumping out of a plane…terrifying (I think I cried a little bit). The first 5 seconds are the hardest; your body is actually just free falling out of an airplane. Soon the sensation changes a bit and although you are still free-falling, you feel a little different, perhaps little more calm, and all you can do is smile. Halfway down the parachute opens and you glide down to the ground. I got to steer the parachute and glide around and it was extremely fun. Underneath me was the contrast of the orange dunes of the Namib Desert against the blue of the ocean and the city of Swakopmund tucked in a little section. Beautiful. After our time in Swakop, we made our way down to Sossusvlei, where the highest sand dunes in the world are. The drive was incredible, with all kinds of strange hill and mountain formations that I had never seen before. Parts of it felt like we were inside a Dr. Seuss book. Sossusvlei was stunning. We camped and woke up early to be on the dunes for sunrise. The dunes in Sossusvlei are much larger than those in Swakop, and also they are much more orange. We climbed one of the dunes and watched the sunrise, which was stunning. We also go to see Dead Vlei, which is an area of Sossusvlei with trees that have been dead for over 900 years. Even though they are dead, they stand upright in an area of clay, surrounded by the orange dunes. It was a very interesting area to see, and quite beautiful. Namibia was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and the best way to describe it is through what I said earlier…orange and blue, sand and sky.