The world is not ours, it is a treasure we hold in trust for those that come after us.

Namibian proverb

Namibia was such a spectacular adventure.

We rented a car, and, to our dismay, realized too late that it was a manual, which neither of us knew how to drive.
Thanks to some very good friends, we were given a crash-course driving lesson (no pun intended) and off we went for over 3000km across totally empty desert roads, camping as we went along.

I'm not sure if the incredible animal encounters or the hauntingly beautiful landscapes made a stronger impression.

It's hard to ever forget the first time you see a wild African elephant staring your car down, being chased out of your campsite by a troop of angry baboons, the rotten stench of a hundred-thousand screaming seals during calving season, or watching a herd of zebras, giraffes, and wildebeest galloping away across the savannah after getting spooked.

But the jagged mountains of Spitzkoppe lit on fire by the sunset, the towering dunes meeting the oceanside in Swakopmund, and the eerie trees of Sossusvlei, sentinels of death in the desert-- will always captivate and define my memories of Namibia.