Swakopmund → Spitzkoppe

We were up early, breakfast made at the apartment and bags already in the car by eight — though before driving off in our own vehicles, we were collected by jeep for a guided trip into the Namib Desert in search of the Little Five. Two guides opened the experience with an overview of the desert ecosystem: how it formed, why it is the way it is, and how life manages to survive here at all. Then the tracking began.

The Little Five of the Namib are the Namaqua Chameleon, the Shovel-Snouted Lizard, the Web-Footed Gecko, the Sidewinder Puff Adder, and the White Lady Spider. We found four of them. The guides were exceptional trackers — reading footprints in the sand to locate animals invisible to the rest of us — and each find came with a full explanation of how that creature survives the desert. The one that eluded us was the White Lady Spider.

The guides also demonstrated the magnetic properties of magnetite found within the sand, and explained why the dunes vary so dramatically in colour: older dunes are deep red because the iron in the sand oxidises over time, while younger dunes closer to the coast remain pale yellow, their iron not yet weathered. A detail that reframes everything you look at for the rest of the drive.

Back in our own cars, we had lunch by the sea near the Tug Restaurant, refuelled, and set off for Spitzkoppe. Our accommodation there was a self-catering campsite with shared grills and bathrooms — but instead of tents, we slept in surprisingly comfortable and well-appointed cabins. We cooked dinner on the communal grills, ate at the park's outdoor tables, and ended the day with a bonfire under the Southern Hemisphere sky. The stars at that latitude, away from any light pollution, are something else entirely.