Most Inspirational Moment
Watching the sun rise over the sand dunes at Sossusvlei on my daughter's 18th birthday was something very special. But quadbiking on the dunes at Swakupmond was thrilling in a completely different way. Seeing the landscape change from dunes to scrub desert to lush-ish green covered mountains as we travelled north through the country was pretty amazing. And then all those incredible birds and animals. How one can become nonchalant about seeing springbok, zebra, giraffes, warthogs, baboons, the seal colony, elephants and even rhino seems unthinkable but then add a lion with its kill; two lionesses with their cubs, cheetahs, hyenas and even a rare sighting of a leopard with photography opportunities to die for and words begin to fail me...Plus the fact that we are the least likely family ever to sleep under canvas and yet we loved it... all.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Franz was terrific. He struck the balance between sharing his knowledge of the country and its inhabitants (of all kinds) and giving us the space to spend family time together. We drove along looking left and right and straight ahead learning about Namibia's history, its economic, political and cultural context, and came home much more knowledgeable about the birds and animals, the geography and geology and so on. He was really well organised and prepared us fully for each day and all activities. And he had a great sense of humour too. And accompanied by Jonas, who cooked for us brilliantly, they were a great pair for whom nothing was too much trouble.
Advice for Potential Travellers
If you go in the summer months; do take lots of warm clothing. We didn't really have enough and there were nights and early mornings when warm gloves, woolly hats, ski jackets and thermals would have been useful. Don't expect to have much time to read and relax. We took books that didn't even come out of our bags. And there is quite a lot of bus travel; so do take this into account.