my neighbour to the north west

the view

gemsbok (oryx) in the desert

the open spaces

skeleton coast

skeleton coast

there is a piece of forgotten earth. it used to be called south western africa but more recently it is known as the country of namibia. my memories of this country goes back many years. we used to go there for winter holidays when i was still a nipper. my dad and his friends would rise early in the mornings before daybreak to get out in the field for the hunt. my brother and i were not even taller than some of those riffles that was in the bakkie with the rest of the gear. but we were needy. we had to carry the gear and between camps jump out to open the gates. none the less it was my first experience of the wild and the open. the rising of the sun in namibia is to my knowledge the best in the world. it is like a red ball of fire coming up out of the earth. the sand and dust acts as a shield and intensifies the redness of the sun. it is simply unbelievable. we would often see leopard tracks in the sand spotted by the tracker. i used to believe that these trackers were like ghosts. being able to smell and sense like animals. their ability to track was incredible for a youngster like me. then there was the quiet and the calm before the kill. the shot going off and the heavy plonk of the animal in the sand and stone. i can still see and smell the gasoline tank. the water tower and the grass trying to grow around the old farmhouse where we used to kick the rugby ball around in the late afternoons. at night there would be a massive fire and a braai where stories and fables would be exchanged. and as a kid everything always sounds bigger and more unbelievable.

to be honest. it has been more than twenty years since i have been back to the farm. i wonder why we stopped going there. i guess we were becoming old enough to learn how to hunt and shoot ourselves and our parents being from the city and all did not think that to be such a good idea. gates and gear. that was our thing but not the kill itself. but now i long for those days of pap en koffie before the daybreak. the burning excitement and the prospect to see another big oryx or kudu being pulled in.

i want to go back there. but also to see more of this country that sucks you in with its simplicity. its silence and never-ending spaces of sand and stone. to trek across the desert to see the infamous skeleton coast and to go and test my sleepingbag in soususvlei. to cross the open country and see the wild. to feel it and allow it to swallow me.

i guess that would be one of my first stops when i go back south one of these days...