PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE

Between the Dunes and the Ocean

Week nineteen of the photographic documentary of my daily life

This week is about my life between the dunes of the Namib desert and the cold Atlantic ocean. Being back in the country of endless horizons I get to explore nature and live in freedom.

This photography challenge started by Dennett is about our daily lives. It’s not about competing with our photographs but rather inviting others to have a look at what our life looks like.

It’s about taking a step back. Seeing the beauty in the small things in life by selecting one photograph every day. One photograph that describes our day the best.

Driving out of town like this is why I love this place. The contrasts from ocean, beach, to the desert couldn’t be more diverse in color and interesting to the eye.

The dunes touch the southern end of town and occupy the entire coastline towards the south up to the South African border. Those dunes look absolutely stunning from the air but are just as special when you go for a walk in between them.

The Christmas Market of the town. An African version of what you know as the typical winter market. Palm trees instead of Christmas trees and beers instead of Glühwein.

We went to help out a friend and ended up having dinner here and watching a lovely sunset at the beach. I wrote an entire article about this event to introduce you to the African version of a German Christmas Market.

Today was a beautiful day. The sun was shining early in the morning already and I spoke to a friend to meet up at the airport. She wants to improve her skydiving skills since she is aiming to become a camera flyer.

I did some coaching with her and jumped twice today over this incredible scenery. We analyzed our jumps afterward and cheered on a successful day. Being back in the sky at the place where I started to skydive I remember why I did it.

There is just no place second to this. It’s unique.

Today I was writing on Medium, working on the next newsletter, and trying to figure out how Newsbreak works. Starting something new is always exciting but at the same time, it makes you feel weak and inexperienced because you need to learn a lot again.

In the afternoon we went to my friends' place who cut our hair today. Five of us were standing in the line. While not working you need to see where to save money. Having a friend who’s a hairdresser is not a bad thing.

Coming back home I saw this little beauty. A yellow flower with purple dots and stripes in between or whatever you want to call it. This plant has three blossoms and they all look completely different. Next to the yellow one, there’s a white one with purple dots and in the back is a purple one shining with some white sparkles in between.

Nature is simply amazing!

I woke up early this morning. Or it was maybe still night. I woke up hearing the sound of rain. It was dripping from the roof. Not a lot. But enough to wake me up.

Anywhere else in the world I would just turned around and embraced the sound of the rain while falling asleep again. But here it is different. Living in the desert the sound of the rain is not something you get used to.

Knowing where I was I was convinced it can’t be rain and was thinking what the sound could be. Worried it would be a broken pipe or some other water leak on the house I stayed awake for long.

But none of that was the case. It actually did rain this morning in Swakopmund. The town in the desert. It didn’t rain much. But enough to make the streets wet and let the water drop from the roofs.

The entire day we had cloud cover. And of course, I decided to do laundry today. Hanging it outside knowing the sun will come out during the day. But guess what, the sun did not come out today.

Most of the sun we got to see today was this yellow color above the horizon just before the evening came.

The ocean had been rough for the last couple of days. That’s why we took a break from paddling after the initial first three days in a row where we went out. We don’t like big waves and getting trashed by them.

But today we decided to try our luck. As long as we can get out of the mole, which is a little bay, we will be fine. Getting out of the bay and then staying behind the waves or the point where they break, was our plan.

As we stopped the car in the parking lot I could see them already. A group of dolphins playing in the water. Surrounding a guy sitting on a surfboard. I couldn’t get my board quick enough off the car and was tripping three times on my way down to the water.

But the dolphins were in no rush. As we reached the other guy five or more dolphins were surrounding us. Jumping up and down. Swimming underneath us just to pop up on the other side again.

I’ve never experienced something like this I would say. But it’s a lie. This happened to me here before. The dolphins often swim down the coastline and come into the bay to swim around paddlers and surfers.

But still. Every time I experience it my heart stops beating. Don’t ask me to take pictures of it. I was too much in the moment and forgot about the camera. Only started to film once they were moving out of the bay.

We followed them for a bit. It was lovely watching them having fun and playing in the waves. Dolphins play in the water which shows their incredible level of intelligence.

Such lovely creatures. So peaceful. The first time I freaked out when I saw them in the water only seeing the fins sticking out. But after realizing that there are no sharks here I quickly fell in love with their presence.

After the initial excitement, I got hit by reality and was facing head on a huge wave. Hoping it wouldn’t break before I could paddle over it. We went far out onto the ocean trying to escape the danger of the waves.

Looking into the water I saw all of a sudden lots of jellyfish. Big ones. Live ones. I can’t remember last seeing them. Obviously, you sometimes see dead ones being swept onto land.

But these were alive. And just as I was looking at one huge jellyfish I heard a big splash just behind me and almost fell off the board. What a freight I got. A seal just jumped in the air and landed right next to me.

It seems to be the day of all the sea life appearing. I’m loving it.

Today was an efficient day. We pulled out all the camping equipment we have. Cleaned it and placed it in boxes. We made lists. One list with what we have. One with what we still need to buy. And one with items we need to get to gear up our car.

Preparing for a trip. While not being able to work for a few months at least we want to enjoy the wild in the meantime. Experiencing something so I get topics to write about.

After that clean out session, I sat down and wrote some more. An article on Medium. One on Newsbreak. Published the video my partner finished on our YouTube channel and worked on a photo book. My favorite Christmas gift.

Later in the afternoon I went into the garden and worked on the tomato plants. Breaking dead leaves off. Cutting branches off and removing every piece with a sign of insects or worms on it.

And while I was doing that I placed the GoPro on the wall to capture the sunset. Yes, this is the view from our garden. The ocean is right there. The Palm trees all around us.

I’m back home. In my other home. The one in the wild country.

This has been my week. I invite you to join this challenge. It is heaps of fun and all writers participating in this photographic documentary created a lovely community. Interaction is what we want. Interaction is what we offer.

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Anne Bonfert is a traveler. Photographer. Writer. Teacher. Skydiving instructor. Adventure enthusiast. Nature lover. And fell in love with the African continent.