TRAVEL WRITING CHALLENGE

Hot and Harsh — A Deserted Riverbed in Namibia

The A to Z of my favorite travel destinations

Apparently, I didn’t travel to many places that start with an H. I’ve driven through Hungary a handful of times but never stopped. It’s just a drive-through country for us whenever heading to Romania. I’ve spent one day in Hamburg but well, it’s just another German city to me.

But there is a place on earth I connect much more with and memories I won’t forget so easily.

The Huab River.

Mostly it’s just sand and camelthorn trees. And now and then a herd of desert elephants walking through throwing up some dust.

The Huab River is an ephemeral river in northern Namibia. If it does get heavy rains inland and the river starts to flow, the water will go westward and with enough force all the way through the skeleton coast into the Atlantic ocean. But that doesn’t happen very often.

After all, it’s a desert country.

“The scenery is remarkably varied and dramatic: camelthorn, mopane and ana trees line the sides of the riverbed, huge sandy valleys are dotted with gigantic boulder outcrops and rocky hills, red-rock mountains punctuate the horizon, and massive sand dunes studded with black volcanic rocks make the elephants walking below them seem tiny.” — Wikipedia

Yes, the Ugab riverbed is one of the few rivers where you can still find the endangered species of desert elephants. Desert-adapted elephants are a species of African bush elephants today only still to be found in Mali and in Namibia. Their feet are a bit broader and bodies a bit smaller than other African elephants.

Except for elephants you could find on rare occasions desert lions in the vicinity. Or some lost camper.

Yes, I’ve camped in the Huab River on a memorable camping trip with my husband in 2020. The pandemic had just started and turned the world upside down but in this desert country of Namibia, life was still pretty normal. Except for — there were no more tourists left.

And we thought it was the best time to travel. So we did.

The first night after leaving our hometown Swakopmund, we looked for a wild camping spot for a while when I finally suggested just pulling over into the riverbed of the Huab River and camping where we camp the most.

In a dry riverbed.

There were two springboks nearby under a tree looking for shade. Except for them, we were in solitude.

The evening was quiet and peaceful. We didn’t hear anything but the cracking of the wood in the campfire. Now and then a jackal was crying in the distance. The stars were bright in the sky and we slept well. In the rooftop tent on top of our car.

Waking up to the sun shining into the tent is one of my favorite ways to wake up.

The next morning we prepared a lovely breakfast in the chilled morning air and packed up camp as soon as the temperatures rose above the comfortable point.

I wanted to drive the car through the thick sand which I don’t do often since my husband, being African, is obviously the more experienced driver in these kinds of conditions. But we had less than a kilometer before getting to the gravel road and so he got out to film me driving through the sand.

Also, it was an automatic car. I’m a manual girl. I love shifting gears. So now, in the sand, I put the 4 x 4 mode in and started to roll through the sand when all of a sudden this massive spider appeared in the corner of my eye. It was hanging off the handlebar above the door.

I froze.

I hate spiders. Like I really hate spiders.

And now there was a spider about 20 centimeters from my eye inside the car. It didn't take me long to react but I’m so proud of myself that I still put the car into parking mode before I ripped open my door and jumped out of the car.

My husband came to help, the spider was still there and identified as a poisonous one. It took him a little longer to get the invader out of our car but eventually, it was out. He said.

I didn’t want to drive anymore.

I’ve lived in this country for almost five years but still the things that scare me the most are spiders. And snakes. But luckily I didn’t get to see many snakes. Spiders are everywhere. Unfortunately.

So yes, this was our departure from the Huab River.

This is a response to a writing prompt started by Sam Millichap and continued by Adrienne Beaumont. Read their stories with “H”.

“H is for Helsinki” and

“Hamburg”

You can find the full series of the “A to Z of my favorite travel destinations” in the reading list here.

A — “From Akwidaa to Axim”

C — “My Southernmost Destination in the World — The Cape”

E — “The Only Water to be Found for Miles — Epupa Falls”

G — “Ghana — Because of the People”

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