The Beauty of Countless Shades of Green

The desert in its prettiest appearance

I was taking too many photographs. I ended up repeating myself. I couldn’t find words anymore describing what I saw in front of my eyes. The endless beauty of the awakening of the desert is simply breathtaking.

Today we left my favorite campsite of the trip so far. A camp in remoteness. A camp under the countless stars of the African sky. A place where you didn’t hear any noise except those created by nature.

Birds singing. Cicadas screaming. Jackals howling at night. The wind blowing through the treetops. And in between just silence.

Such a peaceful place.

In the morning we got up before sunrise to go for a lovely walk in the mountains. Following a small riverbed upriver we were searching for the signs of life.

Looking for water pools the camp owner mentioned to us we hiked over sandy stretches and had to climb huge boulders. It was refreshing on our way into the gorge. Still cool from the morning. Despite not finding the rock pools. They had dried out by now.

But as soon as we turned around the sun appeared over the mountains and there was no more shade to hide in. Stopping now and then to capture green grass or some delicate flowers I dragged the walk a little longer.

But it was worth it. Photography is my hobby and photographs are the foundation of my articles. No writing will happen without a picture. Not for me at least.

As a travel writer, I need those photographs to tell my story. I would call myself a nature writer too. Because that’s all I photograph. I don’t capture buildings, cars, or humans. Most of the time at least not.

My focus is on mother earth. Pristine nature.

However, getting back to camp it was time for a quick breakfast and pack up. Just before getting back in the car, we took a shower which was really refreshing.

Back on the road we first passed all those Oryx antelopes we saw the afternoon before already. Grazing in the lush green fields of the Namib desert. A sighting that endured for miles.

I’ve never seen so many of these antelopes. Not at one spot. Not covering entire stretches of the desert. They are desert animals. Real survivors. But I usually see them in small groups. Of one or two animals.

But it would get even better. While I was sticking my head out of the window embracing the wind blowing through my hair I spotted the white layer on the red sand.

For a stretch of several miles, desert lilies were covering the red soil of the desert. The flowers I’ve only seen a few days prior to this for the first time in my life.

They made me so happy I ended up devoting an entire article to them.

This deserted road leads deep into the Namib desert. Eventually, we were driving on sand. I could feel how we were drifting right and left. Trusting my partner's driving skills I had no worries at all.

And focused on enjoying the landscape. With wide-open eyes, I tried to soak in every meter of this piece of nature. Trying to save it in my memory. For later years in my life. To remember how lucky we were to experience this beauty.

This road was driven so little the grass came up even in between the car tracks. If you give those seeds in the desert just a little bit of water they will grow anywhere. Even on the road.

My partner had refused a long time ago to make photo stops. Apparently, I took too many already. And I have all of this already on card. According to him. But having my camera in my lap I disagreed and continued shooting while he was driving.

Having the contrasting colors constantly in front of my lens I couldn’t hesitate. I had to continue shooting. The green of the grass in front of the red dunes and the blue sky in the background had something about perfection.

And a little bit of unreality.

We were passing the stretches of the road where we were worried if we could get through. We’ve heard about some rain that flooded these areas only two days prior to our drive and knew about roads being washed away.

Especially those in the mountains. Not much is needed for a gravel road to disappear into nothing. Because when it rains over here it’s not a gentle drizzle. It comes down heavily.

And so do the rivers as an answer. Carrying rocks and boulders they destroy everything coming in front of them.

But we ended up being alright. We had to slow down a lot and creep over steep drop-offs where the water had been flowing but we managed. We managed a stretch of just under 70 kilometers in just over two hours. Could have been worse.

Remember it’s still a beautiful drive. We’re both enjoying every minute of it. And the more often my partner has to slow down to pass some difficult stretches the more chances I get to take some good photographs.

Wildlife. In abundance. In the desert. Zebras on the horizon. Springboks jumping around for joy. Oryx antelopes not worrying about tomorrow because there's plenty of food today.

And shades of green painting the landscape in one of the most beautiful ones I've ever seen. The variety of colors was just unreal. Lighter and darker greens. Red and white lines in between. Being fields of flowers assumingly. And then always the red dunes in the background together with the clear blue sky.

I am speechless. I think I have used all the extreme words in my vocabulary trying to describe the beauty I’ve experienced. But it’s not enough. You won’t understand unless seen with your own eyes.

And you won’t understand unless you know how this landscape usually looks like. So yes, I am endlessly thankful and grateful for having experienced this wonder. A real natural wonder.

One I will never forget. One I will always keep in my heart. And maybe turn it into a book one day. I’ll definitely have enough photographs for it.

“People say the desert is desolate. Yet for me it’s very much alive, full of surprises. As soon as I can see those wide-open spaces, I can breathe. “— Anneli Rufus

P.S.: This is what this area usually looks like…

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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.