WRITING PROMPT RESPONSE

The Best Place I’ve Been — Deserts

The desert sounds dead and desolate but is much more diverse than you think

I turned off the engine because the sound was disturbing the magical moment. My friend and I sat down on the meadow. Yes, I call it a meadow. Meanwhile, we are somewhere in the middle of the oldest desert in the world.

This was all too surreal to let it fly by our windscreen. I had to stop and get out. I had to sit down, be quiet and just listen and see for a while. I listened to the birds while I didn’t see any trees. I heard insects humming and smelled wild Thymian.

And the view. What was displayed in front of my eyes was just too beautiful to be real. A sea out of flowers. Yellow, purple, and red. As far as the eye can see. The flowers were stretching all the way to the horizon.

As far as the desert stretches. The Namib Desert.

When I was younger I might have been fascinated by the desert. But not the way I am today. I saw the desert as a lifeless, dry place, filled with sand corns. Today I know better.

After living for several years in a country that is home to the oldest desert in the world, I’ve learned a lot more about this landscape feature.

I’ve seen roaring rivers rushing down the sand.

I’ve climbed massive sand dunes on burning hot sand.

I’ve looked up to the horizon and saw nothing but deserted vastness.

I’ve swam in a lake in the middle of the desert.

I’ve been boarding down sand dunes.

I’ve experienced a rainshower on top of a sand dune.

I’ve seen how the desert transforms after the rain.

And a lot more. The things I’ve done, the animals I’ve seen, and the heat and cold I’ve felt in this very unique landscape are too many to fit it all into one post.

The desert has shaped me. My thinking, my understanding of time, my thoughts on life, and my behavior out in nature. I’ve learned to look out for small movements in the sand and beetles rolling down the dunes.

I still remember the first time I stood on top of that massive sand dune overlooking nothing but desert. Sand dunes up to the horizon. In all four directions. Those feelings and thoughts I will never forget.

I remember how I got drawn to it. Slowly but surely. I fell in love with it. Not just the country of Namibia but with the desert. I lived and worked in it. I experienced what a sand storm feels like when you’re out on a dune.

But most importantly, I learned so much about the beauty of a desert.

While, until today, I haven’t been to any other desert in the world than the Namib, I wouldn’t hesitate to explore a different one. Because I know, they’re not all the same. They are all unique and beautiful in their own way. But they are all different.

And that is what makes a desert so fascinating. The desert is unpredictable.

I’ve got more pictures of the desert and stories to tell than what would fit into a book. But I’ve tried very hard on selecting the best photographs and most memorable moments of traveling through and living in the desert for about 6 six years.

“Welcome to my office”

This is how I would greet the tourists every morning when we arrived on top of that sand dune. That was my office. And even though the view wasn’t always the same (often covered in fog), it was always beautiful.

Cycling through the desert

Living in a city between the ocean and the sand dunes, we never got bored. Between surfing in the sea and cycling down a sandy hill, there was always something new to explore.

As I was taking care of the business at the pets whenever my boss left the country, I took her dog on many adventures with me. Often it was just the two of us out and about.

When the desert comes alive

My favorite part of living in the desert was surely watching how the landscape transforms after the rain. It didn’t need much and small bundles of grass, colorful flowers, and lots of succulents pushed through the soil.

Seeing a river flowing through a canyon that had been dry for years is just another level of excitement.

When the water dries up

Well, and once the river dries out again and the sun soaks up all the moisture out the ground, this is what stays behind.

Broken soil.

I’ve written once a short photo essay on it sharing a selection of photographs displaying the soil as it starts to crack. Also, there is nothing more fulfilling than walking barefoot on these pieces of broken soil. It cracks. That sound is amazing.

The stormy days

Wind in the desert isn't like the wind in any other landscape feature. Even the slightest breeze picks up those tiny sand corns and blows them around. Sand can get carried for hundreds of miles through the sky.

And the stronger the wind gets, the more painful the sand corns feel when hitting your skin. Being out on a sand dune when the wind is blowing 30 knots or more is everything else but pleasant.

My friends in Namibia renamed my job description from sandboarding to “sandblasting instructor” (also because that was what my working visa was written out for). And well, I often looked like I had been sandblasted…

Desert lilies

Just when you think you’ve seen it all things just get crazier. My husband and I were hitting the road in early 2021 when our road trip was leading us from one superlative to the next one.

While I can’t tell you which one was my favorite day out of a two-week trip, there were so many memorable moments we experienced.

One of them was seeing desert lilies for the first time. These flowers come out after the rain, but not always and not everywhere. I hadn’t seen them before and encountered them on at least 3 different spots of the Namib Desert on this specific trip.

A lake in the desert

While it does happen from time to time, I had never imagined myself being lucky enough to experience an ephemeral lake in the middle of the oldest desert in the world.

The Tsauchab River is one of the very few rivers that flow into the massive dune belt of the Namib. Originating in the Naukluft Mountains, it collects water from heavy rains and fights its way down through dust and sand.

But only once in a while (last time in 2011) it actually makes it 60 kilometers deep into the sea of dunes. While at that point it is still far from the ocean, it is the endpoint of the river. Dunes have shifted and blocked the way to the coast.

And because of that, this specific river can create a lake. With enough inflow. Which was the case last year. While we were on the road. In that exact area. We obviously had to drive into the dune belt to see it with our own eyes and swim in the oldest desert of the world. In a lake.

I cannot describe my feelings. I just remember smiling the entire day. I couldn’t get enough of it. I had been to this area three times before but had never seen it filled with water. It was like from a different planet.

And that is what fascinates me about the Namib Desert. Even when you think you’ve seen it all, the desert transforms into something totally different. Desert is more than just sand. I can tell you that for sure.

“The desert tells a different story every time one ventures on it.” — Robert Edison Fulton Jr.

Yes, this was for sure one of the best places I’ve ever been to. I’ve traveled a lot and lived in a lot of different countries. I’ve seen a lot, I’ve experienced a lot and tried lots of different activities. It’s surely not easy to pick one moment from a lifetime of memories but I’m sharing what I can.

Thank you Warren Patterson for creating this writing prompt in the latest travel pub of Globetrotters. “The Best Place I’ve Been” is a fun idea.

I also would like to invite you to read John Gobins description of “Why Denali Highway is the Best Place I’ve Been”. It’s another response to the same writing prompt of Globetrotters. John takes you far north to the wilderness of Alaska.

Read more of my writing prompt responses:

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