A photographic tour into the Namib Desert

with Hougaard Malan

I like crazy trips, extraordinary ones. So when I saw the photos from this trip last year, and had a chance to book a spot for this year, I jumped at it. Six nights of camping in the Namib Desert, no phones, no internet, no people for miles around but our little group. Jürg loves it for the astro-photography, no light pollution at all and an amazing African sky. I am in it for the experience, for the camping and just for the adventure, I will do travel photography. 

We take everything: water, petrol, food, tents, bedrolls, stretchers, firewood and booze. The latter we had to go shop ourselves, so we didn’t take along too much weight. Now what, and how much, do you drink in 6 days in the desert ? (except the water which was provided for). This led to an interesting trip to the supermarket. At the SPAR they asked us if we were having a party, so much alcohol…. Well, sort off. If we didn’t need any meat ? No the other guy is bringing the meat, we just need drinks. They helped us carry everything to the jeep, I’m not telling how much, but two guys helped us….in the end the whole SPAR knew us. Short extra stop at the liquor store for gin. Also very, very important ! Then to the hotel for our last night in „luxury“ and a super dinner at the Godenfang Restaurant. Tomorrow the adventure starts.

DAY 1

Briefing at 07:30, then breakfast. We leave at 10:00. It is a long driving day today, about 200km of desert lie ahead of us. We turn off the tarred road shortly after the airport, from now on it is sand only ! We drive in Convoy, 6 jeeps. In Nr 1 is Ruedi, who sets the tracks, in Nr 2 with driver Jandre, it’s Jürg and me and young Alex his assistant. Nr 3 is the girls car, 3 ladies and Mornay at the wheel, Nr 4 with driver Marius is the boys car with 2 guests, and Hougaard. Nr 5 is the camp chef Martinez, the best guy on the tour, and cook Andre. And in the back, Nr 6 is Dennis the concession guy, controlling us, so we behave, don’t fly drones and don’t litter.

Conversation back home : 

ME: we are going camping in Namibia, in the desert

Q: What will you photograph there ?

ME: sand

Q: and wildlife ?

ME: think again it is a harsh and dry desert, no wildlife, just sand

Q: just sand ?????

ME: Yes, just sand !

The drive is fascinating, it is almost like Paris-Dakar just slower and without any spectators. The dunes are white, beige and so beautiful. We hardly ever drive a straight line, to be honest at times I almost get car-sick. We go over dunes and steep down the other side, go around cauldrons full of soft sand, swivel around the last sparse bushes and try to stick to the hard sand. Every hour or so we stop to stretch our legs and enjoy the amazing views. First lunch stop at a scenic point in the middle of no-where.

Finally we get closer towards the coast. Ruedi drives up a dune, stops on a ridge and signals Jandre to park beside him. The others line up beside us. FUCK ! We are at the top of a very, very long and steep dune. We are not going down here. Ruedi smiles, Jandre even more… yes, we are. No way, this is crazy ! It sounds like thunder, like an avalanche, all the cars are beside each other, up to their axes in the sand and slowly moving down, WOW !

click here for: the ultimate crazy sandlover downhill video

No words can describe this. After this “little slipface” we are never scared again, anything else is considered almost flat.

Not far now until we reach the beach. We park right at the wreck of the Shawnee, on the first big dune overlooking the ocean. Sensational ! It takes a while for camp to get set up, so we go down to the wreck to practice composition and settings. After that we get settled into out tents, drinks then dinner at 20:00, the most brilliant dinner, beef and chicken skewers, salads and potatoes, so good and all of it made on our campfire and the tiny camp kitchen. 

Wake up call at 03:00, perfect conditions for our star shoot of the wreck with the stars and milky way above it. We hope to get the stars reflecting in the wet sand, so everybody is barefoot and in the water to get THE shot. Except Rob and Roger who brought Wellingtons, good for them, but we didn’t have any space for that in our bag. Shit my feet are cold, the water is abut 5°C, but it is warmer than the air and sand, so we’re okay. Need about an hour to warm my feet over the camp fire before I can go back to bed after the shoot.

DAY 2

Back to bed by 04:30, I sleep like a baby until 08:00. Shit, it is cold, my breath fogs up the air, little clouds of white in a clear and very quiet morning, better get dressed quickly. We have breakfast, clear the tent. The crew will do the rest. Time to relax. By 11:30 we leave. 

Our next camp is quite far and the last part the beach is not very wide. We have to „step on it“ to beat the tide, we don’t want to get stuck between the incoming waves and the steeply rising dunes on the narrowest stretch. So we race, which is exactly to Jandre’s liking ! The drive on the flat hard beach is easy compared to yesterdays dune driving, but also amazingly beautiful. Some parts are white with shells, then its red and pink with some mineral in the earth. Later there are little bumps in the sand with tufts of green grass, later it is flat as far as you can see. The dunes are by now way off in the distance to our left, the grey roaring ocean to our right. We pass groups of seals, brutally disturb their afternoon nap when racing by. They jump up and start heading towards the ocean.

After avoiding a couple of seals, spotting a jackal or two, and almost hitting one that couldn’t decide if it wanted to go left or right ,we reach the narrow part and pass it without much trouble. The last part is extremely beautiful. The bay curves, dunes to our left, big rollers coming in on our right. Afklim Bay is amazing. We camp on the first dune ridge, looking out over the ocean. We enjoy the view and a beer or two whilst the crew set up camp. First the roof between 4 jeeps, then the wind screen between 2 jeeps, so we can sit in peace and not eat sand all the time, in the end the 7 tents. There are seagulls, cormorants and even a few flamingo in the pond at the foot of our dune. The view is sensational once again. For sunset we climb the dune behind camp.

Jürg gets up at 03:00 for a star shot, but is back after 5min,. It is totally clouded, we were so lucky yesterday ! We sleep until 08:00, there is no sunrise call, it is very foggy. 

DAY3 

I slept like a baby, the tent material is very dense, you don’t even notice if it is sunny or still dark outside. I love the bedroll, much nicer and wider than a sleeping bag and with a long sleeved shirt, long johns and my Norwegian super warm socks and a hot water bottle,  I am absolutely fine even though the nights are somewhere between 0-5°C.

After breakfast it clears and we head to the pond, try to get the flamingoes with the dunes in the background. After that we concentrate on the pond and reflections. This place is fun ! As all concentrate on the pond I head for my beloved flamingoes again, they are now at the beach. I get some great shots (I believe, we will see in a few days when I get to a computer). They fly away ! Take off all together and do two circles over us, probably too many people all over the place to safely land, so they finally leave. I have flamingoes flying over and in front of the dunes now, this is great !

The good news for today: we get a proper shower ! Normally we would get 2 showers of 5 liters per person this week. Andre made a deal at the fishing camp, for 15 USD each we can have a proper shower ! Yes please ! So the whole group and crew shower at the Namab Camp, and we decide to also have our lunch there since it is nice and sheltered. Wraps, yummy ! From there to the Edward Bohlen wreck, which is a couple of hundred meters land inward. Here we turn towards the dunes again, to our next camp at a location Hougaard calls the Boulders. We see some more skittish oryx, and since we are the second jeep I do get them on camera, by the time the other jeeps arrive they are far gone. Lucky me !  

Whilst the crew set up camp we go check out the location. Hougaard immediately  draws a line in the sand, no crossing or you walk home (about 200km of sand), don’t ruin the foreground. When everybody has the shot we head up the next ridge, the other side has more amazing views, dunes, lines, patterns in the sand, layers and layers of the most beautiful sand. I love it here. 

Dinner is once again superb, garlic potatoes, salads and pork. Our alcohol supply is nicely down, we are totally on schedule 😉

DAY 4

Jürg looks outside at 02:30, thick fog, so he’s back in bed in no-time. No wake up call at 06:00, the fog is so dense you can’t even see the toilet tent which is 50m away. So we sleep a little more. 

Suddenly at 07:00 Hougaard starts shouting, we have a sunrise ! Quickly get up, get dressed, grab the camera and head to the crest. This place is so beautiful, this is really my favorite spot, there are shapes and lines everywhere. We move to the end of the crest, new views. Then up to the highest peak, even better views here. The fog is between the dunes, it comes and goes, at times white, then grey or even dark blue. Look here, no look behind you. This is fabulous ! 

Hougaard calls, fog coming into the boulders, run, off to the boulders, breakfast can wait. We shoot until fog, shadow and sun are perfect. Cool shot ! Jürg and Rob once again move up the crest, they wave us, come up. So Susan and I we follow. By the time we are on the top it is grey all around, we hardly see the next dune, camp is no-where to be seen. We stay, hoping of the fog to clear miraculously, the sky above us is blue. The fog doesn’t do as we wish, so we finally go for a well deserved breakfast.

At 18:00 we are up on the crest again. All shoot the distant hills, me  I move a bit further on, I was told yesterday that shot is best at sunrise so I did that this morning. Then down to the boulders. We do a sunset shot and leave the cameras for the star shot after dinner. It is once again fogging up, the star shot is ruined. We leave the gear, have a drink, (have to make sure we don’t take anything back to town) and try again 30min later, still no good, so we pack up. Jürg and Rob go out at 02:30 and get a shot in a short clear moment. Sure glad Jürg has found his star-buddy, which means I can keep sleeping and he has fun. And I always give him the hot water bottle when he comes back.

DAY 5

Up at 07:00. Fog again. We sit at the fire, try to stay warm. Breakfast around 09:30, it is getting a little lighter. There is hope. We can shower with 10 liters each now, we are not taking water back to town, but it is so cold we don’t really want to get out of our clothes, not even for 10 liters…

At some point Jürg and I go for a walk, there is nothing else to do and plenty of space for a walk. We cross the dune behind camp and walk the flats til the next dune. Have to seriously stop Jürg who wants to get to the top of the next dune and the next. We’ll go over the next ridge and that’s it. We have to go back, we are supposed to leave around 12:00 and we’ve gone quite far already. It is impressive, if I didn’t know camp was right behind the next dune and there were no footsteps to follow, we would be very small, and very lonely, in an immense amount of inhospitable sand. 

When we leave, the fog is still all around us. Once we reach the coast the sun tries to break through. We drive along the beach until we reach the Shawnee wreck, then head land inwards and drive on top of the dunes. We reach Hougaard’s favorite viewpoint but it is so hazy we can hardly see the lines in the dunes. Bad luck for once, but at least the sun comes out and we enjoy lunch with a superb view whilst the sunshine warms us. Two whole hours of light but nothing to shoot. Just enjoy the moment, the view, the fact that we are the only people for miles around, and that we are sitting in the sun, in a spot very few people will ever see.

From there we drive „the highway“, it is a flat, hard plateau just behind the first line of dunes. We speed along at at least 80km/h. Ruedi’s favorite phrase comes through on the radio: little slipface ahead, you can come. I believe he really loves those. Jandre on the other hand, prefers speeding on the beach. Okay maybe because his big V8 jeep has trouble staying in Ruedi’s tracks, it’s like driving in a slippery bob run all the time. My sister would have thrown up hours ago at this driving.

We set up camp in Sandwich Harbor, we are almost back in civilization. Well almost, one more night of peace and quiet, and having the desert to ourselves. This site is again in a super lovely spot. Slightly elevated, beautiful bays and layers of dunes to our left and right, in front of us the ocean. The weather gets better and better, the fog completely clears, it blows like hell, we’re afraid the tents will be blown away, but the sunset is amazing. We all get a shower before dinner with the lavish amount of 10 liters of water, which is more than enough, I can even wash my hair. So nice. The sunset is followed by drinks at the fire and another amazing dinner of beef fillet, chips and more drinks. We’re not taking anything back so better drink up. In the middle of the night Jürg and Rob are out again for the star shot, crazy guys, but the shot is cool with all our tents in the foreground.

DAY 6

Coffee at 07:00, have the bags packed and tents ready to be taken down. The crew takes care of camp and we are out to find the elusive and endangered brown hyena and maybe an oryx or two. Fat chance, all we see is sand. We give up after an hour of exhilarating dune driving, reach the flats and then we see one. To be honest Jandre sees a tiny spot and starts shouting, we all think he’s seeing a Fata Morgana. After checking a shot with an 800mm zoom we have to admit he is right. It is a brown hyena at a seal kill. Okay still just a tiny dot, but definitely a brown hyena dot. 

We wait and wait, Jandre says as he moves to the dunes he will start running, that is a sign he will go to his den, we just have to be patient. Hougaard who has endless patience at landscapes waiting for the right light is the first to get bored, let’s go back, he’s not moving, we are low on petrol. But there is no stopping Jandre, it is wildlife photography now. The hyena is definitely a little closer than before,  and then the hyena starts running ! So we have a teeny tiny hyena with flamingoes in the background, a running hyena and in the process of following him we even stumble across an oryx in the dunes, so we got that as well. Now all that is left on my bucket list is flamingoes.

After breakfast we leave for another hour of crazy dune driving until we once again reach the beach. Then more or less straight on to Walvis Bay. Marius’ car gives up about 10km  before we reach there, no more petrol. So we tow him the last part. Back at the hotel we have a delicious warm shower and wash off all the sand. I wanted flamingo photos but there is a gale blowing and not a bloody flamingo in sight, can’t blame them in this wind. Our last dinner at the lovely restaurant from day 1 the Godenfang. Great food, great drinks, good company. One last drink at the hotel bar. One last Jägermeister, or mothers milk as they call it here, wah ! But we do as the locals do, so have another one, wah.

DAY 7

Dammit, I want flamingoes, or pink chickens as they call them here. The weather forecast is little wind, and guess what… fog. Hougaard said 06:45 you’ve got to be there, Susan who grew up here, said 07:45, so I took her advise and slept an hour longer before I started the flamingo quest. It was pitch-dark until 07:30 so good thing I listened to her. Yes ! Flamingoes all along the promenade, spread out from the Shack to the other end of the bay a couple of kilometers away. I try to get them with just the grey ocean and foggy sky in the background. It is a hard life being a wildlife photographer, they are always just a bit too far apart, when one looks, the other puts its head down or turns its bum. I walk to the waters edge, they don’t even fly away, they are so used to people. So I sit in the sand, yes sand again ! I get my last clean pants all wet, but I get some cool flamingo shots. Yeah !

This was such a sensational trip, loved every minute of it !

Big thanks to all the cool people in our group, to Hougaard and Jandre our photo guides, and the fantastic camp crew for making this adventure a dream come true !

For our favorite foto’s : Go to gallery

copyright 2023: photo and text Astrid Bluemel for bluemelphoto.ch