Alas, no Ghadames

Our trip to Ghadames has been cancelled, lack of interested people.  A bit of a pain really as it's too late to plan something for the Eid weekend now.

HOWEVER, we are planning our 2 week vacation to Namibia now, we're headed to a place called N/a’an ku sê wast of the capital Windhoek.  Namibia has to be one of the world's most beautiful countries, clean, friendly people, wild wildlife and stunning scenery.  It will be our second trip there, this time not so much as tourists but we're volunteering at the N/a’an ku sê wildlife sanctuary.  Go check the place out, it's N/a’an ku sê they have all sorts of projects for people to get involved in.

Here's a quick selection of some shots from our last trip:

This is down near the coast in the Skeleton Coast National park, it's so beautiful the way that the dunes and desert landscape just seem to blend into the sea.  It's so damn dry there, even Libya gets more rain than Namibia.

The second one is sunset over the desert near the Rhino Camp at Palmwag in the Namib Desert.  We'd been out almost all day looking for the desert elephants and giraffe, which we found by the way.  These animals are awesome, the elephants and giraffe have completely adapted to such an arid environment.  With their phenomenal memories they remember year on year and pass down through generational teaching where to find water or where to dig just below the surface for it.  To actually see them in this environment is humbling when you think that they travel miles each day in search of water and food.

The photographic opportunities for landscapes and animals are fantastic.  The places that you can get to see are breathtaking but it's a real shame that so much of the country is off limits due to the diamond mining.  Namibia has the greatest percentage of land set aside as national parks but also has the greatest percentage of country off limits for the reasons I mention above.

The bird on the left was photographed on the road to Kamanjab when we were in Namibia in 2007.  I like it because the bird seems to be staring straight into the lens, it has a real haughty look as if to say "oh yeah, here's another tourist".

One of the things that I find most interesting about Namibia is the fact that it was administered by South Africa for so long but doesn't seem to have the same post apartheid hangovers that South Africa has.  The whole country feels more relaxed and at ease with where it is in the world right now.

Anyway, I hope you like the shots, we're looking forward to our next trip and bringing you some more shots to show how beautiful this country is.

cheers

DADFAP