Hiking in the Desert: A once in a lifetime experience!
“There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast.” Paul Scott Mowrer
Apart from giving you a real feel of the landscape, walking is the best kind of meditation. And what better way to relax your mind than to go hiking? Not the hardcore, passout- from-exhaustion kind, but more the kind of slow hiking. This is hiking that allows you to experience a very special area of Namibia, learn about the desert fauna and flora, and regain peace within your soul.
On our hikes you will experience many different aspects of the desert – from mountainous terrain, sand and gravel plains, to stretches of savannah and vegetated dune belts. Walking is conducted at a leisurely pace and doesn’t normally exceed 10 km per day. It’s ‘luxury hiking’, where you are woken with a cup of coffee or tea just as the sun comes up and where you can relax with a sundowner before enjoying a three-course dinner prepared by the camp chef. All you have to carry is your camera, binoculars and water – the crew does the rest. A maximum of eight people are allowed per group to ensure personal attention by the guide. Larger groups can be catered for on request. Experienced guides lead you through the wilderness and explain how the white lady spider does her dance, why it’s so difficult to spot Grant’s golden mole, and why some Gemsbok have only one horn. As you walk through fields of fairy circles, it’s fun to devise your own theory as to why they exist. After a long day of walking, clearing your mind and cleansing your soul, you arrive back at camp just as the sun sets, where you are welcomed with a cold drink or beer if you prefer.
Your ‘room’ consists of a bed with bedroll, bedside mat, bench and washbasin. The ‘desert air-con’ (as we call the wind) is there to cool you down as you wait your turn for the bucket shower to wash off the dust of the day. Kick off your shoes and sink them into the soft dune sand; it’ll give an entirely new meaning to being at one with nature. When falling asleep under a thick blanket of stars you’ll have no other option but to consider yourself lucky, as this is one of the last true wildernesses on earth, a place where you will learn to appreciate the unexploited beauty of Mother Earth. Welcome to the thousand-star desert hotel! Wake up to the sounds of barking geckos and be one of the fortunate people to be up early enough to see the sun set the sky on fire, before you head off out into the open space again. Friedrich Nietzsche was right when he said, “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.”
Besides comfort hiking tours as described above, we also offer longer and more extensive tours for the experienced hikers. Please ask us for more information.
More and more our clients request “doing activities” rather then pure luxury. A hike as outlined above is an undescribably fantastic way to breath in the the scenic beauty, learn the traditions and culture of the local people and experience the local cuisine of Southern Africa. Not only only does it offer all these experiences, it can also be a perfect teambuilding opportunity, bringing business colleagues in touch with nature and building bridges and bonds on a business level.
