Namibia - a return

As we headed towards the Namibia border the landscape changes as the heat starts to become apparent. From the semi arid landscape it rapidly starts to change until you approach the border and the landscape just becomes barren.
It was with quite an emotional feeling as we encountered the small border town. It has been some 43 years since I last made this journey, a long awaited return and one which I was not sure when would happen. For my mother too it was a long overdue return to the country of her childhood and more importantly the country of her parents lives.

After leaving a very official but not very thorough border check, we entered the southern desert lands of Namibia. For as far as the eye could see in all directions were quite dreamlike landscapes of dark rocky hill mounds in amongst a blanket of cream sands. My camera can just not catch the immensity of the distances, they are truly awe inspiring dreamlike vistas. I he remember this vastness from travelling here as a child, sitting on sticky seats looking out at the seemingly never ending stretch of road ahead.

We travelled for a few hours though this silence until turning off the N7 we encountered our first stretch of dirt road where the cars bounce and drift on the sandy surface at high speed. Hard to imagine when all the roads here in Namibia were sand as in my mother's time here and my father's first forays here in his mini.