A week has passed since our last report and, with it - 1300km covered on gravel roads to Marta’s continuing (and probably justified) cries for me to drive slower, 7 consecutive days with fires (intended kind), 3 days of camping in remote Damaraland (the slightly glamorous kind with sleeping under the stars, cooler full of beer for me, etc.) and 2 days of slightly less glamorous kind where we still take 2hrs to get ready in the morning and another 2 to get ready in the evening. 

We left a pleasant Swakopmund after an obligatory tour of local Third Wave cafes (always looking for taste of Sydney wherever we are) and made our way to Brandberg and Twyfelfontein where we marvelled (ok, blinked at in midday sun) at the one of the largest collections of rock paintings in Africa. As it turns out, they were as much as ritualistic and spiritual and they were often an early version of childhood-fun-prevention - one of them featured animal prints of all the predators and was apparently a version of a “run if you see it” message given to kids. 

We then spent a wonderful 3 days in Etendeka Mountain Camp, trekking around a 50,000 ha private conservancy - it was all one gigantic lava flow from over 120mln years ago which, interestingly, was used to prove the continental drift theory where identical basalt layers were found in Parana region in Brazil. I can tell you are basically on the edge of your seats right now with this shocking revelation so let me mellow it down for a second. Our days consisted basically of walking, napping, eating and sleeping under the stars (literally, as we had no roof). We also finally learned where the Southern Cross is in the sky so we can hopefully qualify for an Aussie or Kiwi citizenship, whichever country would have us. 

Namibia itself will etch itself in our memories as a land that is both stunning in its remote landscapes and concerning in a reminder it serves of how difficult life is and could become when temperatures go up a few notches. For now, I am easing the stress with plentiful bottles of beer which Marta is slowly starting to ration worried for my wedding day look. 

We are also slowly migrating from a typical holiday mood to god-we-will-be-doing-it-for-6-months mood - it has elements of both joy when we realise we don’t have to go back to work and horror when we realise we need to plan yet another trip. So far so fun though :-)

My nerdish side is still there so three nerd facts from Namibia:

• Namibia sky is one of the darkest in the world which allowed us to see three of the only four galaxies visible to a naked eye on a dark night - Milky Way (duh), Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Andromeda, the fourth one, evaded our capture. 

• Animals apparently die of stress, not starvation. Desert-adapted species get so stressed being unable to find food that they get heart attacks before they actually starve (here is for a positive news for Monday morning)

• China is here and, what Yannis would appreciate after his recent book, it marked western coast of Namibia as part of its Silk Roads initiative and are building deep weater ports and roads at a frightening pace

• Drinking a lot of beer does lead to a weight increase. Go figure.