Zandre and Annika recently returned from our Namibia Botswana Desert & Delta camping tour which took them through the green Zambezi Region (formerly known as the Caprivi Strip). On tour they explored the breathtaking landscapes of the Namibian Desert and the wildlife paradises of the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park in Botswana. Besides wonderful sightings in all the National Parks that they visited, the interesting cultural interactions with the San Bushmen and the mekoro polers of the Okavango Delta, they were lucky enough to witness an even more special phenomenon in the Namibian Desert – RAIN!

It is said to be the oldest desert in the world and stretches from north-western South Africa, throughout the whole coastal region of Namibia, up to southern Angola and reaches about 150km inland. It is famous for some of the world’s highest dunes which are found in the Namib Naukluft Park of Namibia (reaching over 300m in height). The Namib is home to wildlife such as the Oryx antelope, springbok, ostrich, and a variety of different reptiles and insects. These creatures have adapted to the dry circumstances which come along with the fact that the Namib is a real desert, which means that it is totally arid, with a rainfall average of less than 100mm per year in most places and some do not even get close to that amount of rain. This made the experience of witnessing rain here very special... both for them and for the flora and fauna of this vast place. On the full day spent in the desert on this tour, they first made their way up Dune 45, (the world’s most famous and most photographed sand dune), where they were planning to witness the sunrise and the beautiful light it brings with it. That is when they first realised that on this day something was different – the sun did not manage to fight its way through the clouds and whilst having breakfast at the foot of this dune, the clouds became darker and darker until they felt that this day was going to be a rather special day. On their way further into the Park, it happened...real rain drops in the Namib! Rain here is something none of our guides have ever witnessed before and something that is not only special for us and our guests that were fortunate enough to witness it, but mostly for all the creatures of the desert which have to wait for this relief for months on end, and sometimes even years. All of them, including the antelopes seen on their walk to Sossusvlei, appreciated the cool weather and the moisture. This experience of rain in a place where it almost never rains, made this whole tour a really special one.