Namibia has been an entirely different experience than what I have come to expect in Africa. This country really feels like a whole other world. It’s so calm, so quiet and so European. Paying on credit card, adhering to traffic rules and having constant abundance again has taken a little readjusting too. I almost miss the craziness of Nigeria, at least there nobody cared if you went the wrong way down the highway, rode up flights of stairs and completely ignored every posted traffic signal. Namibia almost feels clinical in comparison. I suppose it was German…

The dirt roads that crisscross the country into vast deserts and over mountainous vistas certainly satisfy cravings for adventure though. Despite the heaps of tourists, getting away from everyone into your own world of dirt is plentifully available. Leaving Etosha I took two days, mixing empty dirt tracks with pristine highway to reach Swakopmund (don’t ask me to pronounce it). I spend the following day with a group from Israel in the Hilux they’d rented hunting dunes at the northern edge of the Namid desert. Sandwich harbour is a incredibly beautiful place; imposing dunes crash over one another like waves fixed in time, before falling into a endless coastline of wildlife rich sea. The only downside to this beauty however, is that everybody else is also out to see it. Standing atop a mountain of sand you feel as though you should be miles from anyone, but in reality, there’s about 10 different tour groups within a 200m radius.

I decided not to head down to Sossusvlei as originally intended. I was told the famous Deadvlei is not to be missed, but to be honest, I know its going to be brimming with tours and I’m too much of a miserable bastard to deal with people. I want the desert to myself, selfish as it may be. The fact that rule loving Namibia doesn’t permit motorcycles in the majority of its national parks is somewhat of turn off too. So, over the remote Bosua Pass to Windhoek I went (a must do for anyone overlanding through the country). I intended to just stay the night. But this place has gotten under my skin a little, volunteering at a local school project, chatting shit with other travellers in the hostel and dabbling in the local nightlife is making leaving a rather difficult prospect. I promise I'm leaving tomorrow though, bright and early to slog out the 330 miles to Botswana.