MEMOIR

The Threat Of An Ephemeral River

Camping out in nature can come with unexpected challenges and consequences

Image created by author on NightCafe

Swakopmund, South West Africa, December 1976

Just like the year before, my parents had driven the long road from where we lived in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa, to Swakopmund, South West Africa (now Namibia) for the December summer holidays.

This year, it wasn’t only our family, but also that of my mom’s sister, and they had the same setting as ours — father, mother, daughter, and son.

Now I don’t know how it is nowadays, but back then you could camp anywhere you could find a spot. On the road towards our holiday location, we always overnighted next to the road just before we reached Rehoboth. This time was no different.

When we reached Swakopmund, our parents looked for a place to camp. For those who don’t know, most of the Namibian coastline is desert — the Namib desert.

Camping in the desert comes with its own challenges.

One of those was driving through all that sand, and since neither of the families owned a 4×4, we did what so many others did: let out half of the air from the tires, making it possible to drive through the sand. Don’t ask me the mechanics behind this — all…