The rising sun, and some instant “Starbucks Coffee Vias” wrestled us out of our sleeping bags. We certainly wouldn’t complain if we could wake up to a view like this every morning. We lingered a bit, soaking up the ambiance of our best campsite yet. It was now time to turn this trip east and cross the continent to the Indian Ocean. If that doesn’t warrant a second cup of coffee, I don’t know what does.

To the north, the enormous rock faces of Brandberg Mountain towered above us. I couldn’t help wondering if I was seeing proper big wall climbing options up there. We were super keen to get up into those hills, but our water supply was dwindling and I was still recovering from some questionable street food decisions made a few days back. I was in no shape for a demanding climb and fly. The next best thing to an adventure is planning one. I determined to return one day to explore deeper into this area with a motorbike and a glider. The potential for some seriously deep adventure in Namibia would only be limited by your water capacity, fuel range and audacity.

A few hundred kilometers later we found pavement and raced north. The rains were finally hitting Namibia and the animals were on the move. I stopped counting at the 83rd warthog that shook his tusks at us from the side of the road. It was a full on safari just driving down the national highway. Most notable was witnessing a truck driver standing on the hood of his truck and peeling the largest eagle I’ve ever seen from his windshield. The eagle’s wingspan was covering the entire windshield of the 18wheeler. I regret that we didn’t take any pictures. We were putting in hard miles and trying to make it to Otjiworongo before dark.

Long after dark, our headlights lit up the first few buildings in Otjiworongo. Our home for the night would prove to the be the worst and most expensive room of the trip thus far. I think we paid extra for the spiders. Okay, a few spiders are no big deal, but we do have our limits. After brushing about 15 spiders off the bed cover, we pulled back the covers to find the sheets squirming with arachnids. We were prepared to erect the tent in the hotel room with its built in bug net, but the hotel staff agreed to give us another room minus the “extra roommates”.

Trending in a north easterly direction, the natural path to Zambia lay on the Caprivi Strip. This is a unique pan handle feature on the North Eastern corner of Namibia. This is where the rain really started for us.

We would endure heavy rains almost every day for the following month. Despite some discomfort with our wet, moldy riding kit, the cool rain was refreshing after weeks of desert heat. The tropics also offered a refreshing change in geography and fauna.