LISA'S TH0UGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS

LISA'S TH0UGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS ON A M0NDAY, DATE UNKN0WN--SKELETON COAST

There is a film of grit on the keyboard from the wildly blowing wind over the sand. We are at Skeleton Coast Camp, on about 74,000 private acres. No one but our group, the camp staff and guides, and sand. Jackal yips at night.

I feel as if I have been here forever, experiencing sand in more textures, colors, heights, shapes than I knew existed. Intense temperature extremes according to time of day and distance from the coast. Tall sensuous red dunes accented in curving black shadows. Yellow dunes, brown dunes, petrified dunes. Dunes with vegetation. Sand plains with rocks. Crescent-shaped barchan dunes that wander with the wind. Star dunes that stay put because the wind comes from all directions

Sundowners

.

Sand, wind, and water or the lack of it. Everything comes down to how living things find water. Ingenious strategies of nature to provide water and food to large and small animals and wildlife. There is one desert plant whose seed takes 25 years to germinate; its root goes down 100 feet, and it lives for 600-1000 years. At each lodge we have stayed at there is a bucket in the shower to catch the water as we wait for it to get hot; that water is used by the housekeeping staff to clean, or we can wash our clothes in it. A sign somewhere says "Namibia is a desert state. Please conserve water." It is foremost in our minds everywhere.

What comes to mind as I think back on our days here:

Sleeping in a bedroll on the roof of our "cabin" at Kulala in the dead-quiet desert with a half moon. I hear clopping hoofs, huffing, and see the silhouettes of two springbok standing on a small rise just behind our cabin.

Standing behind a tree to watch a family group of desert-adapted elephants across the dry river bed

Cheers

. We can do this because the wind carries our scent away from them, and we are hidden from their view; they have a better sense of smell than sight.

At Andersson Camp near Etosha National Park we can watch a water hole from the lodge, and see first the doves and sand grouse come to drink, a springbok and impala, some wildebeest. A jackal trots across our scene, pretending not to notice the sand grouse he hopes to have for dinner. We have our own delicious dinner with wine, and retire for the night. But no! We are called back by staff for a view of a black rhino at the water hole! A prehistoric beast right there in front of us; through the binoculars in the artificially-lit night he looks eerie. The next night we are watching the birds and jackal again, and a small herd of blue wildebeest, and suddenly everything takes off--and a cheetah appears as if by magic Michael puts the scope on him as he is hunkered down drinking, and his yellow eyes look straight at me as his mouth pulls in the water. Constantly watchful, he never looks down at the water.

At Andersson Camp we have hungry and enterprising mice; John hears small thumpings on the metal wall near his bed one night. Ah--a mouse in the bag! I decide to zip up my duffel to keep anything out, and after we turn the light out I hear little nails scrabbling on cloth

Whale skull

. Oops. I have zipped one into my duffel; when I unzip he hops out and slips under the door. He has managed to eat away the plastic of my food container and take out one nut and one raisin to eat at the bottom of the duffel. No harm done.

This morning our guide found the tunnel of a web-footed gecko and dug him out for us to see; he is pale translucent pink and will fry in the sun if he stays above ground during the day. His tiny feet are webbed so he can quickly dig down into the sand to create his underground home. Which he does as soon as we put him back on the sand.

Yesterday we drove up and down the barchan dunes in Land Rovers and ended at the coast where we drove along the edge of the surf . The waves are wild and break in 6 or 7 layers out. There are hundreds of ghost crabs living in what we dubbed cities a ways above the surf line. As they hear the vehicle approach they all evacuate their city burrows to escape to the safety of the ocean.. Except that we are between them and the ocean so they end up flinging themselves at our wheels. We all shriek each time we pass a crab city.

It is 6 pm here, and soon it will be time for sundowners. If the wind permits, we will have our drinks up on the dune near our camp. If not, we will drink on the porch and watch the sun go behind the dunes in front of us. "Day is done, gone the sun." And the life of the night creatures will begin.