Turn left at…Nothing

ATV Stud McMuffins

(Andrew) Boom! The engine roared to life. ATVing in the Namib Desert. Dad and I were in the same ATV, zooming out of Serra Cafema. Serra Cafema is a little desert oasis in, literally, the middle of nowhere. The camp is on the Kunene River which marks the border of Namibia and Angola. If you peer across the river you see a different country which was a thrill to me. A beautiful winter Namibian day (southern hemisphere) put a cherry on top of this experience.

When we started driving I automatically loved it: the wind in my short hair and the feeling of freedom. We stopped at the crest of a sand dune to look at animal tracks and we saw the trail of a legless skink. It travels a bit under the ground so it looks like a squiggle in the sand.

The sand spinning off the tires indicated that we were stuck, but when all the ATVs got up, which was way later, we kept moving on. Going across Hartman’s Valley I felt that the walls were going to collapse and the 6 Explorers would become the 0 Explorers. The oryxes around us looked so majestic. While cruising by an oryx we spooked him and he started running. “Final lap, last leg, It’s ATV, It’s Oryx, It’s ATV, It’s Oryx, AND ORYX WINS” was going through my head while racing the amazing animal. This animal runs like a horse so it definitely won.

Oryx in the Hartman Valley

When we were rolling across the small sand dunes, a thought started forming in my head: “these dunes seem endless but they aren’t just like everything else in life.” When we reached the top of another hill, our guide Gerhardus, told us of a story about a woman who was riding an ATV, lost control and jumped off the quad bike before it plummeted down a giant gorge.

On a rock on top of that hill, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. It turned out that the things that were moving were Bradfield’s Namib Day Geckos. I named the two Steve and Pedro. The view from the top was amazing. On one side, the Kunene with Angola and on the other, miles of sand. Going down the hill I had the feeling I was on a roller coaster. At the bottom we went back through Hartman’s Valley where I got to drive!

I was nervous at first but I got over it and driving was really fun! I got up to a speed of 28 km/h or 17.5 mph! When we got back to Serra Cafema, we were offered cold, sparkling lemonade and I was relieved after an amazing time.